"Adults should encourage youngsters to be adventurous in thinking up entrepreneurship ideas, rather than being worried that we will fail," said Jiang Mengke, a 12-year-old middle school student.
Jiang's advice was included in Shanghai's Youth Development Plan for the country's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020).
Jiang is one of 101 youngsters selected by the Communist Youth League's (CYL) Shanghai Municipal Committee to offer suggestions for the 13th Five-Year Plan. The youngest is only nine years old.
Xu Weiwan, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the CYL, said the diversified suggestions and opinions offered by the young people could be directly submitted to the Shanghai municipal government or the central government. This grassroots consultation is organized by the CYL and supported by the local people's political consultative conference.
The 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, opened its fourth session on Saturday in Beijing. Nearly 3,000 NPC deputies from across the nation are present to review the government work report as well as the draft outline of the 13th Five-Year Plan. [Special coverage]
Li Liancheng is one of the deputies. As secretary of Xixinzhuang Village Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Li is an old hand at raising the wishes and concerns of his community to Beijing during the political session.
"Farmers in my village have 'six hopes'-- their kids can go to good local schools; there is a decent local job market; they can see doctors at hospitals nearby; they live in a clean, safe environment; they have access to well-equipped cultural facilities; and most importantly, they have equal public services to urbanites," Li told Xinhua.
Li said he had proposed the six hopes to last year's NPC session, and would make more detailed suggestions this year. He expressed the belief that their hopes could be realized during this next five-year period.
"A very important part of an NPC deputy's duty is to relay the thoughts and problems of the people to the policymakers. The proposals could work for a certain province or even the whole country," Li said.
In China's political system, the NPC enables ordinary citizens to exercise their power as "the master of State." They are represented by deputies elected by the people's congresses in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. The NPC deputies can come from any walk of life.
NPC deputies review and vote on legal documents at the annual session. They are also required to interact and communicate with ordinary citizens throughout the year.
This system has expanded to communities across the whole country. Rural people elect those they trust in their villages and townships, who in turn are tasked with gathering the needs and expectations of the people and taking them all the way to the NPC. Urbanites do the same in their communities.
"It is a capillary democracy," wrote Patrik K. Meyer from Peking University, in an article published on March 1 on the Japanese website "The Diplomat."
