The annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opens today. It is time to hear the opinions of the members of this national advisory body on state affairs.

The CPPCC members play an important advisory role in state affairs. Every year, they bring proposals to annual sessions highlighting various issues that concern economic and social development, governance and people's well-being.

The National Committee of the CPPCC has set up nine specialized committees. The members also conduct investigations and organize symposiums and workshops on these issues. Then they present reports to the authorities, which are duty-bound to act on their proposals.

Over the past year, they have worked extensively in helping with the drafting of the government's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015), focusing especially on sustaining development and improving people's livelihoods by expanding consumption.

Statistics show that some CPPCC members have conducted investigations at the grassroots level in order to collect firsthand information about the grievances of rural villagers and urban dwellers. And those members who are experts in particular fields have organized seminars and provided the central government with valuable ideas on the drafting of the national development program for the coming five years.

In the past 12 months alone, the CPPCC members have put forward more than 1,700 motions on such topics as the redistribution of social wealth, housing, employment, education, healthcare, social security and ways to control price hikes.

For national CPPCC members from all walks of life, it is important that they pay particular attention to public opinion, if possible, they need conduct investigations of their own. Only when they get to know an issue from inside out will they be able to make quality proposals.

With blogs and tweets becoming an increasingly popular means of communication, the channel for the CPPCC members to collect public opinions is much wider than before. Some members already have micro blogs of their own to communicate with other Internet users and some even discuss with their readers the motions they are going to put forward at the national session. Such interaction between the members and the general public will undoubtedly improve the quality of their proposals.

Five years ago, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) put forward a series of ideas to enhance the work of the CPPCC and emphasized that political consultation within the CPPCC framework is an embodiment of the multi-party cooperation under CPC's leadership and an important step in ensuring scientific and democratic process in policy making.

In the coming 10 days, the public expect the CPPCC members play their due role to the full.