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Premier Wen talks online with public

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-02-28 10:59

Officials asked to improve Internet literacy

China's Internet population has dramatically changed the political landscape of the country. President Hu and Premier Wen have said they personally spend time online to gauge public concerns.

In January 2007, Hu, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, urged senior officials at a lecture attended by members of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, "to improve their Internet literacy and use the Internet well so as to improve the art of leadership".

Related readings:  Chinese world's top netizen group

According to the China Internet Network Information Center, in January, the number of Chinese netizens surpassed 300 million. That is 23.8 percent of the population, or the most web users in the world from any one country.

Beijing-based Renmin University China Media College Vice President Yu Guoming told Xinhua that Chinese officials and scholars felt obliged to notice citizens online views as a way to learn about the social situation and people's thoughts.

"Online opinions have become an indispensable part of public voices," Yu said. "The Internet offers the most convenient vent for the voices of common people, without any editing."

"Conventional media usually convey only one kind of views but the Internet allows dissenting views as long as they are in line with laws," he said.

Noting that online chat is a good way to communicate with the people, the premier said he is willing to do more such chats in the future.

Backgrounder: China's central government website

The website of China's central government, www.gov.cn, dubbed the "24-hour online government" by Chinese netizens, receives more than 4.5 million visitors each day for its Chinese and English versions.

Since it was formally launched on January 1, 2006, the website has been sending out information on the country's government affairs to the world in simplified Chinese, original complex Chinese characters and English.

It has filed more than 900,000 Chinese articles and information items and more than 110,000 English information items.

Daily, it posts 700 Chinese and 100 English articles.

In 2008, the average number of daily visitors to the website increased by 1.65 million.

Directly after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck southwest China's Sichuan Province, the number of visitors soared to 20 million a day.

The website invites senior government officials to give online interviews on a regular basis.

Officials from ministries and other central government departments gave more than 190 interviews since early 2006.

"The website used authoritative sources to provide answers to the public as soon as they raised questions on government affairs. This is vital for sustaining stable social order," a netizen from Sichuan wrote in an entry he published on the website.

The site provided a platform for departments under the State Council, and provincial, autonomous regional and municipal governments to release information as well as provide online services.

The building of the central government website was a major step as central authorities strive to build a service-oriented government, according to the State Council.

It plays a significant role in promoting government transparency, improving public services and administrative efficiency, it added.

"As an employee of a grassroots government organization, I found the website very useful in helping me learn about the State Council's recent work and about hot issues in government affairs," said a netizen from the southwestern city of Chongqing.

The website has four sections.

One is information about government affairs, including important policies, regulations and documents.

The service section provides online services to citizens, enterprises and foreigners.

The communication section offers channels for interaction between government and citizens.

The section of applied functions provides surfers with a search engine.

The General Office of the State Council is responsible for the content design, organization and coordination of the website.

Xinhua News Agency is responsible for its operation, content updating and technical support.

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