More than 100 people have been appointed to temporary posts in Beijing's municipal government despite not being Communist Party of China members. Some say the appointments show the government is more open to hiring talent regardless of a person's political status.

From university professors to company executives, a total of 106 such talents, who have made outstanding achievements in their fields, will be serving temporarily on top of their full-time jobs, according to People's Daily.

According to the report, Beijing has never had so many people in temporary positions. Under the reform and development guidelines for 2010-20 the central government has also cleared the way for Chongqing and Shanghai to follow suit. Those two cities will be "training bases" for non-Party members appointed to temporary posts.

During the last two months, the municipal government of Beijing has had nine non-Party members assume temporary posts, among them Li Daokui, an economist and Wang Guangqian, a hydrology professor.

Li, a professor at the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University, was appointed a deputy director of Beijing's Zhongguancun Science and Technology Park. The park is home to many of China's leading hi-tech firms. Wang, also a professor at Tsinghua University, was appointed a deputy director of the Beijing Water Authority, the Beijing News reported.

"Having non-Party members taking official posts helps them understand the operating mechanisms of the government and improve their capacity for political participation as well as leadership," Shi Shaojie, of the Beijing municipal Party committee said at a meeting.

The municipal government of Beijing is required to appoint non-Party members for some key posts. They participate in high-level meetings and are involved in the decision-making process, the paper said.

Those who finish the temporary official posts usually return to their original job, but it was reported some also stayed as government officials.

The system of non-Party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC is one of China's fundamental organs, said one expert. Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance, said China used to have many high-ranking, non-Party officials within the government, but that practice was overlooked after the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).

"Those appointed are usually experts in their fields who can provide important and useful insight in policy making," Zhu told the Global Times. "The government is increasing the speed and expanding the scale of involving non-Party people into the country's governance."