A few blocks from the 1950s-era hall where China's figurehead parliament met yesterday, shoppers at the sleek modern shops in Wangfujing district felt so removed from its workings that they might have been in a different world.
"The National People's Congress (NPC) meets once a year, and we don't know what they do for the rest of the year," said a middle-aged man outside a green-domed department store identified by a neon sign as the Beijing Muslim Building. He would give only his surname, Zhang.
"I'm not criticizing the assembly, but I want them to be more open to change," he said.
The comments reflected the gulf between the NPC and China's fast-changing, increasingly capitalist society.
Officially the "highest organ of state power," the legislature is the powerless face of a closed, secretive communist system.
Chinese leaders depend on it as a way to try to keep in touch with society, but its members have little contact with ordinary Chinese.
"They do what they have to do. We work hard. We have our lives. They have theirs," said Cheng Lan, a 22-year-old student who was whiling away her morning window-shopping.
Despite such a political gap, state media have been filled with reports about issues to be debated during the legislative session -- and many ordinary Chinese had their own opinions.
"We live the good life here in Beijing, but the government must also take care of the countryside," said Wang Yuan, 43, as he left an upscale bakery with a bag of red bean pastries.
"If you don't improve the farmers' lives, the country as a whole will not move forward," he said.
Qin Zhiguang, who was dressed in a black leather jacket and shopping for glasses, said an "anti-secession" law was needed to keep Taiwan from slipping away for good.
"We need to tell Taiwan, `You can go this far but no further,'" said Qin, 35.
"They must know there is a line they can't cross," he said.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS