The first step toward political reform led by the Chinese people?

The Surprising things happen in China.

On the Sina Weibo (Chinese Twitter), the people of declaring candidacy for the election to the  People's Representative Conference of the District and County are increasing more and more and are showing a surge.

The 18 independent candidates have run  by May 27.

more bigger map Yao Bo 姚博/Wu Danhong 吴丹红/Xu Chunliu 徐春柳
  
Certainly It is possible for the Chinese people over 18 years or older to run with the direct election in the city, which is not under the direct control of the government , directs and counties. However, except for communist members, there are few people, who know rules of the direct election and are interested in, as they may be afraid of political retaliation
 
■The rise of a new generation of 30s or less 
Why these situations are going on?

It is usually heard that There are clearly differences between the generations  in China before  the reform and open and after them.
 
The latter generations, who could use the Internet  for getting information from all over the world and did not experience  the Tienanmen Square incident directly in 1989, can consider things relatively freely and have considerable interest in political and social issues. Personally I feel there are not significant differences of how to think about these problems between Chinese and Japanese elite and sometimes they are better than us, although the direct criticisms of their government are not possible.

 








※extracting from China Internet Development Statistics Report 2011


■The effectiveness of Sina Weibo
I also want to mention the importance of Sina Wibo as the way they can express their values. that has had 1.4million user and some people, who have a lot of follower, can not only give their follower large influence but also get their support, which is really helpful to reaffirm their idea in the situation hesitated to discuss political matters (social’s is OK ) in the official place and even with friends in China. It is said that although the sentences including the prohibited terms such as the Tienanmen Square incident are deleted, unless criticizing the government, they can argue the political and social reform and these are comparatively discussed in Sina Weibo
 
■The candidates
The 5 candidates out of 18 people are 20’ s(including 3 university students), the youngest one is 20 years old. It is interesting in what kind of discussion they have with little political fear to their government.  ( in spite of it seeming to make their hands up with the momentum) It is also remarkable for the two CCP (Chinese Communist Party) members to run. With expected conflicts with the party organizations, which are impossible to predict what will happens, running for the candidates may mean that more political space are emerging in China. However, There are some pressures from the authorities. the several violent incidents did happen and some candidates declared their family and relatives were nothing to do with their actions.
 
It is sure that if these debate continue until the middle of September a lot of people will run for candidates and be the first step for the political reform led by the Chinese people. but the CCP does not hope these rapid changes and his Intervention will happen somewhere sooner or later. Anyway, it is interesting to focus on the future trends