“Down-to-Earth” Legislation and “Heartwarming” Democracy

On September 24, 2021, the “Beijing Municipal Regulations on Handling Complaints upon Receipt” was promulgated. This original law of the capital city is characterized by a legislative process where Beijing consulted with the public at every step, inviting the public to participate and evaluate. 16 district-level CPPCC were brought to legislative consultations. More than 7,500 suggestions were collected in the first round of reading. Strengthening grassroots democracy through participation in political affairs and developing deliberative democracy through grassroots consultation have provided the “Beijing Practice” of whole-process people’s democracy.

The report to the 20th National Congress of the CPC pointed out that whole-process people’s democracy is the defining feature of socialist democracy. At the same time, developing whole-process people’s democracy is also the essential requirement of Chinese modernization. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, with a deeper understanding of China's path to democracy and the political system, the Party has developed whole-process people's democracy as a key concept and striven to translate it and relevant democratic values into effective institutions and concrete actions.

In July 2020, The Kennedy School of Government in Harvard University released a report titled “Understanding CCP Resilience: Surveying Chinese Public Opinion Through Time”. This 13-year-long survey project among more than 30,000 respondents showed that since 2003, Chinese citizen’s satisfaction with their government has increased across the board, reaching 93%.

Edelman, a world-renowned public relations consulting firm, publishes the “Edelman Trust Barometer”, according to which Chinese citizen’s trust in their government from 2016 to 2022 ranked first for 7 consecutive years. Democracy in China demonstrates truly that development is for the people, and by the people and that its fruits are shared by the people.

With General Secretary Xi Jinping’s expositions on whole-process people’s democracy, the people of the capital will always uphold people’s democracy, constantly sum up experience, unswervingly promote the whole-process people’s democracy, and actively explore in broad areas, with courage and creativity, so as to open up a new chapter of practicing the whole-process people’s democracy in the capital city.