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Taking the Road of Mass Creation
As one enters the mayor's "1, 2, 3, 4, 5" public phone call receiving and handling center of Hangzhou City, one can find the place is bustling with activity: Almost none of the five telephones is at leisure for a moment, the personnel are terribly busy with listening, taking notes and giving answers.
The statistical table on the wall displays facts about the number of phone calls handled monthly by the center, as well as the rates of answer, handling, feedback, cases transmitted to departments concerned for treatment or submitted to the authority concerned for approval. The responsible person of the center told the reporter that it has been one year since the telephone service was opened.
At present, the phone calls given by the masses are not merely about their own problems, but in most cases, are about questions related to municipal work and cultural and ethical development, for instance, they advance their opinions and suggestions with respect to environmental protection, sanitation, communication and the cultural market.
A small corner gives refraction to the salient feature of Hangzhou City's activity to promote cultural and ethical progress: This means following the road of mass creation, characterized by this slogan "Serving the masses, relying on the masses' participation and doing things to the satisfaction of the masses".
Doing everything for the people, and doing everything by relying on the people are two inseparable aspects of the principle for our Party to represent and bring about the fundamental interests of the people in general.
In developing the economy, it is necessary to implement this principle, and socialist cultural and ethical progress cannot be achieved without this principle. In its activity to promote cultural and ethical progress, Hangzhou City has carried out this principle, in doing practical work, it persists in proceeding from the benefit and need of the masses, stimulates and relies on the masses' active participation, uses "satisfaction to the masses" as the basic criterion for assessing one's work, thereby bringing the activity of creation closer to the masses, bringing benefits for the masses, improving the quality of the masses' lives and proceeding further to raise the citizens' ideological and moral quality and the level of urban civilization.
The work of promoting cultural and ethical development can have a profound mass foundation only when it is integrated with doing practical work for the masses. To be eager to meet the need of the masses and think of what is in their minds is the responsibility of the government; That the masses go to the government for help when problems crop up reflects their confidence in the government, the government should take this opportunity to investigate and make up the shortage and defect. With the shortcoming discovered, the government can thereby do work still better. The practice of Hangzhou City proves that combining the activity to promote cultural and ideological progress with doing solid work for the masses makes it possible to win the support of the general public The Hangzhou of today has created a good social atmosphere featuring "the government's concern for the citizens, and citizens' support for the government", this is something inseparable from the government's wholehearted effort to do practical things for the masses.
In the activity to promote cultural and ethical progress, emphasis is laid on the participation of the masses. The work of creating a civilized city is not only the business of the government, it is all the more the business of the masses. The masses are the main force for the promotion of cultural and ethical progress. "The city is my home, and its construction relies on everybody". The masses show high enthusiasm, great energy and a strong sense of participation in the work of creating a civilized city. The masses have wisdom, they pool collective wisdom and ideas, keep a long-term view and stress actual results; the masses have a sense of responsibility, they regard the work of promoting cultural and ethical progress as their own business. Hangzhou City pays attention to constantly expanding the channel of links between the government and masses, by adopting a variety of forms such as conducting social investigation, public opinion poll and organizing forums, government officials extensively listen to the opinions and demands of the masses and pool the latter's wisdom and strength, and thus guarantee that the decision thus made is scientific and conduct is rational. Just as flames rise high when everybody adds fuel, the masses show great energy in participation. When the masses change and improve themselves in the course of participation, the activity to promote cultural and ethical progress has become a vivid process for the masses to go in for self-education and making constant progress.
Only when the activity to create civilization represents and reflects the inherent demand of the masses, can this work truly take root in the hearts of the people. The said activity may sometimes affect the interests of various quarters, if the masses are in a passive position, adopt an inactive attitude and take no coordinate action, it will be difficult to get a good thing done well. The important thing is that we should let the masses feel the need to link the activity to create civilization with their desire to enjoy a better life, when the residential quarter is beautified, river water gets clear and houses become more spacious, the activity to create civilization will become the conscious and voluntary action of the masses. For example, the masses' attitude toward "dismantling illegally built structures" was at first "I do not understand and do not take coordinate action when you ask me to demolish the structures", later they change, becoming active and initiative by saying "now I ask you to dismantle the structure for me". Enhancement in one's understanding takes some time. The environment changes a person who, in turn, remakes the environment even better, everybody feels that they are masters of the city and are duty-bound to make their homeland even better. In the creation of civilization, this represents a higher realm where lies the great vitality of the creation of civilization.
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