China has nurtured a number of showcase communities in its urbanization process following the government's call to promote ethical and cultural progress among the citizens.

The Office for the Promotion of Ethical and Cultural Progress of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Ministry of Civil Affairs Tuesday recommended a group of 108 elite communities from all the municipalities, provinces and autonomous regions.

All these communities have played a leading role in promoting ethical education, invigorating the people's cultural life, maintaining public order, implementing grassroots democracy, providing good services and building a beautiful environment.

Ethical progress in communities is a focal point of a nationwide campaign initiated by Chinese President Jiang Zemin several years ago to promote ethical and cultural progress.

Early this year, Jiang proposed to "rule the country by a combination of law and morality." Jiang repeated the idea in his July 1 speech commemorating the 70th founding anniversary of CPC, by defining sustained moral development as a crucial part of the country's task for "developing an advanced socialist culture."

From mediating neighborhood squabbles to promoting CPC's theories among the citizens, communities have become more and@important in the people's daily life.

In Shanghai, a commercial center in east China, community-run service centers have helped over 300,000 laid-off workers find new jobs and have obtained a basic living allowance for over 10,000 in poverty.

Today, it is not strange for a young college graduate to compete for a position at a community center or a neighborhood committee, a job that was done mostly by retired, sometimes uneducated people.

In Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, the average age of community officials has dropped from 52 to 39. Some 97 percent of these officials, most elected by the residents, have finished high school, and 37.6 percent received college education.

Meanwhile, volunteers are playing an important role in community affairs. In the capital city of Beijing, the 47,000 community officials are supported by some 230,000 volunteers, helping to raise awareness among the citizens on such issues as environmental protection, public health, respect for the senior citizens and good neighbor relations.

To push ahead the ethical campaign, the CPC Central Committee has recently issued an outline on ethics building among the citizens, which reaffirms traditional ethical codes such as love for the motherland, abiding by law and devotion to one's career.

The outline aims to foster the country's cultural and ethical development while maintaining economic growth.

(China Daily December 26, 2001)