Eleven officials in the Pearl River Delta city of Zhongshan in
Guangdong Province recently opened blogs on the local government's
Web portal to help the public get better acquainted with their
activities.
"Many people take it for granted that officials open blogs just
to show off. But I don't think so," said Fang Bingzhuo, deputy
secretary-general of the municipal government.
"Through the blog, we can tell local residents what we are doing
and why," said Fang, one of the officials taking part.
And officials can get to know citizens' ideas in a more timely
manner via their messages on the blog, he said.
"We consider it meaningful and the city government encourages
more officials to open blogs."
"The blogs make me understand what the government officials are
like," said local resident Yang Shaofeng.
"I used to mistakenly think that officials just passed the time
by reading newspapers and gossiping," Yang said. "But their blogs
tell me that they really have administrative capabilities and
constructive ideas."
However, they should spend more time improving their blog
subjects, such as including important local issues and and sharing
their viewpoints on the work they are responsible for, to make
their blogs more interesting, he suggested.
Zheng Yongting, a philosophy professor at Sun Yat-sen University
in Guangzhou, said blogs establish a new channel of communication
between government officials and citizens and will help improve the
image of those officials.
"The blogs will make the officials closer to the public and will
also help them to better understand public opinion," Zheng
said.
In addition to the Zhongshan officials, Zhu Yongxin, vice-mayor
of Suzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province, and Liao Xinbo, deputy
director of Guangdong Health Department, have also opened personal
blogs.
(China Daily January 5, 2008)