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Going beyond interests of one's own group
It is worth noting that the proportion of government and Party officials in the 12th NPC is nearly 7 percent lower than that of the previous one, and 401 workers and farmers have been elected deputies to the 12th NPC, over 5 percent higher than the previous one.
The identity and structure of deputies is a focus of attention at the two annual sessions of the NPC and CPPCC.
Deputies from ethnic minorities are required to attend the meetings in ethnic costumes in order to show their ethnic identity. About 12 percent of deputies to the 12th NPC are from ethnic minorities, higher than the proportion of ethnic minorities in China’s total population. Each ethnic minority has at least one representative in the NPC.
Hu Xiaoyan has attracted great public attention since she was the first migrant worker elected a NPC deputy in 2008.
After disclosing her cell phone number, Hu had been busy answering phone calls from all over the country. She had 1,000 unanswered calls in one hour after turning off the phone.
Every social group wants to have a say in the NPC. Qin Qianhong, a professor at Wuhan University’s law school, said that NPC deputies are elected indirectly in order to ensure that every social group has a say in the top legislature, and there is no better way yet.
Qin believes that NPC deputies should expand their horizons and go beyond the interests of their own groups.
Not all deputies just speak for their own groups. NPC deputy and entrepreneur Dong Mingzhu once proposed to raise the personal income tax threshold and reduce the tax burden on low-income workers.
The decline in the proportion of officials in the NPC has been praised and met the requirements of the 18th CPC National Congress. Qin said that one of the NPC's duties is to supervise officials.
NPC deputies selected from the grassroots can better reflect the will and needs of the grassroots, said Liu Qinglong, a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management under Tsinghua University.
Read the Chinese version: 谁代表你来开“两会”？；Source:bjnews.com.cn; Author: Song Shijing
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