Grassroots organizations, CPC's "nerve endings" for delivering benefits to people

BEIJING, July 1 (Xinhua) -- A 3.5-meter-wide, 580-meter-long road connecting to an orange production base has been newly built in Sipai Town in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The project was initiated by Xie Xiangwu, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), who was designated to assist residents in this area and was also an "alley chief." He received a message from a villager saying the road to the orange production base had been damaged, affecting the farmers' access.

Xie immediately communicated with the local Party branch about the matter and then reported it to a higher level of the Party organization. After about three months, the problem was solved.

This is an example of how the CPC's primary-level organizations listen to people's calls and help resolve their difficulties. Since its founding 103 years ago, the CPC has been dedicated to serving the people wholeheartedly.

Primary-level Party organizations, as the foundation of all Party's work, play a key role in ensuring the exercise of the Party's decisions and plans and delivering the Party's commitment to serving the people.

The latest data shows that the CPC has 5.18 million grassroots organizations, including 298,000 primary Party committees and 4.55 million branches.

In Sipai Town, 472 grassroots Party members serve as "alley chiefs" like Xie after going through a series of processes, including self-recommendation, nomination, and public noticing. Each alley chief is responsible for resolving the difficulties encountered by 10 to 20 households in their respective alleys.

Over the past year, they have coordinated and resolved a number of issues directly related to the villagers' vital interests, such as road hardening and water channel maintenance.

Grassroots Party organizations play their roles within their regions through mobilization, promotion, and supervision, and the upward transmission of public opinions and downward implementation of the Party's decisions and plans, thereby ensuring that grassroots Party building is closely integrated with social governance, said Xue Zelin, a senior fellow at the Institute of Politics and Public Administration of Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

As the "nerve endings" of the Party, primary-level Party organizations serve as the "last mile" in translating top-level policies into tangible actions and deliver true benefits to the public.

Zhang Guihua, 68, a resident from Guiyang in southwest China, enjoys the convenience of having an affordable and decent lunch at a welfare canteen with her peers every day.

Lunchtime at the community-based canteen also offers an occasion for elderly people, especially those who live alone, to share moments and accompany each other.

The canteen, opened in December 2021, is a result of efforts by the Party organization of the community of Jinyuan to satisfy people's needs for more convenience and higher life quality. It has proven beneficial to more than 2,300 elderly residents living in this community, said deputy Party chief An Chunyan.

Facing a swelling aging population, China sees developing catering services for the elderly as an important way to improve people's wellbeing. An action plan released by central governmental departments in late 2023 required upgrading and expanding such service facilities as elderly canteens.

Beside the canteen in the Jinyuan community is a grassroots service center encompassing an elderly care station and other facilities, where residents can have entertainment and exercise. There is also a place for them to put forward their opinions and suggestions.

An said since 2021, they have received more than 20 such demands, all of which have been met, ranging from setting up healthcare service stations to renewing fitness equipment.

Currently, the CPC has established Party organizations in nearly 120,000 residential communities and 489,000 administrative villages across the country, achieving a coverage rate of over 99.9 percent. These grassroots organizations that are closely connected with the public play a leading role in community-level governance.

As part of efforts to promote rural revitalization, China launched an initiative to increase people's law awareness in rural areas in 2021, with eligible personnel selected and trained to provide legal services. In many places, primary-level Party organizations and officials assume such posts.

Hou Guojun, 62, the Party chief of the village of Houjiawa in north China's Hebei Province, has organized more than 80 law-themed lectures since he started to take the responsibility of law popularization and resolving disputes in the village in 2021.

Now more than 3.8 million legal service providers like Hou are working at the primary level to raise people's awareness and nip disputes in the bud, resolving problems with marriage and neighborly relations, house and land to maintain social harmony and stability.

With a large population and vast territory, China is confronted with complicated problems with grassroots governance, according to Xue.

"Grassroots Party organizations play a fundamental role in promoting community-level governance modernization and are the source of strength in this process," said Xue.