By Cheng Zhiliang, Wang Pan and Ji Ming
Zheng Xiaoqiong and five other migrant workers were present on Thursday when Guangdong Province Governor Huang Huahua delivered the government work report to the local legislature for the first time in their lives.
While plans and blueprints listed in the report are important, the 27-year-old deputy to the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress is more concerned with the welfare of migrant workers who still sometimes suffer from prejudice and discrimination.
"When I was elected, what came into my mind first is that can I help my colleagues and friends to get their unpaid wages sooner?" Zheng said.
It was the first time for the booming southern province to have lawmakers from its more than 30 million migrant workforce. Zheng, who works as a saleswoman at a factory in Dongguan and enjoys writing poems, believed their voices and requests would be more heard with direct participation in legislature.
Yang Chengyong, an official with the Standing Committee of the Guangdong Provincial People's Congress, said "the six deputies are all farmers-turned workers who came to Guangdong from other provinces. Only workers are elected and the bosses and management staff have been excluded."
In total, 790 deputies are meeting for the first session of the 11th Guangdong Provincial People's Congress starting Thursday and running until Jan. 25.
Chinese provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities are currently in their legislative season, featuring more grassroots lawmakers and fewer cadres this year.
Among the 770 newly-selected deputies to the People's Congress of Beijing Municipality, only 62, or eight percent, were from government departments, compared with 100 five years ago.
Among Shanghai's 860 deputies, the number of officials of, or higher than, prefecture level were 328, 49 less than that of five years ago.
"To cut the number of officials in legislatures provides bigger access for grassroots deputies, a move that makes legislators more representative of the general public," said Han Dayuan, a Renmin University law professor.
Traditionally, officials and businessmen have constituted a big part in Chinese legislatures. This has often come under fire by critics.
Observers said that migrant workers numbering more than 200 million nationwide have become a major workforce in the country. Despite this, they had not a single representative in the National People's Congress (NPC), the highest institution through which the public exercise their state power. |
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