Advisers join battle to improve morality

SPIRITUAL civilisation will top the agenda of the CPPCC, with two senior national advisers scheduled to speak on the issue.

The CPPCC considers that action is necessary to counter social evils which have resulted from the country's economic development.

To stress the importance of the matter, Chairman Li Ruihuan has ordered no time-restraint on speeches to be delivered by vice-chairmen Qian Weichang and Qian Zhengying, the China News Service said yesterday.

That deviates from the normal practice, which allows each member to address the conference for only 15 minutes.

The top advisory body to the Government will also hold a press conference to call for special status for the construction of socialist spiritual civilisation, the news agency said.

Officials have been criticised for just paying lip-service to the building of ideological education in the country.

The agency said serious social problems and unhealthy tendencies like corruption of cadres had spread despite efforts to suppress them.

The two vice-chairmen, who have conducted investigations on spiritual civilisation overseas, have compiled two reports suggesting ways to strengthen ideological education, the news agency said.

They have called on governments at all levels to treat the job of building spiritual civilisation as a major task of social development.

It was important and urgent to implement socialist spiritual civilisation in daily work, they said.

The senior advisers called on the Government to offer preferential policy support to businesses so that they could improve their work in building spiritual civilisation, the news agency reported.

The authorities have also been told to concentrate their efforts to crack down on prostitution, fraud and extravagant lifestyles among officials.

Public opinion guidance and patriotic education for youth should be strengthened, the advisers said.

They noted that it was also necessary to study new problems and find solutions.

The news agency said reports had been submitted to the Central Committee of the Communist Party.

It is understood that the forthcoming sixth plenum of the Central Committee will be focusing on spiritual civilisation, and a resolution will be adopted at the meeting.

The CPPCC and the NPC will highlight the issue at various sessions.