BEIJING: Upon hearing the recent story of an elderly couple having to climb 17 stories in the sweltering heat after the elevator in their apartment building broke down in Kunshan, Jiangsu province, local lawmaker Jiang Yuqin sprang into action.
Jiang, along with concerned colleagues and maintenance workers, visited the property in the Zoujiajiao community on Aug 28 and discovered that the elevator was old and damaged.
Repair and maintenance work was immediately ordered for all elevators in the community, and Jiang visited the couple, who are both almost in their 80s, to seek their suggestions on how to better improve the safety of various community facilities.
“This is all part of my routine in serving the community, and also my duty as a deputy to the Suzhou People’s Congress,” said the 47-year-old.
In China’s political system, the people exercise State power through the National People’s Congress, the country’s top legislature, and people’s congresses at provincial, city, county and township levels, ensuring that their interests are reflected in the decision-making process. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the NPC.
Data released by media in March showed that there were over 2.7 million people serving as deputies across the five levels of people’s congresses in China, including nearly 3,000 deputies to the NPC.
Deputies in China’s people’s congress system are tasked with engaging and interacting with local people and communities to best understand their needs, and seek their suggestions on a range of issues so that the deputies can present their views in the congress. This format of governance is referred to as whole-process people’s democracy.
This engagement with people and communities is ever expanding with the use of online services as well as face-to-face interaction, Jiang said.
Enriching the ways of connecting deputies with the people was called for by President Xi Jinping while he was delivering an important speech on Saturday at a meeting to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the NPC.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that people’s congresses at all levels should support deputies in performing their duties and helping them enrich the ways they connect with the people.
Noting that the people’s congress system is an important institutional guarantee for realizing whole-process people’s democracy, Xi urged people’s congresses to put the people first, maintain close ties with the people and listen to their suggestions and opinions.
He also called on deputies to fully exercise their duties, better serving as the bridge between the people and the country.
For a deputy like Jiang, the major obligation is to listen to people’s ideas, provide a voice for them and help them solve difficulties in their work and life. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
