Forty-seven village officials in Guizhou province have become civil servants as part of local government's move to select talent from the grassroots level.

They were picked out of more than 200 candidates after a series of evaluations. Civil servants receive better salaries and benefits than workers at the village level.

The latest statistics from the Ministry of Civil Affairs shows that there are 600,000 village committees and 84,000 neighborhood committees in China.

Most heads of these committees are not civil servants. After their retirement, they have no civil servant retirement benefits.

"Selecting civil servants and officials from village officials shows our emphasis on employing efficient and hardworking talents from grassroots," said Zhou Haitao, an official of Guiyang's organization department.

Experts believe this practice improves the implementation of the country's policies at the grassroots level.

(China Daily August 4, 2009)