On the Public Affairs Openness in Chinese Local Government: A Case Study in Guangzhou

With the development of civilization, more and more citizens began to engage in public affairs, and it greatly pushed the government to pay much attention to building a transparency government. In light of this background, the public affairs openness becomes a hot topic not only on the theoretical research level but also in the government's practical sphere. In 2015, we held a cooperative research program with Haizhu District government in Guangzhou, which mainly focuses on the public affairs openness in Chinese local government. Then, we describe a case study on the Haizhu District government. Based on the first stage investigation, we found that the Haizhu District government's public affairs openness can be improved, or is just in the very beginning. Public affairs openness demands should be led by the citizen's desire instead of the upper-level government. Hence, the Haizhu District government should transform the whole public affairs openness model from the bureaucracy guiding style to the citizen guiding way.