TV program channels public debate

A pioneering TV show in Hubei province is providing a live forum for the public to question local politicians and officials, praise their achievements, and complain about their shortcomings, as He Na and Zhou Lihua report from Wuhan.

The camera focuses on an office with an en suite bedroom. Dozens of colored bags are piled on the floor. The lens zooms in, picking out numerous cartons of high-end cigarettes, tea, a range of snacks and other foods, and various bottles of expensive alcohol.

If the sign on the door didn't show that this is the office of the director of the Jianghan District Health and Family Planning Commission in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, you might think the place was a storeroom for gifts.