Cadres in Hubei: The Right Stuff(1)

A door once closed to rural officials has finally opened in five pilot areas.

Participating Hubei province recently decided to recruit 172 new functionaries from village directors within rural branches of the party. Policymakers hope that through this move they can broaden town and village participation, improve the structure of rural government, and explore and establish cadre-encouraged social protections there.

"This is a kind of positive, heartening policy direction, and adds force to the work being done by the wide network of grass-roots cadres," says professor Guan Yaofu of Wuhan Party School of CCP Municipal Committee.

Now, it is no longer an impossible dream for the 10,000 rural cadres of Wuhan to become nationally recognized.

The Hubei provincial party committee had decided to issue an examination during the first half of this year to test rural leaders from the province's most outstanding party branches. The decision immediately produced an intense response.

"The moment I heard this I rushed to the government office to find out more," said Xiang Zhijin, branch secretary of Ma City's Zhangjiafan town.

But according to new regulation 200723, Xiang Zhijin may be too old to apply.

The law states that officials applying for examination must belong to the Party's rural branches, be village leaders, have held their position for at least three years, have an education at a nationally certified vocational or high school, and be younger than forty years old, "unless you have been honored by the provincial party committee or provincial government, in which case the age limit can be relaxed to 45."

Xiang Zhixing took over the party branch in 2002. Previously, he was a manager at an industrial plant with assets in the millions. After working there for several years, his accomplishments for the town's utilities and infrastructure were well recognized.