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Grassroots members deserve a bigger say in NPC
By Wan Lixin |
March 8, 2012, Thursday
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Print Edition
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THE ongoing annual sessions of China's legislative and advisory bodies provide deputies opportunities to sum up past achievements and identify problems to be addressed in the future.
Sometimes they also provide celebrity representatives a chance to shine, to be lionized - paparazzi-style.
Although these celebrities' links to business seriously compromise their ability to make meaningful proposals, many still create considerable buzz on such occasions.
So when entertainer Ni Ping, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), refused to be interviewed last week and announced her resolution to "shut up" this year, not everyone was disappointed.
Still, though this silence was welcome, whether it is advisable to include so many celebrities in important bodies remains an issue.
These people, undoubtedly, need to be represented in their specialized fields. The question is whether they have been overrepresented in the approximately 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC) and the 2,200-member CPPCC.
In addition to the significant presence of celebrities, a more subtle change in the NPC's makeup is that in recent years more representatives hold more higher education degrees of some sort than in the past.
The People's Daily reported in March 2008 that about 92 percent of the deputies to the 11th NPC had at least a college education.
The proportion for deputies to the Sixth NPC was 44.5 percent. It has since been growing steadily. By comparison, according to data published in February 2008, of the 2,987 deputies to the 11th NPC, more than 200 are peasants. That year, for the first time, three migrant workers were elected to the congress.
Zhao Xiaoli, associate professor from Qinghua University, believes it a good sign to see greater representation of migrant workers, peasants and workers, but says that more needs to be done.
The Studies Times reported last November 28 that when it comes to the identification of the representatives, some officials are labeled "intellectuals," some general managers are known as "workers," and many private entrepreneurs are listed as "peasants."
For instance, the nine "intellectual" deputies to the 11th NPC from Jinlin Province last year turned out to be government officials, the deputy chief for the provincial education division, and deans for three colleges and universities.
Zhao, the academic from Qinghua, said that as division of labor becomes entrenched in modern society, the segregation between different professions and classes becomes more manifest.
Although allowances must be made for some elite deputies' desires to speak for the underprivileged, the problem is whether these people have sufficient resources and time to be acquainted with the woes of those less fortunate than themselves.
In an increasingly stratified society, ideological correctness is more important than expertise. In other words, the question of "why" should take precedence over the question of "how."
As Marx observed, the economic structure of society forms the real basis from which a legal and political superstructure arises, and the State is the structure in which the individuals of a ruling class assert their common interests. In other words, what the representatives propose is dictated less by their education than their economic interests.
Li Xinghao, an NPC deputy from Guangdong Province, recently proposed that poor couples allowed to bear two children be allowed to transfer their right to give birth to a second child to rich, well-educated people, or to civil servants - in return for insurance and pensions.
Liu Chuanzhi, one of the country's IT icons and an NPC deputy, reportedly commented on China's democratic reform late last year by saying, "If China adopts a one-person, one-vote system now, China will sink into a situation beyond redemption."
Their remarks have created quite some controversy, needlessly. They are entitled to their own views, and their views can be perfectly explained in terms of their own economic status and interests.
Sometimes they also provide celebrity representatives a chance to shine, to be lionized - paparazzi-style.
Although these celebrities' links to business seriously compromise their ability to make meaningful proposals, many still create considerable buzz on such occasions.
So when entertainer Ni Ping, a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), refused to be interviewed last week and announced her resolution to "shut up" this year, not everyone was disappointed.
Still, though this silence was welcome, whether it is advisable to include so many celebrities in important bodies remains an issue.
These people, undoubtedly, need to be represented in their specialized fields. The question is whether they have been overrepresented in the approximately 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC) and the 2,200-member CPPCC.
In addition to the significant presence of celebrities, a more subtle change in the NPC's makeup is that in recent years more representatives hold more higher education degrees of some sort than in the past.
The People's Daily reported in March 2008 that about 92 percent of the deputies to the 11th NPC had at least a college education.
The proportion for deputies to the Sixth NPC was 44.5 percent. It has since been growing steadily. By comparison, according to data published in February 2008, of the 2,987 deputies to the 11th NPC, more than 200 are peasants. That year, for the first time, three migrant workers were elected to the congress.
Zhao Xiaoli, associate professor from Qinghua University, believes it a good sign to see greater representation of migrant workers, peasants and workers, but says that more needs to be done.
The Studies Times reported last November 28 that when it comes to the identification of the representatives, some officials are labeled "intellectuals," some general managers are known as "workers," and many private entrepreneurs are listed as "peasants."
For instance, the nine "intellectual" deputies to the 11th NPC from Jinlin Province last year turned out to be government officials, the deputy chief for the provincial education division, and deans for three colleges and universities.
Zhao, the academic from Qinghua, said that as division of labor becomes entrenched in modern society, the segregation between different professions and classes becomes more manifest.
Although allowances must be made for some elite deputies' desires to speak for the underprivileged, the problem is whether these people have sufficient resources and time to be acquainted with the woes of those less fortunate than themselves.
In an increasingly stratified society, ideological correctness is more important than expertise. In other words, the question of "why" should take precedence over the question of "how."
As Marx observed, the economic structure of society forms the real basis from which a legal and political superstructure arises, and the State is the structure in which the individuals of a ruling class assert their common interests. In other words, what the representatives propose is dictated less by their education than their economic interests.
Li Xinghao, an NPC deputy from Guangdong Province, recently proposed that poor couples allowed to bear two children be allowed to transfer their right to give birth to a second child to rich, well-educated people, or to civil servants - in return for insurance and pensions.
Liu Chuanzhi, one of the country's IT icons and an NPC deputy, reportedly commented on China's democratic reform late last year by saying, "If China adopts a one-person, one-vote system now, China will sink into a situation beyond redemption."
Their remarks have created quite some controversy, needlessly. They are entitled to their own views, and their views can be perfectly explained in terms of their own economic status and interests.
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