Female villager elected national lawmaker for 12th time

Shen Jilan, a rural villager in north China's Shanxi Province, was elected deputy to the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, on Wednesday.

She and another 69 delegates were elected at the first session of the 12th Shanxi Provincial People's Congress, the local legislature.

She is the only living NPC deputy in China to have attended every annual session held by the top legislature since 1954, when the first session was convened.

Born in Shanxi's Pingshun County in 1929, Shen has been named a national model worker and was first elected NPC deputy in 1954.

The NPC has convened a session almost every year since 1954, except during the years of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). At the NPC sessions, deputies from across the country discuss major state affairs and laws and elect new state leaders.