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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GUANGZHOU 014820 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM AND INR 
PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR CH
SUBJECT: Corruption and Customer-Service: Improving CCP 
Assessment Metrics? 
 
REF: A) 04 Guangzhou 30943 
 
(U) THIS DOCUMENT IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE 
PROTECT ACCORDINGLY.  NOT FOR RELEASE OUTSIDE U.S. 
GOVERNMENT CHANNELS.  NOT FOR INTERNET PUBLICATION. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: In the wake of countless land protests 
throughout Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Communist Party 
School wants to eliminate the corruption and management 
failures of its cadres and civil servants.  Besides 
increased anti-corruption training, assessments of leaders 
are increasingly based on "putting people first" and foreign 
media reaction.  A recent visit to the Guangdong Party 
School, however, revealed the efficacy of such training to 
be suspect.  End summary. 
 
Background on Guangdong Party School Structure 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
¶2. (SBU) Poloff recently met with Chen Hongyu, Vice 
President of both the Guangdong Communist Party School and 
the Guangdong Administration College.  Both schools are 
responsible for training the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) 
leaders and top civil servants in Guangdong Province.  Last 
year the Guangdong Administration College trained 13,000 
civil servants alone.  Guangdong Province is unique in that 
the Guangdong Communist Party School and Guangdong 
Administration College use the same faculty and are housed 
in the same building.  The discussion with Chen focused on 
issues of corruption, leadership assessment and youth party 
membership development.  This recent visit built upon the 
Consulate's prior 2004 visit to the Guangzhou Municipal 
Party School, which revealed the Guangzhou Party school's 
emphasis on practical management instead of party ideology 
(see reftel, "Less Marx More Management"). 
 
¶3.  (U) The Guangdong Party School/Administration College 
has 500 faculty members.  According to Chen, the school is 
relatively independent of the Central Party School and 
National Administration College in Beijing.  In general 
Beijing gives "guiding principles" for the Guangdong school, 
but the province creates its own curriculum and methods. 
The student body includes people like city mayors, director 
generals of provincial bureaus, chiefs of provincial 
departments, and heads of counties and prefecturial 
districts.  Of the 13,000 civil servants trained last year, 
many were above the Section Chief level.  However, of that 
number, 7,000 were trained for only one week as part of the 
new 2006 Civil Servant Law.  The law states that all civil 
servants must receive some kind of basic training before 
starting their job.  The law also requires officials above 
section chief level should have at least three-months of 
training every five years. 
 
Curriculum and Research Projects: China's Newest B-School 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
¶5.  (U) In search of the latest case studies and pedagogical 
methods, some faculty members have visited and observed the 
top public administration programs in the United States and 
Europe.  As a result, the curriculum seems much closer to a 
MBA program than the ideological indoctrination camps of the 
past. (Note: In fact, the South China Morning Post recently 
reported that the Central Party School has opened its doors 
to business professionals to attend courses for a hefty fee. 
End Note).  Currently the curriculum includes three 
categories of classes.  The first category, which typically 
lasts two months, is mostly for the new civil servants who 
require training under the 2006 Civil Servant Law.  Category 
two, which lasts four months, is for officials ready to be 
promoted.  Chen said that in 2005, about 300 officials had 
this type of training in the Guangdong Party School. 
Category three are subject-specific (such as training on WTO 
rules) usually only for one to two weeks. 
 
¶6.  (U) Additionally, the school is occasionally tasked by 
Beijing or Guangdong Provincial authorities to research 
special projects.  Recent topics have included: 
 
-Water resource management 
-Technological innovation 
-Government supervisory role 
-Compulsory education in rural areas. 
-The Guangzhou East Train Station Management 
-Migrant worker problem 
-Coordination of Guangdong and Hong Kong integration 
-Urban planning problems for peri-urban areas 
 
GUANGZHOU 00014820  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
Education not Punishment: Anti-Corruption Training 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
¶7.  (U) Vice President Chen was very willing to discuss anti- 
corruption training programs.  Such training focuses on 
"professional morals of civil servants" and keeping civil 
servants "clean".  Chen believes education, not punishment, 
is the most important method to prevent corruption.  In 
addition to the regular training (included in category one 
and two courses), a special course is taught every July for 
the highest ranking Guangdong officials on "self- 
discipline".  The students in the course include director 
generals of the provincial government, presidents of 
universities and mayors of prefectures.  Guest lectures 
typically include high-ranking Beijing officials as well as 
appearances by Zhang Dejiang (Guangdong Party Chief) and 
Huang Huahua (Guangdong Governor). 
 
...But is it a Deterrent? 
------------------------- 
¶8.  (SBU) All of the anti-corruption courses use videos and 
vivid case studies to try to "awaken self-discipline" among 
civil servants.  The videos and cases are followed by group 
discussions, which Chen said are often very heated and have 
a profound effect on students.  The program is coordinated 
with the Guangdong Supervision Department and the Provincial 
Procurator.  One of the most powerful examples Chen likes to 
use is about a former Director General of the Guangdong 
Civil Affairs Department, who, after a 20-year government 
career, went to jail for 10 years for corruption.  Many 
students have heard of the official, so the story has a 
profound effect on them.  (Note:  Chen said the former 
Director General came to the party school three times for 
anti-corruption training before her arrest.)  Additionally, 
students are asked to calculate the time they would spend in 
jail for the meager benefit of a 10,000 RMB bribe (USD 
$1,250). 
 
Assessment of Leaders and Protests 
---------------------------------- 
¶9.  (U) Borrowing from Hu Jintao's idea of "scientific 
development", Chen stated the school wants to create a 
scientific cadre assessment system.  In essence, GDP growth 
is no longer the only measurement of effective leadership. 
Instead, the school hopes to create leaders who are both 
"capable" and "moral" and who "place people first". 
Currently the main criteria are:  1) political reliability; 
2) capability; 3) attitude & working style (i.e. no 
corruption); 4) the people's "trust"; and 5) the number of 
unflattering foreign media reports. 
 
¶10.  (U) Regarding the effect of Guangdong's numerous land 
and labor protests on leadership assessment, Chen called the 
topic very "timely", however it is officially not a Party 
School research priority.  Instead, protests are researched 
by the corresponding responsible bureaus.  Therefore, the 
Labor Department researches labor protests, the Land and 
Resources Bureau is responsible for land protests, and the 
Petition Bureau covers petition protests. 
 
The Next Generation of Communists? 
---------------------------------- 
¶11.  (U) Chen believed it is important to reach out to young 
people.QHu Jintao's recent statement of the "eight glories 
and eight shames" (barong, bachi), Chen said, has made a 
strong impression on young people.  However, the school 
mostly focuses on civil servants and only has occasional 
lectures at universities in Guangdong. 
 
¶12.  (U) In general, Chen did not consider youth recruitment 
into the Communist Party to be difficult because the Chinese 
people are by nature a very philosophical and political 
people.  Moreover, the rumor that college students simply 
join the party in order to get a better job is not true.  He 
argued that most jobs in the Chinese economy are in the 
private sector where party affiliation has less 
significance. 
 
A New Central Party Edict 
------------------------- 
¶13.  (SBU) The April edition of Outlook magazine (published 
by Xinhua) reported a notice sent by top Party officials 
calling for changes in provincial leadership.  The notice 
included personnel changes such as cutting provincial vice- 
party secretaries and spelling out the key criteria for 
 
GUANGZHOU 00014820  003 OF 003 
 
 
future political leaders.  Beyond just economic indicators, 
special emphasis would be placed on the candidates' record 
in public administration, combating corruption, promoting 
consensus and personal qualities such as honesty and 
modesty. 
 
Comment 
------- 
¶14.  (SBU) As the Outlook magazine article stressed, the 
Guangdong Party School is similarly putting emphasis on 
competent, responsible decision-makers, not just ideological 
robots.  Leaders in Guangdong Province face a particular 
challenge because their mistakes and inadequacies can be 
quickly detected by Hong Kong media.  Recently the All China 
Federation of Trade Unions announced that Guangdong had the 
highest number of labor unrest incidents of any province 
with 60,000.  Therefore, Party School pedagogues want to 
emphasize Hu Jintao's maxims of ensuring social harmony and 
"putting the people first".  However, as evidenced by the 
Director General with 20 years of service and three visits 
to anti-corruption training, even the best training cannot 
solve all problems. 
 
ROCK