Vivid Window of Chinese-style Democracy -- The Origin and Development of China's "Two Sessions" System

The "two sessions" have become the "compass" of China's development and the "weathervane" of China's trend, as well as a window for the world to understand China. The reason why the national "two sessions" have more and more significance as a weather vane to predict the development of China and even the world is that it is very important to benefit from the unique institutional advantages of Chinese-style democracy.
　　Li Jishen first suggested that the "two sessions" be held at the same time.
In September 1954, the first session of the first National People's Congress was held, and the the People's Republic of China Constitution was adopted and promulgated, and the National People's Congress became the highest organ of state power. Three months after the first session of the first National People's Congress, the first session of the second CPPCC National Committee was held. In this way, a parallel situation between the National People's Congress and the CPPCC has been formed, which is the political and organizational basis for the formation of the "two sessions.
Since then, all the meetings of the first National People's Congress and the second National Committee of the Chinese people's Political Consultative Conference have been prepared and held in different time periods according to their own forms.
Li Jishen, then chairman of the Central Committee of the National Revolutionary Committee, saw this situation and believed that such an approach would cause the two meetings to spend a lot of time, manpower, financial resources, and material resources, which was not conducive to the development of work and increased national fiscal expenditures. Chairman Zhou Enlai suggested whether the two meetings could be reformed and held at the same time in terms of time; in form, it is recommended that all CPPCC members attend the National People's Congress. At that time, Li Jishen was not only vice chairman of the standing Committee of the first National people's Congress, but also vice chairman of the second National Committee of the Chinese people's political Consultative Conference. This proposal was affirmed and adopted by Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai.
　　In the mid-1950s, the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference interacted closely in joint meetings and joint inspections.
The joint meeting is the main form of cooperation between the first NPC Standing Committee and the second CPPCC Standing Committee. At this stage, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee held several joint meetings.
On November 10, 1955, the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress and the 8th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Second National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference held a joint meeting. On the same day, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference jointly issued a notice on organizing members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and representatives of the National People's Congress to inspect various tasks in rural and urban areas after the 1955 meeting. Two days later, the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress and the 9th meeting of the Standing Committee of the Second National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference once again jointly held an enlarged meeting to listen to a report on the inspection work after the 1955 autumn harvest and make specific arrangements for the inspection work. Since then, the linkage activities between the National People's Congress and the CPPCC at the Standing Committee level have been increasing, and some "notices" or "resolutions" have been discussed and passed through joint meetings ".
After the establishment of the first National People's Congress, the representative inspection system was soon established. Mao Zedong was very appreciative of the system of inspection by NPC deputies and put forward the idea of joint inspection by CPPCC members. According to Mao Zedong's proposal, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference organized members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to inspect various places together with NPC deputies. From mid-November to December 1955, for more than a month, deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference inspected all parts of the country. Since then, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have included the organization of inspections by deputies to the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference in their work schedules, and arranged two inspections in the Spring and Autumn Period every year.
　　April 1959: the first session of the second National people's Congress and the first session of the third CPPCC National Committee were held at the same time for the first time.
In order to facilitate the participation of CPPCC members in state affairs, according to Mao Zedong's proposal, the first session of the second National people's Congress and the first session of the third CPPCC National Committee were held at the same time.
From April 18 to 28, 1959, the first session of the second National people's Congress was held in Beijing, which was the first change of the people's Congress since the first session of the National people's Congress in 1954. This is an important meeting in the People's Republic of China history. On the one hand, it marks the development of the people's Congress system, on the other hand, it fully illustrates the further improvement of China's political system and system. From April 17 to 29 of that year, the first session of the third CPPCC National Committee was held in Beijing. According to the agenda of the meeting, all CPPCC members attended the National People's Congress as nonvoting delegates, thus opening the prelude to the simultaneous holding of the CPPCC National Committee and the National People's Congress every year, and gradually forming the "two sessions" pattern that has a significant impact on China's political life.
One of the reasons why the opening time is different by one day is that Zhou Enlai was the chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the Premier of the State Council at the same time. He had to attend and preside over the opening meeting of the first session of the third CPPCC National Committee. The "Government Work Report" was made at the first meeting of the National People's Congress. At the same time, during the second and third National people's Congress, some vice chairmen of the standing Committee of the National people's Congress served as vice chairmen of the CPPCC National Committee at the same time, and the plenary meetings of the two sessions were staggered to facilitate the arrangement of the activities of these vice chairmen.
Practice has proved that CPPCC members attend meetings of the National people's Congress as nonvoting delegates, listen to reports on the work of the government, the draft national economic plan, the final accounts of the state fiscal year, the annual budget, and major national issues, and contribute to the formulation and implementation of major national policies. it is an important channel to give full play to the role of the CPPCC.
　　82 Constitution: Promoting the Institutionalization and Proceduralization of the Two Sessions
From the end of February to the beginning of March 1978, the first session of the Fifth CPPCC National Committee was held in Beijing. The CPPCC members who attended the meeting also attended the first session of the Fifth National People's Congress. Since then, the practice of CPPCC members attending NPC sessions as nonvoting delegates has been resumed.
On February 28, the People's Daily published an article "Drunk Spring Breeze · Celebrating the Opening of the Two Sessions of the National People's Congress and the CPPCC." For the first time, the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference were collectively referred to as the "two sessions".
The 1982 Constitution adopted by the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress formally established the status of the National People's Congress as an organ of state power. At the same time, it clarified the nature, status and role of the CPPCC in the form of a fundamental law for the first time, making the National People's Congress and the CPPCC a continuous political life. Existence, and play a practical role in political organizations. The 1982 Constitution promoted the institutionalization and proceduralization of the two sessions, promoted the interaction and contact between the two sessions, and promoted the joint role of the two sessions in my country's political life.
The convention of the national "two sessions" held in March began in 1985. Previously, the meeting time from the beginning of the year, to the middle of the year, to the end of the year, there are different years. Take the Fifth National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference as an example. One meeting is in February, the second meeting is in June, the third meeting is in August, and the fourth and fifth meetings are arranged in November. In 1989, the Second Session of the Seventh National People's Congress passed the rules of procedure of the National People's Congress, which determined that the National People's Congress is generally held in the first quarter of each year. The date of the meeting is fixed on March 5, which is not clearly stipulated in the law.
The two sessions held in 1998 are of great symbolic significance. Since 1998, the National People's Congress has been held on March 5. In this way, the dates of the two sessions are further institutionalized, and the duration of the sessions is generally 8 to 15 days. In 2020, affected by the new crown epidemic, the two sessions were also postponed for two months, which was the only time the national "two sessions" were postponed after 1998. History cannot be cut off. It is with this as a starting point that the content and form of the mechanism of the two sessions have been continuously enriched and improved after the reform and opening up. For example, the two sessions meet at the same time, the CPPCC members attend the plenary session of the National People's Congress as non-voting delegates, the person in charge of the National People's Congress attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the plenary session of the CPPCC, the coordination on the meeting schedule, and the increasing channels for NPC deputies and CPPCC members to contact the people. Wait, the "two sessions" mechanism plays a unique role in the process of my country's democratic political institutionalization.