A television series about ordinary people's headaches in life and their sharp criticism and spicy questions for local officials has hit the list of most popular shows on Tianjin TV, the station said.

The third set in the series - Baixing Wenzheng - was broadcast from Monday to Wednesday.

The series, whose name translates as "Firing questions at politicians", began on Jan 20. So far, it has posed tough questions to more than 20 local government authorities.

The third set of Baixing Wenzheng-Firing questions at politicians.[Photo provided to exploringtianjin.com]

As the series has unfolded, several local officials have made sharp U-turns, from not admitting any fault to apologizing, crying or even being removed from their posts.

Li Hongzhong, Tianjin's Party secretary, saw a program in another province and encouraged Tianjin TV to create a similar program this year, as part of an effort to help the government in a three-year campaign to discover whether officials have been derelict in their duty.

"In the beginning, some of those officials wouldn't acknowledge their mistakes," said Wang Jun, director of Tianjin TV's news center. "I even learned that some of them tried to get staff members to tell them if the program would expose some of their faults."

The center has assigned around 100 reporters to look into the life challenges of local people at the grassroots. Officials are invited to sit with the people on the program and hear them out.

"In the beginning, I dared not question officials on TV, for fear of revenge," said Zhang Jingbo, general manager of Tianwei Elevator Co, based in suburban Jinghai. "But after I heard severe criticisms of officials from others invited to the program, I put out my question."

He said he has been visiting local government authorities for three years to lobby for an elevator renovation in a residential community.

His company has business in Beijing and Shanghai to help the old-style six-story buildings - constructed in the 1980s - to install external elevators to help elderly residents. But Tianjin authorities said the city had never undertaken such a project, so it could not approve the first project.

Zhang said he felt hopeless about convincing government officials, and so he turned to the TV programs.

Xue Hui, Party secretary of Tianjin's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Bureau, said that through the TV program he found a number of difficulties claimed by SMEs and will adjust the bureau's work methods to solve their problems.

Li Dun, professor with the modern China research center of Tsinghua University, and a TV commentator, said: "The program, initiated by the local Party chief, indicates the Tianjin government's openness to democracy and its resolutions to address demands from the grassroots. I hope the program will help the government to revise their working methods and try to remove their 'bureaucracy' and old working style."

In Xi'an, Shaanxi province, a similar program has been running for three years. It has exposed nearly 300 problems. To date, 915 officials have been involved in the show and 175 were punished. Thirty-two government organs apologized for their faults.

yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn