Clean and Honest Party Secretary Liu Yunku of a 100-Million-Yuan Village ����This report is written by Xinhua News Agency correspondents Wang Jinye and Wen Min and Our Staff Reporter Zhang Yan. It tells of how Liu Yunku, elected village Party branch secretary in 1976 when he was 29 years old, sought various ways to lead the villagers on to the road to common prosperity. For this purpose, Liu had led the villagers to set up a small oil mill, a flour- processing mill and a machinery repair factory and finally an oil tankers-processing factory, an enterprise being operating in a dozen provinces and cities. At present, there are more than 100 households each having assets valued at well over 100,000 yuan, some farming households have bought villas and sedan cars. This fact shows that the formerly outlying , poverty-stricken village has developed into a well-off village in Jining city. ����Liu developed a democratic style of work. At his proposal, a village business-discussion system was set up, under which major village affairs were discussed. To make the village financial affairs more open and transparent, a village financial management group was formed in 1990. Due to the openness of administrative and financial affairs, everybody was satisfied and it was easy to get things done. It is reported in the 22 years during Liu's assumption of office, not a single criminal case occurred in the village. ����On June 9, 1995 Liu felt something wrong with his throat , so he went to the hospital to have a physical check-up which revealed that he had contracted medium-term esophagus cancer. ����"Life is like a fire, it will die out if it does not burn". He wrote this sentence into his diary, which had become his motto. ����In the last period of his life, what was unforgettable to him was the Shahe villagers, he said to his superiors and families: "My illness is incurable, I want to offer the money society has donated to me as medical treatment fees." So, in compliance with his wishes, 2,500 yuan was given to orphans Jin Xiu and Xiao Qiang to repair their house, another 1,500 yuan was used to pay in advance the electricity charge for the village primary school...." ����"After I die, don't raise any request from my organization" he told his families again and again. On March 12, 1998, 51-year-old Liu passed away. ����The above report is accompanied by this short commentary entitled "A Good Example for Rural Grass-roots Cadres". The commentary says: from the very first day of his assumption of office, Liu Yunku had taken leading the masses to follow the road to common prosperity as his unswerving pursuit, his firm resolve and persistent efforts finally changed the poor and backward village into a well-off village renowned far and wide. "Life is like a fire, it will die out if it does not burn". As one lives one should be a noble person useful to the people, that is Liu's understanding of life. If cadres of our grass-roots units can understand life as Liu did, fulfill their responsibilities, practice hard and engage in arduous struggle, then the grass-roots Party organizations will generate even greater cohesive force and combat effectiveness, rural material construction and cultural and ethical progress will become even more vigorous in the new period. ���� HomeNews 1999-01-18 Page1 Full Story in Chinese