Decision to ease burdens cheers up primary-level officials

File Photo: An official visits a villager's edible mushroom base in Hanshuiyuan Village of Ningqiang County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. (Xinhua/Tao Ming)

Chinese Primary-level officials can expect fewer documents, shorter meetings and more time spent on practical work this year.

A circular, recently released by the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, named 2019 as "the year to alleviate burdens on Primary-level authorities."

According to the document, the number or length of official documents and meetings should be drastically cut down by authorities of various levels.

It lists practical measures to address excessive efforts on the supervision and evaluation of Primary-level authorities and officials' work, as well as to improve the system of accountability and the incentive mechanism.

"The circular can reduce the burdens of formalities in our daily work," said Zhang Jing, an official of Dayang Town in the city of Bozhou, east China's Anhui Province.

"Some officials have spent a lot of time preparing all kinds of documents to achieve better results in their performance evaluation. Now they can focus more on solid work," Zhang said.

Cheng Peng is the Party chief of the poverty-stricken Kongwang Village of Anze County, north China's Shanxi Province. He still vividly remembers four years ago when he first arrived at the village he had to visit poor people, going from household to household and filling out many forms every day.

As the country has taken actions against the practice of "formalities for formalities' sake," Cheng felt the burdens on his shoulder had gotten lighter over the past few years.

"Last year, I had fewer documents to handle, and was able to focus on the cucurbit growing industry and the construction of a new purified water plant," he said. "I will do my best to be a 'man of action' and contribute more to the economy."

Fewer burdens do not mean fewer responsibilities, said Huang Yanping, vice chairman of the Chongqing committee of China Democratic League, a non-Communist political party.

"officials will have fewer and shorter meetings, so the efficiency and effectiveness of meetings should be improved; having fewer documents means that the communication mechanism should be improved to ensure adequate implementation," Huang said.

Cheng Wenhao, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said excessive meetings and documents have long been a problem.

"We can only improve our work style by having the right attitude towards officials' achievements and evaluating them according to their contribution to the livelihood of the people," he said.

The CPC has been making efforts to improve the Party's conduct and work style. Its campaign against extravagance and undesirable work styles -- formalities for formalities' sake, bureaucratism, hedonism, and extravagance -- has seen about 262,600 officials punished from 2012 to 2017.

Shi Jianxun, a professor at Tongji University in Shanghai, said the newly published circular can help better solve the problems of formalities for formalities' sake and bureaucratism, and encourage Primary-level authorities to be more involved in solid work, which is also in line with the expectation of the general public.

It shows that the Party has been facing up to problems and continuously improving its own ability to govern, he said.