The report of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that it is necessary to improve the working mechanism for absorbing public opinion and gathering people's wisdom, and build grassroots legislative contact points. In Jiangmen, Guangdong, the "first hometown of overseas Chinese in China", the Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point, the only "national brand" grassroots legislative contact point in the province, actively explores "open-door legislation", concretely and realistically embodies the people's ownership of the country in legislative practice, and vividly demonstrates to the world the vivid practice of people's democracy in the whole process of China's development in the hot land of Lingnan.
Gather bits and pieces to eventually become rivers and seas
-- Entering the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
The Legislative Affairs Commission's Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point
Mai Tang, a volunteer collector of legislative opinions, collects opinions and suggestions from the masses.
After breakfast, 79-year-old Mai Tang went around the community as usual and chatted with the neighbors, "Uncle Tang is early!" "From time to time, people greet him warmly, and as the first batch of voluntary collectors of legislative opinions at the Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point, this has become the norm in his life." My job is very down-to-earth. According to the needs of the legislation, I will keep everyone's opinions in mind and report them. While bringing more people around him to participate in legislation, Mai Tang found that everyone would be more active in handling and negotiating issues with the rule of law in their daily lives, which made him even happier.
In July 2020, the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress was designated as the grassroots legislative contact point of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (hereinafter referred to as the "grassroots legislative contact point"). In the past three years, the legislative point has thoroughly implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping's important ideas on adhering to and improving the people's congress system, profoundly grasped the rich new requirements contained in the general goal of "walking in the forefront", and constantly innovated the legislative opinion collection model, so that the legislation can better reflect the people's feelings, gather public opinion, and concentrate people's wisdom, and has completed the collection of opinions on 71 draft laws and regulations, and submitted 1,577 opinions and suggestions, of which 167 have been adopted; Among them, of the 54 legislative projects that have been deliberated and passed, 897 opinions and suggestions have been submitted and 156 have been adopted; Of the 17 legislative projects under consideration, 680 opinions and suggestions were submitted.
01
Rooted in fertile soil and upwardly forested
The small "point of contact" reflects the general atmosphere of democracy
On the day when the reporter came to the activity center of the grassroots legislative contact point, it was raining lightly. Walking into the rule of law square in front of the door, what catches your eye is an open white marble sculpture of the constitution, surrounded by a narrative spatial structure, connecting the rule of law chapters, the rule of law corridor, the constitution compilation process scenery wall, the civil code scenery wall, etc., step by step theme, in the southern drizzle affectionately tell the historical memories from the country's fundamental law to the basic law. "The square covers an area of 5,500 square meters and is mainly used for rule of law publicity, constitutional oath, large-scale exhibitions, etc." Xing Yusheng, director of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress, said that since the opening of the square in September 2021, more than 100 legal popularization activities with rich content and various forms have been held, receiving tens of thousands of people, and becoming a "landmark of rule of law" in Jiangmen City.
The establishment of a grassroots legislative contact point system was a decision made at the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in October 2014. In November 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping first put forward the major concept of whole-process people's democracy when he inspected the grassroots legislative contact point of the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in Hongqiao, Shanghai, and historically linked the grassroots legislative contact point with the whole-process people's democracy.
"The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress attach great importance to the construction of grassroots legislative contact points in Jianghai." During the interview, Chen Guochun, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress, mentioned many times that Chen Anming, secretary of the Jiangmen Municipal Party Committee and director of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress, served as the leader of the leading group for the construction of grassroots legislative contact points, and clearly required "mobilizing the city's resources to strengthen the guidance of the legislative plan suggestions and opinion solicitation of the national grassroots legislative contact points in Jianghai District".
At present, Jianghai District of Jiangmen City has set up 59 legislative contact units, including district departments, village neighborhood committees, chambers of commerce, etc., built a legislative contact consulting expert database composed of 121 experts and scholars, integrated 61 legislative liaison officers and 350 information officers, and formed a grassroots legislative contact point "matrix" rooted in Jianghai, covering the whole city and radiating the whole province.
The reporter found that 126 of the 350 informants were village (community) grid members, who widely collected the legislative opinions and people's livelihood demands of the grassroots masses "from point to point". It is a sacred thing in their hearts to run without any "desire for profit", actively participate in and witness the whole process of the birth of the law, "Legislation is not high, we can still participate in it!" Mai Tang said, the pride is beyond words.
The law is at the top, and the teaching is spread at the bottom. In the square, under the banyan tree and by the ridge, the "source of living water" from the masses has greatly expanded the mechanism channel for the legislative point to concentrate public opinion and gather people's wisdom.
Jiangcui Community, Jiangnan Street, Jianghai District, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, held a people's forum on legislation to stop food waste.
The temperature in the south is high, and there is a unique scenery under the lush banyan trees. "The villagers like to carry out activities under the big banyan tree at the entrance of the village committee, so we simply pulled the banner over and solicited legislative opinions on the spot, and the effect was particularly good!" Guo Weiqiang, director of the village committee of Zhichong Village, introduced. As a result, Yingnan Village, Zhichong Village, Jiangcui Community and other legislative liaison units set up legislative opinion collection meetings under the banyan tree in accordance with local conditions. Subsequently, fresh models such as the "Social Governance Street" in Waihai Street, the "Community Council" in Jiangcui Community, and the "Discussion under the Banyan Tree" in Yingnan Village have shown infinite vitality - the People's Forum on Legislation to Stop Food and Beverage Waste was carried out in Jiangcui Community; Carry out opinions collection activities on the Law on the Quality and Safety of Agricultural Products in Yingnan Village; A symposium was held under the banyan tree in Zhichong Village to solicit the legislative needs of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress and the opinions and suggestions on legislative work... The opinions and suggestions of the masses that are "steaming" have been recorded, summarized, and reported. The small "point of contact" reflects the general atmosphere of democracy, and the whole-process people's democracy bursts out with remarkable vitality here.
How to listen to the opinions and suggestions of the people to the greatest extent? In order to expand the coverage of legislative consultation objects, the legislative point actively promotes the extension of the tentacles to the whole province, establishes cooperative relations with the Guangdong Provincial Federation of Trade Unions and the Jiangmen Center of the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration, shares the legislative contact resources of the Municipal People's Congress and the municipal government, and builds a working pattern of "taking root in the rivers and seas, basing itself in Jiangmen, radiating the Pearl River Delta, and looking forward to the whole province".
In order to integrate the strength of the people's congress deputies, the grass-roots legislative contact points extensively listened to the opinions of the 17 deputies' liaison stations throughout the region, and established the 11 deputies' liaison stations as legislative liaison units. Ding Xuemei, deputy to the National People's Congress and manager of the technical department of the optoelectronic materials division of Jiangmen Keheng Industrial Co., Ltd., was moved.
Solid work has turned the "professional matter" of legislation into a "matter of the side" that the masses are familiar with. "The work of the people's congress is constantly climbing upward, and the strength must continue to take root downward. Grassroots legislative contact points have become an important force in the development of grassroots democratic practice by grounding legislation, observing the people's feelings, and gathering people's wisdom, and ensuring the right of the people to directly reflect their demands. Zhong Jun, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jiangmen Municipal People's Congress, said.
The law does not come from the world, it does not come from the earth, it comes from the world, and it is only in line with the hearts of the people. At present, Guangdong has 21 provincial-level grass-roots legislative contact points and 51 liaison units. On September 21, the "Opinions of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress on Further Strengthening the Construction of Grassroots Legislative Contact Points" was issued, and the new ideas for exploring practice in accordance with local conditions were clearer. Promoting development and ensuring good governance through good laws will make the stories of democracy from Jianghai more vivid and rich.
02
The whisper is heavy
Grassroots public opinion catches the legislative "through train"
The establishment of grassroots legislative contact points has provided a realistic and effective way for the masses to participate in state legislation in an orderly manner. There is such a group of people, whose hearts are full of loyalty and love for the country that is constantly moving forward, actively participate in the collection of legislative opinions, and find another wonderful life.
Wu Tengxin, 50, lives in Weidong Village, Lile Street, and has disabled legs. In 2016, the general branch of the village party funded him to open a "love store". "We hope to improve the accessibility of rural areas and make it easier for people with disabilities to travel." At the end of 2022, the Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point reported such a legislative proposal to the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and it was he who put it forward.
On April 26 this year, Shen Chunyao, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, entrusted Sun Zhenping, director of the Office of the Legislative Affairs Commission, who went to Guangdong for investigation, to visit him. "I enjoyed the convenience of barrier-free facilities in the village, and I also hope that my disabled friends in other villages can enjoy it, so I made suggestions." Mr. Wu said the feedback on the recommendations was unexpected.
On June 28, the Law on the Construction of Barrier-free Environment was voted and passed. Article 5 stipulates that the construction of a barrier-free environment should be commensurate with the level of economic and social development, coordinate the development of urban and rural areas, and gradually narrow the gap between urban and rural barrier-free environment construction.
In the endless rice fields, this reporter met Chen Xiaorong, a deputy to the National People's Congress and director of the Taishan Green Rice Farm. This year marks his ninth year of returning to his hometown to farm.
In July, the grassroots legislative contact point solicited opinions and suggestions from Chen Xiaorong on the draft of the Food Security Law. "It is of great significance to formulate and introduce a food security law." He believes that with the acceleration of urbanization, the phenomenon of "non-agricultural" and "non-grain" cultivated land has appeared in some areas, and it is suggested that the draft should strictly implement the control of cultivated land use, further refine the responsibility mechanism for cultivated land protection, and enhance the awareness of cultivated land protection among the whole people; The draft proposal adds incentives and support measures for groups engaged in research on grain planting technology and the development of industrial grain planting.
On August 25, the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held a press conference, at which spokesman Yang Heqing introduced the recent publication of some draft laws on the Chinese National People's Congress website for public comment, including Chen Xiaorong's proposal.
The upper antenna is connected to the ground, and the work of the legislative point has been advanced layer by layer. A group of enthusiastic informants stood out, participating in the legislation and dedicating their wisdom and strength; Batches of information collection points came into being, which gave full play to their strengths, integrated resources, and laid a solid foundation for the expansion of "concentric circles" of legislative points; There are also experts and scholars from the legislative consulting units and talent pools, who interpret the legislative background, put forward opinions and suggestions, participate in the popularization of the law, summarize practical experience, and provide strong intellectual support. A group of enthusiastic people, including Wu Tengxin, a disabled person, Tang Tongxun, a retired worker, and Ou Fenglian, a community cadre, were successively notified by the spokesperson of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
In Jiangcui Community, the team of voluntary collectors of legislative opinions has grown from 10 to 83, and more than 700 opinions and suggestions have been collected, of which 3 have been adopted by the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, 3 by the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress, and 8 by the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress.
Under the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on the Rule of Law, the participation of the grassroots masses and the voices of expressing opinions are increasing in the legislative process of drafting, reviewing, researching, demonstrating, and evaluating before the adoption of national laws and regulations, and the rule of law has become the common belief of the whole society.
03
The story of democracy is told everywhere
These efforts are seen by more people
Overseas Chinese, an emotional group title. Doing a good job in the "overseas Chinese" article in the new era is General Secretary Xi Jinping's ardent expectation for Guangdong. There are more than 5.3 million overseas Chinese living in Jiangmen who live in 145 countries and regions around the world, and more than 400 Hong Kong and Macao investment enterprises have taken root and developed here. It has become an important window for them to observe Guangdong and even China. As a result, "overseas Chinese" has become a prominent feature of the grassroots legislative contact points in Jianghai.
More than three years have passed, how is this "overseas Chinese" card played? "We insist on basing ourselves on the resources of 'overseas Chinese', highlighting the characteristics of 'overseas Chinese', making good use of the advantages of Jiangmen's geographical proximity and personal affinity with Hong Kong and Macao, and giving full play to the role of 'through train' that gathers public opinion and wisdom." Xing Yusheng introduced that the Jiangmen Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association and the "Overseas Chinese Dream Garden" Overseas Chinese Innovation Industry Gathering Area were set up as legislative contact units, and the Municipal Overseas Chinese Entrepreneurs Association was recommended as the grassroots legislative liaison unit of the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress; Establish cooperative relations with the Municipal Federation of Overseas Chinese to jointly explore effective ways for overseas Chinese to participate in national legislation; Overseas Chinese organizations are regularly invited to participate in grass-roots legislative liaison activities, and the activity and enthusiasm of overseas Chinese in participating in legislation have been continuously enhanced. A number of practicing lawyers in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, a number of foreign-related law firms and Hong Kong, Macao and overseas Chinese industry associations have become important "voices" of Jianghai's grassroots legislative contact points...
On March 16, more than 40 people, including representatives of Hong Kong friendship associations and student representatives of Hang Seng University, came to the Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point by organizing representatives of Hong Kong friendship associations and student representatives of Hong Kong Hang Seng University, together with the School of Communication of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong.
During the tour of the activity center, the narrator explained the whole process in Cantonese, which aroused the strong interest of Hong Kong compatriots in the legislative points. They asked questions from time to time, and Xing Yusheng answered them one by one. Subsequently, the grassroots legislative contact points solicited opinions and suggestions from the members of the delegation on the legislative needs and legislative work of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress.
On April 27, a seminar of 21 parliamentarians from eight countries, including Botswana and Lesotho, visited the grassroots legislative contact points. The seminar was jointly organized by the General Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Ministry of Commerce. During the visit, the members of the seminar had a detailed understanding of the functional positioning and practical effectiveness of the grassroots legislative contact point, and also learned the moving stories of Wu Tengxin and others.
"I see a lot of effort by the Chinese government to establish a more direct link between the government and the people, through which the people's interests and needs can be transmitted more directly upwards." Modastus Amze, a member of the Namibian National Assembly, lamented, "In China's legislative process, people's congress deputies act as a link between the masses and allow the masses to participate in the legislative process, and even representatives from schools and business organizations. ”
Overseas Chinese are all over the world, and their roots are in Wuyi. Since its establishment, the Jianghai Grassroots Legislative Contact Point Activity Center has received more than 200 visiting groups from home and abroad, and has successfully received high-level visiting delegations from English-speaking African countries, Fiji and other places. The vivid story of Chinese democracy spreads from this small window to the wider world.
04
The prosecutor in the sonorous steps
Serve the overall situation and serve the people's justice
The masses attended the procurators' lectures on popularizing the law and spoke enthusiastically.
In Jiangmen in October, the sun is just right. The Zhengxin Pavilion in Fengle Park is particularly lively, where the prosecutor of the Jiangmen Municipal Procuratorate is giving lectures on the rule of law, including community governance, property dispute resolution, and residents' conflict resolution. "How to apply the rule of law thinking to real life?" In the quiz and legal consultation session, everyone competed to speak.
Continue to promote scientific legislation, strict law enforcement, fair justice, and law-abiding by the whole people, and procuratorial organs adhere to integrity and innovation, and keep moving. On August 11, the Jiangmen Municipal Procuratorate and the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress signed the "Framework Agreement on Strengthening the Construction of Grassroots Legislative Contact Points" to make plans for jointly carrying out the collection of legislative opinions, research on legislative topics and legal popularization activities. Not long ago, the procuratorate gave full play to its functions and successively organized and completed the solicitation of opinions on the draft laws such as the Amendment (12) (Draft) to the Criminal Law and the Law on Public Security Administration Punishments (Revised Draft) in the city's procuratorial system.
"As the first batch of legislative contact units, we perform our legal supervision duties with high quality and efficiency, and contribute procuratorial wisdom to the construction of legislative points." Speaking of the procuratorial organs playing a greater role in improving scientific legislation, Wu Huoliang, chief procurator of the Jianghai District Procuratorate, gushed endlessly.
In order to improve the quality of legislative proposals, the court formulated the "Mechanism for Soliciting Legislative Suggestions", set up a working group to coordinate the collection of legislative suggestions by various departments, and arranged special personnel to be responsible for the collection of legislative suggestions.
"According to the work arrangement for the collection of legislative suggestions at the grassroots legislative contact points, we first organized the counterpart business departments to carefully interpret the draft legislation, sort out the 'points' that need to solicit legislative suggestions, and carry out the collection of legislative suggestions in the whole court. Subsequently, the Office of the Leading Group for the Collection of Legislative Suggestions should sort out and analyze the solicited legislative proposals, communicate and discuss the legality and rationality of the legislative proposals and the person who submitted the legislative proposals, and form a first draft of the legislative proposals, and then hand them over to the corresponding business departments for in-depth discussion, to further improve the quality of the legislative proposals. Finally, the final draft of the legislative proposal was submitted to the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress. Cheng Shengyan, deputy procurator general of the court, gave reporters a detailed introduction to the work process.
In order to further broaden the channels for collecting legislative suggestions, the procuratorate relied on the "stationed procuratorial office + intellectual property office + 12309 procuratorial service center" to actively carry out activities such as legal popularization publicity, public hearings, and procuratorial open days, and made full use of the forms of "two micro and one end" to solicit opinions and suggestions from all walks of life through multiple channels, and promptly studied and implemented the collected opinions and suggestions, and turned them into legislative suggestions and submitted them to the Standing Committee of the Jianghai District People's Congress. "The Jianghai District Procuratorate has always taken the initiative to humbly listen to the opinions and suggestions of all walks of life, and effectively implemented them in the whole process and all fields of procuratorial work, continuously improving the quality and efficiency of legal supervision, effectively condensing the governance forces of all parties in society, and contributing to the construction of Jianghai under the rule of law." Luo Huaan, a deputy to the Jianghai District People's Congress, felt a lot of emotion.
In recent years, the Jianghai District Procuratorate has put forward more than 20 professional opinions for the revision of more than 20 laws. Among them, in the solicitation of opinions on the draft amendment to the Work Safety Law, the procuratorate proposed that "if the hidden danger of a major accident or a major accident is caused by an illegal act of production safety, resulting in the infringement of national interests or social public interests, the people's procuratorate may initiate a public interest lawsuit in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law", which was absorbed and adopted by the Legislative Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and commended by the Jianghai grassroots legislative contact point. "In the future, we will take a higher position and better use the rule of law thinking and rule of law methods to serve the overall work of the party and the country." Wu Huoliang said.
The breeze is blowing and the sun is shining, this is the scenery of Lingnan. On July 27, Jiangmen held the second on-site review meeting of the "Top Ten Practical Projects for the Rule of Law to Benefit the People", and the Jianghai District People's Congress Standing Committee's project of "Promoting the Whole Process of People's Democracy in Listening to the Voice of the People and Gathering the Wisdom of the People" ranked first.
When visiting, when hearing the opinions or ideas of the masses, Maitang will immediately write them down. 59 years of party experience, 6 years of experience in Rong, so that the old man's character is open-minded and tenacious. "The fact that the opinions of the masses have been adopted by the national legislature is an encouragement and spur to us. I'm almost 80 years old this year, and I want to continue to do more work until I can't do it anymore. He said with a happy smile.
The grassroots legislative contact points are connected to the legislature at one end and the grassroots masses at the other, and are a microcosm of the development of whole-process people's democracy. There is no end to the development of practice, and there is no end to legislative work. Gather bits and pieces, resonate with the voice of the people at the same frequency, and finally have the surging power of thousands of rivers facing east.
(Source: Procuratorate Daily, Voice Weekly Author: Liu Mei Picture: Liu Mei, Luo Kaichuan, Jianghai District People's Congress Standing Committee, Jiangmen City, Guangdong Province, Jianghai District, Jiangcui Community)