Social Governance, Big Issue

Zaoyuanliu, a village of Xi'an suburbs in Shaanxi Province, fulfilled last year an almost impossible mission of relocating all 405 families within three weeks, with neither violence nor petitions.

Zhao Jingchang, an official from Baqiao District which administers Zaoyuanliu, said that justice and openness in the procedure, and a joint evaluation by all parties involved, including the government, real estate developers and villagers, were the keys to a smooth relocation.

"Interested parties were invited to jointly assess whether the voice of villagers had been heard and their immediate and longer interests were served," Zhao said.

Although it took just 20 days for relocation, the villagers convened 18 times to discuss how to protect their own interests.

Considering the complexity of diversified interests, issues such as land transfers and house demolitions, if not properly handled, are likely to trigger mass protests.

Social governance is expected to be a hot topic during the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the top political advisory body, both of which are scheduled in early March.

While China saw gross domestic product increasing by 9.2 percent year on year in 2011, the country also witnessed a few mass incidents like the one in Wukan Village of Guangdong Province.

After months of protests against rural authorities over illegal land use and other issues in late 2011, the Guangdong provincial government sent a work team to Wukan, recognizing that "the villagers' major demands were reasonable" and pacifying the angry villagers. A new election for village heads was held in February.

"The mass incidents destabilized the society," Prof. Wang Yukai at the Chinese Academy of Governance said.

Social conflicts and mass incidents are usually rooted in infringements and unjust treatments imposed on ordinary people, Wang said.

In a commentary published in December, the People's Daily, the newspaper of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attributed many mass incidents in recent years to a failure to address public concerns. It called for better handling of people's interests and appeals.

The smooth relocation and land acquisition in Zaoyuanliu proved that solutions could be worked out.

"The relocation and land acquisition in the village is an experimental innovation under new circumstances," Gao Xuanliang, an official responsible for justice and security in Baqiao District.

The number of social conflicts in Baqiao has been on the rise, Gao said.

Therefore, the district evaluates social stability risks, pay extra attention to land acquisition, urbanization and restructuring of state-owned enterprises.

"No projects will get go-ahead without evaluation," Gao said.

Similar issues have received attention from the national government. A Feb. 15 executive meeting of the State Council, or the cabinet, announced to deepen reforms in land and public services, and coordinate the development of industrialization, urbanization and modernization.

The government also promised to balance social and economic development, curb the widening of income gaps, better allocate resources, and safeguard social equity.

Prof. Wang Zhongwu at Shandong University said, "Social management is somehow a coordination between making a cake bigger and slicing it fairly."

Wang said that the government should not only address people's practical interests, but also satisfy their expectations for a stable life.

Prof. Wang Yukai said that the handling of the Wukan incident showed a new perspective for social management.

"By channeling rather than checking, mass outcry could be pacified," Wang said.