Pay day at last after premier aids a peasant
Wen Jiabao is quick to end impoverished worker's plight
The husband of an impoverished peasant was paid wages owed to him for more than a year after Premier Wen Jiabao intervened on his behalf during a weekend inspection tour of the countryside,
Near Chongqing, the premier stopped to ask people to tell him about the difficulties in their lives, Xinhua said.
'Is there anything we can do for you?' he asked them in a remote village near Yunyang county in the Three Gorges resettlement area.
Looking slightly bashful, Xiong Deming told Mr Wen that her construction worker husband had not been paid for more than a year and the family was facing severe financial difficulties.
'The money owed to the peasants will be paid,' Mr Wen promised her.
Ms Xiong's husband was paid 2,240 yuan (HK$2,105) in wages owed to him that night, the Xinhua report said.
While official media yesterday splashed the story portraying a caring premier, the incident provided an interesting illustration of the sad reality of rural areas.
Under-educated, unaware of their rights and lacking proper channels to air their grievances, peasants long for a heroic saviour to come to their rescue.
The account also sparked lively debate in mainland internet chat rooms and newspaper columns.
Joseph Cheng Yu-shek, a political scientist at City University in Hong Kong, said the incident was a mere reflection of a widespread problem in the countryside.
'In many places [in China], peasants are still living in a bygone era and they still regard the leaders as high and mighty ... when they visit them, they kneel and beg for help,' he said.
'Many peasants are helpless, unaware of their rights and can only hope for a clean and righteous official to rescue them. It's sad but true.'
Gu Jun, a sociology professor at Shanghai University, said the incident manifested the lack of a reliable system in the country that can deal with its people's grievances. But he said Mr Wen's action showed that the new leadership cared about the plight of ordinary people.
Since the new leadership came into power in March, a series of measures - such as the abolition of notorious repatriation centres for beggars and vagrants - have been implemented to strengthen people's rights, Professor Gu said.
He said the gestures showed top leaders were determined to build a system that would improve people's lives.
In internet chat rooms, most people applauded Mr Wen's action but called for a better legal and administrative system.
'How sad,' said one posting on the popular Sina.com chat room.
'The premier has recovered wages for one worker but what about the tens of thousands who are still owed their wages?
'This is the rule of man, not the rule of law.'
Another message asked: 'The feudal society has been gone for nearly 100 years, but why are we still relying on judge Bao Qingtian [a Song dynasty judge who helped the poor] to fight for our rights?'
