Although many Chinese farmers have begun to entertain the idea of running for the role of village head, Yang Ming, head of Fubao village in southwestern Yunnan province, said this was not an easy position.

"Compared with the practice in the past when village heads were appointed by town or county governments, the pressure on today's village heads directly elected by the villagers is much heavier," said Yang Ming, who was elected head of Fubao in 2000.

"Since my position is entrusted by the fellow villagers, I have to be accountable for them." Yang Ming said.

In China, a country of approximately 680,000 rural villages and some 900 million farmers, functionaries to administrate village affairs have been directly elected by villagers since the issue of the law on villagers' committee organization in 1998.

According to the law, members of the villagers' committee, the administrative organization of a village, are elected by all villagers who have the right to vote from candidates nominated by them. After taking their position, the village head is responsible for the villagers and their supervision.

In Fubao village of Guandu district in Kunming city, the provincial capital, rules and regulations on the responsibilities of the villagers' committee and the rights of the villagers' congress are publicized at the office building. And the balance sheet of the village and other important affairs are posted regularly on the announcement board.

"All major affairs of our village should be delivered for congress discussion since ordinary matters are decided by the villagers' committee," noted Yang Ming. "But everything decided should be publicized to the villagers to seek their opinions."

In Fubao village, meetings of congress and villagers are held on a regular basis. Every six months, the work of village officials is assessed and reported to the congress. Their wages will be decided by the outcome of the assessment.

"The awareness of Chinese farmers for democracy is amazingly strong," said Yang Ni, a provincial official in charge of civil affairs in Yunan.

A village in Yunnan province recalled all their council members in accordance with legal procedure in 2002, Yang Ni recalled.

By the end of 2000, the Yunnan provincial government had cooperated with several foreign training institutions from the United States, Norway and Denmark to train officials from villages, towns and counties on democratic elections of villagers' committees.

In the first half of this year, nearly 900 county and town functionaries graduated from a training project sponsored cooperatively by the Chinese government and the European Union on village fairs administration.

"The exercise of autonomy in Chinese villages will undoubtedly boost the development of democracy at grass-roots level," said Yang Ni.

All provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities on the Chinese mainland have issued regulations on villagers' committee elections and the participation rate of Chinese villager has reached over 80 percent.

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