On April 30, 2009, Unirule conducted a press conference to promote the rankings of its public governance index (PGI), which identifies local governance entities in need of reform as well as systems that are working well. The press conference generated extensive media coverage through a variety of outlets, including the prominent Cajing economic newspaper. Published articles strongly supported Unirule’s stance of stressing the importance of governance quality alongside economic performance when assessing the performance of public officials.
Unirule’s PGI rankings, which publicly reveal comparable data on the quality of local governance across China, were based on the responses to questionnaires distributed in 30 provincial capital cities. Questionnaires covered various governmental performance issues, such as the local government’s respect and protection of rights, including educational rights, housing, and health; the local government’s effectiveness, including civil participation, safety, free speech, and fair elections; and the local government’s ‘cleanliness,’ including transparency, supervision, and reputation. The questionnaire also asked participants to rank different government agencies to compare the effectiveness of their public governance.

(Editor: Janniy Yang)