Residents help shape city's future

When the Caoyang subdistrict people's congress in Shanghai's Putuo district consulted the public on the revision of the Regulations on the Safety Management of Non-motor Vehicles in Shanghai two years ago, it held many meetings with residents.

Residents joined heated discussions to seek solutions, as many old residential compounds, such as Caoyang New Village, which was first built in the 1950s, were home to many electric bikes but had inadequate charging facilities.

"On one hand, it was unsafe to charge at home. On the other, the lack of public charging equipment would affect people's travel," said Zhou Ruanwen, director of the congress' working committee.

The solution was to install charging equipment in public areas in the apartment complex, which people can use after scanning a QR code.

"The district later pledged to add 300,000 non-motor vehicle charging facilities within three years," Zhou said.

"Such a solution was replicated in other parts of the city. Residents' demands were truly answered."

President Xi Jinping put forward the major concept of "whole-process people's democracy" in Shanghai in November 2019, and the municipality has put the concept into practice in the past few years.

Officials have listened to public opinions when making plans and decisions about causes related to the public interest, including urban renewal, renovation of old areas, providing services for the elderly, and green space upgrades.

This month, the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China resolved to include the development of whole-process people's democracy as one of the "seven focuses" for further deepening reform in an all-around way, and pointed out that the development of whole-process people's democracy is an essential requirement of Chinese-style modernization.

Members of the CPC and other people in Shanghai said they will continue to make contributions to build the city into a place for the best practice of whole-process people's democracy.

They said they will also make efforts to ensure Shanghai gives full play to its leading and exemplary role in promoting Chinese-style modernization.

Zhou said 35 institutions in Caoyang, including residential compounds, hospitals, schools and businesses, have been designated as sites to collect opinions on legislation.

When soliciting opinions on the revision of the Regulations on the Protection of Minors in Shanghai in 2022, Zhou and his team went to Caoyang No 2 High School and had several meetings with students and teachers.

"More than 60 suggestions, including some regarding school bullying and internet violence, were submitted to the city-level legislative body, and those from eight students were eventually adopted for the revision of the regulation," he said.

Experts said the inclusion of the development of whole-process people's democracy as one of the "seven focuses" revealed the Party's intent to put the people first, expanded the rich connotation of socialist democracy, and exhibited the unique charm and new atmosphere of Chinese-style democracy.

Yan Rui, director of the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress, said that when making local laws, efforts must be made to ensure that if the people have something to call for, the law is there to respond, so that every piece of legislation reflects the will of the people, and is supported by the people.

It is also necessary to continuously improve institutional mechanisms to allow the masses to participate in local legislative work in an orderly manner in accordance with the law, so that whole-process people's democracy will be better implemented in all links and aspects of local legislative work, and local legislative outreach offices will better play their roles, she said.

There are 25 legislative outreach offices in Shanghai, covering industries including finance, and science and technology innovation, and institutions including courts, judicial administrative agencies and neighborhood committees. Caoyang subdistrict is one of them.

Hongqiao subdistrict in Changning district was where Xi put forward the concept of whole-process people's democracy.

At the legislative outreach office in the subdistrict, suggestions from the public have been solicited on 95 draft laws over the past five years, with 272 suggestions adopted.

"Such practices stimulated the enthusiasm of the community to participate in national governance, and helped lawmakers listen to a large number of opinions on practical matters relevant to people's livelihood," said Guo Kai, secretary of the Party working committee in Hongqiao.