Chinese democracy is about 'being heard and responded to'

"The intersection of Gaoqiao Road and Guangda Road became an east-to-west one-way street on March 25, and the length of the green light was shortened to 20 seconds. The change is causing congestion due to the heavy traffic in front of the Civic Service Center." At 5 pm, March 28, 2018, Chen, a citizen of Fuzhou city in Fujian province, logged on to the 12345 Civic Service Platform and suggested that the duration of the traffic light should be extended.

On the evening of the same day, his suggestion was forwarded by Fuzhou's smart management service center to the traffic police detachment of Fuzhou Public Security Bureau. The next day, the traffic police responded by extending the traffic light length to 40 seconds.

The case got processed on the day it was submitted and was closed on the day after. "The solution to a problem can be as simple as that," said Chen.

Fuzhou 12345 Civic Service Platform is a government public service system to which the CPC Fuzhou municipal committee and the Fuzhou municipal government have devoted great efforts. It integrates administrative services, life services, and non-emergency guided services. The platform operates around the clock throughout the year, allowing citizens to ask questions, file complaints, offer suggestions, and seek help through more than 10 channels, including website, telephone, WeChat, and QQ. In 2017 alone, the platform received 439,000 public requests, of which 99.97 percent were processed in time and 99.79 percent received a "basically-satisfied" rating from the public, ensuring that everything had a solution or an answer.

Handling public complaints was once considered by many as a huge headache. In Gansu province, "He Yudong" made a meaningful attempt to solve this problem. "He Yudong" is the pseudonym used by Huo Jinman, the head of the He Yudong Center for Addressing Disputes in Tianshui city, Gansu province. In 2009, Huo accidentally found that a local website had opened a message board where people could leave messages to the CPC municipal secretary and the mayor. According to him, many of the messages were not to the point, and some people did not know the right process for filing a complaint.

Since then, He Yudong has been active on local online forums. In a space of three years, he posted more than 1,000 replies, giving his analysis of the issues people were complaining about. He won the recognition of many people with his logical analysis and objective attitude. Sometimes, people with appeals consult him, and he will pay a visit in person to verify their case and then speak for them.

Huo Jinman thus became a volunteer supervisor of the CPC Commissions for Discipline Inspection in Tianshui city and Maiji district. He said, "The message board is an open platform for administrative affairs. As people post their messages on the board, they put their concerns in broad daylight. It brings shame on those who don't address people's concerns properly."

Democracy begins with the full expression of the people's will and is realized with the effective fulfillment of their demands. The extent to which the people's interests are effectively realized indicates the quality of democracy.

Wu Hao, a post-95 man working in Xuhang town, Jiading district, Shanghai, has submitted his suggestions 31 times through the letterbox for public opinions. In May 2021, his "Suggestion on Actively Involving the Public in the Draft of a Well-Conceived 14th Five-Year Plan" was adopted and approved by Shanghai's municipal leaders.

Wu Hao said that although in recent years, the rural environment has greatly improved, the rural residents' living conditions weren't good, and people weren't able to build new houses as they wanted. Wu added that the policies regarding the use of homestead should be not only strict but also people-oriented. The residents' reasonable needs should be given due consideration.

Wu's ideas were echoed by Gu Chunfeng, secretary of CPC general branch of Jianghai village, Nanqiao town, Fengxian district, Shanghai. Gu said that in 2020, over 1,000 residents of Jianghai village expressed their need for house renovation. According to him, homestead "is not only the most important asset in farmers' hands, but also a leverage for us to overcome the bottleneck of rural development. It is important that we take full advantage of this asset legally and appropriately."

Statistics show that since 2012, a total of 193 draft laws have been submitted for public consultation, and about 1.1 million people have offered more than 3 million opinions and suggestions, many of which have been adopted. The people's expectations, hopes, and demands have a place to be expressed, to be heard, and to be listened to with feedback, and that is what democracy is all about.

In March 2021, the Fourth Session of the 13th NPC adopted The Decision on Amending the Organic Law of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, and "upholding the whole-process democracy" was written into the law. This meant that everything from legislation to the smallest neighborhood issues could be resolved through democratic means. This also meant that the "whole-process democracy" engaged all people into the democratic process. The people participate in both the management of state and social affairs and that of economic and cultural undertakings; they play a role in both the solicitation of opinions and proposals for top-level design of national development and the governance of local public affairs; they engage in both democratic elections and consultations and democratic decision-making, management, and supervision; they express their will through both channels such as the NPC and the CPPCC and social organizations, networks and other platforms.

Practices in different parts of China prove that the complete institutional procedures and practices of participation have made whole-process democracy an institutional form, a governance mechanism, and a way of people's life of Chinese society.