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sharp and direct, this is indeed professor chen he’s “political style”.

text | pu lin

recently, a clip of chen he, a professor at huazhong university of science and technology, making a sharp speech on a tv political program went viral. chen he was also called a "mouth stand-in" by many netizens because he angrily criticized government officials for having "such great power".

this incident was like a stone thrown into a calm lake, stirring up ripples and making people think more deeply about the significance and value of political programs on television. since it is a political program, conflicts are inevitable.

in fact, chen he has participated in tv political programs in various places as a commentator for 10 years, and has seen various "magical" ways officials use to avoid tv political programs.

01

the reason for chen he's anger was two issues raised by residents in the 15th episode of daye tv's political program. first, freezing rain broke cement, which posed a safety hazard. residents reported this issue many times through the 12345 mayor's hotline, but it was never resolved. second, the issue of dump trucks scattering soil at the doorstep also troubled residents.

however, the response of hu, the 12345 commissioner of the local town government who handled these two cases, was shocking. regarding the issue of freezing rain breaking the cement, hu said, "the hanging line does not affect his daily life." regarding the issue of the dump truck scattering, hu complained, "you only think about yourself, how can the truck driver make money?"

it was this response that caused professor chen he to lose her temper during the commentary session, and she accused the staff member of abusing her power. her comments were direct and merciless, which instantly made the atmosphere tense. after the relevant political questioning footage was circulated online, it quickly sparked heated discussions. afterwards, chen he told the media that there was no rehearsal for the live broadcast.

sharp and direct, this is indeed professor chen he’s “political style”.

in previous tv political discussions, she once challenged "various great people" -

in the case of "the long-awaited tap water", chen he called on the water group to take the initiative to assume social responsibility and play a leading role in social construction. "state-owned enterprises and public utilities must calculate economic accounts, but they must also calculate political accounts and the hearts of the people. they would rather lose money than lose their conscience, and they must not lose their party spirit. people's livelihood projects must not let any fellow villager fall behind, and no family must be without safe drinking water. this is the promise of the party and the government to the people."

in the case of "fire safety in off-campus training institutions", chen he criticized 11 departments, "there is such an obvious problem, and 11 departments are responsible for it, but not one department is responsible. each department is like a great god, ranked among the immortals in the documents, but their magic power fails when it comes to the real deal. the division of labor in the issued documents is for cooperation and for better responsibility. we must draw up a process control diagram for fire safety management of off-campus training institutions and know who will judge, handle, and control each node in the process."

chen he also angrily denounced grassroots cadres as "austere judges" and "how did they become cadres?"... such a sharp commentary style won her a lot of praise.

02

chen he is currently a professor at the school of public administration of huazhong university of science and technology, researching public economics and finance, administrative rule of law, environmental economics and environmental policy. according to the official website of huazhong university of science and technology, chen he also serves as the executive director of the teaching research association of the chinese society of public administration, a member of the hubei provincial party committee's party internal regulations expert group, an expert at the hubei discipline inspection and supervision work research think tank, and a guidance expert on the capacity building of administrative agencies in hubei province.

chen he participated in a tv political program on wuhan tv in 2014. since then, she has participated in tv political programs on hubei tv led by the hubei provincial commission for discipline inspection, tv political programs in prefecture-level cities such as shiyan, xiangyang, and xiaogan, and tv political programs in county-level cities such as shishou and daye.

in an interview with the media, chen he expressed that she has participated in television political question-and-answer sessions for many years, and she believes that what has remained unchanged over the years is that "the theme of the political question-and-answer session is determined around the central work of the local party committee and government at that time."

at the provincial and municipal levels, it is relatively macro, usually "optimizing the business environment" and "strengthening work style construction", while at the county level it is closely related to people's livelihood issues and reflects the specific demands of the people, which are all very specific "urgent, difficult, and anxious" issues.

in terms of the form of government questioning, officials were previously asked to answer questions face to face, and the process was basically live broadcast. however, after the epidemic, due to objective conditions, some places switched to online questioning, and some switched to recorded broadcasts.

in chen he's opinion, if it were not a live broadcast, the officials being questioned would be likely to prepare in advance, or even answer according to a script, and the influence and sharpness of the questions would be reduced, "and officials would feel less pressure and awe about the questions."

the performance of some officials when facing tv questions also reflects their daily work routine. chen he remembers that some officials made excuses as soon as they came on stage. "the official said, 'i have just been transferred here and i don't understand the situation.' this attitude of 'new officials don't care about old accounts' is problematic in the first place." there was also a head of the unit being questioned who used a business trip as an excuse to let his deputy take over in order to avoid being questioned. as a result, the program team called him directly via video and asked him to answer questions on the spot.

according to chen he's observation, in recent years, the public's requirements for the government to perform its duties have been significantly higher. they not only demand good service, but also a good attitude, and they want the government's service to be fast and good. the grassroots governments or government departments that are the subjects of political questions are also under increasing pressure. "some grassroots cadres feel 'caught in a dilemma', and some are more anxious and resentful of the political questions on television."

03

my country's earliest television political program can be traced back to "a leader on tv" founded by lanzhou tv station in 2005. similar programs of this period had a strong individualistic color and only laid the tone for face-to-face exchanges and communication between officials and the public, but the question-and-answer mechanism was not perfect.

in 2011, my country's tv political programs really entered a period of prosperity. the launch of wuhan's "tv political program" live program once achieved a huge response, causing city tv stations to follow suit. as early as 2016, statistics showed that 25 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities, including hunan, guangdong, henan, zhejiang, ningxia, jiangsu, and shaanxi, had successively launched tv political programs.

but at the same time, we should also see that, on the one hand, many of the once influential political programs were short-lived; on the other hand, many programs started strong but ended weak, gradually becoming mediocre and reduced to mediocrity, becoming "showpieces" in name only.

this may also be the reason why chen he and the tv political program he participated in stood out and sparked heated discussions.

in my opinion, first, the key to political inquiry is to ask real questions; second, the vitality of political inquiry lies in the effectiveness of implementing the "action", otherwise "asking is in vain"; third, the purpose of television political inquiry is not only to solve problems, but also to establish a normalized working mechanism to prevent problems.

we hope that chen he can continue to maintain his sharp style. we also hope that after this merciless criticism, the departments and staff concerned can truly reflect on themselves, take the people's concerns to heart, and work hard to do practical and good things for the people.