On July 7, Ou Jiayang, a 23-year-old Guangzhou native in south China’s Guangdong Province, met with Hou Yongquan, Director of the city’s Urban and Rural Construction Commission.
Ou had waited months for this meeting. As a fresh college graduate, instead of finding a job, Ou started a campaign in May challenging the local government on a costly lighting project.
On April 21, the Guangzhou Urban and Rural Construction Commission proposed a 150-million-yuan ($23.49 million) lighting project for the banks of the Pearl River that runs through the city.
“I am not saying ‘no’ to this project. But the government spent 200 million yuan ($31.32 million) on a similar project last year,” Ou said.“I want the government to tell me why the city needs more lighting along the river bank.”
Unremitting inquiry
Ou’s campaign followed the actions of Peng Yanhui, another Guangzhou native who works for a non-governmental education organization.
At the end of April, Peng launched a campaign on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like micro-blogging service, protesting against the lighting project. He shaved his head and called on his supporters to shave their heads and put the bald head pictures online. Peng named his campaign “The Brain Is Brighter.”
“I never thought I would initiate such an activity. I used to regard public affairs as none of my business,” Peng said. “But as a native of Guangzhou, I love this city so much and I want it to become better. It is my responsibility.”
These sentiments were echoed by Ou.“People always complain instead of taking actions to fulfill their responsibility,” she said.
Chen Du, one of Ou’s friends said while many felt the lighting project was flawed, no one believed Ou’s campaign would have a real impact.
“I was thinking if there was a feasibility report, then why didn’t the government publicize it so that we could all get a clear idea of the project?” Ou said. “We have the right to know how and why our taxpayers’ money will be spent on the project.”
Peng’s campaign served as an inspiration for Ou, who then started to collect photos of the thumbs-up gesture from those who support her demand for the local government to make public the project’s feasibility report.
During the course of her two-month campaign, Ou visited several government departments and submitted petitions requesting the feasibility report be released. She found, however, she was passed from one government department to another, as no section was prepared to meet her demand.
Ou’s efforts finally proved successful. Director Hou of the Guangzhou Urban and Rural Construction Commission invited her for a face-to-face meeting on July 7.
At the meeting, Hou said the lighting project was still being evaluated and the feasibility report would be published once it was approved by the municipal government.
“I am satisfied with the Urban and Rural Construction Commission’s response,” said Ou, who found the meeting with Hou meaningful, dubbing it a “good interaction between
the government and the public.” She said she would continue applying for the disclosure of the report and work to encourage young people to take an interest in public affairs.
Devotion to history
Like Ou and Peng, a group of college students in Guangzhou are busy with another campaign to preserve an old street in the city.
In 2007, the Guangzhou Municipal Government announced plans to renovate the 80-year-old Enning Road.
As the longest road in Guangzhou lined with qilou buildings, a traditional style of urban residential housing, Enning Road is the repository of much of the city’s history. Bruce Lee used to live there and his former residence still stands along the street.
In 2009, when Xie Wenjun, a Guangzhou native who was studying in a university in Beijing, went back for his summer vacation, he was shocked to see Enning Road, widely known as one of the most appealing parts of Guangzhou, completely altered.
“Most of the old community is now a construction site and it is hard to trace the places I have known since my childhood,”Xie said.
Xie began to take pictures and collect materials from the remaining qilou buildings in 2010. He also interviewed the area’s residents. He posted the results of his research online and invited more people to join him in the task of documenting life on Enning Road.
Xiao Lang, a 22-year-old student who was born in Guangdong’s Meizhou City, joined Xie, as did another 10 college students from Guangzhou.
“Although I am not from Guangzhou, I know if I don’t do this, maybe the next place to be demolished will be my street at home,”Xiao said.
In March 2010, Xie and his friends formed the Academic Concern Group of Enning Road. Using the results of their survey, they produced a report on the social impact of the Enning Road renovation project, and came up with their own development plan for the area.
They also produced a documentary using the interviews they conducted with residents in the street and uploaded it on Tudou.com, a popular video sharing website in China.
All their efforts, however, didn’t stop the local government from proceeding with its renovation plans, but Xiao insists their work is meaningful for two major reasons.
“First, our work might lead to reflections on the current urban planning model,” Xiao said.“Second, it will remind young people no matter how little we know and how small we seem, we still have a voice and can make it heard.”
Successful attempts
While Xiao was unable to save Guangzhou’s qilou buildings on Enning Road, some spontaneous public affair campaigns in the city have been very successful.
Chen Yihua, a 16-year-old student from Guangzhou’s No.16 High School, for example, was able to have an impact on plans for the renovation of stations along Guangzhou’s Subway Line 1.
In June 2010, Guangzhou’s metro authorities made plans to renovate 16 subway stations. The total investment in the project was expected to exceed 90 million yuan($14.10 million).
In January this year, Chen noticed the stations on the Subway Line 1 were being gutted. “I was very sad to see this,” said Chen, who takes this subway to school every day.
What was more disappointing is in light of the renovation plans, the 16 stations, which originally each has a unique character, would be uniform in terms of color and design.
“I think this is boring,” Chen said. “They say the renovation is for safety’s sake. I don’t understand why a uniform color is safer than different colors.”
He first posted his objection on Weibo and an online forum called “Metro Fan.” In addition to contact staff at metro stations, he also raised the issue to Guangzhou’s metro authorities through the public hotline. But the only response he got was a notification saying his opinions had been recorded. To make himself heard more clearly, Chen finally decided to take to the streets with a poster.
From May 3 to 7, Chen held a poster on the streets of Guangzhou and collected local residents’ signatures to support his call for a halt to unnecessary renovations on metro stations. Eventually, he secured over 300 signatures.
Chen was applauded online and his efforts attracted praise from major Web portals, popular online forums, and prominent microbloggers. His campaign was also covered by the mainstream media. The Guangzhou Metro Co. invited Chen for a meeting on May 8 and brought together engineers and publicity staff to listen to Chen’s concerns.
Following the meeting, the company said it would only renovate stations that had safety risks and renovation projects would only begin after the public had been consulted.
Another successful campaign was launched by Baike Guangzhou. “Baike”comes from the English word “bike” and this volunteer organization is composed of cyclists from public service institutions and collegiate non-profit organizations in Guangzhou.
Formed in 2009, the organization aims to promote local authorities to create better cycling conditions for Guangzhou citizens. After several months of research, they found out a lack of bicycle parking lots was preventing more residents from taking to cycling.
In October 2009, the group announced it would gift a bicycle to the mayor so that he could experience the inconvenience of bicycle riding in Guangzhou.
They soon got more than 30,000 letters of support and a reply from the local government that said a meeting with the mayor would be arranged.
On January 12, 2010, then Guangzhou Mayor Zhang Guangning met with representatives of Baike Guangzhou and pledged to turn Guangzhou’s haphazard system of cycle paths into a comprehensive network.
More bicycle parking lots have been set up all over Guangzhou, especially at the exits of subway stations. Furthermore, the city is planning to build a network of over 300 km of green roads, which will connect green spaces, parks, nature reserves, scenic spots and historical sites, hoping to make cycling and walking the main means of transportation along these green roads.
Observing the success of many of the campaigns conducted by young people in Guangzhou, a netizen called Adong said,“Young people no longer confine their horizons to daily trivialities but are more aware of their rights and keep a watchful eye on public matters and are prepared to express their opinions.”
“Young people’s concerns and campaigns now play a key role in pushing for the disclosure of government information, particularly in urban areas” said Guo Weiqing, a professor at the School of Government of Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. “One’s opinion should be heard and understood and the initiator’s proposal will be discussed as long as he gets the public’s endorsement.”
China’s young people are determined to make themselves heard, and in many cases it appears authorities are prepared to listen. Given the lengths to which young campaigners are prepared to go, turning a blind eye or deaf ear is no longer an option.