Chinese officials try to shake off blatant newspeak

Annual local government sessions have long been plagued by empty and bureaucratic words. Vague promises are made which do not have to be kept.

But there are signs that local officials are starting to propose practical policies that actually have some bearing on the lives of people, particularly in the more underdeveloped provinces.

The annual meetings of the provincial people's congress and political consultative conference, usually held in early February prior to the high-profile national sessions in March, provide a platform for the discussion of the economic and social development of the province for the year ahead.

At this year's session in Shandong province, provincial departments of communications, civil affairs, health and agriculture dealt with 76 proposals from political advisors across the province.

Song Xinfang, a member of the ninth Shandong Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference (SPPPCC), has secured a new hotline for farmers in the province, which provides the latest reports on fake fertilizers that have made their way onto the market.

"It is imperative to relay more technological and agricultural information to low-income farmers," Song said.

"The SPPPCC session received a total of 631 proposals regarding food and drug safety, protection of the interests of farmers who have lost their land and rural education, which all have a greater bearing on people's lives than in previous years," said Sun Qingsong, an officer who handles proposals submitted to the SPPPCC.

Twenty deputies of the Shandong Provincial People's Congress from Weifang City proposed a new rural resource recycling regulation.

"It is a great waste to just burn straw in the fields after harvest as has been done by farmers in many rural areas," said deputy Wang Yizheng. "The burning causes pollution and its smoke reduces the visibility on roads."

"The new regulation stipulates that straw cannot just be burnt in fields, thus encouraging farmers to make full use of this recyclable resource by developing methane for household use," Wang said.

Shandong governor Han Yuqun has pledged to pour more money into rural areas to deal with road construction, drinking water, health care and education.

The province will also build a rural minimum living allowance system with at least 800 yuan (102 U.S. dollars) a year for each of those in dire need and help 500,000 rural impoverished people raise their incomes, said Han.

Officials have also made efforts to cut down on bureaucratic waffle that is ingrained in government language up and down the country.

In the annual session of the People's Congress of Hubei Province this year, the government work report only had 13,000 words, one third of the size of reports in previous years.

"There are more concise and down-to-earth words stressing what measures the government will do in the report," said deputy Hu Caixing.

"It is a fundamental requirement for officials to put the living conditions and voices of the masses at the top of the priority list," said Yang Shanmin, a sociologist with Shandong University.

Source: Xinhua