Yang Ping is the chief of the local Communist Party of China (CPC) discipline inspection commission in Zhuzhou, Hunan province.
But the 47-year-old is better known among local Internet users as "classmate Yang".
Since he first registered and logged onto the Zhuzhou Forum of Hunan-based news portal www.rednet.cn on May 14, Yang has posted 216 topics that have garnered huge response from the online community.
One of his postings, titled "Eight Problems with Zhuzhou Officials' Work Style," was read 18,697 times and received 502 replies.
Yang is popular not only for his straightforward views, but also because he has gone online using his real name and revealing his government position to his online audience.
"I am both an official and a netizen - or a bridge between the two," he said.
Yang is just one of the many government officials and deputies to the local and national legislatures - the people's congresses - who have come to value the Internet as an important channel for expressing public opinion in the country.
"I log on to view domestic and foreign news, to learn of people's interests, and to solicit their advice and opinion about the work of our government and Party," President Hu Jintao had said when Internet users asked how he spent his time online, during an online chat with them on June 20.
"I am very interested in the advice and opinions raised," Hu had said.
"We must listen to the people and lean on their wisdom to do a good job."
Seeking people's advice from the Internet is now becoming routine for officials.
In April, Wang Yang, chief of the Guangdong provincial CPC committee, and Huang Huahua, governor of Guangdong, invited 26 Internet users to a hotel for a meeting, to seek their opinion and advice on the province's development strategies.
At the annual session of the National People's Congress this year, many representatives worked out their proposals by collecting public opinion from blogs.
Officials like Yang have already benefited from their online presence.
Yang said he hoped to promote anti-corruption efforts by using the influence of the Internet.
Readers of his postings include the city's government officials under him, as well as ordinary citizens.
With his heavy workload, Yang usually surfs the Internet late at night and spends an average of more than two hours online every day.
Yang, who has an MBA from Hunan University, said he has learned a lot from his Internet friends, who have offered him valuable clues to a number of corruption cases as well as good advice on his work.
He once received a tip-off from an online friend that a government official with the city's quality inspection bureau took bribes from construction companies.
The discipline inspection commission looked into the case and found the information to be true. That official was subsequently sacked.
The historic online chat between President Hu and the online community has further boosted the Internet as a platform for the Chinese people to express public opinion.
A recent survey on Internet users by China Youth Daily and ePanel, a Beijing-based market research and consulting company, showed that 67.1 percent of those polled said the Internet has become "an important channel for the authorities to learn about people's lives and opinions".
They also agreed that the online chat is "an active practice of democracy", which showed that the government had attached greater importance to communicating with its people.
Liang Yuqing, a social worker in Beijing, said he was "enormously inspired" by the chat, which sets a good example for government officials to get closer with the people.
"The chat shows how the government has acknowledged the positive role played by the Internet in expressing public opinion," said Yan Jirong, a professor with Peking University's School of Government.
"It reflects the government's efforts to seek the realization of people's rights to express themselves, which corresponds with the notion of a people-oriented and service-oriented government."
The recent survey showed that 52.4 percent of respondents believe the chat will vitalize the Internet and encourage China's 221 million netizens to express themselves online.
In another instance of the influence of the Internet, the online community last October raised serious doubts over a photo of a South China tiger taken in the wild in Shaanxi province. They forced the local government to investigate the incident.
Last month, the Shaanxi provincial government admitted that the photos of the tiger were doctored and punished 13 officials.
Han Jun, a student of Peking University's sociology faculty, frequents popular websites and campus online bulletin boards to view current affairs and news.
He said he was inspired by the Chinese people's passion and sense of involvement over social issues, reflected through a string of events such as a slave labor scandal in Shanxi province in June last year, and the May 12 Sichuan earthquake.
The China Youth Daily survey showed that 47.7 percent of those polled often voiced their opinions on major websites, while 43.6 percent give their opinions online occasionally.
These Internet users mainly log on to popular websites such as www.qq.com, www.sina.com and www.163.com, the survey showed.
They also like to visit several large media websites such as Xinhua News Agency, People's Daily, CCTV, Phoenix TV and China Youth Daily.
The survey showed that 57.3 percent of those polled thought seeking public opinions online shortens the distance between the government and its people, and 71.9 percent believe the Internet will become a new way to cultivate democracy in China.
Li Fen, a student of Wuhan University, said people can express their opinions more genuinely and freely online because of its complete anonymity, which is the biggest advantage offered by the Internet.
Yu Guoming, a professor with the School of Journalism under Renmin University of China, said the Internet is an ideal platform where everybody can express their opinions to the fullest.
"As the nation is facing more and more complicated social problems, we need a channel where more people can participate in policymaking, lawmaking and supervising the government," he said.
Yu said the Internet has a variety of functions to promote the government's performance.
For example, it can serve as a platform for openness, where a transparent government releases its information to the public.
"The government should make better use of the Internet as a mechanism to inspire public participation in policymaking, legislation and law enforcement," he said.
"I hope to see an online public hearing in the future."
Yu said the government should allow people to vent their discontent and criticism through the Internet, which also serves as a "safety valve of the society".
Many government officials need to adjust themselves to the culture of the Internet, which is full of widely divided opinions and harsh criticism, Yu said.
"A government official without the knowledge and skills to communicate with people online is basically incompetent," he said.
Source: China Daily
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