Work diary reveals problems in grassroots governance

A RESEARCHER IN politics at Hubei University of Economics in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, wrote a diary while working temporarily in a forestry department in a county-level district in the northwest of the province. Media reports quoting 96 entries from his diary have stirred heated discussions about grassroots officialdom. Beijing News commented on Wednesday:

The researcher, surnamed Jiang, wrote more than 300,000 words, and exposed some problems with the forestry district's governance system. "A frog is administrated by the water conservancy bureau if it is in water, by the forestry bureau, if on land," he wrote in his diary. "Every department cares about its power. But when something wrong happens, none stands out."

To solve the frog issue, the local government will probably set up a new temporary frog office. In the past we have seen watermelon offices and Chinese cabbages office to help the farmers sell their agricultural products. There used to be a steamed bun office in some counties and towns in Central China, where the wheat flour is the staple food, to strengthen the regulation of the steamed bun market.