Nearly 100% completion rate, but repeated complaint rate is rising; "digital games" can't hide the public's perception

Original headline: “Digital games” can’t fool the public’s lived experience (Jintai Tide · Series on views of political achievements)

“Last year, we handled 30k public complaints, almost every case was resolved, but the rate of repeat complaints increased year over year.” A staff member from a local government public service hotline in western China said, and their observation was quite thought-provoking.

With a near-100% resolution rate, yet the repeat-complaint rate is rising—this exposes problems in the quality of handling: either cases are marked as “resolved” or “transferred” within the system but the underlying issues are not actually solved; or it’s treating symptoms but not the root causes—pressing down the gourd only to have the gourd float up again……

Even worse, in some places, they stage “image projects” in pursuit of “good-looking data,” reflecting an incorrect outlook on political achievements that treats “data” as “political performance” and substitutes “data” for actual results. The consequence is a gap between the public’s real experience and the statistical figures: the data looks better, but public satisfaction declines.

It should be noted that the phenomenon of focusing only on numbers while ignoring real effectiveness is not unique. In recent years, among typical cases of rectifying formalism to reduce burdens on local levels that were notified at the central level, there have been cases of spending money to buy reputations and seek advancement on various lists such as “Top 100 counties” and “Top 1,000 towns”; others have carried out large-scale construction of farmers’ reading rooms, but rebuilt them without proper follow-up management, leading to increasingly low actual utilization rates…… Data that should objectively reflect the real situation, once it is “inflated” or “beautified,” will “change colors and lose its flavor.” It no longer serves as a “barometer” for economic and social development, but instead becomes a “cover-up” or “stage for showmanship” for some people—misleading decision-making, wasting resources, and further damaging the Party and the government’s credibility.

To get work done and pursue development, we must not fall into “digital games.” Not long ago, a news report drew widespread attention: in a certain city, the 2025 gross domestic product was only “a step away” from surpassing 1 trillion yuan. In response to that result, the local responsible officials said, “Seek truth from facts and let events take their natural course,” adding that “don’t get hung up on numbers or be weighed down by them; develop in a solid and down-to-earth way.” This response shows full respect for the laws governing economic growth and a clear-eyed, pragmatic work style.

Real political achievements are never built by stacking numbers. They come from working hard and striving. False figures can’t conceal the public’s firsthand feelings. What kind of political achievements there are is reflected in every brick and tile in the renovation of old residential compounds, in the solid results of comprehensive rural revitalization, and in the process of resolving urgent issues affecting people such as jobs, education, and healthcare. These tangible achievements that ordinary people can see and feel carry far more truth and weight than mere numbers.

It’s also important to see that, where matters meant to serve the people have instead turned into “digital games,” one major reason is that the evaluation and assessment mechanisms are flawed. In some cases, the political-achievement outlook of higher-level units is off the mark, setting targets detached from reality; at the grassroots level, “there are policies above and countermeasures below,” using formalism to cope with bureaucratism—ultimately derailing the cause, harming people’s well-being, and losing the trust of the people.

To get out of “digital games” and eliminate short-sighted behavior, the fundamental key is to figure out clearly for whom political achievements are to be built. When officials truly use their effort to solve development challenges, enhance people’s well-being, and improve governance effectiveness, and do more practical things that build foundations, benefit the long term, and serve the people; when assessments go more often to the site to see for themselves, yield more concrete observations, and listen more to what the public says—so that those who really do the work and work diligently are recognized, and those who fabricate and put on shows have no room to maneuver, then “digital games” will have nowhere to hide.

Source: People’s Daily

Author: Zhao Cheng