CHALLENGING GDP OBSESSION
Within 24 hours on Dec. 17, 2013, a total of 18 cement plants in Hebei were demolished, just one of the ways the province is slashing overcapacity. The target is to reduce cement production by 60 million tonnes by the year of 2017.
Cuts are also in the offing in steel production (60 million tonnes), coal production (40 million tonnes) and flat glass (30 million weight boxes).
Setting these targets is no easy job. For years, increasing industrial capacity meant a better place in the regional GDP rankings, even though production may already have been redundant. This resulted in dwindling profits and aggressive pollution.
Changes to the mindset of provincial officials came out of the "mass-line" campaign, which is not only a moral movement but addresses pragmatic concerns.
At the criticism and self-criticism session in Hebei last September, Xi described how determination was the key to structural adjustment. "Do you think the GDP winner takes all? Does a higher ranking make problems seem more decent?" Xi asked. "Over a half of the ten cities with the most serious pollution are in Hebei. Strap yourselves in for some adjustments. That is what you owe the public and history."
Xi's demands might be challenging for local governments, but many officials are relieved to be freed from the yoke of GDP obsession, said Hebei Governor Zhang Qingwei.
"We believe green GDP is a long-term, fundamental solution," Zhang added.
Luquan, a small city in Hebei, was once dubbed a "city of cement" and boasted a cement production capacity of 50 million tonnes. With cuts to overcapacity, Luquan slashed four fifths of its cement output. As the cement industry wanes, information, logistics and recreational services wax.
In 2013 Luquan's industrial electricity consumption fell by 130 million kwh, thanks to cuts in production, but fiscal revenue did not shrink. On the contrary, it increased by 360 million yuan (58 million U.S. dollars).
Since Xi took over as CPC general secretary, the economy has been under pressure and doubts about the sustainability of growth have been heard from abroad.
"It is not impossible for China to secure a faster growth, but we are refraining from seeking it," Xi said. "We would rather take initiative and gear down a little to handle the matter of long-term development with a fundamental solution."
It is not just officials who have changed their perspective. Ordinary people are seeing things differently too.
On an inspection tour about poverty alleviation in December 2012, Xi told Tang Rongbin, a 70-year-old farmer from a Hebei mountain village, that confidence could turn sand into gold. "The General Secretary told me to pay attention to my grandson's education, as hope always lies with the next generation," Tang recalled.
The 70-year-old also sees hope for himself. "I have joined with other villagers and obtained a loan to raise cattle. Selling a calf can bring in about 15,000 yuan," he said.
Xi's visit and the ensuing campaign have brought about changes to the county in many aspects, said Hao Guochi, local Party chief in Fuping.
The most obvious one, he said, happened in people's minds.
The Strengh of People and Party
During its 65 years of power, the CPC has made China into the world's second largest economy, but the Party, with its 85 million members, is well aware that legitimacy does not spring solely from economic development.
According to the constitution of the CPC, "the Party has no special interests of its own, apart from the interests of the working class and the broadest masses of the people."
"Winning or losing public support is an issue that concerns the CPC's survival or extinction," Xi said in June last year. According to Xi, the mass-line is the "lifeline of the Party" and a "fundamental route of work."
The campaign requires the Party gives top priority to the interests of the people; maintains the closest possible ties with them; exercises power on their behalf; shows concern for them; and works in their interests.
An ardent advocate of the campaign, Xi has been to Hebei many times over the past year to learn about public concerns and stay in touch with the masses. For impoverished Fuping County, Xi's visit in Dec. 2012 has indeed been a game changer and the Party-people bond there has never been stronger.
"Xi came into my house, sat down and didn't care if the place was dirty at all," 69-year-old farmer Tang Zongxiu who lives in Luotuowan, a village in Fuping, said as she recalled the President's visit more than a year ago.
"He asked about how much we earned each year, whether we had enough to eat, whether we had enough to get through the harsh winter, how long it took for the kids to get to school and whether we had easy access to health care," Tang said.
Only about three hours from Beijing, Fuping County has been on a national poverty alleviation plan since 1994. Xi spent over 20 hours in the village and his visit has kindled hope that the county might make its way off that list before long, as an influx of funds followed the visit.
"The General Secretary knows life here is difficult," she said, adding that she was astonished by Xi's affability when they chatted to each other.
In like manner, a later visit to Tayuan in Zhengding County Xi not only brought joy to the hamlet, but also called back old memories.
Xi was Party chief of Zhengding County from 1983 to 1985. Many former county officials still remember him as the young man in his late 20s, who would squat down under the tree outside the government canteen just like all his colleagues and eat with everyone.
"The tide of time has not washed away his rustic charm," said Yin Xiaoping, current Party chief in Tayuan. "The General Secretary remains, by nature, one of the masses."
Mass-line means the CPC doing everything for the people, relying on people in every task, and putting the principal "from the masses, to the masses" into action. Nonetheless, a considerable distance does exist between the Party and the people.
Sun Ruibin, Party chief of the city of Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei, was embarrassed during a trip to a village in northern Hebei, where his visit literally surprised the locals.
"I remember one villager said 'Hey, I can barely see you these days. This time, I finally got you,'" Sun said, "It just struck me how distant I had been from the people I had vowed to serve."
The mass-line campaign should put an end to such embarrassing episodes.
The new leadership has repeatedly warned that alienating itself from the masses constitutes the biggest threat to the Party. Xi expects Party officials to reflect on the questions of whom they serve and rely on, and from whom they draw power during their daily work. Failing to answer these questions correctly will cut the Party off from the people, says Xi, just as if they were behind a glass wall.
As the Party constitution reads, the biggest political advantage of the Party lies in its close ties with the masses while the biggest potential danger for it as a governing party comes from its divorce from them.
To serve the people and meet their expectations, Hebei has solicited public opinion through interviews, questionnaires, e-mails and hotlines, and invited grass-root representatives to advise provincial officials on those issues. To date, authorities have received more than 460,000 suggestions from the public, and have tried to turn them all into concrete action.
Gao Feng, 63, a citizen of Shijiazhuang, was delighted when the rubbish heap in his neighborhood was turned into a public green space last summer, soon after locals complained online.
"I don't really understand the 'mass-line' campaign, but I know that the CPC has done good deeds for the people, and that's good enough for me," Gao said.
Source: Xinhua
