The summer of 1995 in China was extraordinarily long since the hot August was doubled by a leap month according to the Chinese lunar calendar. Tired and vexed people, eagerly seeking somewhere to escape, found salvation in a number of visiting foreign ballet troupes, which performed such classics as Sleeping Beauty and Yevegeny Onegin in several large cities. Adding to the fresh and exotic cultural atmosphere were debuts of some Western movies such as The Fugitive and True Lies.

This intriguing and exciting program included a public lecture, which attracted large audiences throughout the nation. Quietly entering the lecture halls and leaving subdued hours later, most of the audiences could not refrain from weeping over the story of a good cadre named Kong Fansen.

Since they gave the first lecture in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing this April, the lecturing group has been invited to 14 provinces. More than 60,000 people have attended in person, while countless more turn in to radio and TV broadcasts.

True Story of a Hero

Kong Fansen was a native of Shandong Province. He worked in his hometown Liaocheng as one of the prefectural heads in charge of forestry. He was sent to Tibet twice with other cadres and technicians to help Tibet's economic construction. During the first term, which lasted from 1974 to 1982, he worked in Kamba County, a poor place located 4,700 meters above sea level in Xigaze Prefecture. He left for Tibet for the second time in 1988,working as deputy mayor of Lhasa and then secretary of the Ngari Prefectural Party Committee. He died tragically in a car accident during an inspection tour of Xinjiang on November 29,1994.

When Kong arrived in Ngari in 1993, it was enduring the most catastrophic snow falls in half a century. Grain and forage grass were obliterated by the weather, and as a result livestock died in large numbers. As soon as he arrived, Kong urged the local government to make its priority saving people's lives. He led the rescue work by collecting relief materials such as highland barley, flour and tea from all the sources available, and distributed them to every resident. Because of his efficient organization, no one died during the natural disaster.

To his dismay, applications were piled on his desk from local cadres demanding to leave Ngari because of the harsh conditions. Kong put forward six advantages for local development and led a team working out a strategy for Ngari's economic development after conducting an on-the-spot investigation across the whole area. His confidence, and the positive plans, persuaded the cadres from leaving.

Kong couldn't wait to put these plans into operation as soon as the disaster was over. He met with foreign business people, negotiating foreign-invested projects in Ngari and applied to the higher authorities for opening a foreign trade port. He also came to Beijing to lobby the departments concerned to provide more development funds for Ngari while traveling to other provinces to seek assistance for developing Ngari's geothermal power stations.

Kong's efforts eventually paid off. By 1994, the gross product of Ngari reached over 180 million yuan, up 37.5 percent over 1993.The reconditioned 2,000-kw Lungjug Geothermal Power Station resumed production. A group of new factories, including a cement plant, a fish-bone powder manufacturing plant and a cashmere plant, with a combined annual output of over 100 million yuan,were built.

Kong is still frequently praised by Tibetan people for his enthusiastic efforts to improve the region's educational level. Taking the post of deputy mayor of Lhasa in charge of education, he visited nearly every school in Lhasa's eight counties before helping draw up the proposal for improving education. It was due to his direct and close attention that the attendance rate of school-age children in Lhasa rose to 80 percent from 45 percent during a short period.

Kong was well aware of the huge gap in living conditions between Tibet and the prosperous coastal areas such as his home province of Shandong, and he was always ready to do everything he could to help the Tibetan people. Before setting off for the second time to Tibet, he carried as much medicine as possible with him,bought with his own money, so that he could help Tibetans who suffered from diseases but lived far away from hospitals.

Kong found the Tibetans living in remote areas were so poor that he developed a habit in which he would fumble in his pocket for money while visiting those families and left all the money he carried to them. During the frozen winters, he would give his own sweaters and shoes to those who shivered in thin cloth.

In the summer of 1992, Kong went to Maizhokunggar County to lead the rescue work after an earthquake, where he came across two orphans-eight-year-old Qoiying and five-year-old. Gunsang. Finding no better way to help the orphans, who had lost their parents during the earthquake, Kong adopted them.

Kong was a father-like figure to his staff. When he was told that Li Jianguo, a young assistant working for him, was experiencing financial trouble because his family could not collect enough money to pay his younger brother and sister's tuition fees, Kong immediately sent 1,000 yuan to Li's family.

However, what was in sharp contrast to his generosity to others was the fact that he spent very little money on himself. While traveling in Beijing on business,he stayed in shabby hotels, and ate at the fast food stands on the street. It is estimated that Kong gave more than 6,000 yuan of his own money to Tibetans he worked with or visited during the two years he was in Ngari. However,when he died there was only 8 yuan in his pocket.

Today's Party Members

Kong's story stirred a heated discussion among the Chinese people over what Communist Party members should be like in modern times. The majority argued that Kong Fansen is a real Communist of our age. The discussion prompted President Jiang Zemin's call to all Party members "to learn from comrade Kong Fansen".

While the story about Kong Fansen was widely talked about, stories about two other Party members were brought to public attention by the media. One of them is Cui Daqing, a young policeman in Beijing who was devoted to his duty and contributed his life to Beijing's public security during a battle with gun-slingers. The other is Sairjiang, a young policeman of Uygur nationality. He sacrificed his life to save a man of Han nationality while he was on duty.

Many printed media commented that in the current transition period from a planned to a market economy, all Communist Party members should question whether or not they should adhere to the old principle of serving and being close to the people. The Guangming Daily newspaper said, "Only if they are close to people and share every happiness and misery with them can the Communist Party members be believed and followed by Chinese people."

Sharp Contrast

Ironically, while the good deeds of Kong Fansen are spread across the nation a corruption scandal involving a government official called Wang Baosen, former deputy mayor of Beijing, is also a great talking point. He committed suicide in April after being condemned by the Party's inspection authority for embezzling huge amounts of public funds. Since the last characters of both Kong Fansen and Wang Baosen's names are "sen," and both were high-level government officials, an even more interesting public discussion has developed around the phenomenon of the "two sens".

Wei Mingduo, an official with the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, said, "Even though they both were high-level government officials, they chose entirely different ways of working, living and behaving, one being a good model Communist and the other merely scum; one being the ideal model for civil servants and the other a rotten apple deep within a government institution; one setting a good example for everyone and the other sounding the alarming bell to warn us all against such sins."

Unlike times of war when people voluntarily joined the Communist Party to fight for the nation's peace and security, today a considerable number of people join the Party, or seek influential posts in government, just for "taking" instead of "giving." It is with this background that what Kong Fansen did offers a time for reflection for every Party member and civil servant. They should note that most of the Chinese media supported the call that all government officials should work and behave like Kong Fansen.

Traditional Virtues

In the last decade or so, Chinese people have been motivated by dreams of becoming materially rich as swiftly as possible, and many are paying less and less attention to important traditional, Chinese ethical standards and moral excellence. The media have warned repeatedly in recent years that young people are becoming egotistical and indifferent about the plight of others.

Kong Fansen was a moral conservative. The ancient Chinese philosopher Mencius commented, "It is because you love your parents that you will thus love all parents, and it is because you love your children that you love all children in the world." Kong Fansen loved his wife, children and aged mother, and he extended his unselfish love and care to the people around him in Tibet. He once said, "The ideal state of one's love is manifested in the unselfish love of all others."

This view is shared by many Chinese people. When talking about Kong Fansen they agree that his spirit should be an example to everyone in the country in helping to construct an economically powerful nation based on Chinese philosophical, cultural and ethical traditions.

(This article appears on page 9, No. 40, 1995)