Communication can be difficult, said Liu Ling, one of 3,000 graduates sent to rural areas in Beijing last year. Liu sometimes found it hard to calm down villagers when they came to him with a problem.

"We have to communicate with various people who have different personalities, receive different levels of education and raise different demands," said Zhao Xuan, an assistant to a village mayor in Fuping county of Shaanxi Province, Northwest China. "Any failure to deal with an issue will greatly impair our reputation among villagers."

As an apprentice village official in Daxing district of Beijing, Lou Jie's spare time is filled with repairing villagers' computers and tutoring their children.


A graduate official and a villager chat in Wenxi county, Shanxi Province. The rural apprentice official system will take time to improve, according to Wang Sangui, a professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China. ( Photos: CFP )

"Everything concerning the villagers is of the same importance, regardless of whether it is a serious or a trivial issue," said Lou. "A trivial issue can spark off a chain of serious issues."

The difficulties partly derive from a lack of decision-making power, said Zhao.
"Since we are young and inexperienced, some villagers hold us cheap."

He felt depressed when villagers rebuffed his suggestion on a land buyout but then accepted the same suggestion from a town chief.

"A graduate rural apprentice official has no actual power," said Liu. Without the leader, he cannot solve any problems. This is something not all villagers immediately appreciated, according to Liu. "They are simple and think a graduate can and should solve all of the problems."

Zhao said he often heard, "Wow! He is a graduate! A graduate comes to our village to assist the head." Every time he heard this, he felt both happy and under pressure.

"They said these words in a manner that told me they hoped I will be beneficial to them and I can help give this village a brand-new look."
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