Lawmakers and Political Advisors now have access to a blog

Zhou Hongyu, a deputy to China's lawmaking National People's Congress (NPC), said Friday he felt something special about this year's NPC session, scheduled to open Sunday. A blog site has been opened for him and other NPC deputies a week before the session, grouped under the title of "deputies' blogs."
Zhou has also written down motions and proposals he brought to the session in his blog, including proposals on curbing arbitrary collection of fees in schools, improving the quality of rural school teachers and protecting the interests of laid-off workers.
Tang Weihong, who is in charge of the website, blog.people.com, which hosts the deputies' blog sites, said all NPC deputies and members of the National Committee of the CPPCC, China's top political advisory body, and is free to open blog sites with the website. The annual sessions of the NPC and National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in March are considered the most important annual political events of China.
So far, eight NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members have opened blogs on the website, administered by the People's Daily and more are in the process of application.
There have already been lots of responses to messages on deputies' blogs. One of them says: It's a good thing to open deputies' blogs before the NPC session, which will help the deputies know the thoughts of the public and bring them to the NPC session.
The emergence of blog sites of NPC deputies and CPPCC National Committee members marks a new development in China for using the latest communication technology, including the Internet and mobile phone text messages, to enhance the transparency of public affairs.
Live broadcasts of major political meetings and news conferences on the Internet, along with TV and radio, have become a commonplace.
Leading Chinese websites, including www.xinhuanet.com, www. people.com, www.China.com and the Chinese central government website www.gov, all have applied and won approval to broadcast live the NPC and CPPCC sessions of this year.