Political gathering

Pan is one of the more than 5,000 NPC deputies and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) who gathered in Beijing to review the government’s work in the previous year and discuss future development. NPC deputies and CPPCC members usually serve a term of five years.

This is China’s lianghui, or Two Sessions, namely, the annual sessions of the NPC, China’s top legislature, and the CPPCC National Committee, China’s top political advisory body. This year, nearly 3,000 deputies to the NPC and more than 2,000 members of the CPPCC National Committee from different parts of China gathered in Beijing with motions and proposals in their hands from March 3 to 15.

“This is the Chinese way of democracy where the voices from even the lowest level of communities can be heard by policy makers, and problems can be solved timeously,” said Pan. In 2015, Pan submitted her motion of improving pre-school education in remote mountainous areas. Soon, a program of “one village, one kindergarten” was launched in her hometown of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. She also suggested increasing railway transportation to places inhabited by ethnic minorities. Late last year, three more trains were added to Ganluo County of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

“The annual lianghui is the place not only for policy