Another colleague said NPC deputies were encouraged to be more outspoken. A cursory look at our own coverage reveals a diversity of opinions. For instance, there was a plethora of suggestions on how to improve healthcare.

These ideas will be forwarded, along with the other 4,770 proposals, to standing committees for further consideration and possible implementation. Presumably there will be counter proposals and nitpicking over the details. This is "democratic centralism" in action, a tenet of the Constitution.

My feeling is that openness and transparency are important, if only for the reason that we tend to show what we are proud of and hide what we are ashamed of. It is also an important mechanism to hold people accountable.

More people generally have better ideas and make better decisions than just one person. This is why public input in the political process is necessary.

Adversarial politics and hissy fits add spice for the media, sells papers and drives up clicks on the Internet. But eventually the public tires of it, hence the apathy of many voters in established democracies.

The model here is socialist political democracy, which entails people making proposals, discussion and collective decisions so the majority is respected while the minority is protected. In action, it appears more consensual than argumentative.

(China Daily March 18, 2008)