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)