Picking grassroots work in rural areas over cushy jobs

After Mr Mao Haofu graduated with a master's degree in finance from the University of Hull in Britain, he had intended to look for a job in one of China's bustling cities, like many of his peers.

Instead, a trip back to his home town of Jinggangshan to visit his ailing 88-year-old grandfather in 2017 upended the plan.

He would accompany the elderly man, a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) historian, on study trips to gather material.

His grandfather's devotion to his work led Mr Mao, 32, to realise the importance of continuing to pass down China's communist history.

He told The Straits Times that with a master's degree from a foreign university, he could have easily found a "very good job" in any city in south-east Jiangxi province, but he chose to continue his grandfather's work in Jinggangshan after the latter retired.

Known today as the "cradle of the revolution", Jinggangshan represents a critical point in CCP history. It was here that Mao Zedong developed his doctrine on the Chinese rural revolution and built up the Red Army, the precursor of the People's Liberation Army.

"In Jinggangshan, there is this saying - every household has a 'Red story', everyone is a martyr's descendant," said Mr Mao Haofu, who teaches visitors and party cadres about Mao Zedong-era history. "Hearing the stories of so many people who sacrificed their lives for the party, you realise that people had such faith (in the party)."

Last month, Mr Mao submitted his application to join the party.

"In my work, I learn about the sacrifices of old revolutionary soldiers, how the people of my grandfather's generation contributed to China's nation building and reforms. It made me want to be someone like that too," he said.

Young party cadres like Mr Wang Chaoyuan, 31, and Mr Hou Xiaobin, 29, have also been drawn to the party's peasant-based history - enough to ask to be sent to the rural areas to do grassroots work instead of sitting behind a desk in a government office in Beijing.

"I don't just learn about the Yan'an spirit from the books but also from the older people in the community," said Mr Wang, who does grassroots work in the village of Nanniwan in northern Shaanxi province's revolutionary holy land of Yan'an.

Yan'an spirit refers to the CCP's revolutionary ideology of struggle, patriotism, hard work and servitude to the people.

Mr Wang was called "xuesheng wawa", or "scholar baby", by the villagers when he first arrived from Beijing four years ago.

A law graduate from Peking University, he remembers crying himself to sleep because he was not used to life in the countryside and could not understand the local dialect.

"As young cadres, we must work in the countryside or we will not be recognised or acknowledged by the people," said the Shandong native, who joined the party in 2018, a year after graduation.

He turned down an offer to work as an aide to a provincial government official, and asked to be posted to a township-level department instead.

"Many of my classmates are now in the financial sector, but I feel my work is more meaningful," he said.

In the pretty hamlet of Lijiazhuang in northern Hebei province, life has improved for the 87 households since Mr Hou arrived two years ago.

He has not only solved their daily problems, but also helped many of them to transform their homes into farm stays for tourists, increasing their income.

The finance graduate, who joined the party when he was studying at Minzu University of China in Beijing, opted to take China's civil service exam because of a "calling" to serve the people and spread "Red genes".

"The operational aspects of running a village is something you cannot glean from the books. I applied to be deployed to a rural area because I wanted to train myself and to understand intimately the common people," he said.

"As a young cadre, you have to keep cultivating yourself. My understanding of the party, its history and ideology has been progressing, and the villagers have become part of my family."