Party school not for wining and dining
- Source: Global Times
- [08:27 June 30 2010]
- Comments
By An Baijie
The training school under the Communist Party of China is not about socializing or building connections, a top official at the school said in defending allegations the school was not living up to its serious objective.
The Party school, which is under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, trains officials about advanced governing theories and give participants a chance to read books, share ideas with other trainees and reflect on their past work, Li Jingtian, executive vice president of the school, said at a news briefing Tuesday.
Fan Shancheng, a commentator on ifeng.com, said Monday that the quality control mechanism at provincial and county level Party schools is inadequate, adding that corrupted and uneducated officials are allowed to complete their training.
"Most corrupt officials also graduated from various Party schools," Fan said.
Other critics claim the Party school is only a platform for officials to socialize and they learn nothing about theories.
Li said that could have been the case in the past.
"An official told me that in the past, if he didn't dine out with other officials for several days during the training, he would think that he was not liked by others and feel great pressure," Li said.
However, he said the situation has changed.
Li said about 2,000 Party and government officials that hold senior and middle ranks have received training at the school since 1978, after the opening up policy started.
