A decade can make big difference. For Zhang Jinming, her ten years'
pursuit of democratic reform has signified hardship, perplexities,
thrills and, most of all, great accomplishments.
Zhang Jinming, now the deputy secretary of the Ya'an Municipal
Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in southwest
China's Sichuan Province, is a brave and open-minded woman. With
great courage and even broader perspectives, she has made it
possible to elect governmental officers democratically in many
towns and counties under her domain. Her experimental practices are
precious for China, a country that is intent upon embracing
democracy. The history of Zhang's struggles is both captivating and
stimulating.
In 1998, at the age of 41, Zhang was appointed as the Party
chief of the Shizhong District of Suining City in Sichuan. She was
responsible for several counties. When she began her term in office
she encountered many thorny issues concerning low-ranking
governmental officers. These problems had caused the public to
complain vociferously. Zhang resolved to take affirmative actions.
Considering it impossible to replace all the problematic officers
in one fell swoop, she came up with the idea of public elections.
She believed that public elections would not only reduce the
pressures of high-level bureaus but also create more responsible
officers.
Zhang chose Baoshi Town as her first experimental site. In April
1998, 600 local People's Congress representatives, village heads
and villagers' representatives voted by ballot to elect candidates
for the governor of Baoshi, then the town-level People's Congress
chose the town governor by ballot again. This was the first time in
China that town head had been elected in this way.
After these elections, more towns under Zhang's jurisdiction
began to emulate Baoshi's electoral process. The Hengshan Town
lifted restrictions on their gubernatorial candidate's political
status and chose its governor through public election. Dongchan and
Lianhua Towns pushed the practice much further. They publicly
elected their Party chiefs from a pool of all local CPC members.
All these reforms proved successful and were highly praised by
higher authorities.
But not everyone had faith in these elections. Some still
thought the higher-level governmental departments undoubtedly
designated the so-called people's representatives and village
leaders; the elections were simply for show. In order to convince
them, Zhang thought it was high time to grant the voting rights to
ordinary citizens and let them directly choose whoever they thought
was suitable. Some of her colleagues did not agree, viewing her
move as unwise and rash. Zhang hesitated. But later she went ahead,
remembering that a provincial leader in a conference had given her
the thumbs up to direct elections at the town and county level.
This time China and the world focused on Buyun Village. On a
rainy day at the end of 1998, 6,000 ordinary voters, young and old,
used their ballots to elect their village governor; the local
People's Congress recognized his validity. This unprecedented event
produced China's first directly elected village governor, Tan
Xiaoqiu, who also happened to be a non-CPC member. In retrospect,
political experts have always considered this as China's first
direct election. Some imply that this election has profound impact
upon Chinese history. Others have noted that the event proves
ordinary Chinese are competent enough to exercise their democratic
rights and that fundamental administrative units – villages – can
hold fair elections without external interferences.
In the beginning of 1999, the media reported the election in
Buyun village. Unfortunately their coverage brought great grief to
Zhang Jinming. On February 24, 1999, the Sichuan provincial
government telegraphed all its subsidiaries across the province to
criticize the move. Zhang was scared because she was accountable
for the elections. She feared an end to her political career and
even speculated being taken into custody. Surrounded by depressing
uncertainties, Zhang suffered intensely.
Fortunately, her provincial leaders were very tolerant. They
viewed Buyun's elections as meaningful experimental practices.
Zhang did not lose her job; instead she went on becoming vice mayor
of Suining in charge of social affairs. But she was not pleased to
be forced to leave the frontier of democratic reform. In the
interim she began to contemplate all the reforms that she
initiated. Finally she realized that any rash move aiming to
radically change the current political system would not produce any
positive outcome. It would, in fact, block the road toward progress
because the basis of village and town level, also known as
grassroots-level democracy, is very fragile. She concluded that
reformers must first and foremost respect the current political
system.
In 2002, Zhang seized a chance to conduct reforms again.
Supported by her, Buyun again experienced a new electoral process.
The election was unique. First, the general voters chose a
candidate via ballots. The candidate then was nominated by the
local CPC committee for election inside the local People's
Congress. Obviously this mélange was a combination of old elements
in the current political system mixed with the new elements
indicating democratic reforms. Not surprisingly, this unique
practice was granted the best governmental innovation award in
2003. The official governmental recognition gave Zhang more
confidence in her theory – respect for the current political is the
precondition of democratic reform.
The success of Buyun's reform encouraged many others coveting
political reforms. A good friend of Zhang's even suggested that she
further her reforms by westernizing the entire election procedure.
Zhang turned down the advice directly. She quarreled with her
friend; their friendship was wrecked. Some people believed that
Zhang's experiment in Buyun represented a great political
compromise and lost faith in her. But Zhang remained steadfast and
determined to move forward.
In August of 2002, 45-year-old Zhang was appointed as Ya'an's
standing CPC committee member and director of the organization
department. In November the 16th National Congress of CPC was held
in Beijing. The portentous conference signaled that inner-Party
democracy was the lifeblood of CPC. Only via inner-Party democracy
would democratic reforms in counties and county-level cities be
carried out successfully.
Zhang foresaw an opportunity to further her reforms. She decided
to expand her experimental practices into other political arenas.
Within one month, supported by Zhang, Ya'an's Yucheng District and
Yingjing County had their CPC representatives elected directly.
This was the first time in the CPC's history that county-level CPC
representatives had been elected by this means. Zhang also utilized
a tactic of splitting the supervisory powers, policy-making and
execution within the standing agencies of the county-level CPC
congresses. Furthermore, in Yingjing County, members of the
county-level committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference (CPPCC) attended the annual local CPC
Congress instead of the local People's Congress. These Zhang-led
reforms changed the role of the lower-level CPPCC from an economic
affairs consulting organization into a truly political consultative
organization as defined in China's Constitution.
In February 2004, Zhang was promoted to Ya'an's deputy secretary
of the municipal CPC committee. She decided to restart her
experiment in grassroots democracy. That year, in Feixianguan Town,
all the CPC members directly elected their Party chief from a pool
of candidates recommended by the local general voters. The town's
secretary of the Youth League committee and the director of the
local women's federation were picked through direct elections. In
2006, Zhang also introduced electoral reforms for representatives
of the township-level People's Congresses as well as the Party and
governmental officers in four counties at the same time. Zhang's
reforms actually touched upon every corner of China's power
structure.
In 2007, Ya'an's democratic reforms cooled down from the climax.
Some officers were worried about the future and not sure if these
reforms can go as far as expect. Some county leaders argued these
reforms were financially unaffordable and thus shunned this kind of
political change. Others doubted if the reforms could be really
beneficial because certain places like Yingjing County experienced
economic downturn instead of bloom after its reform.
Zhang has undoubtedly felt pressure. She understands the
obstacles she is facing. But she has not lost her momentum. This
year she volunteered to take charge of the local new countryside
campaign. She feels that farmers, as the majority of the Chinese
population, are always the true force behind political reforms.
Zhang still believes that she can make a significant difference in
Chinese society today.
(China.org.cn by Pang Li, August 22, 2007)?
