Anhui: regulate use of officials' power to ensure high-quality growth

Villagers in east China's Anhui province are celebrating economic growth as a result of a campaign promoting high-quality development and integrity among officials, which was implemented in response to a call made by President Xi Jinping.

President Xi first made the call for deepened rural reform and strictly regulated use of officials' power at a discussion with deputies to the Second Session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) from Anhui Province in Beijing on March 9, 2014.

Photo taken on February 20, 2019 shows a textile workshop in Fuyang, east China Anhui province. [Photo: VCG]

Following the call, Anhui province began implementing the "Three Stricts and Three Honests" campaign among the government and party officials and promoting the high-quality development in the province.

The campaign -- "Three Stricts and Three Honests" -- referred to being strict in morals, power and self-discipline, along with honesty in decisions, business and behavior.

Villagers in Xiaogang, Fengyang County, have just received cash dividends from the village's collective economy, the total volume of which has surpassed ten million yuan.

Li Jinzhu, the first secretary of Xiaogang village in Fengyang county, is interviewed by CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"In recent years, the village has thoroughly implemented the calls of President Xi Jinping and has firmly pushed forward the reforms of the village. As a result, the industry bases of the village have been consolidated and the collective economy of the village has been expanded. And the villagers gained real dividends from the reforms," said Li Jinzhu, the first secretary of Xiaogang village.

The workshop of the collective economy of Xiaogang village in Fengyang county, east China's Anhui province. [Screenshot: China Plus]

Rural reform should be deepened energetically with a right orientation, and farmers' wishes should be respected, Xi said at the panel discussion of the deputies to the NPC from Anhui province.

He urged proper handling of issues related to farmers' land, saying that pilot programs should be carried out to ensure that rural reform goes on smoothly.

Zhao Wanping, deputy to the National People's Congress and also vice dean of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences, receives an interview from CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"President Xi Jinping's remarks have pointed out the exact problems of the rural areas and agriculture in Anhui and named a clear path for their development," said Zhao Wanping, deputy to the NPC and also vice dean of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

An aerial photo shows the farmland in east China's Anhui province. [Screenshot: China Plus]

So far, over 5,800 villages in Anhui have completed the collective property rights reforms and the land-use rights of 80.57 million mu of land have been contracted.

The reforms have unlocked the development potential of the resources in the rural areas in Anhui province.

Each villager in Xiaogang is able to have a share of the village's collective economy, after it has been quantified.

Zhou Qunzhi, director of the village committee of the Xiaogang village, receives an interview from CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"The village's capitals, resources and assets were effectively regulated and produced bigger benefits for the villagers after the collective property rights reforms were completed," said Zhou Qunzhi, director of the village committee of the Xiaogang village.

The collective property rights reforms in Xi village, Ningguo city, have also brought capitals and other resources to the village, as well as attracted back to the village those who had left for work in the cities.

Jianghua, villager and owner of a tourism homestay in Xi village in Ningguo city, Anhui province. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"My current income is about 200,000 yuan a year and I have found the direction for my personal development after coming back to start a business. I will try my best to make my hometown a better place and become a dream-pursuer," said Jianghua, a local tourism entrepreneur in Xi village.

Over the past 5 years, government officials of various levels in Anhui have practiced "Three Stricts and Three Honests" to push forward the work style construction so that the reforms can be smoothly implemented.

A total of 31 detailed enforcement regulations were specially made for the "Three Stricts and Three Honests" campaign and a total of 10,908 cases were investigated for violating the "Eight Provisions" of the CPC Central Committee.

Wang Zhaohua of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Anhui interviewed by CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"Through the campaigns, we hope that the disciplines can be followed at all times and the work styles of the officials can be truly improved," said Wang Zhaohua of the Discipline Inspection and Supervision Commission of Anhui.

In the construction of the work styles of the officials, the provincial government rolled out another three-month long campaign against formalism and bureaucratism after the 2019 Spring Festival holiday.

Yang Zhibin with the Anhui Provincial Party Committee is interview by CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"We will always keep in mind the calls of President Xi Jinping and push forward the work of discipline inspection and also other works," said Yang Zhibin with the Anhui Provincial Party Committee.

In implementing the "Three Stricts and Three Honests", government and party officials in Hefei's Luyang District organized work groups to visit the homes of the residents at night to find and solve their problems.

Over the past five years, more than 90,000 people in the district were visited by government and party officials and more than 5,400 detailed problems were solved.

Hu Zhiming, villager of the Qu village in Hefei's Luyang District, receives an interview from CCTV. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"It is very convenient as we do not have to take time to visit the government agencies to solve our problems," said Hu Zhiming, villager of Qu village in Luyang District.

In Huaibei city, government and party officials were asked not only to follow the disciplines but also to offer to take responsibilities in specific works based on the "Three Stricts and Three Honests" campaign.

For instance, a fault-tolerant mechanism was set up among the government officials in the use of the support fund of the industries and also the implementation of the preferential policies for enterprises by the city government of Huaibei.

Wang Quanbei is the office director of the leading group in promoting the pottery and aluminum industry in Huaibei city, Anhui province. [Screenshot: China Plus]

"The fault-tolerant mechanism is meant to encourage people to do business without burdens," explained Wang Quanbei, the office director of the leading group in promoting the pottery and aluminum industry in Huaibei.

Over the past five years, a total of 817 pieces of reforms in the aspects of democracy and the rule of law, social governance and discipline inspection were implemented in Anhui. In 2018, the total GDP of Anhui province surpassed three trillion yuan.