Your Suggestion, Our Legislation | Turning one resident's remarks into a safeguard for national treasures

The opinions of ordinary residents have become a strong safeguard for China's cultural heritage and national treasures.

In 2023, during the public consultation period for the revision of the Cultural Relics Protection Law of the People's Republic of China, Zhang Guixia, a retired teacher from north China's Tianjin Municipality, put forward a legislative suggestion. Drawing on her daily observations and conditions at the grassroots level, she proposed encouraging private enterprises and social groups to invest in and take part in the protection of cultural relics.

Her suggestion was incorporated into the newly revised Cultural Relics Protection Law.

Since the Legislative Outreach Office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (Xiaobailou Subdistrict) was established in 2021, it has gathered a wide range of views and ideas from the public. It has collected, sorted and submitted 1,589 legislative suggestions, 173 of which have been formally adopted and written into laws and regulations. This has brought grassroots public opinion into the legislative process and made it part of the rule of law.