The Seminar on the Practice and Policies of GrassrootsSocial Governance themed “innovating in grassroots social governance and stimulating vitality in grassroots society” was held in Jiading District, Shanghai during November 28-29, 2015. Jointly sponsored by Shanghai Academy and the People’s Government of Jiading District, Shanghai, the seminar is aimed to gather experience about community development, summarize practice and policies in grass-roots social governance and discuss the challenges and opportunities at a deeper level facing innovation in grassroots social governance amid the new social normal, so as to offer a practical path for the further deepening and innovation of social governance. Li Peilin, Vice President of CASS, member of the Academic Division of CASS and President of Shanghai Academy, and Zhou Jinlin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Jiading District Committee, attended and addressed the forum. Zhou Wenjie, Deputy Chief Executive of the People’s Government of Jiading District, Shanghai, presided over the opening ceremony.
In his speech, Li Peilin noted that China’s development over the past three decades shows that a successful reform requires not only top-level design, but also grassroots practice and innovation. Many modes with local characteristics have been developed for community development and governance across the country. At the vanguard of China’s reform, Shanghai takes the lead at home with much innovative practice in grassroots social governance. In 2014, the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee released the “1+6” policy under its No.1 project entitled “Innovating in Social Governance and Strengthening Grassroots Construction”. 2015 is the first year to implement the policy, and the detailed implementation is worth the wait. He further pointed out that in its suggestion about the 13th Five-year Plan, the fifth plenary session of the 18th CPC Central Committee has proposed to strengthen and innovate in social governance and build the landscape in which social governance is constructed and shared by all. The capability for community development and governance at the local level has become a major part of a country’s governance system and ability. Therefore, the seminar is of great significance to improving the national governance system and enhancing national governance ability.
In his speech, Zhou Jinlin said that both the CPC Municipal Committee and the Municipal Government of Shanghai make innovating in social governance and strengthening grassroots construction a major task in social construction. The seminar is an effective exploration in advancing governance by law and modernizing the social governance system and ability in the new era, and an effective response to the demand for innovation in grassroots governance. Serving as a link between the past and future, it is of great practical significance by providing powerful intellectual support to Shanghai in its social governance and grassroots construction.
During keynote speeches, Li Youmei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai University, First Vice President of Shanghai University and the First Vice President of Shanghai Academy, overviewed Shanghai’s experience in local level governance over the past three decades as well as the theoretical issues and new challenges facing Shanghai under the theme of “Shanghai’s Practice in Grassroots Governance: Theories and Challenges”; Mr. Xie Shouguang, President of the Social Sciences Academic Press and Secretary-general of the Chinese Sociological Association, detailed the experience and difficulties in countryside social governance from the perspective of the “Regeneration of the Countryside Elite Production Mechanism”; Shen Yuan, Director of the Department of Sociology, Tsinghua University and a doctoral supervisor, analyzed the plans and key aspects for the construction and reconstruction of old urban communities in big cities under the theme of “Community Construction in Old Streets with Dashila of Beijing as An Example”. The keynote speeches were chaired by Wen Xueguo, Executive Vice President of Shanghai Academy.
Aiming for open exchanges between political and academic circles, the seminar includes three parts, these being: field investigation, keynote speeches and topic discussions. Attendees gave insightful keynote reports about community governance in Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Taiwan, and took part in heated discussions that gave rise to many constructive and inspirational views and plans.
The seminar had more than 150 attendees, including Zhou Guoping, Deputy Director of the Development Research Center of Shanghai Municipal People’s Government and Vice President of Shanghai Academy, Zhao Yongjian, member of the Division of Department Affairs and Director of the No.1 Division of the Organization Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Zhang Jian, Deputy Secretary of Social Work Committee of the CPC Beijing Municipal Committee and Deputy Director of Beijing Municipal Office for Social Construction Work, as well as specially invited experts and scholars on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, experts at practical issues from relevant governmental departments and local government employees in Jiading District. Ji Weimin, Director of Secretariat of Shanghai Academy, Yang Huijun, Director of Research Division, and Zhang Haidong, Director of Cooperation Division, also attended the meeting.
