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Man builds website for fans of officials

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-01-21 10:06

With greater "political tolerance", Guangdong and Zhejiang are more open to innovation and accepting of the site, he says.

Other officials include Party chiefs of Yiwu, Wenzhou, and Jinhua in Zhejiang Province, and Ankang in Shaanxi.

For example, Yiwu City's Party chief Wu Weirong was selected because he encourages reform and innovation during development of the local economy.

Hong Kong chief executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has also been given a fan page.

Fans leave laudatory messages for their adored officials, upload pictures, discuss hot topics and post articles on political and social issues.

Wang Yang, Party chief of Guangdong known for his creative reform ideas and active participation in online forums, has won the most popularity. Fans nickname him as "Wang Shuai" (Handsome Wang) and depict him as "courageous and capable", leaving messages to support his reforms.

Yang has launched a competition for the best cartoon image of Wang, offering a first prize of 5,000 yuan (US$735).

"I don't mean to mock the officials, but to encourage people to treat officials as ordinary people," says Yang.

One site aficionado nicknamed "Gentleman Huachuan" from Zhejiang Province, says he learned of the website from another online forum.

"I like its truth-telling style," he says, adding that he had posted occasional articles concerning people's livelihoods.

In addition to expressing their admiration, fans also contribute ideas for local development, raise issues vital to the public's interest and offer suggestions for improving efficiency and transparency.

A fan from Huazhou City, Guangdong, reminds Wang Yang on his fan page that places outside the Pearl River Delta in the province are left behind and benefit much less from the economic boom. Another visitor nicknamed "farmer schoolmaster" appeals to local officials to make up for a shortage of education funds for local schools.

Some leave more sharp criticisms. "An old Party member" lashes out at corrupt officials, saying some only want to line their own pockets.

Another writes that "the relation between officials and the public is quite tense at present".

Yang says it follows his original idea to let the public voice their opinions and make themselves heard.

"We emerged as a goodwill gesture to show it is for the benefit of the government and of the country, instead of going against it, " Yang says, explaining why he screens all comments before posting them on the site.

"I will block what I think is anti-Party," he says. His main message to officials is: "If you perform well, you'll have our support; otherwise, you fail."

Professor Zhang Kai, of the Beijing-based Communication University of China, thinks the site has its own value. "It can help draw the officials closer to the general public, and propel two-way communication in an easier climate," she says.

But it remains at the initial stage, with only about 200 registered fans and 40,000 clicks so far. Yang has invited a dozen leading Chinese scholars, writers and anchormen to contribute, but none has ever responded.

Nor have any of the featured officials popped up to answer questions and requests from their fans.

But Yang believes that officials are watching the site closely although he has never received feedback from them.

An official from Yiwu's press office says it is paying close attention to the site. "With the Internet's rapid development, more communication channels between the government and the public are emerging, and the government will embrace them with an open attitude."

China had 298 million Internet users by the end of 2008, of whom 91 percent had the access to broadband, according to the China Internet Network Information Center.

Last year saw a peak in social and political activity on the Internet.

In June, President Hu visited Qiangguo Forum, a virtual forum organized by the People's Daily, and chatted with the public. Premier Wen also said that he used the Internet to listen to public opinions and suggestions.

Meanwhile, Internet vigilantes, known as "human flesh search engines", hunted down a string of government officials, including the deputy head of Shenzhen's marine affairs bureau, who allegedly tried to molest a teenage girl, and the director of Nanjing's property bureau, who misused public funds to buy luxury goods.

"We ordinary people cannot escape from taking responsibility if the government goes wrong," says Yang. "We shall push the government to make changes."

His plans to expand the site to include officials from 500 cities, as his is inundated with requests from other places. He aims to make it more influential than the website of Hong Kong-based Phoenix TV, a Chinese-language station that is more popular on the mainland than elsewhere around the globe. But Yang admits he is short of funds.

"If opinions and suggestions raised by the public are reasonable and well intended, they will have a positive impact on the government," says Professor Zhang. "The government may use them as a mirror with which they can realize and rectify defects."

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