China's parliament is widely seen as a rubber-stamp for the nation's Communist Party rulers, but that doesn't stop delegates and advisors from raising bold and sometimes wacky proposals.
This year has seen calls to introduce the mandatory use of edible toothpicks, pleas to professional footballers to avoid sex with prostitutes and proposed laws to legalize same-sex marriages and euthanasia.
The 3,000 appointed delegates to the parliament, or National People's Congress (NPC), that wraps up its annual 10-day session today are often ridiculed as a "toothless tigers."
The accompanying 2,000-odd delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body, are regarded as even more impotent.
Sounding like tape recorders, the non-elected "legislators" tend to repeat what China's top leaders say during the session.
But that doesn't mean they don't have their own ideas on how to improve the country, however bizarre.
One of the quirky, but perhaps environmentally far-sighted proposals came from a legislator who wanted people to use toothpicks made from corn instead of wood, to save trees.
One CPPCC delegate, meanwhile, came up with an unconventional solution to corruption: a law to control civil servants' weight. The idea was to prevent them squandering public money on wining and dining.
Another CPPCC delegate proposed replacing pictures of the late communist leader Mao Zedong (
The delegate proposed that Sun Yat-sen (
While not put forward as potential laws, other issues raised by China's legislators and advisors included calls for professional footballers to stop "going whoring" and a push for many more national holidays.
Unusual motions and ideas aside, many proposals this year touched on hot topics in the public spotlight.
Legislator Yu Min proposed videotaping police interrogations in death penalty cases to stop the use of torture to extract confessions.
Prompted by a growing public debate, a CPPCC member also urged euthanasia to be allowed on a trial basis.
For the third time, CPPCC member Li Yinhe called for same-sex marriages to be legalized, despite her two previous proposals on the issue being shelved because she failed to get the minimum support of 30 fellow conference members.
Other suggestions included a law to ban animal abuse as well as a wide range of proposals to protect the environment.
This year NPC members submitted 1,006 proposals, up from 991 last year, while the members of the CPPCC submitted 5,030, according to Xinhua news agency.
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