Although the Chinese National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are often perceived as mere rubber stamps, there are always proposals and suggestions from NPC deputies and CPPCC members that attract attention every year, some because they are too thunderous and others because they are very grounded. Our reporter Jia Ao took stock of the eye-catching proposals during the two sessions this year.
No need to learn English properly?
With the wave of globalization sweeping through China in recent years, English skills are looking more and more important. Whether it’s the various international schools that train prospective students or the various English training institutions in the market, mastering this foreign language has become an important part of many students’ long-term planning.
However, Xu Jin, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and a member of the Jiu San Society Central Committee, suggested at this year’s two sessions that English should be abolished as a major subject in compulsory Education, along with language and mathematics, and quality education courses such as Music and art should be increased; English should no longer be a compulsory subject in the college entrance examination; and students in compulsory education should be banned from taking unofficial foreign language exams.
Xu Jin said that English teaching hours account for about one-tenth of the total class hours of students, but English is only useful for very few college graduates. At the same Time, he believes that the technology of translators is now very mature and can provide basic spoken translation services, while translation software can also solve a large number of problems. Therefore, no longer setting English as the main subject will solve the problem of lack of class time for quality education.
Many netizens are critical of this. Some say the move will inevitably prompt children from privileged families to attend more out-of-school classes, which will increase the gap between the education levels of children from ordinary and wealthy families.
Gao Yu, an independent media personality in Beijing, said English is crucial to developing students’ international perspective in the context of China’s growing emphasis on “patriotic education.
“I think English is the only curriculum that can improve the quality of education. In today’s Internet age, students’ eyes will be more open in all aspects after learning English well, which can even offset the uselessness of political science classes.”
Organ donation included in local administrative assessment?
Chen Jingyu, a delegate to the National People’s Congress and director of the Jiangsu Provincial Lung Transplant Center, suggested this year that organ donation rates be included in the assessment criteria for civilized cities, and suggested that this could be made precise to the national average organ donation rate for the previous year. In addition, he proposed that a ratio could be set for the number of registered organ donors in each city.
He said that there are about 300,000 patients in China who need transplants each year due to end-stage organ failure, but only 10,000 or so have access to organ transplants, leaving a serious imbalance between supply and demand. He added that China lacks the act of promoting organ donation at the national level, and that this move could improve the situation.
Some Weibo users questioned this, pointing out that organ donation should be a voluntary decision by citizens, and that once it is included in the administrative assessment, it becomes “tasteless”.
Gao Yu, an independent media figure, said the inclusion of organ transplants in the administrative assessment is a disrespect for the individual’s right to choose, leaving aside the long-standing allegations that the Chinese Communist Party has allegedly harvested organs from Falun Gong practitioners and death row inmates.
“I think this is still mainly a moral issue and a question of worldview understanding. If this becomes a government action or an assessment of political performance, it is a reference that can only be made under one-party dictatorship.”
China to produce “national costume”?
Bai Gongsheng, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice chairman of the Chinese Writers’ Association, suggested this year that the government should design and produce a “national costume”, noting that it would not only create many jobs but also help “declare national sovereignty”.
He said that the “national costume” can “strengthen cultural confidence, build national self-esteem and activate national pride”, and will certainly play its “special role” in national celebrations, festivals, receptions and other occasions. The national costume can “strengthen cultural self-confidence, build national self-esteem and activate national pride”.
In this regard, many netizens believe that there is no need to expand this kind of thing to the national level, and that it is a good thing to diversify the cultural needs of the nation. Others say that it is enough to encourage the Hanbok for now, and that there is little need for a “national costume”.
Incentives for families to have two children?
In 2015, China ended its controversial “one-child policy” that had been in place for decades and fully liberalized the birth of two children. But in the ensuing years, the number of births has declined rather than increased, with just over 10 million newborns registered last year, lower than during the three-year famine.
In response to such a demographic crisis, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce put forward several proposals at the two sessions this year, including improving childcare services for second children from 0 to 6 years old, providing one-time material incentives for families who give birth to second children, exempting couples with second children from personal income tax, and providing underwriting relief guarantees for housing and employment for these families, among others.
Yi Fuxian, a Chinese population scholar in the United States, said that providing material assistance to second-child families is something that Japan and other deeply aging countries have been doing for a long time, but the results are not obvious. Not only that, but China has a heavy historical burden.
“China’s Family planning policy has left our birth system so full of holes that the government doesn’t even know where many of the holes are. Even if it fixes the few visible shortcomings, the holes in front of it remain invisible to it.”
Remove the age limit for civil service applications?
The Chinese government’s “Civil Service Recruitment Regulations (for Trial Implementation),” issued in 2007, limited the age limit for civil service applicants to 35 or younger, leading many government agencies, institutions and even private companies to reject older practitioners for employment in recent years.
Jiang Shengnan, a Chinese National People’s Congress deputy and screenwriter, suggested this year that the age limit for national civil service applications be lifted, noting that 35 is the golden age of one’s career, and many people make their achievements after that, so it’s unfair to exclude them by age. She said that removing this restriction would help promote the motivation of the workforce population over 35 years old and would also alleviate the problems caused by China’s aging population.
The proposal has sparked strong public opinion. Some supporters say some jobs are better suited for people with some Life experience. Some critics argue that it will intensify the already fierce competition for jobs and make it more difficult for young people to find work.
Liu Xiaoyuan, a Beijing-based human rights lawyer, recently tweeted that he has been calling for the disclosure of the contact information of NPC deputies for years since 2007, and that this year his article was deleted for “allegedly violating relevant laws, regulations and policies,” which he described as “extremely ridiculous. This year his article was deleted for “allegedly violating relevant laws, regulations and policies,” which he described as “ridiculous.
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