Village-level affairs agents become a new profession in some rural areas of China

    "Grandpa Liu, this is Auntie's pension collection certificate, the annual review has passed. The ID card is tucked inside the back, please keep it safe. Contact me if you need anything." 59-year-old Liu Xiyu took the little red booklet handed over by the young woman across from him, flipped through it, and carefully tucked it into the inner pocket of his jacket.

Liu Xiyu told the reporter that his wife is the same age as him and receives a pension of about 800 yuan a month, which is a not-insignificant source of income for the family. What had always vexed him in the past was the annual review of this pension collection certificate. Although he was not entirely unaware of when it took place each year and which documents to bring, he still always felt uneasy when the time came.

"In the past, it had to be sent to the town 15 kilometers away for the annual review, and the round trip cost 12 yuan in bus fare. If you forgot your ID card, the whole day would be wasted." Liu Xiyu said that this year there was no need to worry, because a young agent had come to the village. Hand in the certificate one day, pick it up the next, and the matter is settled without leaving the village.

The young woman who handed Liu Xiyu the little red booklet is named Gao Lili. Starting in August this year, she became a village-level affairs agent for Minyi Community in Shangye Town, Fei County, Linyi, Shandong. Over more than two months, she has handled more than 50 matters of various kinds for villagers, including trivial ones such as copying ID cards and sending and receiving letters, as well as important matters closely tied to villagers' lives, such as reissuing medical insurance cards, distributing improved wheat seed, and stamping village reference letters.

Lu Fenghua, director of Minyi Community, praised Gao Lili's work highly: "There are many higher-level departments, rural affairs are complicated, and each matter has its own procedure. Even if I had three heads and six arms, I could not remember them all or get them all done in time."

In Shandong, China, Fei County is far from a wealthy area, yet it has recruited 220 full-time village-level affairs agents like Gao Lili, covering all 421 administrative villages in the county. Most of these agents are local college and junior college graduates. In terms of food, lodging and transportation, Fei County provides them with as many preferential conveniences as possible, and each agent's actual monthly salary reaches 1,500 yuan.

In addition to handling livelihood matters for villagers such as subsistence allowances, the new rural cooperative medical care system, and rural endowment insurance, the agents also serve as grassroots information investigators and rural dispute mediators.

Gao Lili told the reporter that compared with other jobs, a monthly salary of 1,500 yuan is not high. When she first began working in the village, she was once misunderstood by villagers as "using the pretext of handling affairs to swindle money," but after two months, the villagers gradually came to treat her as family.

"Although an agent is not 'high-end, elegant and classy,' and what I deal with are everyday family matters, if small matters are handled well, the praise from the people is not for me alone." Gao Lili said.