As the fundamental political system in China, the system of the people’s congress is the most distinctive feature of the socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics; it is an important institutional support for promoting the modernization of the national system of and capacity for governance; it is also an important institutional guarantee for comprehensively pushing forward the governance of the country under the rule of law and promoting the rule of law in China. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the 3rd and 4th Plenary Sessions of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China made a number of major decisions and arrangements for upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress, making it advance with the times. General Secretary Xi Jinping made a series of important addresses about the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress, put forward many new thoughts, new views and new requirements and vividly presented to us the new goals, new vision and new blueprint for innovative development of the system of the people’s congress; he provided the direction, basic principles and the realistic path for us to make the system of the people’s congress keep pace with the times under the new historical conditions, and effectively built the political developmental path for the Chinese dream.

2.1 Solidly Pushing Forward the Vivid Practice of the System of the People’s Congress in Zhejiang

The vitality of the system of the people’s congress lies in practice. With a review of the extraordinary times at the beginning of the 21st century, we can find that the line of thought and practice, developed and promoted by comrade Xi Jinping when working in Zhejiang, involving major issues that include democratic politics, the rule of law, the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress, and General Secretary Xi Jinping’s major policy addresses since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China constitute a closely connected and integrated whole. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping strengthened the leadership of the Party’s Committee of Zhejiang Province over the work of the people’s congress in his capacity as the main leader of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province; he also took charge of the work of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in his capacity as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province. Under his leadership and in his charge, significant improvements and great progress were made in the work of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang broke new ground and made great achievements, gaining valuable experience and providing a historical reference for us to promote theoretical and practical innovations to the system of the people’s congress under the new situation.

2.1.1 Fully Understanding the Important Significance of Upholding and Improving the System of the People’s Congress

The level of understanding determines the breadth and depth of practice. When taking charge of Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping gave a great deal of importance to the concrete practice of the system of the people’s congress and to the improvement in the work of the people’s congress. On many important occasions, he repeatedly stressed that it was necessary to deepen the understanding about the importance of the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress. In December, 2002, shortly after comrade Xi Jinping started to work in Zhejiang, he stressed, during the meeting of Zhejiang province on commemorating the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the constitution in 1982, “In order to comprehensively carry out the constitution, it is essential to uphold and improve the system of the people’s congress and give full scope to the functions and roles of state organs at various levels; the most important effort in building a socialist democracy consists in upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress.”Footnote 1 In January, 2003, during the first session of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province after he served as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, he specially emphasized that the Standing Committee of the new People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province should deeply study and carry out the guiding principles adopted at the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and really improve the understanding about the importance of the work of the people’s congress. In May, 2004, during the provincial working conference on the people’s congress, he once again stressed that it was necessary to take the strategic perspective to fully understand the important significance of upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress, further deepen the understanding about the essential characteristics, important position and roles of the system of the people’s congress, continuously enhance the consciousness about upholding and improving that system, showing care for and support of the work of the people’s congress. In the important addresses and major decisions on the work of the people’s congress, he proceeded from multiple levels and dimensions to systematically and profoundly expound the great realistic significance of upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress.

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    Upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress is the fundamental way to develop socialist democracy and promote socialist political development

The system of the people’s congress is the fundamental system embodying the essence of China’s socialist democracy in which all power belongs to the people; it is the effective form of organization through which the people become the masters of the country; it is also a reliable guarantee for safeguarding the fundamental interests of all the people; the system of the people’s congress, as the form of organization, turns the Party’s positions into the will of the state; it fundamentally makes sure that the people master and exercise their democratic rights, and centralizes the common interests of different classes among the people; it reflects and coordinates the special interests in various aspects, and better safeguards the fundamental interests of the people, thus gathering and mobilizing the strength of the people across the country, giving full scope to the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of the people in running the country.

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    Upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress is an urgent need for deeply carrying out the basic strategy of governing the country under the rule of law and solidly pushing forward the governance of the province under the rule of law

Comrade Xi Jinping gave great importance to the rule of law and valued the important role of the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress in promoting the rule of law. In his charge, in April, 2006, the 10th Plenary Session of the 11th Party Committee of Zhejiang Province made the decision about the building of Zhejiang under the rule of law, the third part of which specially stressed that it was necessary to uphold and improve the system of the people’s congress; the decision specified the requirements for supporting and guaranteeing the performance of functions by the people’s congress, giving scope to the role of the deputies to the people’s congress, making sure that the people’s congress performs the supervisory function and improves the system of the people’s congress. According to the principles adopted in the decision made by the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province, in May, 2006, the 25th Session of the Standing Committee of the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made, according to laws, the decision on building Zhejiang under the rule of law; at the end of the session, comrade Xi Jinping delivered an important speech in which he fully affirmed the decision and said that he believed that it was a very important document for promoting the building of Zhejiang under the rule of law; he stressed that the building of Zhejiang under the rule of law was an arduous and complicated systematic project, the people’s congresses at various levels across the province had a heavy responsibility for building Zhejiang under the rule of law and they must play their due role and make due contributions.

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    Upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress is the intrinsic requirement for Zhejiang in more rapidly building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieving modernization in advance

The Party Committee of Zhejiang Province has always believed that in order to better push forward and realize the four-sphere integrated plan, it is essential to give play better to the protective function of the system of the people’s congress as the fundamental political system and the role of the work of the people’s congress in leading and promoting the four-sphere integrated plan. Thanks to the understanding of the importance of the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress, in May, 2004, the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province convened the provincial working conference on the people’s congress, and issued the Opinions on Further Strengthening the Work of the People’s Congress, specifying the overall line of thought and basic requirements for the province-wide work on the people’s congress during the new stage. Comrade Xi Jinping pointed out, “The people’s congresses at various levels and their standing committees across the province should take this opportunity to further enhance the sense of mission and responsibility, fully play their due roles in Zhejiang’s material, political and cultural development and the building of a harmonious society, make new contributions to helping Zhejiang more rapidly build a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieve modernization in advance.”Footnote 2

From the remarks and judgments made by comrade Xi Jinping about the importance of the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress when he worked in Zhejiang, we can understand that he always understood the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress from the overarching perspective of the Party, the country’s cause and the people’s interests, the strategic perspective of promoting coordinated development in the economic, political, cultural, social and ecological fields, the political perspective of reforming and improving the Party’s style of leadership and the mode of governance, enhancing the Party’s capacity for governance and consolidating the Party’s governing position, the historical perspective of more rapidly building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and basically achieving modernization in advance in Zhejiang. Thanks to such a deep understanding, and the guidance of comrade Xi Jinping, the then Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang’s practice of the system of the people’s congress and the work of the people’s congress in Zhejiang have made great strides forward and have yielded fruitful results on the original basis.

2.1.2 Solidly Expanding the Practice of the System of the People’s Congress in Zhejiang

When comrade Xi Jinping worked in Zhejiang, the practice of the system of the people’s congress in Zhejiang and the overall practice of the system of the people’s congress constituted the relationship between the “flow” and the “source”. First, from the spatial perspective, the practice of the system of the people’s congress in a province is part of its overall practice across the country. Second, from the temporal perspective, the practice of the system of the people’s congress in a period is a stage of development compared with its practice during the period of 60 years. With a strategic line of thought, an overarching vision and from the perspective of development, comrade Xi Jinping objectively and profoundly understood the regional and staged characteristics of the practice of the system of the people’s congress in Zhejiang; he deeply understood and carried out the decisions and requirements from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, he also closely proceeded from Zhejiang’s reality to study the new situation and new issues, responded to the trends to historically and creatively push forward the practice of the system of the people’s congress in Zhejiang, the work of the people’s congress in Zhejiang and provided local and historical experience for better upholding, improving and developing the system of the people’s congress.

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    Making an in-depth study and carrying out the guiding principles adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, firmly grasping the correct political direction for the work of the people’s congress

Comrade Xi Jinping stressed, “The work of the people’s congress is highly political and highly law- and procedure-based work, under no circumstance can deviation from the correct political direction be allowed; in order to better carry out the work of the people’s congress, it is essential to always uphold the correct political direction, consciously keep aligned with the requirements of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the arrangements made by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. In this regard, he required the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province to always take studying, understanding and carrying out the guiding principles adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China as the important prerequisite for promoting practice and carrying out work, and he also put forward explicit requirements for “carrying out the guiding principles adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China” on some important occasions many times.

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    Upholding and strengthening the Party’s leadership, supporting the people’s congress and its standing committee to perform functions according to laws and make sure that they do so

Comrade Xi Jinping stressed, “In order to better carry out the work of the people’s congress, it is essential to uphold and strengthen the Party’s leadership, this is the basic prerequisite and fundamental guarantee for the people’s congress to perform functions and carry out work; under no circumstance can this principle be shaken.” When serving as the Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, he always took “supporting the people’s congress and its standing committee in performing functions according to laws and making sure that they do so” as the important and basic effort in building Zhejiang under the rule of law; he made coordinated plans and overall arrangements, chaired the provincial working conference on the people’s congress and delivered important speeches, and stated for the first time that each Party committee of Zhejiang Province should convene a working conference on the people’s congress; he also took charge of the work of the people’s congress, delivered speeches many times on some important occasions, identified the requirements for the duties of various parties and coordinated efforts to address major issues, thus vigorously pushing forward the work and development of the people’s congresses at various levels, strongly supporting and effectively guaranteeing the exercise of statutory functions and powers of the people’s congress.

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    Strengthening the development of the people’s congresses and their standing committees, providing an effective guarantee for giving full scope to the functions and roles of the people’s congresses and their standing committees

Comrade Xi Jinping stressed many times, “In order to perform the functions specified by the constitution and laws better and better adapt to the requirements of the new situation and new tasks for the work of the people’s congress, it is essential to strengthen the development of the people’s congresses and their standing committees.” The organs at various levels and in various respects across the province carried out the principles from comrade Xi Jinping’s important addresses to the letter, improved the conduct of the people’s congresses and their standing committees, stressed the awareness, in the work of the people’s congress, about the Party, politics, the overall situation, the people and innovations, laid the intellectual foundation and provided a guarantee for good conduct for expanding the work of the people’s congress; they also intensified the organizational development of the people’s congresses at various levels and their standing committees, optimized the age, knowledge and professional structures of the members of the standing committees, especially actively promoting the development of full-time members of the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels, gradually increasing the proportion of full-time members, energetically pressing ahead with the development of full-time chairmen of the standing committees of the people’s congresses at the county and town levels; moreover, they made sure that the deputies were extensive in number and also advanced, rationally arranged the proportion of the deputies, valued the political quality of the deputies and their ability to discus state affairs, they strengthened the services relating to the performance of duties and routine training, fully guaranteed the leading role of the deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels, valued the personnel, financial and material guarantee for building the organs of the people’s congresses at various levels, promoted the development of cadres within the organs of the people’s congresses, incorporated the cultivation and utilization of the cadres within the organs of the people’s congresses into the master plan for the development of cadres, they strengthened the guarantee of a routine fund and a special fund for legislative and supervisory work, important sessions and activities of the people’s congresses; and finally, they improved the working conditions within the organs of the people’s congresses and stepped up efforts to improve IT application within the organs of the people’s congresses, thus providing the necessary material guarantee for the work of the people’s congresses and their standing committees.

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    Paying attention to summarization, regularization and improvement, pushing forward the healthy and orderly development of the primary-level work of the people’s congress

Comrade Xi Jinping gave great importance to the primary-level foundation, valued the primary-level practical experiments and experience in innovations, and paid attention to protecting and encouraging the primary-level enterprising spirit. As a developed coastal province, Zhejiang first and early on initiated the social market economy, it had more urgent needs for improving the system of the people’s congress and making progress in socialist democracy. In particular, with accelerated urbanization, towns were further merged, administrative divisions were expanded, the population increased, fiscal revenue surged, the tasks for promoting primary-level democracy were increasingly arduous, the work of the people’s congress in towns faced many new situations and new problems, many new beneficial experiments and attempts were also made in Zhejiang. In many areas, counties were removed to build districts during urbanization; many towns were turned into sub-districts, so the issues on how to position the working committees of the people’s congresses within the sub-districts and how the people’s congresses in sub-districts should carry out their work popped up. In response to these issues, the 11th Party Committee of Zhejiang Province and the Standing Committee of the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province did not rush to deny them, they made a prompt summary, regularization and improvements, they vowed to, under the rule of law and subject to procedures and the leadership of local Party committees, actively address the new situations and new tasks in economic and social development, emancipate the mind, seek truth from facts and advance with the times, made progress amidst experiments and fostered development through innovations, broke new ground in the work of the primary-level people’s congress and in promoting democracy and the rule of law. In such an atmosphere, in recent years, many innovative moves in the work of the primary-level people’s congress in Zhejiang have gradually drawn wide attention from various sectors, and have become the vivid samples of the practice in primary-level democracy and in the work of the primary-level people’s congress; they serve as important references for us to promote theoretical and practical innovations to the system of the people’s congress in response to the times.

2.1.3 Making the Work of the People’s Congress in Zhejiang Advance with the Times and Keep Improving

Zhejiang’s modernization should include the modernization of the system of provincial governance and the capacity for governance, the practice of the system of the people’s congress in sync with the times and the improvement of the system of the people’s congress. This requires us to carefully study, thoroughly understand in depth and carry out the principles expounded by General Secretary Xi Jinping in his major addresses, systematically summarize, treasure and vigorously carry forward the valuable experience in improving the work of the people’s congress accumulated while comrade Xi Jinping was working in Zhejiang, carry through one blueprint through successive Party committees and governments, and write a new chapter of glory in the work of the people’s congress on the existing basis.

First, thinking about worst-case scenarios and the frontline state. Comrade Xi Jinping stressed on many occasions that we should be aware of the worst-case situation, not dodge contrasts and conceal problems, be prepared for the worst and seek the best outcome, make full preparations, keep calm in case of emergencies and firmly keep the initiative. He also stressed that it was necessary to maintain the spirit of advancing with the times and keep moving, take bold actions and have a strong sense of responsibility, securely take over the historical relay baton, assume the due responsibility and endeavor to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. These important remarks and major instructions require us to, in the work of the people’s congress, always uphold the unity of considering the worst-case scenarios and keeping a frontline state, “stand firm” and “act energetically”, start from the baselines and march towards the crest line. “Stand firm” means that it is necessary to always firmly maintain a political stand, enhance our focus within the political field, resolutely defend the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and the system of the people’s congress as the baselines, make integrated advances in the Party’s leadership, the running of the country by the people, and governance under the rule of law, keep to the rules of the Party and laws and be people-oriented. “Act energetically” means that it is necessary to, subject to holding the baselines, advance towards the crest line in response to the times and carry out experiments and bring about innovations, continuously improve the ways and modes of the work of the people’s congress, arouse the inherent potential in the work of the people’s congress and reach a new developmental realm in the work of the people’s congress.

Second, upholding the dialectical unity of the whole and its parts. Comrade Xi Jinping often stressed that the major principles prevailed over the minor principles, the parts were subject to the whole; nationally, Zhejiang was a part, Zhejiang must be subject to the country as a whole, enhance the awareness of the whole situation, and proceed from the whole situation to develop Zhejiang, go out of Zhejiang to develop Zhejiang.Footnote 3 To promote and develop the work of the people’s congress in Zhejiang, it is more necessary to correctly deal with the relationship between the whole and the parts from the horizontal and vertical perspectives; vertically, the five-level work of the people’s congress constitutes an organic whole, the local work of the people’s congress should be aligned with the national work of the people’s congress, the local work of the people’s congress should be improved through active experiments and practice and provide local practice and local experience for the national work of the people’s congress. Horizontally, the leading groups of the people’s congress, the government and the PPCC work together under the leadership of the Party’s committees at the same levels, the people’s congresses at various levels must proceed from the whole situation to develop, go out of the people’s congresses to develop, to this end, and so it is necessary to always consider, serve, promote and guarantee the whole situation.

Third, placing equal emphasis on vitality and orderliness. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping pointed out that in a harmonious state, the factors within nature, among the people, between the people and the society, between the people and nature and within the society were in a balanced, stable, orderly, interdependent state, they coexisted and developed together, and this was balance in dynamism, coordination in development, moderation in aggressiveness, uniformity in diversity and orderliness in chaos.Footnote 4 After the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, he once again stressed that it was necessary to properly deal with the relationship between vitality and orderliness, social development called for great vitality, but such vitality must be an orderly vitality. These important remarks have become important principles and scientific guides for Zhejiang to scientifically handle the relationship between democratic development and the promotion of the rule of law in recent years.

Fourth, being people-oriented and upholding the line of the masses. Being affectionate to and loving the people is always the unchanged tenet adopted by comrade Xi Jinping. He stressed on many occasions that we should learn from, solidly work for the people and solve problems together with the people.Footnote 5 Regarding the work of the people’s congress, he pointed out that it was necessary to put into practice, in various respects of the work of the people’s congress, the essential requirements of “adhering to the Party’s commitment to serving the public good and exercising power in the interests of the people”, exercise powers for the people, keep close ties with the people and act in the interest of the people. In recent years, especially since the campaign on education in the Party’s line of the masses was launched, according to these requirements, the people’s congresses at various levels have put the people first, and have always taken “addressing the issues concerning the people’s well-being” as the starting point and ultimate goal for performing functions, they have strengthened their implementation to improve the people’s well-being, producing active effects. The Standing Committee of the 12th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province deliberated and adopted a number of important local regulations on safeguarding and improving the people’s well-being, conducted special supervision over and law enforcement examinations of major issues relating to the people’s well-being, including flood control and drainage of the waterlogged areas, food safety, protection of the sources of drinking water and services for the elderly; moreover, they made decisions on the issues which concern the people, such as prevention and control of livestock and poultry pollution.

Fifth, making arrangements through 10% efforts, carrying out work through 90% efforts.Footnote 6 This is an important requirement raised by comrade Xi Jinping for implementing the guiding principles adopted during the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; this reflected his style of governance and his art of leadership of stressing implementation. In fact, this is also the distinctive feature and prominent sign of his governance. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping stressed the issue of implementation on many occasions; in particular, during the closing ceremony of the 2nd Session of the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in February, 2004, he specially delivered an important speech entitled “Extensively Carrying Forward the Style of Being Realistic and Pragmatic, Vigorously Carrying Out Work”, giving a systematic explanation and putting forward overall requirements for intensified implementation. Intensified implementation became an important principle and tenet always upheld by the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province and its Standing Committee; the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province consecutively exercised work supervision and legal supervision over ecological development and environmental protection and solidly and effectively promoted the building of an ecological Zhejiang, producing marked effects. So far, this work is still highly commended by the people from various sectors. This fully shows that as long as there is perseverance in and deep-going solid work on the goals in the work of the people’s congress, the outcomes will certainly make the Party and the people satisfied.

2.2 Constantly Improving the Local System of Legal Guarantee

Local legislation is an important part of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics; it plays multiple roles, including ensuring that the constitution, national laws and regulations are effectively carried out in the local administrative division, promoting local economic and social development; it is also an important aspect in pushing forward the governance of the country under the rule of law, achieving two centenary goals and realizing the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping placed great importance on Zhejiang’s local legislation. He once attended and delivered an important speech during the provincial working conference on legislation in August, 2003; he made special remarks and raised explicit requirements for local legislation on many important sessions and occasions, including the meeting of democratic life held by the leading Party group under the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in February, 2004 and the 10th Plenary Session of the 11th Party Committee of Zhejiang Province in April, 2006. These speeches and remarks were of great significance of thought and guidance and were forward-looking, they exhibited the features of the times, were well-targeted and operable, and they presented the direction for the development of local legislation. Zhejiang carefully carried them out, proceeded with active experiments and practice, changed the philosophy of legislation, improved the working mechanism, pushed forward scientific and democratic legislation, enhanced the quality of legislation, and improved the local system of a legal guarantee, making active contributions to the establishment and improvement of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, Zhejiang’s reform and opening-up and social and economic development.

2.2.1 Speeding up Legislation, Giving Scope to the Fundamental Role of Legislation in Building a Society Under the Rule of Law

In 2006, the 10th Plenary Session of the 11th Party Committee of Zhejiang Province was convened, in which comrade Xi Jinping made special remarks on promoting the rule of law. With a focus on promoting socialist political development, further improving economic, political, cultural and social development, the plenary session made the decision and arrangement for building Zhejiang under the rule of law, and vowed to incessantly promote the rule of law in the economic, political, cultural and social fields in the process of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and pushing forward socialist modernization in Zhejiang, so that Zhejiang could stay ahead nationwide in the overall work on promoting the rule of law. “Zhejiang under the rule of law” presented the blueprint for promoting the rule of law in Zhejiang, stressed the important position of local legislation in promoting the rule of law at the local level, and showed the task, goal and work requirement for local legislation; it is an important program for guiding Zhejiang’s efforts in promoting the rule of law and local legislation.

Zhejiang carefully carried out the decision and arrangement for building Zhejiang under the rule of law, fully realized the importance of promoting the rule of law and strengthening local legislation in the new period, enhanced the sense of urgency and responsibility, and speeded up local legislation. During the period 2006-July, 2014, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made (amended) 92 local regulations, revised and abolished 70 local regulations, approved 114 regulations submitted by Hangzhou City, Ningbo City and Jingning She Autonomous County, involving economic change, the building up of political power, cultural development and social management, so a well-functioning local regulation system which supports the national laws and regulations and is suited to Zhejiang’s economic and social development basically took shape. These regulations conform to Zhejiang’s reality, cater to the needs of the times, are consistent with fairness and justice, better give scope to the role of local legislation in leading and promoting Zhejiang’s scientific development, and provide a strong legal guarantee for Zhejiang’s economic and social development.

2.2.2 Identifying the Guiding Thought, Constantly Improving the Quality of Local Legislation

Quality is the lifeline of local legislation. To enhance the quality of local legislation, it is necessary to first foster the correct guiding thought. In this regard, during the provincial working conference on legislation in August, 2003, comrade Xi Jinping gave a penetrating explanation about the guiding thought for local legislation, which became the philosophy of guidance and a guide for actions for the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province to better carry out local legislation and improve the quality of that legislation.Footnote 7

First, serving development. Local legislation focuses on creating a legal environment necessary for development.

Second, reflecting local characteristics. Local characteristics are the vitality of local legislation. Local legislation should proceed from the reality of the local economic and social development to fully play the roles of supplementation, guidance and creation, and give expression to local characteristics; local legislation should be more targeted and operable.

Third, highlighting the philosophy that legislation is for the people. The fundamental interests of all the people are the starting point and ultimate goal of local legislation. It is necessary to follow the principle that “obligations are commensurate with rights, and responsibilities are commensurate with powers” to resolutely abandon the mindset that legislation is aimed at managing the people, to uncompromisingly overcome and prevent the tendency of incorporating departmental interests into legislation and to firmly foster the philosophy that legislation is used for the people, is aimed at safeguarding the people’s fundamental interests, and embodies the common will of the people.

Fourth, adapting to the development of the times. The socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics is dynamic, open and in constant development; it is not static, closed and unchanged. Legislation should embody the spirit of advancing with the times, and properly address the relationship between stability and variability, between a forward-looking nature and a staged nature. It is necessary to make legislation more predictive. Each item that is regulated, each decision made and each system created through legislation should be beneficial for the general situation of reform, development and stability, and should result from overall considerations and repeated weighing; the achievements of reform should be affirmed and consolidated through legislation, but legislation should also leave the necessary spaces for new practice and new experiments and play the role of guidance. It is necessary to integrate legislation, amendment and abolishment to the extent that the local regulations not suited to reform, opening-up and modernization should be promptly amended, abolished, reenacted or dealt with by legislative interpretation according to legal procedures while issuing new regulations, so that local legislation can keep pace with the times, reflect the requirements of the times and not lag behind the practice of reform and development.

In local legislation, Zhejiang has firmly grasped the above guiding thought, transformed mindsets, clarified the train of thought, identified the accurate points of action, promoted the legislative work by focusing on the central task and serving the overall situation, it has blazed new trails, advanced with the times, gave prominence to local characteristics, conducted legislation for the people and enhanced the quality of legislation.

2.2.3 Improving the Working Mechanism, Promoting Scientific and Democratic Legislation

Scientific and democratic legislation has become the most basic and central requirement for legislative work. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping stressed on many occasions that it was necessary to further improve the legislative mechanism, make legislation more democratic and scientific, uphold the line of the masses, fully carry forward democracy, further make legislation public, broaden the channels for keeping close connections between legislation and the people, strengthen the feasibility study of regulations, their drafting, survey and deliberation, reinforce the research on theories of legislation, the building of a legislative force, legislative publicity, and raise specific requirements for improving the legislative working mechanism and promoting scientific and democratic legislation.Footnote 8

The People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province and its Standing Committee gave great importance to the building of the legislative working mechanism, took “promoting scientific and democratic legislation” as the fundamental way to push forward the development of legislative work, continued experiments and practice, blazed new trails, preliminarily formed a system of a legislative working mechanism for scientific and democratic legislation which covers the whole process of legislative work, caters to the needs of the development of Zhejiang’s local legislation, reflects the principle of fairness, justice and openness, and produces good practical effects.

First, improving the working procedures at various stages of legislation. Actions have been taken to better control the quality of legislative items, establish such mechanisms as a “legislative item application and feasibility study” and an “item-by-item feasibility study before determination of an annual legislation plan”. The applicants were required to submit a written report on the feasibility study of legislative items in addition to a draft of regulations when filing applications relating to items of legislative proposals; this written report should cover the necessity for and feasibility of legislation, the basis and the guiding thought for legislation as well as the important issues which need to be regulated and addressed; the Legislative Affairs Committee under the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, in conjunction with the people making legislative proposals, special committees of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, the Legislative Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province and relevant experts, convened meetings for the study of feasibility to study the feasibility of the legislative items and ensure an accurate selection of the right legislative items. Zhejiang carried out fine management of legislative items, identified the regulations concerning items under Category One included in the annual plan of legislation and determined the drafting units, the submitting units and the deliberating units, completion time and responsible personnel to ensure an orderly and smooth implementation of the legislation plan. The working mechanism for early intervention in regulation drafting was established; under such a mechanism, the special committees of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province got involved in surveys and feasibility study early during the stage of drafting to promptly learn about and jointly address the major issues and key systems involved in regulations. The modes of legislative surveys were enriched, and multiple means, including symposium, special discussions and questionnaire surveys, were adopted to improve the systems for feasibility study and absorption of opinions from various parties, thus continually improving the effectiveness of surveys. Zhejiang explored the system for conducting surveys ahead of regulation deliberation by the members of the standing committee, and specially developed the Measures for the Participation of the Members of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province and the Deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in Legislative Surveys, with a view to improving the quality of deliberation. The technical specification for legislation was strengthened; the Technical Specification of Zhejiang Province for Local Legislation was comprehensively revised in 2012, and the Working Guidelines for the Drafting of Local Regulations was issued in 2013, thus resulting in relatively complete technical specification requirements for local legislation, making sure that the style and structure of regulations, the expression of the articles and the use of language and words were regularized and became scientific, and making local legislation issue-oriented, giving prominence to local characteristics, avoiding the “large and all-inclusive” and “small and all-inclusive” regulations, promoting the development of change to local legislation.

Second, expanding the openness of legislation. Zhejiang promoted legislation in an open manner and solicited opinions from the society with respect to all of the regulations by means of the Internet and newspapers, and developed an annual legislation plan to collect items of legislative proposals from the society, invited citizens to attend the meetings of the standing committee of the people’s congress to deliberate draft regulations, ensured the public’s rights to know, participate in, express views on and supervise legislative work. Zhejiang broadened the channels for public participation in legislation; after the Legislation Law was promulgated, Zhejiang became the first nationwide to hold a legislative hearing, it issued the Rules of Zhejiang Province for Local Legislative Hearings, making the legislative hearing institutionalized. The hearing held by Zhejiang Province strictly complied with scientific law and the rigorous normative procedures, producing very good social and legislative effects. When the administrative regulations for the appearance and environmental hygiene of cities and the fire protection regulations were made in 2008 and 2010 respectively, websites such as Zhejiang Online were utilized to conduct online exchanges with netizens, the new mechanism for interaction between the legislative body and the public, was experimented with. When the measures for the implementation of the food safety law were made in 2011, a legislative hearing was held for the first time, the topics of that hearing were made public, the procedures were normative and the procedures for a symposium were simple and convenient, thus more effectively collecting public opinion and pooling the wisdom of the people regarding legislation. In 2014, Zhejiang issued the Working System for the Primary-level Contact Points for Legislation was issued, calling for, in light of regional representativeness and the requirement of highlighting the primary-level nature, choosing a number of the primary-level contact points for legislation from the state organs below the county level, the primary-level self-governing organizations and other eligible social bodies, and relying on these contact points to conduct legislative surveys and collect opinions from the people, expand the orderly participation of the people in legislative activities.

Third, increasing the effectiveness of the deputies’ participation in legislation. According to the 3rd Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, it is necessary to strengthen the contact between the standing committee of the people’s congress and the deputies to the people’s congress, give full scope to the roles of the deputies. With a careful summarization of experience, an in-depth survey and feasibility study, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province became the first nationwide to issue the Several Regulations on Focused Participation of the Deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in Legislative Work according to the Specialized Field in 2014, calling for establishing the working mechanism for focused participation of the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in legislative work according to the specialized field, and requiring the deputies to choose the legislative items which they hoped to and would be able to participate in according to the focus of their attention to the society and professional expertise as well as the needs of legislative work, and whole-heartedly participate in the legislative activities involving the legislative items chosen by them at various stages. The Legislative Affairs Committee under the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province and relevant special committees of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province designate special contact personnel for each deputy with focused participation, and these people are responsible for providing all-round personalized services covering delivery of materials and information, the answering of questions and the provision of technical assistance. This mechanism is conducive to further arousing the initiative and enthusiasm of the deputies regarding participation in legislation, better giving scope to the characteristics, advantages and roles of the deputies, so that the deputies can more deeply, comprehensively and effectively participate in legislative work, and this is also an important way to enhance the effectiveness of the deputies’ participation in legislation and strengthen legislative democracy.

Fourth, giving play to the roles of experts. Zhejiang has continuously investigated and brought innovations to the mechanism for experts’ participation in legislative work and have given scope to the roles of experts. In 2005, Zhejiang became the first nationwide to build a local pool of legislative experts consisting of experts in legal science, and in economic, political, social and cultural affairs; afterwards, Zhejiang issued the Several Regulations on Experts’ Participation in Legislative Work, the Working Rules on the Local Pool of Legislative Experts, and the Several Implementation Opinions on Giving Scope to the Roles of Social Bodies in the Legislative Work of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, calling for involving social bodies more in the selection of legislative items, the drafting of regulations, surveys and feasibility studies, giving scope to the think tank role of experts and scholars, routinizing, institutionalizing and normalizing experts’ participation in local legislation, providing reliable intellectual support and a professional guarantee for scientific decision-making.

Fifth, strengthening organization and coordination in legislative work. Zhejiang improved organization and coordination in legislative work, and issued the Several Opinions on Further Strengthening Legislative Communication and Coordination, Improving Legislative Work, and the Several Opinions on Further Strengthening Legislative Communication and Coordination with the Special Committees and Working Committees of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, specifying stipulations for communication and coordination between the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province and the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province, and within the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, and establishing such working systems as the system of joint meetings on legislative work, the system of consultation on revision concerning important issues in regulations, and the communication and consultation mechanism for work arrangements for the implementation of the legislative plan. In the meantime, with respect to the regulations on which there are important different opinions, the parties involved were good at and bold in addressing focal points of contrasts, promptly coordinated various interest relations on the basis of fully soliciting opinions from various sources and conducting feasibility studies before making decisions. These organization and coordination mechanisms changed the previous “relay type” of working mode under which the drafting units, the legislative affairs office of the government, special committees of the people’s congress and the legislative affairs committee of the people’s congress were responsible for the work in separate sections; under these mechanisms, there is a “long-distance running team” consisting of the above departments, which is conducive to giving full scope to the leading role of the people’s congress, arousing the enthusiasm of various parties, and forming an overall synergy in legislative work.

Sixth, intensifying legislative publicity. Zhejiang issued the Working Procedure for the Promulgation of Provincial Local Regulations, the Several Opinions on Improving Regulation Publicity, and the Working Rules of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province for Press Conferences on Local Legislation (Trial), improving the procedure for promulgating local regulations, calling for holding press conferences on legislation ahead of each meeting of the standing committee, and promptly holding a press conference on major legislative matters, thus fostering a good social atmosphere for carrying out regulations. In order to enhance the effectiveness of the publicity, the Legislative Affairs Committee under the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province established a long-term working mechanism with the urban printed media which had the greatest circulation and were the most influential in the province—the Qianjiang Evening News and Dushi Kuaibao—in 2013, thus building a multi-channel and multi-level publicity platform. Zhejiang maintained the Local Legislation Online (www.locallaw.gov.cn), the first website specially designed for local legislation in China in a better manner; Zhejiang improved the website functions of information communication and feedback, and gave scope to the active roles of the Local Legislation Online in publicizing legislative work, making local legislation public and rendering the channels for citizens’ orderly participation in local legislative work smooth and problem-free.

Seventh, improving the mechanism which integrates legislation, amendments, abolishment and interpretation. Zhejiang adopted multiple means, including making, amending, abolishing, to ensure multi-way connection and coordination, promptly made the regulations suited to the new period, promptly amended and abolished the regulations not suited to economic and social development, especially some early regulations obviously unsuitable to comprehensively intensify the reform, so as to guarantee a scientific and harmonious legal system. To make sure that the law regarding administrative permission and compulsory administrative laws were enforced correctly and effectively and the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics took shape on schedule, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province organized efforts to comprehensively and specially clear up the existing local regulations of Zhejiang Province, amended and abolished 84 local regulations in 2003, 2009 and 2011, and issued the Several Regulations of Zhejiang Province for Clearing Up Local Regulations in 2012, institutionalizing and normalizing the work on clearing up regulations. In 2014, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province further arranged the work on clarifying the legislative issues involved in comprehensively intensifying the reform, organized and mobilized more than 80,000 deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels across the province to conduct the themed activity of “identifying the legal and regulatory provisions unfit for comprehensively intensifying the reform”, promoting the legislation, amendment and abolishment of relevant laws and regulations, and ensuring a legal basis for major reforms.

2.2.4 Incessantly Strengthening the Party’s Leadership over Local Legislation

The Party’s leadership is the political principle for legislative work and also the fundamental guarantee for improving that work. During the provincial working conference on legislation in 2003, comrade Xi Jinping pointed out, “Legislation is an overarching task; with extensive governance of the country under the rule of law, the Party’s style of leadership and manner of governance are being improved, the Party’s positions have increasingly needed to be turned into the will of the state through the organ of state power—the people’s congress—according to legal procedures, and become the code of conduct for the whole society and the entire population. The Party committee should give great importance to promoting the rule of law, it should put forward legislative suggestions in due time, promptly study the major issues in legislation, give play to the core leading role of the Party committee in grasping the overall situation and coordinating various parties and ensure the political direction for legislative work.”

Zhejiang earnestly carried out the requirements of comrade Xi Jinping, firmly held the philosophy that the Party plays the core role in local legislation, put the unity of upholding the Party’s leadership and governing the country under the rule of law in legislative practice, continuously improved and reinforced the Party’s leadership over legislative work, and brought into being some feasible systems and practices to vigorously ensure the correct political direction for legislative work.

First, strengthening the overall arrangements and guidance for legislative work. After the provincial working conference on legislation was held in 2003, when the term of each Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province began in 2008 and 2013, the provincial working conference on legislation was convened, and the main leaders of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province delivered speeches or gave instructions, making the overall arrangements for legislative work of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province. The Party Committee of Zhejiang Province also transmitted the opinions of the group of the leading Party of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province on legislative work, and put forward the goals, tasks and requirements for local legislative work.

Second, establishing the system of asking for instructions concerning major legislative matters and reporting them. When developing the five-year pool of legislative survey items and the annual legislation plan and carrying out major legislative activities, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province promptly submitted them to the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province and consciously accepted the leadership of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province over legislative work, put into practice, according to laws, the decisions made and instructions given by the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province, promptly initiated the legislative procedure for the legislative suggestions put forward by the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province, and turned the Party’s positions into the common will of the people across the province through legal procedures.

Third, establishing the system of reporting the major legislative items to the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province for study. After the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province developed the annual legislative plan, that plan was submitted to the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province for choosing and determining a number of major legislative items. Before the corresponding legislative items were reported to the Standing Committee for deliberation and adoption, the leading Party group of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province submitted the draft regulation to the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province for specially studying the legislative feasibility of the regulation, the main institutional design and the main issues proposed to be addressed, and then expressing their opinions.

2.3 Strengthening Supervision over and Restrictions on the Government, the Court and the Procuratorate

Supervisory power is an important power granted to the people’s congress and its standing committee by the constitution and laws. When working in Zhejiang, comrade Xi Jinping gave great importance to the supervisory work of the people’s congress and put forward many important thoughts, views and requirements which have very rich connotations and the characteristics of theory, thought and practice. They suggest that the theoretical innovations and practical experiments made at the provincial level by comrade Xi Jinping in promoting democracy and the rule of law since the beginning of the 21st century are consistent with the decisions and arrangements, made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, concerning strengthening the supervision of the people’s congress; they are closely related to the important remarks on promoting democracy and the rule of law made by General Secretary Xi Jinping since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China; they provide the basic principles and guide ot actions for the people’s congresses at various levels across the province and their standing committees to effectively perform their supervisory function. In more than ten years, Zhejiang consistently carried out comrade Xi Jinping’s important thoughts, views and requirements regarding the supervision of the people’s congress, strengthened the supervisory work according to laws, enhanced the awareness of supervision, broadened the fields of supervision, improved the modes, mechanisms and effectiveness of supervision, and provided an important legal guarantee for thoroughly implementing the “Eight-Eight Strategies” and the overall strategy of “making the people rich by starting businesses and of building a strong province through innovation” and building a modern socialist Zhejiang which is materially affluent and culturally advanced.

2.3.1 Deepening Understanding of the Supervisory Work of the People’s Congress, Normalizing and Institutionalizing It

Strengthening the supervisory work of the people’s congress is of great significance for ensuring effective implementation of the constitution and laws, urging the government, court and procuratorate to perform administration under the rule of law and guarantee judicial justice, and promoting the rule of law in economic and social life. According to comrade Xi Jinping, the basic requirements for improving the supervisory work of the people’s congress cover the following four aspects: first, upholding the socialist concept of the rule of law; second, taking the political developmental path with Chinese characteristics; third, achieving an organic unity of upholding the Party’s leadership, the people being the masters of the country, and governing the country under the rule of law; fourth, realizing the goal of safeguarding the fundamental interests of the all the people. These requirements present the direction for the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province to carry out the supervisory work. Local authorities took the deepening of understanding as the important precondition for carrying out the Supervision Law and performing the supervisory function according to laws, and took the perspective of developing a socialist democracy and governing the country under the rule of law as a way to profoundly understand the important position of the supervisory work and accurately grasp the basic requirements for that work, they acted in a well-regulated and orderly way, and made the supervisory work more normalized, institutionalized and procedure-based.

First, strengthening learning and publicity. The people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang made an in-depth study of the instructions and requirements from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province for the supervisory work of the people’s congress, earnestly studied the institutional theory and practice involving the people’s congress, and comprehensively studied the laws and regulations relating to the supervisory work of the people’s congress. In March, 2003, shortly after the Standing Committee of the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province was established, Zhejiang held a training class to study the rule of law; comrade Xi Jinping was present at the class and delivered a speech. In about 2006 when the Supervision Law was promulgated, local authorities earnestly studied and understood the principles from the instructions given by the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China concerning supervisory work through the reading party of the central group, the provincial meeting on the sharing of experiences during the work of the people’s congress, meetings with the chairmen of the standing committees of the municipal and county people’s congresses, special lecturers and special training, and local authorities also intensified publicity via the media, unified the ideological understanding and correctly understood the basic principles and main contents of the Supervision Law; moreover, they enhanced the consciousness of the people’s congress, the government, the courts and the procuratorates regarding the implementation of the Supervision Law, providing a guarantee with a line of thought for comprehensively carrying out the Supervision Law. In August, 2008, the Standing Committee of the 11th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province held a special meeting on studying the Supervision Law, reviewed and summarized the experiments and practice involving the supervisory work of the local people’s congresses in Zhejiang, and planned the train of thought for the supervisory work of the people’s congress. In April, 2013, the Standing Committee of the 12th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province held the centralized study meeting and special lecture on the Supervision Law, and engaged in exchanges and discussions about the supervisory work of the people’s congress. With various ways of study and publicity, local authorities deepened their understanding, clarified the train of thought, identified the direction, better carried out the guiding principles adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, legal provisions and relevant requirements in the whole process and various respects of the supervisory work of people’s congress, and deepened the supervisory work of the people’s congress across the province.

Second, regularizing the form of the supervisory work of the people’s congress according to laws. Before the implementation of the Supervision Law, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang actively performed the supervisory function, listened to and deliberated the work reports of the government, the courts and the procuratorates, examined the execution of laws and regulations, and carried out the appraisal and deliberation of the work reports of the appointed cadres, the appraisal and deliberation of the deputies and continuously investigated the effective forms of supervisory work to improve the effectiveness of the supervisory work. The Supervision Law regularizes the form of the supervision by the standing committee of the people’s congress, and specifies seven forms of supervision, including listening to and deliberating special work reports, supervising plans and budgets, examining the execution of laws and regulations as well as filing and reviewing normative documents. Local authorities across the province resolutely carried out the principles from the instructions given by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province, handled the affairs in strict compliance with the Supervision Law, regularized the forms of supervision according to the laws, achieved a sound transition of the supervisory work, continued experiments and practice and constantly made them better and well-regulated under the condition of safeguarding the unity of the national legal system, thus breaking new ground and making new progress in the supervisory work of the people’s congress.

Third, further institutionalizing the supervisory work. The people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang took strengthening the institutionalization of supervisory work as a basic task, focused on summarization, regularization and improvement and guaranteed orderly supervisory work of the people’s congress. Since the implementation of the Supervision Law, local authorities have proceeded from reality to promptly make the opinions on implementing the Supervision Law, identified the division of work and the specific requirements and refined the working procedures to make them more targeted and operable. In the meantime, based on the Supervision Law, local authorities fully cleared up relevant local regulations, working systems and the rules of procedure, amended the regulations that were inconsistent with the Supervision Law, further improved relevant systems. In light of reality, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made the Regulations for Supervision of Zhejiang Province in November, 2008, specifying the requirements for the formulation of the plan for supervision as well as the organization and implementation of the supervisory work, the handling of the deliberation opinions, open supervision and legal liability, thus further facilitating the implementation of the supervision law. In November, 2009, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province also developed the procedures for supervisory work to make it more operable.

2.3.2 Focusing on the Central Task, Promoting the Implementation of Major Decisions and Arrangements Made by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province

Concentrating on the central task and serving the overall situation is essential for improving the supervisory work of the people’s congress. As stressed by comrade Xi Jinping, supervisory work serves the overall situation of the Party and the country’s work, and in the final analysis, it is aimed at creating a good legal environment for the overall situation and providing an effective legal guarantee for the overall situation. In this regard, great efforts need to be made, but the key lies in choosing the right items. Once the right items are chosen, we can grasp the key points in supervisory work and lay a good foundation for making that work serve the overall situation. According to the requirements of focusing on the central task, giving prominence to key points and stressing substantial results, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang chose the items, carriers and means by considering the major issues in reform, development and stability, the hot spots and difficulties relating to the people’s immediate interests, and carefully organized their efforts to carry out them, exercised supervision according to the laws, expanded the work on the central tasks of the Party committee and gave play to the supervisory role of the people’s congress in focusing on the central task and serving development.

First, enhancing supervision over the major issues in the economic field. With a focus on carrying out the macro control policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the “Eight-Eight Strategies”, promoting economic change and upgrading, improving the people’s well-being, comprehensively intensifying the reform, carrying out the “three renovations and one demolition” and governing the “five waters” in tandem, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province carefully analyzed the macroeconomic trends, and closely followed the implementation of the 10th, 11th and 12th five-year plans, the annual targets and tasks. As from 2003, in the middle of each year, the Standing Committee listened to and deliberated the report on the province’s economic and social development in the first half of the year, urged and supported the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province to stabilize the growth, adjust the structure and promote sustained and healthy economic development. In the meantime, the Standing Committee also listened to and deliberated the reports on carrying out five major 10-billion-yuan projects, promoting coordinated urban and rural development, developing the service industry, intensifying the reform of the administrative examination and approval system, controlling the flooding and draining of the waterlogged areas and conducting pilot reform across the province, and it carried out special examinations of the execution of the safety laws and regulations regarding work, the Agriculture Law and relevant laws and regulations, and the regulations on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Second, strengthening supervision over the major issues in the cultural field. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province listened to and deliberated the reports on the building of a culturally large province, rural public cultural services and extensive Fitness-for-All programs, it conducted law enforcement examinations and surveys involving the protection of the cultural heritage, of famous historical and cultural cities and cultural relics, the Patent Law, the Copyright Law, and the management of the venues for folk faith activities, it promoted the implementation of major decisions and arrangements for building a culturally large province, and pushed forward vigorous cultural development and great cultural prosperity in Zhejiang.

Third, enhancing the supervision over the hot spots and difficulties in guaranteeing and improving the people’s well-being. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province has always focused supervision on guaranteeing and improving the people’s well-being, appraised and deliberated the work reports of the directors of the provincial departments of health and civil affairs, organized the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province to appraise and deliberate the enforcement of the food and drug laws; it conducted province-wide special work deliberations involving education and the management of endowment insurance funds; it deliberated the reports on food safety, price control and supervision, the execution of government-subsidized housing projects, the reform of the medical and health system, the development of the system of old-age care services, it examined the enforcement of the Labor Law, the Food Safety Law, and the Road Traffic Safety Law, conducted law enforcement surveys on labor contracts, the safeguarding of women’s rights and interests, religious affairs, and it addressed some hot spots and difficulties which were the concerns of the people, thus further promoting social development.

Fourth, strengthening supervision over environmental protection and the utilization of resources. For the building of an ecological Zhejiang, as early as 2003, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made the relevant decision to carry out a law enforcement examination involving ecological development and environmental protection across the province in 2004; afterwards, the Standing Committee conducted tracking and supervisory work for three consecutive years, thus earnestly promoting the building of an ecological province. In 2010 and 2013, unified arrangements and coordination between the upper and lower levels were made across the province to conduct law enforcement examinations involving the prevention and control of water pollution and the protection of the sources of drinking water, producing good effects. The Standing Committee also listened to and deliberated the reports on energy conservation and emission reduction, the protection of the marine environment, the construction of ecological public-welfare forests, and “three renovations and one demolition”, pushed forward ecological development, and made contributions to building a beautiful Zhejiang for a good life and a beautiful China.

Fifth, strengthening supervision over the difficulties in safeguarding fairness and justice. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province adopted multiple forms of supervision to strengthen supervision over the work of judicial organs and relevant departments, promote judicial fairness and government administration under the rule of law, and safeguard social fairness and justice. In 2010, based on listening to and deliberating relevant special reports, the Standing Committees made the Decision on Strengthening the Legal Supervisory Work of Procuratorates; in 2011, the Standing Committee listened to and deliberated the reports on the execution of the Decision by the People’s Procuratorate of Zhejiang, the High People’s Court of Zhejiang, the Department of Public Security of Zhejiang Province, and the Department of Justice of Zhejiang Province and separately put forward deliberation opinions. In 2012, the Standing Committee listened to and deliberated the reports of the Committee of Internal and Judicial Affairs, the public security organ, the courts, procuratorates and the department of justice and evaluated the degree of satisfaction concerning the implementation of deliberation opinions, thus promoting the implementation of the Decision.

2.3.3 Improving the Forms, Adopting Multiple Means of Supervision

Thoroughly carrying out the Supervision Law, fully adopting a number of means of supervision, upholding the unity of supervision and support, and combining brave supervision with skillful supervision are realistically necessary for pushing forward the supervisory work of the people’s congress. According to comrade Xi Jinping, supervision is aimed at supporting and promoting work, while support is based on supervision as a form and a means. The people’s congress must exercise supervision to the extent permitted by the constitution and laws, uphold the statutory provisions and oppose randomness, and should be brave in and adept at supervision. As stressed by comrade Xi Jinping, as governance of the country under the rule of law is upheld in the supervisory work of the people’s congress, it is aimed at safeguarding the authority of laws, ensuring that there are laws to abide by, that the laws are strictly observed, that law enforcement must be strict and law breakers must be dealt with, that the people exercise their rights and fulfill their obligations according to laws and that the work in various respects in the country must be carried out according to laws. The people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang have always, under the leadership of the Party committees at the same levels, correctly handled the relationship between supervision and support, have given prominence to the key points of supervision, fully adopted multiple forms of supervision, and strengthened supervisory work according to laws, ensuring that supervision laws and regulations are fully enforced in Zhejiang.

First, taking listening to and deliberating special work reports as the most basic form of supervision by the people’s congress. Since 2003, the people’s congresses in Zhejiang have listened to and deliberated nearly 10,000 special work reports of the government, the courts and the procuratorates. Since the implementation of the Supervision Law, the frequency of listening to and deliberating special work reports in various parts of Zhejiang has increased, and supervision has been further intensified. For instance, in 2013, the Standing Committee of the 12th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province listened to and deliberated 28 special reports.

Second, taking the plan and the budget as the points of action for the supervision by the people’s congress. Since 2004, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province has, with departmental budget as a means, further expanded budget review and supervision. Based on pushing forward departmental budgets, the Standing Committee has supervised government debt, the utilization of the special fund for science and technology and the special fund for water conservation. Such cities as Jiaxing and Haining have established a system of online fiscal supervision by the people’s congress, which has been connected with the municipal bureau of finance for real-time supervision over budget implementation in various municipal departments. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, local authorities in Zhejiang have strengthened their review and supervision of the government’s total budget and final account, regularized procedures, refined budgeting, improved the form of review, and changed the review and supervision of the budget and final account from procedural supervision to substantive supervision.

Third, taking law enforcement examination as the main form of the supervision by the people’s congress. With active experiments and practice, local authorities further strengthened and improved law enforcement examinations, guaranteed the effective enforcement of the constitution and laws, and safeguarded the authority of the constitution and laws. For instance, during the period 2003–2013, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province conducted law enforcement examinations and surveys involving 59 laws and regulations—during the period 2004–2013, the Standing Committee held 10 province-wide law enforcement examinations.

Fourth, taking the filing and review of normative documents as an important aspect of the supervision by the people’s congress. Local authorities gave great importance to filing and review, carried out practical experiment, sought regularization amid experimentations, made improvements in regularization, and further institutionalized and regularized filing and review. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province promptly made relevant regulations, providing an operable legal basis for filing and review across the province.

2.3.4 Placing Emphasis on Innovation, Continuously Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Supervisory Work

With a focus on enhancing the effectiveness of supervision, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang paid attention to innovating the organizational forms and modes of supervision to make the supervisory work more targeted and effective and actively stimulate the supervisory work of the people’s congress to advance with the times.

First, enabling coordination at the upper and lower levels to jointly carry out deliberation on special work. Based on the practices of law enforcement examinations, in 2008, 2011 and 2014, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made unified arrangements across the province and promoted coordination at the upper and lower levels to conduct special deliberations involving education, the management of the endowment insurance fund, the implementation of the strategy for governing “five waters” in tandem, and the work on controlling floods and draining the waterlogged areas. Based on special surveys, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province listened to and deliberated the special work report of the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province, put forward specific rectification requirements, and conducted subsequent tracking and supervision. According to survey questionnaires, 81.1% of the people believed that coordination at the upper and lower levels produced very good effects and it was fully recognized in various areas.

Second, earnestly organizing and conducting special inquiries. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province carried out special inquiries when deliberating the reports on the final accounts and audit work, carrying out food safety law enforcement examinations, and deliberating on the report of special work on the building of the system of old-age care services. With special inquiries, the Standing Committee had enabled the combination of survey and deliberation, between deliberation and inquiry, and between inquiry and rectification, it further expanded the deliberation of special reports and law enforcement examinations, intensified supervision, and stimulated the government, courts and procuratorates to improve their style of work and their conduct of work.

Third, improving the quality of handling deliberation opinions by evaluating the degree of satisfaction and other means. As of late 2012, 74.3% of the people’s congresses at the levels of city, county (county-level city, district) across the province evaluated the degree of satisfaction, and 76.4% believed that the effect was very good.

Fourth, adopting multiple means to strengthen and improve judicial supervision. In 2013, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province established the measures for supervising the work of judicial organs and for institutionalizing and regularizing judicial supervision. Some local authorities explored and conducted appraisal and deliberation of the work of judicial organs; for instance, the standing committees of the people’s congresses in such counties and districts as Jiaojiang in Taizhou explored and conducted the appraisal and deliberation of the performance of duties by judges and procurators from courts and procuratorates, producing good effects.

Fifth, strengthening tracking and supervision. Actions were taken to carry forward the spirit of carrying out concrete work, and continuously and thoroughly conduct tracking and supervision involving key matters for supervision. With progressive and intensive work for several consecutive years, relevant hot spots and difficulties were addressed.

2.3.5 Consolidating the Foundation, Broadening the Channels for Public Participation in the Supervisory Work of the People’s Congress

Making the supervisory work open and democratic, smoothing out the channels for citizens’ orderly participation and fully embodying the interest appeal of the people are important guarantees for improving the supervisory work of the people’s congress. According to comrade Xi Jinping, the people’s participation in the supervisory work is beneficial for the people to express their willingness and achieve orderly political participation, and it is conducive to bringing about closer ties between the Party and the people, better governing for the people. Local authorities across the province upheld the feasible methods and systems, leveraged the advantage of contacts between the deputies and the people to broaden the channels for the people’s orderly participation. Regarding the supervision over the selection of topics, some local authorities solicited opinions from the deputies, and collected topics from the deputies and the people through news media and the service platform for the performance of duties by the deputies to the people’s congresses.

2.4 Giving Full Scope to the Principal Role of the Deputies to the People’s Congress

The report delivered during the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China called for supporting the people in exercising state power through the people’s congress and ensuring that the people do so. The deputies to the people’s congress come from the people and are rooted among the people; giving full scope to the principal role of the deputies is the basic requirement for ensuring that the people become the masters of the country, upholding and improving the system of the people’s congress. Since the beginning of the new century, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang have focused on giving full play to the principal role of the deputies, keeping close ties between the deputies and the people, they have upheld the line of the masses, firmly kept the work orientation of centering on the deputies, considered the overall work situation to organize the deputies to conduct the activities between sessions and served and guaranteed the performance of duties by the deputies, thus continuously improving the quality of the deputies, enriching the content of the deputies’ duties, making the deputies’ activities produce effects, giving full scope to the important role of the people’s congress in serving economic and social development and promoting democracy and the rule of law, and in this way, making important contributions to thoroughly carrying out the “Eight-Eight Strategies” and the overall strategy of “making the people rich by starting businesses and of building a strong province through innovation” and building a modern socialist Zhejiang which is materially affluent and culturally advanced.

2.4.1 Making the “Dual Contact” Closer, Smoothing Out the Channels for Expressing the People’s Will and Appeals

The greatest advantage of the people’s congress lies in keeping close ties with the people. According to comrade Xi Jinping, maintaining close ties with the deputies and the people and accepting the supervision from the deputies and the people constitute fundamental guarantees for the work of the standing committee of the people’s congress. In 2003, comrade Xi Jinping, the then Secretary of the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, attended the activity of the first day of the chairman’s reception of the deputies conducted by the Standing Committee of the 10th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in Chun’an; he led the leaders of relevant provincial departments in a discussion with the primary-level deputies with respect to the major programs for economic and social development, extensively solicited opinions and suggestions from the deputies and made efforts to address their opinions and suggestions and fully affirmed the practice adopted by the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province to regularly conduct the activity involving the day of reception of the deputies, thus setting an example for thoroughly carrying out the system of keeping contact between the people’s congress and the deputies. For many years, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang took “strengthening contact between the standing committee and the deputies, between the deputies and the people” as the basic project for the work of the deputies, expanded the deputies’ participation in the meetings of the standing committee, legislation and supervision, conducted a variety of activities for keeping contact between the deputies and the people such as “the deputies enter communities” and “the day of the deputies’ reception”, and gathered experience that was beneficial in facilitating the expression of the people’s will and promoting the citizens’ orderly participation in political affairs.

First, promoting regular contact between the standing committee of the people’s congress and the deputies. To address the need for keeping contact between the people’s congress and the deputies in the information age, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province built the Service Platform for the Performance of Duties by the Deputies to the People’s Congresses in Zhejiang in 2013, providing prompt and full services for more than 80,000 deputies to the people’s congresses at the national, provincial, municipal, county and town levels in Zhejiang to perform their duties. At present, the platform for the performance of duties has been visited for more than 7.50 million person-times, with 600,000 person-times each month on average. The deputies can promptly obtain important information on political affairs, submit proposals and suggestions, provide the information on social conditions and public opinion, engage in exchanges and interaction with the people’s congress, the government, the courts, and the procuratorates via seven columns on the platform, including “Work Information”, “Proposals and Suggestions” and “Online Exchanges”; the opinions and suggestions put forward by the deputies through the platform have been promptly put into practice. According to statistics, the platform has delivered more than 1.50 million pieces of work information, documents and materials to the deputies; the deputies have initiated special discussions on the platform more than 1,200 times and they have posted messages concerning direct exchanges for more than 50,000 person-times; the deputies have taken the initiative to register more than 5,000 pieces of important information on the performance of duties, involving the deputies for more than 25,000 person-times; the deputies have uploaded more than 500 cases of individual performance of duties.

Second, promoting front contact between the deputies and the people. Zhejiang has made all-out efforts to strengthen the building of the deputies’ contact station fronts, and provided fixed venues at which the deputies can contact the people. The contact stations in various parts of Zhejiang have been built by proceeding from the local reality, observing certain construction standards, adopting the unified station name, officially hanging out shingles, using fixed venues and putting up systems on walls. At present, 2,479 deputies’ contact stations have been built in1,324 towns and sub-districts in Zhejiang, the network system for contact between the deputies to the people’s congresses and the people covering the whole province has taken shape. Based on building the deputies’ contact stations, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang have strengthened cooperation, and gradually built online contact stations for the deputies on the service platform for the performance of duties by the deputies to the people’s congresses, achieving all-weather contact between the people and the deputies.

Third, pushing forward regularized contact between the standing committee of the people’s congress and the deputies and between the deputies and the people. For many years, local authorities in Zhejiang developed a number of institutions in light of the reality of “dual contact”. With increasing practice, local authorities have further established and improved a system for contact between the members of the standing committee of the people’s congress and the deputies. Currently, there are 51 deputies directly contacted by the members of the chairmen’s meeting of the standing committee and 261 deputies contacted by the members of the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province. The members of the standing committee of the people’s congress have, by means of visits, talks or telephone calls, solicited opinions and suggestions involving various aspects from the deputies, learned about economic and social development, the implementation of laws and regulations, they have publicized the Party and the country’s policies to the deputies, helped the deputies summarize their good practices and experience in the performance of duties under the rule of law, and promptly delivered the deputies’ opinions and suggestions to relevant departments of the people’s congresses, making contact regularized and effective.

2.4.2 Enriching the Deputies’ Activities Between Sessions, Enhancing the Effectiveness of the Deputies’ Performance of Duties

The deputies to the people’s congress are the source of strength, wisdom and vitality for the work of the people’s congress. Zhejiang has more than 80,000 deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels; they are the very important forces for organizing, in a planned manner, the deputies to make inspection tours and conduct special surveys, enriching the deputies’ activities between sessions, improving the effectiveness of activities, all of which are crucial for giving scope to the role of the deputies. The standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang have properly handled the organic unity of the deputies’ activities between sessions and the deputies’ performance of duties during each session, and have taken “guaranteeing the deputies’ performance of duties between sessions and giving full scope to the deputies’ roles between sessions” as the important part of experiments and practice in the deputies’ work, they have constantly strengthened and improved the organization and implementation of the deputies’ activities between sessions and they have endeavored to activate and improve the deputies’ performance of duties by the deputies between sessions.

First, carrying out the themed activities of the deputies, stimulating the deputies to perform their duties in an accurate and effective way. For many years, with a focus on Zhejiang’s central tasks, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang organized the deputies in a planned way to make special inspection tours and conduct survey activities with respect to the building of a safe Zhejiang, a culturally large province, a Zhejiang under the rule of law and a green Zhejiang, and put forward a number of high-quality opinions and suggestions, thus vigorously pushing forward the work on Zhejiang’s central tasks. Building an ecological province and a green Zhejiang is the major decision and arrangement energetically advocated and energetically promoted by comrade Xi Jinping when working in Zhejiang. In 2013, given the latest arrangements made by the Party Committee of Zhejiang Province for extending the building of an ecological province, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province actively served the major decision for governing waters to force change and upgrading, it organized and mobilized more than 80,000 deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang to carry out the themed activity of showing care for the mother rivers and streams, finding the sources of water pollution and duly performing their duties as deputies; the deputies to the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang responded actively, participated in supervising water governance at any place at any time, they exposed problems and put forward suggestions through the platform for the deputies’ performance of duties. The deputies at various levels in Zhejiang identified more than 31,000 pollution sources and offered more than 29,000 suggestions about pollution control; the activity produced significant effects and vigorously promoted pollution control in Zhejiang.

Second, bringing about innovations to the modes of the deputies’ activities, enriching the ways that the deputies perform their duties, expanding the space for the performance of duties. As shown by historical and practical experience, only when persistent innovations are made can the people’s congresses handle affairs better according to laws and safeguard the fundamental interests of the people better, and can the socialist political development be promoted better. For many years, the work of the deputies in Zhejiang was carried out by making bold innovations and blazing new trails, thus creating a number of well-proven practices and much typical experience. For instance, Hangzhou conducted the activity of the deputies’ directed observations to vigorously urge the work of particular government departments. In Huzhou City, the activity of two-way meetings between the deputies to the people’s congresses and the personnel in charge of the government, the courts and the procuratorates strengthened daily supervision over the work of those bodies. In Ninghai City, the system of the deputies’ voting involving the projects involving the practical work of town governments was carried out to ensure that the government’s projects relating to the people’s well-being tally with the people’s will. In Wenling City, the deputies were organized to attend the democratic earnest talks about budgets, making the allocation of public financial funds more balanced and rational. In Yueqing City, the people’s hearing system was built to ensure that the opinions are solicited from the deputies and the people before the government makes major decisions, having consolidated the public opinion foundation for government administration under the rule of law. This work on the part of the deputies has provided new platforms and space for the deputies to better play their supervisory role and it has increased the level and effectiveness of government governance.

Third, establishing a mechanism of incentives and constraints for the deputies’ performance of duties to ensure that the deputies actively perform their duties and accept supervision. With a focus on the contact among the deputies and the constituencies, voters and the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang continued carrying out experiments and practice in strengthening the people’s supervision over the deputies and enhancing the deputies’ awareness about serving the people. According to statistics, the standing committees of 48.9% of the people’s congresses in counties (county-level cities, districts) once received the written or oral work reports from the deputies to the people’s congresses at the higher levels who were elected through elections, the standing committees of 73.5% of the people’s congresses at the county level organized the deputies to report their work to voters, thus effectively enhancing the deputies’ sense of responsibility for performing duties according to laws. At present, based on the deputies’ contact stations in various parts of Zhejiang, local authorities have actively organized the deputies to meet with the people and report the performance of their duties to the people. Since 2008, local authorities have also actively introduced the system of registering the deputies’ performance of duties, built the procedures and mechanisms for routine registration of the deputies, collective review of the deputies’ groups and signed confirmation by the leaders of the deputies’ groups. According to statistics in 2009, all of the deputies to the provincial people’s congress and 89.8% of the deputies to the people’s congresses at the municipal and county levels registered the performance of their duties. Local authorities also intensified publicity involving typical cases of the deputies’ performance of duties. Since 2013, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province has organized the deputies in sharing their experiences in the performance of their duties during the preparatory meeting of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province, further arousing the deputies’ enthusiasm about the performance of duties.

2.4.3 Optimizing the Work on Handling the Deputies’ Proposals and Suggestions, Improving the Quality of Deliberation and Handling

Putting forward proposals and suggestions is an important function and power of the deputies and also an important means and way for the deputies to speak for the people, serve development and play their due roles. For many years, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang made great efforts, took elaborate measures to optimize the work of deliberation and handling, better carry out their work in various important aspects of deliberation and handling, improve the work on handling the key suggestions and supervising the handling of key matters, explored and created the five-step method and the ten-step approach for handling suggestions, the system of panel discussion of handling results, performance evaluation, handling appraisal and evaluation, cross-year tracking and performance review, and gathered other mature experience, making sure that the deputies’ opinions and suggestions could be put into practice. In recent years, the suggestions from the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province for which problems have been solved, and have basically been solved, have accounted for about 40%, while those for which problems have been partially solved or included in the plan for seeking solution have accounted for about 52%.

First, making efforts to improve the quality of the proposals and suggestions from the deputies. Improving the quality of the proposals and suggestions from the deputies is the prerequisite for better carrying out the work on deliberating and handling proposals and suggestions. In various parts of Zhejiang, before the convening of the people’s congress, the important information and materials concerning political affairs are provided to the deputies, the model proposals and suggestions are delivered to the deputies, the deputies are organized to conduct observational and survey activities, making preparations for developing proposals and suggestions in a well-targeted way. With discussions by the deputies’ groups, the proposals and suggestions to be submitted are improved through collective exchanges, thus ensuring the quality of the proposals and suggestions from the deputies. In 2012, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province pioneered the system of pre-submission of the proposals and suggestions from the deputies, coordinated the deputies working bodies of the standing committees of the municipal people’s congresses to intervene and review early on, and assisted the deputies in revising and improving the proposals and suggestions, making the proposals and suggestions from the deputies more regularized and targeted. Since 2003, the proposals and suggestions submitted by the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province have shown continuous quantitative and qualitative improvement. In the 2nd Session of the 12th People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province in 2014, the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province submitted 1,069 proposals and suggestions, showing an all-time high in number as well as an improvement in quality.

Second, working on addressing important issues. In 2004, the People’s Government of Zhejiang Province became the first nationwide to introduce the system under which the provincial governor leads the handling of key suggestions from the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province; the governments at various levels in Zhejiang established the system under which government leaders lead the handling of key suggestions, and gradually introduced the system under which the personnel in charge of the undertaking units lead the handling of key suggestions. In recent years, an average of 5% of the suggestions from the deputies to the people’s congresses at the levels of county (county-level city, district) in Zhejiang have been identified as key suggestions. In the meantime, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang have gradually established and improved the system under which the standing committees supervise the handling of suggestions on a focused basis; the members of the chairmen’s meeting lead relevant special committees to choose a certain number of suggestions for tracking and examining the handling. The systems of focused handling and focused supervision of handling have effectively increased the degree of attention to the handling of suggestions in various parts of the province. Many local authorities have established a mechanism under which the working meetings of the government or departments discuss and decide on the handling of suggestions. For many years, with the implementation of the above systems, a number of key suggestions from the deputies having a vital bearing on Zhejiang’s reform, development and stability and the immediate interests of the people were carried out and fully recognized by the deputies and the people.

Third, stepping up efforts to make handling open. Local authorities generally adopted the means of information that would ensure that handling proceeds in an open way. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province made, on a real-time basis through the service platform for the performance of duties by the deputies to the people’s congresses, the deputies were informed of the 11 steps for handling suggestions, and put the whole process of handling under the supervision of the deputies. With a focus on the first step—separate handling of suggestions, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Wenzhou City made separate handling of suggestions open to the deputies and solicited opinions from the deputies, and made, according to the deputies’ feedback, necessary adjustments of the units responsible for undertaking suggestions. In the meantime, local authorities in Zhejiang actively pushed forward the deputies’ participation in handling and organized the deputies to inspect and survey the handling of particular suggestions or the handling by the undertaking units, organized the deputies’ groups to hold collective discussions about the results of suggestion handling and to exercise effective supervision over the handling.

Fourth, intensifying efforts in improving the mechanism of evaluating the handling. The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province actively conducted classified evaluation of the deputies’ suggestions, and established the working mechanism linked to the quality of suggestions. Actions were taken to improve the mechanism of the deputies’ participation in evaluation of suggestion handling; after the undertaking units solicited opinions from the deputies, the standing committees of the people’s congresses solicited opinions on the evaluation to ensure that the evaluation of the handling was objective. At present, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province is conducting special research on the indicators for the evaluation of the results of the handling, thus establishing a system of indicators for the evaluation of the handling as well as the score range, thus introducing the system of evaluation and scoring of the results of the handling, and optimizing the supervision and evaluation of the results of the handling.

2.4.4 Intensifying Service Guarantees, Creating Conditions for the Deputies to Play the Principal Role

The working bodies of the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels are the collective advisers and assistants for the deputies to the people’s congresses in performing their duties according to laws. The comprehensive enhancement of this function is attributable to the building of the working bodies for the deputies to the people’s congresses. Based on strengthening the building of their bodies, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang firmly fostered the working awareness about serving and relying on the deputies, took effective measures to intensify service guarantees, and actively created good conditions for the deputies to play the principal role.

First, reinforcing training on the deputies’ performance of duties. The high quality of the deputies is the basic precondition for the deputies to better play the principal role. For many years, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang continuously strengthened the training of the deputies, established the mechanism of systematic training of the deputies, made sure that the deputies promptly acquired new knowledge and a new line of thought, got familiar with new laws, regulations and policies, and enhanced the deputies’ ability to perform duties. In nearly ten years, the Standing Committee of the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province held large-scale deputies training classes in each term on average, covering all of the deputies to the provincial people’s congress. The standing committees of the people’s congresses at the levels of county (county-level city, district) in Zhejiang organized the training of the deputies for an average of five times in each term, covering more than 90% of the deputies. With extensive and systematic training, the deputies have effectively improved in the quality of and ability in the performance of their duties.

Second, making the deputies knowledgeable about the situation and political affairs. Fully knowing the situation and political affairs is essential for the deputies to better play the principal role. The deputies working bodies of the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang actively ensured that the deputies knew the situation and political affairs, increased the number of the deputies invited to attend the sessions of the people’s congresses and their standing committees or special committees, and organized the deputies to attend the semi-annual briefings on economic and social development and special briefings on political affairs, effectively making the deputies know the work in its various aspects. In the meantime, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang raised new requirements for the deputies’ performance of duties in response to the information age, and built information platforms to provide the deputies with prompt and convenient access to the information on the situation and political affairs, producing good effects.

Third, guaranteeing the legitimate rights and interests of the deputies. A well-functioning mechanism for the guarantee of rights and interests is an important support for the deputies in playing the principal role. For many years, the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang exercised, according to laws, the right to permit the application for restricting the deputies’ personal freedom, seriously investigated, handled, did not tolerate the acts of violating the legitimate rights and interests of the deputies and obstructing the deputies from performing duties so as to really safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the deputies. The standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang also kept pace with economic and social development, and persistently increased the funds for the annual activities of the deputies. The funds for the activities of the deputies to the People’s Congress of Zhejiang Province were gradually increased from 1,500 yuan in 2003 to 4,200 yuan at present. Regarding the use of the funds for the activities of the deputies, the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels in Zhejiang focused the funds on the primary-level deputies, and actively coordinated efforts to raise the allowance standard for the performance of duties by the deputies without a fixed income. In the meantime, the deputies working departments of the standing committees of the people’s congresses at various levels also focused contact service on the primary-level deputies, sincerely showed care for and helping the primary-level deputies in production and life, promptly visited and expressed sincere solicitude to the deputies with difficulties in life, and provided vigorous assistance to solve relevant problems, really turning the deputies working departments into the “homes of deputies”.