Former vice city wins National Civilized City award

Xu Jianhua, Party chief of Dongguan, Guangdong province, speaks at a press conference in this July 24, 2014 file photo. [Photo/CFP]

A "national civilized" city does not mean the city is perfect, said Xu Jianhua, Party chief of Dongguan, Guangdong province on Thursday.

The comments from Dongguan's top official come in the wake of the city winning the title of China's National Civilized City.

"The key points are what we do to cope with our problems and what we do to improve," Xu said in regards to the win. "Dongguan city government has done its utmost to root out prostitution, gambling, drug and related crimes in the past months."

According to Xu, Dongguan has headed the list in the appraisal for the national civilized cities organized by the National Spiritual Civilization Development Steering Committee in the previous year. The city was also well received by the Ministry of Public Security and National Spiritual Civilization Development Steering Committee after the two departments paid many secret visits to Dongguan to inspect the city's social order and government's efforts in fighting prostitution and related crimes in the past months.

Xu promised police across his city would sustain their fight against prostitution and related crimes in the future, despite the achievement.

Meanwhile effective and concrete measures will also be introduced to help further improve the city's image at home and abroad to be qualified to be the title as a national civilized city, he added.

Dongguan won title of China's National Civilized City in Feb. It is an honor for cities that perform well in economic development, political stability and spiritual civilization. It is also the most valuable among all city honors in China.

This is the third successive year Dongguan was awarded the honor.