Of course we know, we understand, Western friends will say the whole thing is for good appearances only as they suspect the number of new coronavirus infections announced in China is also false. Don't worry, even within China there are many critics on social media, mainly pro-Western intellectuals, who tease the deputies as dumb hand-raising machines. But do we really know about the deputies? One reminder is that being an NPC deputy is not a profession, and unlike our senators, the NPC deputies are lack of skill in arguing or speaking, even the very few who are good at show with social media are usually unpopular there. They come to the meeting with their own proposals, which are evaluated and screened out through panel discussions. If a proposal is not good enough, it probably will be laughed at by the media and the public. I remember once a deputy put forward a proposal saying that rural students do not need to go to college, which was widely lambasted. It’s for sure that some deputies just make up the numbers, but it’s also obvious that sometimes our attitude towards the NPC deputies shows prejudice and stereotyping.

One typical example is Shen Jilan. She is the Deputy Secretary of the general Party branch of a county in the relatively backward inland Shanxi Province, and the only deputy to the National People's Congress in China who has been reelected from the first term to the 13th term.She was criticized by some Chinese because she has never cast an opposing vote. But if you take a closer look at this person, you will find that her proposals are enough to make many professional politicians blush, the fact is, early in 1954, she proposed the addition of an equal pay for equal work clause in the first constitution of China, and her proposal was adopted. She helped to reduce the gender pay gap and won the right for women. Ironically in 2018, former BBC China editor Carrie Gracie resigned over equal pay after discovering she was paid 50% less than her male counterparts. For Shen, she has been like a family patriarch, sitting on the representative table by virtue of her historical prestige. According to reports by Chinese media, Shen has made many other proposals, most of which were for the welfare of Shanxi province, her hometown, including diverting water from the Yellow River into the province, renovating its old industrial base, extending railways, building highways, airports, power stations, centralized heating projects, etc. Her proposals were mostly related to infrastructure, which not only benefitted the local people but also helped to vitalize regional economies. As a woman from rural areas, she is representing the will of people in Shanxi. I’m thinking that maybe her critics have fallen into a trap of Western-style democracy, arguing that casting a vote itself is the most important thing in politics.

Westerners have a deep understanding of the rules of parliamentary games, but don't understand the political operation of Chinese. The Chinese way of democracy is not putting everything on the table and everyone fighting for a piece of the cake for himself. Instead, the Chinese prefer harmony to quarrels, and would rather solve conflicts in ways that are more face-saving and humanistic. Of course, this would also draw criticism. However, if we insist on talking about the distinction between the rule of man and the rule of law as well as the opposition between government and society, isn’t that a long-standing problem of Western dualistic thinking?

China’s two sessions have been postponed due to the outbreak, but the country’s democracy will not stop functioning, because it is always there, lying in the lives of ordinary people, operating in an effective way. During the new crown epidemic, nearly 700 officials were held accountable according to discipline in Wuhan alone, at least 10 of them were involved at the bureau level, and the governor and Secretary of the provincial Party committee were also dismissed. At the same time, dozens of excellent cadres were promoted and more than 10 party members were promoted. In western countries, as the epidemic prevention and control is so disappointing, few officials are held accountable by "democracy". The only "democracy" performance seems to be noisy and accountability to China.

In a large-scale country with a large population, the Communist Party of China always puts forward the most clear and concise goal. For example, the decision emphasizes "to maintain the flesh and blood relationship between the party and the people, and to integrate the people's wisdom, the people's strength and the improvement of the people's livelihood into the whole work of the party's governance and administration.". During the new crown epidemic, Xi Jinping stressed that "always putting the safety and health of the people in the first place". The interests of the people are paramount. This is the expression of the basic program of China's democracy. In the west, tens of thousands of people died during the epidemic, the president of the United States said "no ventilator, but this is life", and some elderly people in nursing homes in Britain were asked to sign agreements to voluntarily give up rescue services, which are distressing for supporters of "universal value" all over the world. I believe many Europeanfriends willreflect :What is the significance of such democracy?

The state of epidemic prevention is similar to the state of war, while in the daily state,the Chinese government is also trying to make democracy visible and normative, and promote ademocratic and political consultation system that traverses the whole procedure. For the Chinese people, the two sessions are more like the ultimate form of democracy instead of political posturing. The difference is, while democracy is on the sacred altar in the West, it is but one part of the overall governance system in China. And next, I want to talk more about the Chinese type of democracy like the stream never stops flowing.

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