Zhang Fan (www.gmw.cn): China does not lack a pool of excellent young people, but there is not enough credit on them, nor is there enough support. Many young people are restricted to smaller roles where they can hardly bring their role into full play. Therefore, our official selection and promotion system needs reform and improvement, so that more and more excellent young talents will be able to play a bigger role and do more useful things for society. If everyone has to wait for 20 years before being promoted to key positions, his enthusiasm for the job will undoubtedly be affected.

Media reports show that one reason for Jiao's promotion is that he graduated from Tsinghua University. For a local government thirsty for talents, his education background naturally speaks for him.

Our country's future depends on younger generations—the youth are our nation's hope. Young people are full of new ideas, energy and vitality, and if they are offered more choices and broader stage to play on, they will surely be a strong force driving the country forward.

Cheng Ping (www.people.com.cn): Linking one's working ability to his or her age is groundless. If a person is very young, but he or she has tried many different jobs and is good at drawing experience from practices, he or she will surely be exceptionally mature in dealing with various situations, even appearing more mature than those who are older.

It's unfair to ignore young people's advantages and merits, but just simply compare the young with the old in terms of experience and maturity. Age should never be used as a reason to keep young people from being promoted.

Jiao is only 23 years old, and is unexperienced compared with older officials. However, he volunteered to go to the rural areas in the western region, overcoming various hardship and mingling with local people. He's a prime example of why it's necessary to break the old framework.

Young people are equipped with unique advantages: creativity, bravery, competitiveness and composition. Using young officials is a bit risky, but it's more dangerous to restrict capable young people and waste their talent.

Mu Gong (People's Daily): The appointment of young officials is enriching China's pool of talent. Jiao, a graduate from a leading university, volunteered to go to the rural areas. His action deserves our support. After all, it's not easy for a graduate from such a prestigious university to move to the underdeveloped regions. It's understandable for the local government to appoint this young man to a high official post within the frame of law.

As for the 25-year-old young woman who was appointed as township head, the whole thing actually reveals some local governments' misunderstanding of the principle of "building a young official team." They might think the younger the official is, the better it is. In this case, the local authorities said that the post needs someone under the age of 30, and thus she is the only candidate. In fact, the woman herself felt very surprised when she was suddenly promoted to the high post.

It's unwise to select officials based on age. Generally speaking, officials are selected based on their moral level and working ability. However, when it comes to age, the two important factors are usually forgotten.

Dear Readers,

"Forum" is a column that provides a space for varying perspectives on contemporary Chinese society. We invite you to submit personal viewpoints on past and current topics (in either English or Chinese).

E-mail us at: zanjifan@bjreview.com

Please provide your name and address along with your comments.