The highlights and most notable proposals from the annual meetings of China’s legislative bodies
As this year’s “Two Sessions” political meetings come to a close in Beijing on March 11, netizens are left with a number of innovative, significant, and downright odd delegate proposals. Some, appear at least well-considered, like plans to reduce the academic burden of students and developing vocational education, or measures to boost the nation’s birth rate and introduce stronger punishments for human traffickers.
Representatives of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) have put forward proposals on a wide range of topics: According to official data, this year’s NPC received 487 legislative motions, along with 8,000 pieces of advice and criticism; while the CPPCC received 5,979 proposals. Many of these were bizarre ideas which caught the public’s attention. Here’s a round up of some of the most controversial proposals from the Two Sessions:
Marriage and Family
China saw its lowest birth rate since 1950 in 2021, which has dropped below 1 percent for the second year. Along with the implement of the third-child policy in 2021, a number of proposals aim to encourage childbirth. Xie Wenming, a lawyer from Hubei province and member of CPPCC, proposed the extension of maternity leave to six months (from a national average of three months), a monthly stipend of 600 yuan to families with two children, and a stipend of 1,000 yuan for families with three children. However, Jiang Shengnan, a researcher of Wenzhou University and representative of NPC, raised the concern of intensifying gender discrimination in the work place, and instead proposed a paid paternity leave of 30 to 42 days for men, with the current national average at 7 to 15 days.
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