Since 2014, authorities in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region have, as Human Rights Watch phrases it, sent “cadres from government agencies, state-owned enterprises, and public institutions to regularly visit and surveil people.” The program, known as “Visit the People, Benefit the People, Bring Together the Hearts of the People,” is one way the government keeps tabs on Uyghurs and other ethnic minority residents of the region.
The Xinjiang Science and Technology Achievement Management Network website, which lists projects and organizations the regional government has awarded science and technology prizes, provides information about how certain government employees who have participated in the “Visit, Benefit, Bring Together” program can apply for exemptions to certain job application requirements. As the regional Human Resources and Social Security website explains, Xinjiang authorities adopted a “preferential policy” in 2017 that allows for such exemptions. The goal: to encourage government employees to willingly head to villages and “actively participate” in the surveillance program.
The website has posted two templates for cadres to apply for this exemption. One is a template “Summary of Achievements” for a cadre to personalize and submit as part of the exemption process. The other is a form to request the exemption. Brief and anodyne though these forms may be, they afford a tiny glimpse into the bureaucratic processes that support the “Visit, Benefit, Bring Together” program. Sending hundreds of thousands of government monitors into villages is a significant undertaking, requiring not only money but also human bodies. These forms demonstrate one way the government uses the promise of career advancement to incentivize cadres’ participation.
Translation of documents by Anna Beth Keim for ChinaFile.