A total of 20 ordinary citizens have been invited here to attend the on-going 31st Standing Committee Meeting of the Ninth Provincial People's Congress in central-south China's Hunan province.
Sources with the Standing Committee said Wednesday that the public gallery, newly established in accordance with China's laws and regulations, will remain open to average citizens.
The first batch of sitters-in were selected from among 160 people who applied for participation after local media published the news some 20 days ago.
Wen Shiyong, a grandma in her 70s from the Tianxin District of Changsha city, said she was very much concerned herself with affairs of the state.
"What a joy form me to have the chance of a lifetime to attend such high-level meeting," she said.
During the six-day-long meeting, lawmakers of Hunan province will hear and deliberate on a package of regulations related to legal assistance, family planning, protection of farming environment and an all-round improvement of social order.
Sitters-in are entitled to offer their suggestions or express their comments on the above-mentioned regulations.
They can also voice views and speak their minds in colloquia, where relevant briefings on the meetings will be compiled and distributed.
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2002)
