China has wrapped up its massive program to train more than
5,000 county-level officials for the national campaign of building new countryside.
On Sunday, some 180 county-level officials finished their
training classes themed "building socialist new countryside" at the
Party School of the Community Party of China (CPC) Central
Committee in Beijing.
Since last April, altogether 5,474 county magistrates or county
Communist Party chiefs have participated in such seven-to-ten-day
training classes in five official training schools.
Fifty training classes were organized in the Party School of the
CPC Central Committee, National School of Administration, and
officials training institutes respectively in Pudong of Shanghai, Jinggangshan of Jiangxi Province and Yan'an of Shaanxi Province.
It is rare in history that the CPC central committee organized
such a unified and large-scale training with a specific topic, said
an official with the Organization Department of the CPC Central
Committee.
"This shows the CPC Central Committee attaches great importance
to building new socialist countryside and raising the competence of
county officials in this sense," he stressed.
To ensure the quality of training, the Organization Department
of CPC Central Committee required that the five schools use unified
teaching plan and method.
For most of the county heads and party chiefs, it was the first
time for them to study in a state-level official training
school.
Ma Zhanwen, secretary of the Communist Party Fengyang county
committee, in Anhui Province, said the training made him
better understand why and how to build new countryside.
"The training plays an irreplaceable role in enhancing our
understanding of the historical task," Ma said.
Zeng Yesong, professor with the Party School of the CPC Central
Committee, citied a Chinese proverb as saying "as long as the
counties are ruled, the country is stable."
The training program is closely tied with the country's new
round of elections of county-level heads and party chiefs.
(Xinhua News Agency January 29, 2007)