Pan Lihong, a college graduate village official in Damao village, Jishan county, Zhejiang Province, helps villagers plant rice on June 21.Photo: CFP

Zhou Xiaolin, a 27-year-old mother-to-be, is feeling nervous. Not just because of her unborn baby, but also about her upcoming trip to Beijing this fall.

As one of only four graduate village officials that have been elected to the upcoming 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China later this fall, Zhou, who currently works as a street officer in Pengshui county of Chongqing Municipality, feels overwhelmed by all of the public attention the title has brought.

"This is a very high honor for me. But, I feel under a lot of pressure. I am so young and have little working experience," she told the Global Times. Upon graduating from Yangtze Normal University with a bachelor's degree in Chinese language studies, Zhou, a Pengshui native, chose to return to her hometown and became an official in a poverty-stricken village in 2008, the year when the government officially launched its campaign to encourage college graduates to work in rural China as local officials.

"The move is aimed at cultivating a reserve of talents, who are not only familiar with grass-roots governance, but also understand farmers, to help build a new socialist countryside," said Li Yuanchao, the minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, during a speech addressed to the graduate village officials at a training class in Beijing in 2011.

By the end of 2011, more than 223,000 college graduates had filled official posts in a third of China's 630,000 villages. Among them, more than 40,000 had taken on management roles, including Party secretaries and directors of the village committees.

Only four of this group were listed in the group of 2,270 delegates chosen for the upcoming Party Congress. But given China's more than 80 million Party members, the selected four are expected to bring fresh air to the nation's highest political body, which meets once every five years. They were chosen through a series of complicated election procedures all starting with nominations of outstanding Party members at the grass-roots level.

"We might be young and inexperienced compared with seasoned delegates, but we will be brave enough to make our own voices heard at the Great Hall of the People," said Zhou.

Spotlight role

Zhou and her three other peers will sit in this year's Party Congress. Besides listening to Party Secretary Hu Jintao's report, they, together with many others from across the country, are obliged to give their vote to the new leaders who are expected to run China for the next five to 10 years. Most members of the current nine-member central committee of the CPC are retiring due to age or term limits.

As it is the first time for the Party Congress to open its doors to such village officials, these four young people, all born after 1980, immediately attracted huge attention.

Shi Lei (front left), 24, Party Secretary of a street administration office in Nanjing and one of four graduate village officials to join the upcoming 18th CPC National Congress, participates in the CPC Congress of Nanjing in October last year. Photo: CFP

Shi Lei, the 24-year-old Party Secretary of a street administration office in Nanjing, has become a media darling thanks to the extensive coverage of his story as soon as he was confirmed as the first graduate village official ever for the Party Congress in May.

As a college graduate from Tsinghua University and a street official for four years, Shi's name showed up on a roster of 70 delegates representing a total of 4.85 million Party members in Jiangsu Province, for the upcoming Congress.

However, only Zhou agreed to talk to the Global Times directly, while the other three either could not be reached or declined by referring a formal interview request to the local Party Organization authority.

"It's a sensitive time as they are standing in the eye of the storm. They have to make sure no mistakes will be made before the congress is convened," a local reporter surnamed Jiang from Jiangxi Province explained.

Significant voice

It still remains unclear why these four were picked from tens of thousands of others who share a similar background and track records in their managerial performance, but all of the graduate village officials contacted by the Global Times were happy to see this small change.

"It's a very good thing as it means the recognition of our special identity from the central government," Zhang You, a village official from Miyun county, Beijing, told the Global Times.

But for graduate Liu Liang, the assistant to the Party secretary of a village in Hunan Province, this is nothing surprising, and he believes the group he represents deserves more seats at the congress in the future.

"Thanks to our day-to-day work at the grass-roots level of government, we have got to know the true situation of today's villages, the real need of the farmers, and the things that need to be done to improve the local economy and people's livelihoods, all of which should be reflected by the representation of people like us in the Party Congress," said Liu.

"It shows the Party has made great efforts during the selection process to ensure the delegates, who come from the widest range of professionals, have the opportunity to practice their duties and make their voices heard in the decision-making process among China's top leaders," said Professor Cai Zhiqiang with the Party School of the CPC Central Committee.

Besides these four graduate village officials, there will be another 688 so-called "front-line" delegates elected from the masses of ordinary members, including 26 migrant workers, who will attend the upcoming congress, making up 30.5 percent of the total 2,270 delegates, according to Wang Jingqing, vice minister of Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

As a veteran observer of China's Party Congress, Cai was amazed at the election of 26-year-old Xing Lei, the Party secretary of Sanwan village, Yongxin county, Jiangxi Province. "He's the first delegate ever from that county," said Cai.

But many people expressed doubts that members of the post-1980s generation, often tagged as self-centered, selfish and lazy, would be able to really participate in public affairs, not to say make serious speeches at the national congress on behalf of tens of millions of Party members behind them.

In one blog post, Shi was compared with Liu Chuanzhi, the founder of the Lenovo Group, who failed to make the final list.

"Nicknamed China's Bill Gates, Liu turned a small workshop of only around 20 people in a leading multinational company in only 20 years, while Shi is only an official of a small village with just over 1,000 farmers. Yet Liu failed while the boy made it," reads the blog.

Zhou, who joined the Communist Party in 2008, regards the upcoming trip to Beijing as a rare and precious eye-opening journey that might benefit her whole life.

"The limited knowledge I have might prevent me from having a thorough understanding of the issues plaguing today's countryside. So I look forward to sharing other delegates' insights and creative ideas at the congress," said Zhao.

Chinese experts say it is important that everyone contributes their independent thoughts by speaking out at the Party Congress for the interests of the group they are representing.

"After all, the development of grass-roots government needs a well-educated younger generation who are smart and passionate about their jobs, and also inclined to take new initiatives with an open mind," said Gong Weibin from the Chinese Academy of Governance.

Though their view on village issues might be subjective, experts say what really matters is that at the congress, the young leaders learn how to connect guidance from the central government with their own village's needs, and how to use their knowledge to help solve specific problems for their villagers.

Not for long

Unlike many who regard being a village official as a springboard for a better future, or as a way to fill time and avoid mounting unemployment, four graduate delegates have all decided to stay in the countryside long term.

"Besides the low pay, we are always regarded as just passers-by by the locals. We don't have real power. Sometimes, what we hold is just a title and what we are doing every day is simply running errands like typing or making tea," said Zhang from Beijing, who now spends most of her time on a charity project sponsored by the Communist Youth League of China.

By taking advantage of the natural resources in her village, Zhang wants to find ways to offer job opportunities for the left-behind women, and treatment for autistic children. Though she finds it hard to leave behind the people she serves, she doesn't plan to stay long after her commitment is fulfilled next year.

Zhang's view strikes a chord among many. The four elected Party congress delegates have received many proposals from their online peers, in the hope they could bring them to the table of China's highest decision-makers.

"It's my honor to be a spokeswoman of our group, one of the important proposal I would love to share with others at the congress is how to prevent a worsening brain drain in rural China, and how to find more incentives to attract college graduates to join us and to stay longer," said Zhou. "It's always a tough job to find qualified people to lead the village, as most of the young and educated people have all left for the cities," Zhou added.

With the Congress around the corner, she is full of confidence. "Compared with older people, we post-1980s are quick learners. By putting forward original ideas, combined with our broadened horizons and our courage, we could also make unique contributions," she said.