Editor’s Note: The third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the third session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) started in Beijing on 21 and 22 May 2020 respectively.
The OUC News Network will continue to publicise and report deputies and members to the two sessions who are leaders, teachers, and students of the organisation system of the Open University of China (OUC), along with their suggestions and motions in the column “Two Sessions Deputies and Members from the OUC.” Through this column we hope to manifest the spirit of the OUC in this current era and its missions and responsibilities, to establish university’s place in society, to encourage teachers and students to strive for excellence, and to create a mighty force for the reform and development of open education.
Introduction to the deputy
Zhang Wenxi majored in Agricultural Economic Management at the Wuhan Branch from March 2012 to July 2014. In 2009, he served as a member of the Chenyu Villagers’ Committee, Pantang Street, Xinzhou District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. Since 2011, he has held the position of secretary of Chenyu Village Party Branch and has been head of the villagers’ committee since 2014. He was honoured with the titles of Party Branch Secretary Who Meets the Needs of the People by the CPC Xinzhou District in 2013 and Excellent Member of the Communist Party of China in 2014. He was elected a deputy to the Fifth Xinzhou District Committee of the Communist Party of China in 2016, a deputy to the Congress of the Communist Party of China of Wuhan City in 2017, and a deputy to the 13th National People’s Congress in January 2018.
Profile of the deputy
Chenyu Village, located in the hills northeast of Xinzhou District, borders Macheng City and is one of Wuhan’s most remote administrative villages. It was famous as a backward village where it was difficult to develop industry or do any other business. The entire village was in the doldrums.
In the elections for the village Party organisation in July 2011, 38-year-old Zhang Wenxi acted as secretary of the new village Party branch after being recommended by Party members and ordinary people and with the assessment of the upper level Party organisation. He became a bellwether for the attainment of prosperity in the poverty-stricken village. He took the lead as soon as he took office, plunging himself into hard work with all the villagers in a down-to-earth and innovative way. Today, Chenyu Village is on the way to achieving comprehensive sustainable development in economy, community, culture, and ecology. It has become a banner of the primary-level Party branches in the neighbourhood. For five consecutive years, it was awarded such honours as Red Banner Unit and Advanced Grassroots Party Organisation. Zhang Wenxi was also honoured as Party Branch Secretary Who Meets the Needs of the People, Excellent Party Member, a deputy to the 13th Congress of the Communist Party of China of Wuhan City, and a deputy to the 5th Congress of the Communist Party of China of Xinzhou District.
I. Build a strong primary-level organisation and consolidate the primary front
When Zhang Wenxi took office, he highlighted the construction of Party branch leadership. The Chenyu Village Party Branch gave top priority to the officials’ learning of Party building theories by studying the guiding principles of General Secretary Xi’s important speeches and the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of China. They earnestly followed the requirement for all Party members to have a solid understanding of the Party Constitution, Party regulations, and related major policy addresses and to meet Party standards. They took the opportunity of “Themed Party Day” activities to help officials learn theories of Party building, to arm their thinking, and to guide their ideological work.
II. Prioritise economic development and develop bigger and stronger industries
By adhering to the philosophy of making the village strong and villagers rich, and focusing on targeted poverty-alleviation, Chenyu Village strengthened the collective economy by working on the adjustment of industrial structures. With the aim of increasing the people’s income to help them to throw off poverty, 1,000 mu (1 mu equals about 0.0667 hectares) early maturing peach cultivation site and a 500 mu tea oil camellia cultivation site were developed. The annual income of the collective economy has topped RMB 130,000, and 15 households from targeted poverty relief were employed on the sites. This year, seven households with 19 people have successfully been lifted out of poverty. The increased scale of industry has expanded the number of channels for income generation for the village’s collective economy, and they have become a new driving force for increasing people’s income, a major battle field in the fight against poverty and targeted poverty alleviation, and a major way to assist people in extreme poverty to swap poverty for prosperity. In the course of developing industries to strengthen the collective economy, Zhang Wenxi paid attention to the primary driving force of the village Party branch, giving play to the exemplary and vanguard role of all Party members. When the construction of the early maturing peach cultivation site was initiated, there was 200 mu of wasteland that needed to be developed. Since the village had been unable to make use of the land collectively, some Party members and villagers had reclaimed and planted the land. At the meeting for the Party member representatives held by the village Party branch, several Party members voluntarily expressed their willingness to return their reclaimed wasteland to the village. The wasteland was thus taken back without any difficulty and an early maturing peach cultivation site covering 1,000 mu was successfully built. The completion of the sites embodies the key role played by the village Party branch and the exemplary and vanguard role of all Party members.
III. Innovate social governance and build a harmonious and beautiful village
Zhang Wenxi organised Chenyu Village in establishing a grid system to serve the people. Every year, he would organise science and technology training, the popularisation of legal knowledge, square dance contests, medical examinations, care for old people, people with special difficulties, and “left behind” women and children. During the flood prevention period in July 2019, the village Party branch set up a patrol mainly made up of Party members. They pulled down 24 dangerous houses and transferred and relocated 36 people without any casualties. Where there were dangers or needs, there were Party members.
IV. Serve the people and be a clean and honest example
As a Party member and a rural village Party branch secretary, Zhang Wenxi’s lifetime belief is that “one is never too old to work in a down-to-earth and innovative way.” This is also a vivid practical application of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s “people-centred” theory.
As a deputy to the National People’s Congress, Zhang Wenxi put forward his thoughts and suggestions for primary-level governance in combination with epidemic prevention and control and his 10 years of experience as a village Party branch secretary.
“In order to succeed at epidemic prevention and control, the key lies with Party branches,” Zhang Wenxi said. When the epidemic started, a Party member in Chenyu Village was quickly sent to purchase supplies. Furthermore, the Party committee took advantage of their knowledge of local producers and business owners to make sure that the village had enough supplies. Thanks to the intensified prevention and control efforts of the Party member officials in Chenyu Village, there were no confirmed or suspected cases in the village.
“With a powerful Party branch, iron walls could be built for effective lockdown control” Zhang Wenxi made suggestions for strengthening the construction of primary-level Party organisations so that they can play a greater key role.
Zhang Wenxi also proposed establishing primary-level emergency teams made up of village cadres, community workers, and militiamen at the neighbourhood, village, and community levels. A system integrating peacetime and wartime measures and a reserve of necessary emergency supplies should be established in order to upgrade the emergency response capacity of the communities. Furthermore, it is rational to improve the benefits offered to village and community officials and to introduce and keep capable people.
“Under the conditions of epidemic prevention and control, it is imperative to improve the mass work capacity of the officials. They have to be good at relying on, mobilising, organising and serving the people in order to encourage them participate in social governance, to realise self-management, and to consolidate the foundations for community governance,” Zhang Wenxi said.
Zhang Wenxi said that he will continue to successfully complete the tasks of rural revitalisation and restated that what has been lost will be recovered in order to try to get a good agricultural harvest and increase the income of farmers this year.
By OUC News Network, integrating reports from Hubei Daily and Xinzhou Media Convergence