Putting people first

Yang, from Xiangyang, said she was excited to learn that the need to establish stations to collect public opinion had been written into the latest draft amendment, adding that this would help implement "whole-process people's democracy".

The term "whole-process people's democracy" was put forward by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, during an inspection tour of Shanghai in November 2019, when he emphasized that China is marching on a political development path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the nation's people's democracy is a whole-process democracy.

On July 1, 2021, when the Party celebrated its 100th anniversary, Xi stressed the need to develop whole-process people's democracy, and the term was also highlighted in a report to the 20th CPC National Congress in Beijing in October.

Statistics released by the Xiangyang station show that since it was established in 2015, it has provided more than 5,000 opinions on 76 laws at national level. Over 200 suggestions it has received have been considered by the NPC Standing Committee.

In July, for example, Liu Li, an official responsible for the station, began seeking opinions with her colleagues on a draft law aimed at fighting telecom and online fraud.

When they arrived in Fancheng district, Wang Zunyi, head of the local Gaozhuang community, suggested that legislators add a clause to fight such fraud by rewarding people who provide tip-offs about possible offenses, as this would encourage more recruits to join the anti-fraud team.

Liu said this advice was added to the law against telecom and online fraud, which took effect at the end of last year.

In August, when the Xiangyang station gathered ideas on a draft revision to the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women, Jiang Pengyu, from Gucheng subdistrict, suggested that legislators allow women who experienced sexual harassment to initiate civil lawsuits, in addition to seeking help from the police.

Liu said the suggestion, which was considered by the NPC Standing Committee, was included in the final version of the revised law, which came into force at the beginning of this year.

Yang said, "These examples reflect a people-centered approach to legislation, demonstrating that the station offers an effective channel for the public to offer advice directly to the nation's top legislature, enabling more people to take part in lawmaking."

Meanwhile, in Jiangxi, the Jingdezhen station had gathered 2,390 suggestions from the public on 77 national-level laws by the end of last month, with more than 300 suggestions accepted by the NPC Standing Committee.

Duan Xiaohong, director of the legislative affairs commission for the standing committee of Jingdezhen people's congress, the city's legislative body, said, "The process of collecting legislative suggestions from more walks of life demonstrates that people are the masters of the country."

In her view, this shows that China puts the people first and demonstrates the effectiveness of "whole-process people's democracy".

After seeing the success of the first group of stations, the NPC Standing Committee introduced more such sites, not only among standing committees of legislatures at provincial and city levels, but in colleges and technological zones. These stations have now been established nationwide.