Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

"First, you need to distinguish between central and local work. When you work in a local area, you only need to consider local conditions. But when you work at the central government, you need to understand that economic and natural conditions vary across the country. For example, Jinhua has abundant water resources, so there is a foundation for small hydropower development. But some places don't have such abundant water resources, so small hydropower projects need to be developed in a different way."

"So after you go to the Ministry of Water Resources, no matter how urgent your work is, no matter how good your achievements are in Jinhua, you can't blindly promote the development of small hydropower nationwide. You have to be clear that any development must be adapted to local conditions."

"You can promote your Jinhua experience within the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power, but you can't ask all places to develop small hydropower projects in the same way as Jinhua."

"Yes."

Li Xuezhi nodded.

Li Xuezhi's mindset hasn't yet shifted from being a local cadre to a central government official. Wei Hongjun is most worried that Li Xuezhi, young and suddenly given a heavy responsibility, will rush to achieve results.

He wanted to promote his successful experience in Jinhua throughout the country. Given his current situation, if he stumbled on this issue, it would be a big blow to his political career.

"Also, you're the Party Secretary of Jinhua, the top leader of the Jinhua Party Committee. So the Jinhua Party Committee takes many of your ideas very seriously, and there won't be much opposition. You can build Jinhua according to your own ideas. But it's different when you're in the central government."

"The Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power is a merger of the Ministry of Water Resources and the Ministry of Electric Power Industry, so there are many high-ranking officials within the ministry. Most of the vice ministers of the Ministry of Water Resources and Electric Power were at administrative level 12 or 13 when the country was founded. Many of the directors below them were at administrative level or . Were you at administrative level or at that time?"

"Level 13."

Li Xuezhi's participation in the revolution was too recent. He was only 14 years old when he joined the revolution, after the outbreak of the full-scale war of resistance. Later, when his rank was determined, Li Xuezhi had only been a member of the Party for about ten years, making his experience too shallow. Therefore, he was assigned an administrative rank of 13.

"Furthermore, many officials within the ministry have been involved in the water conservancy and power industries for many years. Although you have achieved great results in Jinhua, they were mainly in small and medium-sized reservoirs and hydropower plants. Officials within the ministry who have overseen large-scale water conservancy projects and power plant construction may not be convinced by you."

"There are other places. Your main job at the Ministry of Water Resources is to promote small hydropower projects in counties, towns and villages across the country. But the leaders in charge of small hydropower in local provinces all have their own ideas. Just because you're a cadre in a central government ministry, your opinion won't be final."

"So when you get to the central government, you have to learn three things: unity, compromise, and persistence."

"The first thing we must learn is unity. No matter how outstanding one person is, he cannot accomplish his work without the cooperation of others. We all have different revolutionary histories and grew up in different environments, so we may have different perspectives on things and work styles. But as long as our goals are the same—all for socialist construction and national development—then we will definitely be able to find common ground."

"To unite with comrades, we must learn to compromise. As long as it doesn't touch on issues of principle, you must learn to respect your comrades' personal habits and working methods. Moreover, this unity and compromise also includes respecting the interests of various ministries and localities."

"But compromise doesn't mean compromise without principles. Once we touch on issues of principle, we get into the third point: persistence."

"Persistence includes persistence in principles and persistence in work. Many problems cannot be solved overnight, but don't give up because of that."

"You are also a local cadre, so you should understand the complexity of local work. When you represent the Ministry of Water Resources to handle local issues, you need patience and perseverance. Only in this way can you complete your work."

Li Xuezhi had already recorded what Wei Hongjun said in that notebook.

Wei Hongjun looked at his watch and finally said to Li Xuezhi: "Comrade Li Xuezhi, you are a new soldier in your new post. You must guard against arrogance and impatience, and be modest and prudent."

"Yes."

1069 Training Class for Young and Middle-aged Cadres

On June 1959, 6, Wei Hongjun attended the graduation ceremony of the first training class for young and middle-aged cadres at the Central Party School.

After more than a year of restructuring, the Central Party School has essentially completed its reorganization. Wei Hongjun merged the former Women's Federation Cadre School and the Central Youth League School into the Central Party School. From then on, the training of Women's Federation and Youth League cadres would be centralized at the Party School.

Afterwards, two branches of the Central Party School were established: the Yan'an Cadre College and the Jinggangshan Cadre College.

The establishment of two branch campuses stems from the limited annual enrollment quota for the Central Party School. Furthermore, the students trained at the main campus are primarily trained as comprehensive cadres. Many of these individuals, regardless of their background, will not be confined to a single field. They have already been selected for the Central Organization Department's candidate training program. Therefore, regardless of your cadre background, your studies will prioritize comprehensive development. The curriculum is comprehensive, covering a wide range of areas.

District and county-level cadres were required to study national policies related to industry, agriculture, and commerce. Even courses for senior cadres at the provincial and ministerial levels covered foreign affairs.

However, the task of cadre training in New China is daunting, and most cadres do not cross industries. For example, many corporate executives remain in their companies for their entire lives, never transitioning to administrative or educational settings. Even within the administrative field, some cadres remain confined to a single field, whether in agriculture, industry, or the judiciary. Therefore, the training of these cadres requires a specific focus. There's no need to be all-encompassing and learn everything.

That is why Wei Hongjun established two branch schools, so that the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee could directly train a large number of cadres.

The Yan'an Cadre College was established by merging the former Yan'an University Political College with the Shaanxi Provincial Party School. The Yan'an Cadre College is mainly responsible for training two types of cadres.

One is a retired military cadre, and the other is a government cadre. The purpose for retired military cadres is to help them quickly change their thinking and adapt to local work. The purpose for government cadres is to allow them to work and learn, and avoid the institutional problems of being out of touch with the working people.

Of course, these are just two broad categories of cadres. The Yan'an Cadre College is divided into several classes, each with its own training focus, but the training of these two categories of cadres is the focus.

Although the Yan'an Cadre College was a branch of the Central Party School, it was not directly under the Central Party School's command but was run completely independently. Like the Central Party School, it was directly under the Secretariat and managed by the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee.

The Yan'an Cadre College implemented a standing committee management system. Song Renqiong, First Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, served as the committee's chairperson, while Zhang Chao, Deputy Political Commissar of the Lanzhou Military Region, and Bai Zhimin, Deputy Secretary of the Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee, served as standing committee members.

The Jinggangshan Cadre College was primarily built around the Hubei and Jiangxi Provincial Party Schools. The reason for choosing these two schools is that the Hubei Provincial Party School was formerly the Party School of the Central South Bureau, while the Jiangxi Provincial Party School was formerly the Party School of the Southeast Branch Bureau. These two schools are considered relatively strong among provincial party schools at all levels.

The Jinggangshan Cadre College primarily trains enterprise executives. Therefore, in addition to the Marxist-Leninist theory taught at the original Party School, additional courses include economic law courses such as "Company Law" and "Contract Law." They also cover the country's many new economic policies and the current booming rural industry and commerce.

Of course, there was no shortage of education on "criminal law." With the development of the domestic economy, various economic cases increased. Furthermore, with the increase in foreign relations, some unfavorable phenomena emerged, especially among business executives involved in foreign trade, when they saw the salary situation in the Soviet Union and Europe. Therefore, these issues became part of the curriculum at the Jinggangshan Cadre Academy.

Ma Mingfang, Deputy Minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, serves as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Jinggangshan Cadre College, and Lin Haiyun, Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade, and Shao Shiping, Deputy Secretary of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee, serve as standing members.

In addition to establishing two branches of the Central Party School, Wei Hongjun also rectified the situation of party schools across the country. Before Wei Hongjun's rectification of party schools across the country, the situation of provincial party schools in various provinces was in chaos.

In recent years, local provinces have focused more on production and construction, neglecting the development of Party members and cadres. They primarily train cadres using the short, intensive training model of revolutionary times, lasting from as little as one month to as long as three months. While this model isn't without advantages, its drawbacks are also significant. The biggest problem with short-term training is that it doesn't allow for systematic learning. This is incompatible with the nationwide push for standardized training. In some provinces where cadre training is neglected, Party school development is a complete mess.

Some provinces have well-developed Party schools, such as Hubei, which has not only a provincial Party school but also numerous junior Party schools. These schools primarily train grassroots township and village cadres, as well as cooperative cadres.

But in some provinces, not only are primary Party schools but even provincial Party schools are perfunctory. Wei Hongjun certainly needs to rectify this situation.

If you add up all the cadres in cooperatives, there are millions of them in New China. Most of them are not well-educated and need to learn. To train these cadres at this stage, institutions like the National Party School are of course necessary.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun called for the formation of a comprehensive Party school training model across the country: the Central Party School, followed by provincial Party schools, and then each province would establish a certain number of primary Party schools.

To support the development of provincial Party schools, Wei Hongjun implemented new adjustments to Party dues. Previously, national Party dues were submitted to the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, but Wei Hongjun abolished this practice. The Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee is not short of funds, receiving annual national funding. Instead, many local Party committees are short of funds.

Therefore, Wei Hongjun demanded that national party dues no longer need to be submitted to the Central Organization Department, but instead remain with provincial organization departments. He then stipulated the use of party dues. Provincial organization departments were to use these dues for education in local party schools.

The North China Bureau was the best at developing Party schools. In the later years of the Liberation War, the Party School of the North China Bureau was merged with several other cadre schools to form the North China People's Revolutionary University, which had six departments and three branches: Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, and Shijiazhuang.

Each department under this system has at least seven branches, each with a minimum of 500 members. One branch is dedicated to training cadres at the district and county level and above in North China and central government agencies. Within a few years, the first branch of the North China People's Revolutionary University graduated over 8000 cadres. Therefore, the majority of current grassroots cadres in central government ministries and commissions, as well as those in North China, as well as many members of the former North China Cadre Corps, all graduated from the first branch of the North China People's Revolutionary University.

The other two departments are dedicated to training cadres for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the third department trains judicial cadres, the students in the fourth and fifth departments are all young students from North China who have just joined the revolution, and the sixth department trains retired military cadres.

After the Eighth National Congress, the North China People's Revolutionary University was abolished, and the First Department was merged into the Central Party School. The other ministries were transformed into schools under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security, and the Ministry of Justice. Six other ministries were also merged into the school of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The Zhangjiakou branch was split into two, becoming the Suiyuan Provincial Party School and the Inner Mongolia Provincial Party School. The Tianjin branch became the Beijing and Tianjin Municipal Party Schools. The Shijiazhuang branch became the Shanxi Provincial Party School and the Hebei Provincial Party School.

In addition to Party school education, North China also has the North China Cadre College, which was spun off from the North China Military and Political University; the China Political Science Institute; the Beijing Youth Cadre College; and Renmin University of China, which was spun off from North China University. These schools also participate in cadre training.

Because of his experience in North China, Wei Hongjun attached great importance to the People's Revolutionary Universities that had been established by several local Central Committees, and incorporated some cadre academies that had developed from the People's Revolutionary Universities into cadre education.

Furthermore, after Wei Hongjun took over Party School management, one of his first steps was to regulate the curriculum at these provincial Party Schools. The basic textbooks for all provincial Party Schools were to be standardized, and students were required to complete these basic courses. Other elective courses could be chosen based on individual cadres' needs, but compulsory courses were mandatory. Studying at the provincial Party Schools was not something to be sloppily handled.

After more than a year of rectification, Party school education across the country is gradually getting back on track. In particular, after the promotion of Party members and cadres was linked to Party school education, the status of Party schools has rapidly increased nationwide.

Wei Hongjun attended the graduation ceremony today for the first batch of young and middle-aged cadres training courses following the reorganization of the Central Party School. Originally, the training was planned for six months, but it was discovered that the national situation was evolving so rapidly that these young and middle-aged cadres needed to learn far more than originally anticipated. Therefore, the training was extended to 10 months, with graduation taking place in June.

Wei Hongjun attached great importance to this group of young and middle-aged cadres, so in addition to the former teachers of the Central Party School, many central leaders also took time out to give lectures.

Of course, Party School teachers teach book knowledge and theoretical knowledge. When central leaders come to give lectures, they talk about national policies and practical cases.

In fact, it is very helpful for the students when the Central Party School invites central leaders to give lectures and discuss some national policies with the students.

Unfortunately, inviting central government leaders to give lectures proved extremely difficult, as everyone was so busy with their work. It was only through personal effort by Wei Hongjun and Chen Tanqiu that we were able to invite some.

Wei Hongjun is the director of the Standing Committee of the Central Party School, so he also actively participates in the teaching of this training class for young and middle-aged cadres.

Give these cadres a detailed introduction to what the primary stage of socialism is and what its specific manifestations are.

"Comrades, after graduation, some of you will return to your original units, while others will head for new battlefields. Regardless of which you choose, I hope you can apply the knowledge you have learned at the Central Party School to your actual work."

As long as the graduating cadres of this class don't make mistakes, most of them have bright futures. After all, these people were recommended by their respective units, reviewed by the Organization Department of the Central Committee, and finally approved by Wei Hongjun himself.

Furthermore, age is a significant advantage. Twenty years from now, if all goes well, most of these cadres will be able to reach the provincial and ministerial levels, by which time they will all be high-ranking Party cadres.

But precisely because they will have a place in China's political arena in the future, Wei Hongjun has to talk to them and give them instructions.

"After today, you'll graduate. Originally, we had no classes scheduled for today. But I was looking over your papers a while ago, and someone raised a question: How do you choose between many construction teams for government projects? Is it possible to learn from other countries and use open bidding? I think this question is quite representative, so I wanted to discuss it with you all."

"Comrade Liang Xiang, you wrote this report. So please talk about it first."

Wei Hongjun looked at the taller cadre behind him. As a native of Guangdong, Liang Xiang was definitely tall for Guangdong. Even in northern China, he was considered tall.

He was the oldest and highest-ranking of this group of young and middle-aged cadres. He had practically stepped on the line to get into this training class for young and middle-aged cadres.

Liang Xiang is 40 years old this year, having turned 39 last year. He was also a member of the "Three Eighth-style" cadre, having spent time in northern Shaanxi during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After the war, he moved to Northeast China, serving in Shenyang and Liaoyuan. Later, he became a cadre from Northeast China who moved south to Guangdong and participated in the takeover of Guangzhou. Later, when the central government established the Bao'an Prefecture, he was transferred from Guangzhou to the prefecture. He currently serves as deputy secretary of the Bao'an Prefecture Party Committee, a highly senior position among district and county-level cadres.

Qian Guangyou, the Bao'an District Party Committee Secretary, had achieved excellent results in the past few years. Therefore, he was transferred to the central government to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Textile Industry. Therefore, after Liang Xiang graduated from the Central Party School, he would serve as Deputy Secretary of the Bao'an District Party Committee and Commissioner of the Public Office.

"Yes."

Liang Xiang stood up and said, "Leaders, comrades, the paper on whether to conduct open bidding was put forward by me based on the actual problems in our Bao'an District."

In fact, after Liang Xiang discovered this problem in Bao'an District, he reported it to Qian Guangyou, Secretary of the Bao'an District Party Committee, Tao Zhu, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee, and Chen Tao, Governor of Guangdong Province.

Tao Zhu and Chen Tao's opinions at the time were neither supportive nor encouraging, but neither were they opposed.

So after Liang Xiang came to the Central Party School, he wrote about this issue in his final graduation thesis. What Liang Xiang didn't expect was that Wei Hongjun actually talked about this issue specifically.

"The Sanyang Bicycle Factory, a joint venture between my country and British companies, planned to build a second factory in Bao'an Prefecture with an annual production capacity of one million bicycles. When constructing the factory, the company chose a local county-level construction team in Bao'an Prefecture, rather than a provincial or Guangzhou-based construction company. Sanyang Bicycle Company used an open bidding process, allowing all construction teams in Guangdong to participate, including those in Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and other regions. Ultimately, Sanyang Bicycle Company selected this county-level team."

"This incident caused a huge uproar in Guangdong and sparked considerable controversy. Later, after the Guangzhou Iron and Steel Plant was established, they also wanted to follow the Sanyang Bicycle Factory's model and openly bid for the construction of their own worker dormitories. However, opposition from various government departments, the provincial construction company, and the Guangzhou Municipal Construction Company led to the project falling through. Ultimately, the Guangzhou Construction Company was awarded the project."

"Later, some officials at the Guangzhou Iron and Steel Plant complained. They believed that an open tender could reduce project costs by over 200,000 yuan. This was because the construction team from Jiangxi was a former Fifth Field Army infrastructure engineering unit that had been reorganized. They had completed many large projects and had excellent cost control."

Many cadres who came to attend the Central Party School graduation ceremony listened quietly to Liang Xiang's words.

Open bidding would force the prestigious provincial and Guangzhou municipal construction companies to compete with some "low-class" local small construction companies. Even with construction teams from other provinces?

The local government would definitely not agree. Local engineering teams are generally state-owned, and their job is to make money for the local government. How could they possibly give this opportunity to an out-of-province engineering team?

Furthermore, under normal circumstances, the implementation of such projects is usually allocated by a dedicated government department. For example, if a steel plant wants to build dormitories for its workers, it can't just decide on its own. It still needs to go through the relevant local authorities.

If your steel mills openly bid, what will these government departments do in the future? So no matter from which perspective, there will certainly be great resistance.

Sanyang Bicycle Company is currently the largest bicycle manufacturer in China, and as a Sino-foreign joint venture, it enjoys a certain degree of autonomy. However, other state-owned enterprises must obey government regulations.

"Secretary Wei, leaders, many local urban construction projects are actually not big projects. However, due to the overall urban construction, each project must be allocated by the government. And most of the government allocations are made by provincial or local construction companies."

"But the provincial government has a heavy construction workload and many large projects. Local construction companies, too, have to undertake a large number of projects themselves. This significantly impacts the progress of many smaller projects."

"Some factories want to expand their factories and improve employee dormitories, which aren't big things, but they have to wait a long time."

"This situation is even more pronounced in some county towns. Some factories have limited budgets, so they can't expand quickly. Many of these projects are small and don't require many resources. They only require bricks and a small amount of cement, or even no cement at all. These small projects can be handed over to construction teams from rural cooperatives; they're fully capable of completing them."

From provincial and local construction teams, to out-of-province construction teams, and county-level construction teams, it finally began to involve construction teams composed of a group of farmers from rural cooperatives.

The rapid growth of businesses in rural and county towns is truly remarkable. Factories in these rural and county towns have already begun entering the construction industry. And it's clear that many smaller projects are now very willing to partner with these small construction teams.

They didn't want to wait for the government-assigned construction teams. Because the government-assigned teams were all large, state-owned ones, and they only worked on large projects. So, they were arrogant and looked down on smaller projects, putting them last.

According to Liang Xiang, these small construction teams were going to enter the county's construction industry. The construction industry in small county towns didn't require much steel or cement, primarily using bricks. This would also promote the development of rural brick factories.

"That's why, leaders, I'm suggesting that some government projects could also be conducted through open bidding."

Wei Hongjun brought up this topic at the graduation ceremony because he is a typical example. This is also the case when the development of rural cooperative enterprises in towns and villages is forcing the government to reform its economy.

"Comrades, if you were cadres of the prefectural party committee office, or county party committee or county government, how would you handle this problem?"

Many of these people are district and county-level officials, and many have worked in local government for many years. Therefore, everyone expressed their own opinions.

"Secretary Wei, leaders, I think we can emulate the free market for agricultural and sideline products."