Online platform of consultative democracy embodies Chinese concept of democracy

CHANGSHA, Dec. 12 (Xinhua) -- During a field trip to Youxian, a mountainous county in central China's Hunan Province, a poorly protected ancient tree caught the attention of Lai Mingyong.

"I saw electric wires and switches nailed to the 1,500-year-old tree," recalled Lai, vice chairman of Hunan provincial committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the provincial political advisory body.

He immediately left advice on the CPPCC Cloud, an online advice-soliciting platform, calling for a thorough inspection of ancient trees across Hunan and the establishment of a universal protective mark to ensure that every ancient tree is under protection.

The provincial forestry department responded quickly and decided to launch a pilot "tree chief" scheme to step up ancient and rare trees protection and promote the construction of a batch of theme parks to conserve ancient and rare trees.

The CPPCC Cloud, launched by the Hunan provincial committee of the CPPCC in January 2017, serves as a platform connecting all levels of committees of the CPPCC, political advisors, Party and government departments, and the general public in Hunan.

The CPPCC Cloud has received over 2,050 pieces of advice, with over 75 percent having been handled, covering issues in the areas of politics, economy, society, culture and ecological civilization.

The CPPCC Cloud played an important role in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak when anti-epidemic supplies were running short, as companies suspended operation and traditional offline channels were not available.

Connected to the provincial Red Cross online platform, the CPPCC Cloud was used to coordinate demands and donations and provide a reference for government decision-making.

At this year's provincial "two sessions", the annual meetings of Hunan provincial lawmakers and political advisors to discuss local economic and social development in the past year and make plans for the year to come, 23 members of the CPPCC Hunan provincial committee from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region were unable to make their trips to Hunan due to the epidemic. They, instead, participated in the meetings via the cloud platform.

"The CPPCC Cloud allows the public to understand what political advisors are doing and effectively shortens the distance between them," said Liu Zhifeng, deputy director of the research office of the Hunan provincial committee of the CPPCC.

Liu said the CPPCC Cloud provides an all-weather platform for local political advisors to perform their duties, and makes the consultative democracy of the CPPCC more extensive, multi-tiered and flexible.