In a courtyard in Caochang Sitiao Hutong, Dongcheng District in Beijing, residents in the community meet regularly in a roughly 20-square-meter room, discussing what's going on in the community and what should be done to improve people's livelihoods. As trivial as the topics seem to be, for example, installing streetlamps along the path to the public toilets, such issues concern people's everyday lives. In the courtyard meetings, they reach a consensus through discussions and solve problems step by step.

Such neighborhood decision-making bodies symbolize China's whole-process people's democracy at the most local level. There are more than 3,100 courtyard meeting rooms in Beijing and similar models operate in other parts of the country, collecting public wisdom and empowering ordinary people to engage in consultations, decision-making, management and oversight.

On September 11, 2023, the courtyard meeting room in Caochang Sitiao Hutong welcomed several special guests: Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) president Duarte Pacheco, president of the IPU Bureau of Women Parliamentarians Cynthia López Castro, president of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace Ahmed Al Jarwan and secretary general Zoran Ilievski. They gathered to have discussions and exchanges on the practice of the system of people's congresses in China and the philosophy of whole-process people's democracy at the grassroots level.

Li Caixian, a resident who has lived in the community for almost three decades, introduced in detail to the international guests how the courtyard meeting system works. "Usually we neighbors sit together and listen to everyone's thoughts. If anyone encounters any difficulties or issues, they can come to our small meeting room to discuss it," Li said.

For example, some residents had previously parked their scooters in a disorderly manner, affecting pedestrians and causing safety hazards. To solve the issue, the community-level Communist Party of China organization that serves the community and administers community issues planned to build parking spaces for people's scooters. To fully take into consideration the opinions and suggestions of the neighbors, multiple rounds of discussions and consultations were conducted in the courtyard meeting room. The decisions on the location, building methods and maintenance of the parking lots were made according to the public consensus reached during these meetings.

Due to China's huge population and vast territory, there is great diversity in community-level governance. China applies a system of community-level self-governance represented by villagers' autonomy, urban residents' autonomy and employee congresses.

Villagers and urban residents exercise self-governance. Under the leadership of community-level Party organizations, residents in China's rural villages and urban communities establish villagers' committees and residents' committees, and directly exercise their right to handle public affairs and services in the residential areas to which they belong. For example, they hold elections, where they elect villagers' and residents' committees; discuss and decide on their own governance rules, codes of conduct and self-regulation, running their affairs accordingly.

While commending China's whole-process people's democracy, Pacheco stated that the slogan of the IPU is "For democracy. For everyone." Established in 1889, the IPU facilitates parliamentary diplomacy and empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development around the world.

After learning about China's democratic system, Pacheco asked, "How do deputies to the people's congresses at various levels represent the interests of the people in China?”

Fully representative of the people, deputies to people's congresses come from all regions, ethnic groups, sectors and social groups, and function at the national, provincial, city, county and township levels.

"The most important thing is to be a voice for the people," Wang Rui, a deputy to the people's congress of Dongcheng District in Beijing, answered. Working in the entertainment industry, she has maintained close contact with people through research and talks. When the Beijing municipal government was soliciting opinions on its urban renewal regulations and water conservation regulations, she submitted suggestions reflecting issues of public concern such as outworn water pipes. Her suggestions were eventually adopted at the municipal level.