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The composition of the deputies to the National People's Congress,
the top legislature, has undergone significant changes as new
faces, people of the new social strata and well-educated people
appear to dominate the lineup of people's deputies to the first
session of the 10th National People's Congress due to open on March
5.
Statistics show that among the 2,984 deputies elected from various
provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities, the Hong Kong and
Macao special administrative regions and the Chinese People's
Liberation Army, more than 2,100 or over 70 percent are new. Among
the 26 deputies representing the new municipality of Chongqing
under the direct administration of the central government, 48 are
new faces.
Also appearing in force in the lineup are private entrepreneurs,
lawyers, freelancers and other independent professionals, who were
described as "nouveur stratum" in the report to the 16th National
Congress of the Communist Party of China in November last year.
Figures show that there are 55 private entrepreneurs among the
deputies to the new NPC session. Prominent among them are Lou
Zhongfu, president of the Guangxia Group in Zhejiang, one of the
largest construction enterprises in the country, and Guo Xiangdong
from Chongqing, who does not only have his own business but also
acquired a noted state-owned construction company in Chongqing, a
city that has the largest number of state-owned enterprises.
"With economic strength and social status growing, people of the
private sector would inevitably seek to have their voices heard,"
said Lou Zhongfu, whose enterprise raked in US$565 million in sales
revenue and paid US$24 million in taxes in 2001.
Also attractive is the appearance of lawyers, new performing
artists and other independent professionals. The most
representative is Wang Xufeng, vice-chairwoman of the Zhejiang
Provincial Writers Association. She has distinguished herself in
her works that reflects the life of a tea-growing family,
Trilogy of a Tea-Growing Family, which won the highest Mao
Dun Literature Award.
(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2003)
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