On April 26, a group of special guests arrived at an ancient and picturesque Beijing courtyard. Diplomats from 36 countries, including Mozambique, El Salvador and Seychelles, were invited to visit the Nanmofang township legislative liaison station, which is under the local legislative outreach office of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China located in the Chaoyang district in Beijing.

They participated in a consultation and discussion meeting on legislation, had face-to-face discussions with deputies to the people's congresses and learned about China's whole-process people’s democracy.

The guests had a slew of questions. How are the quotas for deputies at various levels of the people's congresses determined? How are the deputies elected? Who can propose suggestions for legal drafts? Can foreign nationals participate in China's legislative work? How do deputies to the people's congresses allocate their time to fulfill their duties as lawmakers while balancing their own work commitments?

The people's congress deputies provided detailed answers to the guests' inquiries, with the foreign diplomats and envoys listening attentively to the explanations, watching introductory videos and engaging in interactive exchanges. This visit offered the international attendees a firsthand look at the practice of China's whole-process people's democracy.

A system that works

China has a multilayered system of people's congresses at the township, county, city, provincial and national levels. According to the Constitution and the Election Law, the deputies to the township and county-level people’s congresses are directly elected by their constituents, while the deputies to the higher-level people's congresses are elected by the congresses at the next level below.

The NPC is composed of deputies elected from the provinces, autonomous regions, cities under direct central government administration, special administrative regions and the armed forces. These deputies have both decision-making responsibilities and the duty to convey suggestions from their communities.

In 2015, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the NPC Standing Committee established its first batch of local legislative outreach offices, starting in the city of Shanghai and the provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi and Gansu. The goal was to better engage with the people the NPC represents and improve their everyday lives.

Over the past nine years, this initiative has expanded significantly, with now close to 6,500 local outreach offices across China at the provincial, city and district levels. This has created multiple channels for the public to voice their opinions on legislation and policy, including through universities, businesses and the financial sector.

Public input has been reflected in various national laws, such as those addressing environmental protection and the rights of the disabled and elderly. This exemplifies China's model of whole-process people's democracy, with the local legislative outreach offices serving as a direct conduit and bridge between the people and their deputies.

Jiao Chengzhi, director of the Nanmofang people's congress, introduced the four-tiered work system at the station, which includes one deputy to the NPC, four deputies to the Beijing Municipal people's congress, 12 deputies to the Chaoyang district people's congress, elected from Nanmofang, and 56 deputies to the Nanmofang people's congress.

"The Nanmofang Township station serves as an important platform for deputies to the people's congresses to gather public opinions and hear the voices of the people,” Jiao told visiting foreign diplomats and envoys.

Since the establishment of the Nanmofang station two years ago, it has facilitated residents, deputies to the people's congresses and professionals from various sectors to participate in legislative consultations for more than 10 laws and regulations. Staff members have collected public opinions and compiled 131 suggestions for submission.

The Chaoyang district legislative outreach office, which set up the Nanmofang station, has provided over 2,300 opinions and suggestions on 22 legislative drafts and the legislative plan of the 14th NPC Standing Committee since its establishment in July 2021. Among them, 1,013 suggestions were made for the 12 laws and the legislative plans of the NPC Standing Committee, with 107 of them adopted.

Questions answered

During the visit, Aldo Alvarez, El Salvador's Ambassador to China, asked a question concerning whether the practice of whole-process people's democracy has made the majority of the people feel that their needs have been met through legislation.

In response, Chen Hongzhi, director of the standing committee of Chaoyang district people's congress, shared his experiences from participating in soliciting opinions for revising various laws through the local legislative outreach office. He explained that through the establishment of channels and mechanisms involving or relating to the process of making and passing laws, there are now more expansive avenues for the public to express their will. This allows people’s rights to be effectively exercised through expressing opinions, and through consultation, consensus is reached on legislative outcomes that the public then abides by.

Michael Campbell, Nicaraguan Ambassador to China, asked how the NPC deputies, who have their own professional jobs, are able to balance their work and deputy duties.

Chen explained the deputy election system and procedures, including how deputies are elected through a process involving deciding on elections, voter registration, delineating districts, verifying qualifications and conducting voting. He also detailed the composition, structure and proportions of NPC deputies to ensure representation of groups such as people with disabilities and women, among others.

Chang Yi is a deputy from the medical and healthcare sector, and she felt deeply about this issue. As an NPC deputy for over a decade, Chang has combined her duties as a deputy with her professional work. She has conducted research, submitted proposals and followed up on them.

"In 2013, due to a shortage of medical resources in the Chaoyang district, 300 voters collectively voiced their concerns to me, expressing the desire for a new top-tier hospital to be built,”Chang told the foreign diplomats and envoys.

After a meticulous preparation process, a new branch of Beijing Chaoyang Hospital was established in Chaoyang in 2023, meeting the medical needs of nearly 500,000 local residents.

This example illustrates how NPC deputies like Chang are able to closely connect their legislative work with the real needs of the people in their constituents. By leveraging their professional expertise and using the channels of the people’s congress, they are able to effectively address the concerns raised by constituents and deliver tangible improvements in public services. This embodies the principle of whole-process people's democracy in action.

While answering a question on how deputies use online platforms to gather more voices and opinions from the people, Meng Fangshen, an NPC deputy, described the various channels available, such as the NPC official website, accounts on Weixin, a ubiquitous Chinese super app, and other mobile apps. On these platforms draft laws are published for public comments and deputies engage with the public through online workrooms.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the NPC. The invitation extended to diplomatic envoys stationed in China to visit a local legislative outreach office and closely observe the practice of whole-process people’s democracy at the local level is profoundly significant.

In his summary speech during the discussion, Alvarez said that democracy takes different forms in every country and the core of democracy is "addressing the needs of the majority of the people.”

"We can see that through China's whole-process people's democracy, the people have the opportunity to have their voices heard and ensure political participation. The people's demands are reflected in the legislative process. The Chinese people also highly value and emphasize this. There is no doubt that China's democracy is effective and successful,” Alvarez said. "No country has the right to tell another country what kind of democratic model is valuable. What each country should do is to reflect on how to make democracy more effective.”

“I saw how the Chinese people's congress deputies closely connect with the masses,”said Mozambique's Ambassador to China, Maria Gustava, adding that whole-process people's democracy is aimed at heeding the voices of the people, especially by responding to the people's expectations through laws and policies.

“The legislative body solicits opinions from scholars, people's congress deputies, government departments and multiple stakeholders, all of this is done for the benefit of the people,”Gustava concluded.