Use of online services ensures more efficient
collection of residents' views
BEIJING, Oct. 3, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- A news report
from chinadaily.com.cn:
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 Xinhua News Agency 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.
"I came from the people and was elected by the people," said
Jiang.
To provide some 10,000 people in the residential area with more
convenient channels to raise their problems and submit advice, she
has posted QR codes at the gates of each apartment building.
By scanning the code, people can access an online platform where
they can report any challenges they encounter, including broken
lights in corridors or leaking pipes at home. Jiang and her
colleagues are dedicated to tackling the problems within a few
hours.
Although these online services have contributed a lot to her
work efficiency, Jiang said that visiting households and moving
around the community must be continued, as face-to-face
conversations are always conducive to understanding more about the
opinions of the people and figuring out the roots of their
difficulties.
Simple or minor matters in the community can be addressed
directly by Jiang and her team. But for complex issues beyond her
capacity, she said that she will conduct surveys and submit
suggestions to Suzhou's people's congress, the city's legislature,
to solve them through joint efforts or optimizing relevant
regulations.
For example, after receiving complaints about the haphazard
parking of electric scooters posing safety risks, Jiang quickly
invited some residents' representatives and property staff to
select locations within the community for organized parking of the
vehicles, with the installation of additional charging
facilities.
In another case, when she decided to assist stay-at-home mothers
in seeking jobs after their children start school during the day,
she said that this required a great deal of study and research.
"I need to know what time the women are available and what kind
of work they are capable of. I also need to communicate with
businesses around our community and find out if they are willing to
provide opportunities for flexible employment," she said.
As she conducted her research, she realized that it is not just
a minority of young mothers who want to reenter the workforce, so
she is planning to solicit ideas and opinions from more women and
employers, in order to form a suggestion on the issue and submit it
to the city's legislature.
She said that the process has shown how the people's congress
system works, since its sound operation is an important means to
realizing whole-process people's democracy and also a key to
guaranteeing the running of the country by the people.
Even as the ways of collecting people's opinions have become
more diverse with the rapid development of internet technologies,
Tang Renqing, 72, another deputy to the Suzhou people's congress,
said that the principle of serving the people has never changed
since the establishment of the system, nor can it be changed.
"Deputies, regardless of their profession or age, should be with
the people, listen to their opinions and help them solve problems
through the system," he added. "Only in this way can we meet
people's aspirations for a better life, and ensure that the people
are the masters of the country."
Key channel for voices
The system is designed to include people from various
backgrounds and cover a diverse cross-section of society. Working
in a part-time capacity, deputies at each level are key channels
for people's voices. They are both entitled and obliged to stand
for the people's interests and express their views.
Since September 1954, when about
1,200 deputies elected by universal suffrage gathered in
Beijing to attend the first
session of the first NPC, the people's congress system has provided
an important institutional guarantee that has allowed the CPC to
lead the people in realizing fast economic development and
long-term social stability.
In recent years, Chinese lawmakers have also stepped up efforts
to further uphold and improve the system by amending the
Legislation Law and rules for members of the NPC Standing
Committee, with the adoption of a decision on increasing reviews of
normative documents to ensure that they are consistent with the
Constitution.
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SOURCE chinadaily.com.cn