Civil service exam draws 1.3m applicants

More than 1.3 million people have been accepted to sit for China‘s 2011 national service examination for select government officials.
A statement on the website of the State Administration of Civil Service (SACS) said they include 327,000 applicants competing for posts in central government and provincial-level organizations.
Of those, 191,000 or 58.4% had at least two years experience working in "grassroots" positions.
The written test of the 2011 national civil service examination is to be held December 5 in major cities across China.
English People’s Daily Online reports that in a move to reform the civil service exam, the government has decided to offer more vacancies to applicants with at least two years of grassroots experience and to reserve vacancies for college graduates with experience as village officials, as well as workers and farmers.