HIGH-LEVEL MOBILIZATION: Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese President, calls for more discipline among Party members at a teleconference on June 18 in Beijing (LIU JIANSHENG)

Since their election at the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) last November, the new leaders of the CPC have engaged in projects to raise public satisfaction by fighting corruption, bringing leaders closer to the people and building a more thrifty government.

The latest move was a meeting of top CPC leaders where they relayed critiques and self-criticisms and intended to set examples for others in the Party's campaign against undesirable work styles.

Presided over by General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping, also Chinese President, the meeting of the 25-member Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee from June 22 to 25 is also an important part of the ongoing campaign to strengthen ties between Party members and the people.

Self-criticism is a tradition in the CPC, which started as a humble group of 50 idealistic Chinese and has become an 80-million-strong political party over the last 92 years.

Exemplary role

The recent Political Bureau meeting was held on the heels of a high-profile June 18 teleconference to launch the CPC's year-long "thorough cleanup" of undesirable work styles such as formalism, bureaucracy, hedonism and extravagance.

"The main task of the campaign focuses on improving work styles," Xi said at the conference. He urged CPC members to adopt the "mass line" in a move to improve ties with the public.

The "mass line" refers to a fundamental policy of the CPC introduced before 1949, when Party members were encouraged to build their ties with ordinary people, reflect on their own practices and correct any misbehavior.

During the campaign starting from July 1, Party members are required to "look in the mirror, straighten their attire, take a bath and seek remedies."

The campaign will focus on Party organs and officials at or above the county head level.

Political Bureau members should "implement the do's before asking others to do so, and certainly not do something themselves if they don't want others to do it," said a statement issued after the Political Bureau meeting.

It added that the Political Bureau should take the lead in improving the Party's work styles.

A change of work styles has already taken place in China's top leadership, which has attracted media attention.

The first group excursion of current members of the Political Bureau Standing Committee occurred on November 29, 2012, when they visited an exhibition on China's development since 1840 at the Chinese National Museum in Beijing, titled "Road to Revival." Newspaper Beijing Times reported that several members were late, which was unusual as cars of senior state leaders were often escorted by police vehicles or traffic control would be issued. However, on that morning their public vehicles were stuck in traffic jams on their way to the museum.

During Xi's inspection trip to south China's Guangdong Province last December, according to Shenzhen police no road was sealed during his stay in the city. A microblogger shared his encounter with Xi's motorcade on Weibo.com, saying that Xi's minibus had transparent glass and no curtains.

In the statement issued on June 25, the Political Bureau hailed the effectiveness of the "eight-point" rules introduced by the new CPC leadership last December to fight bureaucracy and formalism. The eight measures include simplifying meetings and speeches, standardizing leaders' overseas visits, improving news coverage of leaders' work and exercising thrift.

The CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) said on May 31 that a total of 2,290 people had been punished for violating the "eight-point" rules after 2,665 violations were investigated nationwide.

The CPC will work to prevent officials from enjoying excess benefits by standardizing their welfare entitlements, according to the Political Bureau.

It ordered governments at all levels to standardize officials' entitlements to offices, housing, cars, secretaries, public receptions, guards, social benefits and vacations, ensuring that no one enjoys excess benefits and that no official gives or accepts gifts.