According to Li, who has a strong sense of participating in political affairs, the monument represents his recognition of Zhang's governance capabilities. Li watched Zhang's performance for years before feeling he was worthy of such an honor. His actions were purely voluntary and did not bring him any financial gains.

Chinese farmers are true to their feelings, and will enthusiastically reward the officials who are true to them. The stele is a form of honor, and will inspire more future officials like Zhang.

Wu Hangmin (Guizhou City News): Li is in effect not the first to erect a monument for good governance. Since the Central Government scrapped the agricultural tax nationwide in 2006, a group of 500 farmers from Sichuan Province built a monument to signify the end of a tax that had lasted for more than 2,000 years. Villagers from Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, also erected a stele for the same purpose.

These steles are real-time polls evaluating governance performance, and we should encourage villagers to express their opinions to improve public services.

Zhou Xiyin (www.ynet.com): The steles, rooted deeply in Chinese culture, could still be used as a major tool to assess officials' performance.

As public opinions are factored in when determining promotion or dismissal of officials, the democratic process is playing a bigger role in the political life of Chinese people.

Citizens wake up!

Wang Shichuan (Modern Life Daily): The erection of steles was a solemn ceremony of grand pride in ancient China. In a modern society of rising awareness of citizens' rights, however, it's already outdated.

It is the government's obligation to serve the people wholeheartedly. China's central leadership has noted that officials are elected to serve the people without any privileges. So there is no need to feel grateful for what officials do for us.

It's a pity that Li has not realized that yet. Therefore, we may find that when officials fail to perform their duty, people do not dare to place blame; while if they do something good, people are often moved to tears for benefiting from good policies. Or even when corrupt officials make open apologies, we are surprised. According to modern governance practices, however, public inquiry and impeachment against corrupt officials are common scenes believed to be necessary for achieving ultimate democracy.

And Li's initiative is irrational in a society where the awareness of citizens' rights is on the rise.

Wu Zhigang (Jiang Nan City Daily): Due to the absence of a unified and comprehensive evaluation mechanism to assess the service level of civil servants, villagers had to resort to a stone inscription, a former honor of feudal China, to express their gratitude.

In fact, officials empowered by the public must fulfill commitments by serving the public. Having gotten their salary from taxpayers, even the most efficient officials should receive no additional form of worship.

Looking back at Li, who may represent a group of citizens with scant awareness, he still blindly follows the philosophy of absolute power dominating a feudal society, which has long hampered the development of modern democracy. Li's behavior can easily result in power abuse. In my view, the government should be more focused on educating people to replace timeworn concepts in their minds.

Guo Songmin (Bandao Morning Post): Under current government policies, the so-called merits and virtue of officials are baseless because they did what they should be doing.

If we look deep into the problem, we often see a powerless public facing the authorities, saying average people have no effective impact on empowered officials even though the source of their power is the people.

I suggest policymakers change this through expanding the democratic platform ,allowing the public more access to their rights as citizens.

Cao Lin (Oriental Morning Post): The monument is so controversial that the original intention to praise a virtuous official adversely stirred up anger among the public. On one hand, this form of "praise" is typical of feudal China, symbolizing absolute power of the ruler. This goes against the principle of a modern democratic society.

On the other hand, the majority of Chinese people are keen to fully enjoy the right of free expression, and in most cases, sharp criticism is more valuable than praise because it demands courage and bravery. Without criticism, praise will be meaningless and false.