China’s annual “Two Sessions” — the meetings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — provide an important window for observing China’s modernization process and the functioning of its system of people’s democracy.
Through this significant platform, deputies and political advisers actively submit proposals and recommendations, ensuring that a greater number of grassroots voices reach the highest levels of policymaking.
In China, whole-process people’s democracy permeates all aspects of national governance, including elections, consultations, decision-making, management and supervision. This framework aims to ensure that the people genuinely exercise their role as masters of the country.
Currently, China’s NPC system comprises more than 2.77 million deputies across five administrative levels. Nearly 95 percent of them serve at the county and township levels, many of whom are frontline workers, farmers and professional technicians. These representatives bring the concerns and aspirations of ordinary citizens to the NPC and CPPCC sessions, ensuring that the interests of different regions, industries and social groups are effectively represented.
Observers note that the level of grassroots participation within national power institutions, as seen in China, is relatively rare on the global stage.
According to official data, during an online consultation process held from May to June last year, more than 3.113 million valid suggestions were collected from the public. After careful screening and summarization, over 1,500 constructive and representative proposals were compiled across 27 sectors. Many of these suggestions have since been incorporated into relevant policy planning mechanisms.
Effective democracy, analysts argue, must be capable of solving real problems. Statistics show that in 2025, the Chinese government handled 8,754 suggestions from NPC deputies and 4,868 proposals from CPPCC members, accounting for 95.6 percent and 97.3 percent of the total submissions respectively.
Experts believe that the successful practice of whole-process people’s democracy not only provides a strong institutional guarantee for China’s modernization, but also offers valuable lessons for developing countries seeking democratic models suited to their own national conditions, thereby enriching the diversity of global political civilization.
Source: Cai-Alim-Wang Haiman, China Media Group.