China’s largest political gathering begins
China kicked off its key political event of the year on Monday with large floral displays, sniffer dogs and red flags aplenty as Beijing put on a carefully choreographed display of national unity.
The country’s “Two Sessions” — parallel conclaves of its rubberstamp parliament and a separate political advisory body — are an annual spectacle that draws thousands of delegates from across China to the capital.
Large swathes of the city centre were closed off and traffic slowed to a crawl, with police standing guard at checkpoints along Chang’an Avenue, which runs past Tiananmen Square.
Security officers patrolled major streets with sniffer dogs, while elderly volunteers in red armbands monitored pedestrians for suspicious behaviour.
Train passengers travelling to the capital were subjected to additional security checks, with disembarking crowds squeezing through a metal detector and scrambling to shove suitcases onto an X-ray belt at Beijing South station on Sunday night.
Inside the palatial Great Hall of the People on Monday, the country’s political elite were
The country’s “Two Sessions” are an annual spectacle that draws thousands of delegates from across China to the capital
welcomed with red carpet and lush flower arrangements.
Immaculately coiffed attendants guarded rows of large baby-blue thermoses, waiting to serve the hot water that is a prerequisite at Chinese meetings.
Smiling attendees clapped in time to a festive march as President Xi Jinping entered the main conference hall for the CPPCC’S opening ceremony.
“I’ve been really looking forward to this,” said Yang Yuni, a delegate from southwestern Yunnan province, dressed in the elaborately embroidered traditional garb of the Hanni ethnic minority.
The two-time delegate said that she had been “extremely nervous” as a rookie last year, but was glad to see “familiar faces all around this year”.
Yang arrived in Beijing hoping to raise interest in the traditional agricultural customs of the Hanni people.
The CPPCC has no direct role in government policy but is often a stage for representatives to highlight local concerns and niche interests.
New fertility policies and better regulation of the troubled property sector will be among issues raised by delegates at China’s annual political gathering, which kicked off on Monday.
With voting tightly controlled and legislation pre-approved by the ruling Communist Party, it is unlikely any of their proposals will be enacted into law.the conference “can reflect the wishes of the masses to the central (government), and better express the voice of the people,” Su Haizhen said, a delegate from southern Guangxi province.
The Two Sessions usually coincide with a period of heightened censorship and political repression.