Economic Observer Online
May 14, 2012
Translated by Tang Xiangyang
Original article: [Chinese]

Wang Yang, the party head of China's southern Guangdong province, revealed recently that he uses Weibo and reads comments on the microblogging platform everyday.

"I've seen lots of sharp comments against me," Wang said in response to questions from Internet users during an online Q&A session held on Monday to mark the election of a new party congress in Guangdong.
 
Wang said that he was aware that thousands of Internet users that had left messages for him and his team as part of the event. Many of the messages were a reflection of the problems brought about by urbanization, the unbalanced development between urban and rural areas, the expanding income gap between regions, the difficulty of migrant works being accepted in urban areas, problems with education, environment, land, houses being demolished, corruption and other problems.  

Wang said he and his team had a good understanding of all the problems mentioned above.

"We aware of these problems both through our own experience and also via our family, friends and colleagues. We truly understand these issues and everyone can see that we've included have put them into our work report ... it's not that we don't understand these problems."

Wang explained that, in some senses, it was inevitable to encounter some of those problems as Guangdong was growing rapidly and was currently passing through an important transition. But he also admitted "some problems have resulted from our own carelessness and inadequate attention."

Some Internet users suggested that the questions being asked of Wang via the website that was hosting the event weren't genuine and urged Wang look instead at the comments posted to Sina Weibo, noting that many of the posts there were "real and true".

Wang revealed that he already reads comments left on the microblogging platform every day and was aware of the many posts that criticised him personally.

"It's understandable. We are in power, we are public servants. It seems reasonable for a master to have a word or two to say about his servant."

Wang went on to say that "To be honest, some of these comments are right, some are wrong, but I don't want to argue."