China Focus: Social governance, big issue

XI'AN, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) -- 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.