Chinese Political Advisors Using Micro-blog to Connect with Public

Micro-blogs are becoming an integral part of China's democratic political process. The country's political elites have been micro-blogging during the annual sessions of China's top legislature and top advisory body, also known as the "two sessions."

Zhang Ru has more.

Feng Jun, a member of China's top advisory body, the CPPCC, has submitted a proposal about the college graduate unemployment issue at the national body's ongoing sessions.

Feng says to perfect his proposal, he has solicited netizens' ideas via his micro-blog.

"I want to thank a netizen named Li Wan who suggested that college students should undergo month-long internships when they are freshmen and two-month ones when they are sophomores. He says the duration of the internships should increase year by year. I think the suggestion is good. It can help students gain more work experience and help employers pick talented employees in advance."

Feng has included the blogger's suggestion in his proposal.

Discussing national affairs on micro-blogs have been a fad since last year's "two sessions."

But this year, more people from legislators and political advisors to common citizens, have jumped on the bandwagon as micro-blogs have experienced an unprecedented spike in popularity.

Political advisors not only solicit public views on their micro-blogs but also update people about the meetings by blogging via mobile phones or computers.

Zhan Guoshu is a political advisor and former editor-in-chief of the overseas version of "People's Daily." He says he broadcast live Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's delivery of the government report via his micro-blog during the "two sessions" last year.

Zhan says this year he has improved his "live broadcasts" by adding comments to his summaries of the report.

"Criticism followed that I was not a qualified CPPCC member, because I devoted more attention to updating my micro-blog than to the meeting itself. I replied that I am not only a political advisor but also a reporter. I was not absent-minded.

Instead, I paid more attention to the report because I needed to summarize it and make comments while listening to it."
In fact, Zhan's live broadcasts on his micro-blog have attracted many followers. Chen Qian is one of them.

"These members provide us with the latest information about the meetings. It's very good. Their immediate comment helps us better understand the government report and the topics of the meetings."

Zhan Guoshu, the political advisor, says he is also taking advantage of the popularity of micro-blogs to let more people know about the top political advisory's function.

"Some people say the CPPCC is a rubber-stamp body that can't solve real problems. I told them what and how many proposals have been adopted by related departments through my micro-blog. I think it's a good method."

One blogger named Yin Haitao said he welcomed the legislators' and political advisors' communication via blogs, but expressed some concern.

"Micro-blogs improve the communication between the public and legislators or political advisors. But I think since most of them are too busy to read all the comments from internet users, and some information on the internet may not be true, they should focus on doing investigations in real life and should not rely too much on the Internet."

So far, more than 360 legislators and political advisors have opened micro-blogs on t.sina.com.cn, one of the most popular micro-blogging services in China. The public's main concern is how many of them will continue using the new medium after the "two sessions" end in mid March.

For CRI, I am Zhang Ru.