A government of the people and for the people should listen to the people, and share their weal and woes.

That is what the Communist Party of China's (CPC) mass line is about, and why correspondence and visitation departments were created at all levels of governments.

The CPC Central Committee's and the State Council's latest initiative to improve the performance of such establishments will prove to be a worthy public relations offensive for the Party and the government.

It is good to hear them say the work of the correspondence and visitation departments is of groundbreaking significance for societal harmony. It indeed is.

In spite of their frequent inspection trips across the country, high-ranking officials have little chance to see and hear the truth on those well-guarded and guided tours.

Correspondence and visitation departments, charged to handle public complaints lodged via letters and visits, are in the best position to know the problems of real people in the real world.

It is a pity that such wonderful sources of information have not received the degree of attention they deserve, or considered negatively. Higher authorities are upset that they are overwhelmed by disputes that should have been resolved at grassroots levels; local officials are angry that people take their complaints directly to higher levels, or even directly to Beijing.

So in addition to cold shoulders by higher authorities, those who lodge complaints usually have to play hide-and-seek with local officials who do whatever they can to nullify the efforts such "troublemakers."

The preference to having problems solved at the grassroots is still there in the joint decision of the CPC and the central government. That is the best possible scenario all complaint lodgers can expect. People would not have to risk enraging local officials and traveling long distances to have their complaints heard, as long as there is such possibility.

The real progress lies in the promise to "resolutely correct the mistaken practices of restraining and interfering in people's normal correspondence and visitation activities, and guarantee that the channels of correspondence and visitation are clear of obstructions".

People brave various barriers and pressures to voice their difficulties to higher authorities. They share the faith that there will be a place where justice can be done.

That faith is important for all parties.

(China Daily June 27, 2007)