China's rural development has attracted more and more college graduates, as it can be seen from Cixi City in the eastern Zhejiang Province, according to a newspaper report.

Zhejiang Daily reported Thursday that this year, more than 1200 college graduates have joined the race for the 37 positions for village officials in the coastal small city.

This is the fifth year in succession since 2001 that the city selected village officials from college graduates. Thirty-seven finalists have begun to work as the villages' administrative assistants this year, making the city boast to have 180 graduates on grassroots in the rural areas.

One official from the city's personnel office said that it is in the interest of rural development that college graduates join the villages, as they bring along with new knowledge, culture, and skills to better restructure leading teams.

It is reported that Yu Chengde, one of the first 26 college graduates to become village officials, has proved to be a successful practitioner in the remote mountainous Dashan village. A computer science graduate from Ningbo Open University, Yu has successfully introduced the local agricultural process into the market via internet. With his efforts, every family in the village would make 10,000 yuan or about US$1,235 by selling the plum fruit this year.

Miao Changfeng, the Director of the City's Personnel Bureau praised the college graduates who have become village officials. He said more and more outstanding graduates have joined the village leading groups.

Chen Xi, a law major from Zhejiang Finance and Economics University, has been honored as a provincial level outstanding student. She declined several attractive job offers from businesses and chose to work in the countryside. She said that she would like to use her legal knowledge to serve her folks.

Chen Yuwei, a graduate from the famous China University of Science and Technology, has been busy talking with local peasants about agricultural issues. As one of the 37 finalists, Chen said that college graduates would certainly find their platforms for better personal growth in the countryside.

(CRI September 10, 2005)