Ｃａｎ　Ｇｏｖｅｒｎｍｅｎｔ　Ｃｏｎｔｒａｃｔ　Ｐｏｓｉｔｉｏｎｓ　Ｉｍｐｒｏｖｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｃｉｖｉｌ　Ｓｅｒｖｉｃｅ？

China's civil service has long been de-scribed as the "iron rice bowl," meaningthe place where employment is guaranteedfor life. But as with all things in the coun-try, little escapes change. Wenzhou City ineastern Zhejiang Province recently updatedthe conventional image of the civil serviceby launching an initiative to introduce con-tracted technical employees into the systemto supplement the government's shortage oftalent in specialized areas. The competitionintroduced into the workplace is also ex-pected to motivate long-term civil servants.To ensure they hire the cream of the crop,Wenzhou will offer these new staff biggersalaries and other incentives.