The National People's Congress – China's national legislature – is also about to convene in Beijing. Deputies from all walks of life are set to discuss major policy proposals, reflecting what's known as China's whole-process people's democracy. Xu Xinchen explains.

XU XINCHEN, Beijing "Democracy is a common value of humanity and is cherished by the Communist Part of China and the Chinese people. A key message contained in the white paper titled,'China: Democracy That Works', published in 2021. The same year that marked a century since the founding of China's ruling Communist Party. The white paper states that the well-being of the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation are the party's top priorities."

And it says the Chinese people's status as masters of the country is the essence of democracy. To learn more about what that means, I visited the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

HAN XU, Researcher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences "In 2019, during President Xi Jinping's visit to Shanghai, he said that people's democracy in China needs to extend throughout the whole process. For major legislation and decisions, we need to hear widely from the people and take their advice. In 2021, the Communist Party centenary, President Xi formally advocated the idea of a whole-process people's democracy."

As an example, Han Xu cites Beijing's rollout of regulations on household waste. Some 10,000 deputies from the city's Municipal People's Congress were sent to consult with residents of different communities.

When the regulations were implemented, the deputies returned to communities to ask how the garbage sorting scheme could be improved. Over 200,000 contact points have been set up around China for members of the public to provide feedback on proposed policy and legislation.

HAN XU, Researcher, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences "Elections are important but not only elections need to be democratic. Democracy is a process and needs to be reflected throughout public affairs management. Starting with decision-making, we need to take advice from the people before making decisions. Once we make the decisions, we continue to hear from the people during execution. When there are things needing to be addressed, we make adjustments, so that the whole process is being supervised by the people."

XU XINCHEN, Beijing "So, the 'whole-process people's democracy' is here to make sure that socialistic democracy covers all aspects of the democratic process and all sections of society. And that is said to be how true democracy works. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Beijing."