Jiao Sanniu, a 23-year-old graduate from China’s prestigious Tsinghua University, was selected as vice director of the Foreign and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Wuwei, northwest China’s Gansu Province, in December 2011. Despite his youth, Jiao is not alone. A young man named Zhou Senfeng was appointed mayor of Yicheng of central China’s Hubei Province at the age of 29 in 2009, and a 25-year-old woman named Mu Yang was appointed head of a township also in Hubei in 2011.
　　As to the appropriateness of appointing or promoting young people to official posts normally reserved for the more experienced, the public’s sentiment was initially doubtful but has gradually warmed to the idea of young, fresh-minded individuals holding mid- to high-level leadership positions.
　　Hong Xianghua (China Youth Daily): Like a young plant, the healthy growth of young cadres requires sunshine, rain and fertile soil. Therefore, it’s necessary to improve the conditions and environment for young cadres to grow. We should believe that young cadres’ working abilities and knowledge levels will improve as they gain firsthand insight into economic and social work.
　　Traditionally, officials are appointed and promoted according to how long they have served in a certain position. It goes against the principle of promoting officials according to their performance and achievements. If young people work hard and perform particularly well, it’s necessary to select and promote them, instead of sticking to the traditional procedure of official appointment.
　　The public is typically suspicious of young cadres, for their inexperience and the possible fraud in the selection process. Some people take the trouble to pry into these cadres’ personal, private background, a direct intrusion into their private lives. Thus, I think, when appointing young officials, it’s necessary for the authorities to make use of media to openly talk about these new officials’ personal experience and working performance. The public’s doubts will be greatly removed if they have access to these officials’ basic information. Whenever there are doubtful voices, relevant departments need to make timely responses to dispel doubts and rumors.
　　Daxiaoduoduo (www.xinhuanet.com): Today, young officials are given promotions and appointments more than ever before. We need to look at this situation from both sides.
　　On one hand, if he or she is too young, they obviously lack work experience and might appear incapable when major incidents occur. On the other hand, young people can provide fresh, untainted insight into certain issues.
　　Some people suspect these unexpected promotions are a result of unequal selec- tion, and there might be corruption behind it. Although their doubts may be groundless, these questions should be taken into consideration by disciplinary watchdogs.
　　Tolerance should be shown to young officials’ promotion. Nowadays, many young people, with solid educational backgrounds and excellent working capability, are likely to be promoted. Once given the opportunity, they are quite likely to make great achievements. Experienced officials should be willing to offer them help, care and guidance. Ultimately, we don’t want to see excellent young people be envied and their talent buried in the sand.
　　Zhang Fan (www.gmw.cn): China does not lack a pool of excellent young people, but there is not enough credit on them, nor is there enough support. Many young people are restricted to smaller roles where they can hardly bring their role into full play. Therefore, our official selection and promotion system needs reform and improvement, so that more and more excellent young talents will be able to play a bigger role and do more useful things for society. If everyone has to wait for 20 years before being promoted to key positions, his enthusiasm for the job will undoubtedly be affected.
　　Media reports show that one reason for Jiao’s promotion is that he graduated from Tsinghua University. For a local government thirsty for talents, his education background naturally speaks for him.
　　Our country’s future depends on younger generations—the youth are our nation’s hope. Young people are full of new ideas, energy and vitality, and if they are offered more choices and broader stage to play on, they will surely be a strong force driving the country forward.
　　Cheng Ping (www.people.com.cn): Linking one’s working ability to his or her age is groundless. If a person is very young, but he or she has tried many different jobs and is good at drawing experience from practices, he or she will surely be exceptionally mature in dealing with various situations, even appear- ing more mature than those who are older.
　　It’s unfair to ignore young people’s advantages and merits, but just simply compare the young with the old in terms of experience and maturity. Age should never be used as a reason to keep young people from being promoted.
　　Jiao is only 23 years old, and is unexperienced compared with older officials. However, he volunteered to go to the rural areas in the western region, overcoming various hardship and mingling with local people. He’s a prime example of why it’s necessary to break the old framework.
　　Young people are equipped with unique advantages: creativity, bravery, competitiveness and composition. Using young officials is a bit risky, but it’s more dangerous to restrict capable young people and waste their talent.
　　Mu Gong (People’s Daily): The appointment of young officials is enriching China’s pool of talent. Jiao, a graduate from a leading university, volunteered to go to the rural areas. His action deserves our support. After all, it’s not easy for a graduate from such a prestigious university to move to the underdeveloped regions. It’s understandable for the local government to appoint this young man to a high official post within the frame of law.
　　As for the 25-year-old young woman who was appointed as township head, the whole thing actually reveals some local governments’ misunderstanding of the principle of“building a young official team.” They might think the younger the official is, the better it is. In this case, the local authorities said that the post needs someone under the age of 30, and thus she is the only candidate. In fact, the woman herself felt very surprised when she was suddenly promoted to the high post.
　　It’s unwise to select officials based on age. Generally speaking, officials are selected based on their moral level and working ability. However, when it comes to age, the two important factors are usually forgotten.