Direct elections for village leaders have been carried out in 16 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities throughout China for several years and attracted up to 90 per cent of eligible voters in some areas, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

Wang Zhenyao, a ministry official who has visited more than 1,000 villages over the years to oversee the elections, said: "Democracy is becoming increasingly widespread."

The on-going elections have involved about 300,000 village committees and more than 400 million people have participated directly.

Through secret polls, eligible villagers directly elected committees, which are legally authorized to run day-to-day local affairs. The final voting results are released in the villages.

Chinese cities are now experimenting with the same method and following in the footsteps of grassroots democracy in rural China. About 20 cities, including Beijing and Guangzhou, have so far introduced direct elections.

Jianghan District in Wuhan of Hubei Province is one of the examples where people working in the 112 neighbourhood committees were directly elected. Community residents also elect deputies to community conferences, community consultations, discussion conferences, a women's committee and an association for disabled people.

Residents also decide on who is eligible to receive the minimum living allowance provided by the government, in addition to appraising the personnel and departments of local government.

Ma Zhongliang, vice-president of the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, said the practice contributed to improving the overall level of community construction and strengthening members' consciousness about democracy.

He said the spread of grassroots elections seems to indicate China is moving towards prosperity and efficiency through democracy.

Local residents electing their own committees is one of the first steps in the democratization procedure.

Even newspapers and magazines have started to change the way they report matters.

A survey conducted earlier this year by Peking University's National People's Congress and Parliament Study Centre found that more Chinese believe the nation will push forward with democracy.

The survey quoted Cai Dingjian, from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, as saying direct elections could and should be expanded as a way to choose higher-level officials.

Researchers found that farmers' enthusiasm in democracy was even higher than some college students.

Cai implied in an article, which appeared in the Guangzhou-based magazine Windows of South Wind, that direct elections would eventually benefit economic development.

He said democracy was advocated as a way to help solve problems that could damage social stability and ensure farmers' interests.

Chinese law stipulates that people may directly elect members of village and neighbourhood committees.

They are also authorized to directly pick deputies to the township and county-level people's congresses, who in turn elect deputies to higher-level congresses.