The National People's Congress (simplified Chinese: 全国人民代表大会; traditional Chinese: 全國人民代表大會; pinyin: Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì; literally "National People's Representatives Congress"), abbreviated NPC (Chinese: 人大; pinyin: Rén-Dà), is the highest state body and the unicameral legislative house in the People's Republic of China. The National People's Congress is held in the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, capital of the People's Republic of China; with 2,987 members, it is the largest parliament in the world. The NPC gathers each year along with the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) whose members represent various defined groups of society. NPC and CPPCC together are often called the Lianghui (Two Meetings), making important national level political decisions.
In theory, the NPC is vested with great lawmaking powers. However, for most of its existence, it has acted as a nearly powerless rubber-stamp legislature, ratifying decisions that have already been made by the Communist Party of China and the country's executive organs. This has long been typical of legislatures in Communist countries. Since the 1990s, the NPC has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party, the government, and groups of society. For the NPC to formally defeat a proposal put before it is rare, but it has happened. However, the BBC still describes the NPC as a rubber-stamp for party decisions. One of its members, Hu Xiaoyan, told the BBC that she has no power to help her constituents. She was quoted as saying, "As a parliamentary representative, I don't have any real power."
Read more about National People's Congress: Powers and Duties, Proceedings, Election and Membership, Relationship With The Communist Party
Famous quotes containing the words national, people and/or congress:
“Being a gentleman is the number one priority, the chief question integral to our national life.”
—Edward Fox (b. 1934)
“statistic: the us bureau of missing persons reports
that in 1968 over 100,000 people disappeared
leaving no solid clues
nor traceonly
a space
in the lives of their friends.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)
“Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this nation. This difficult effort will be the moral equivalent of war, except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not to destroy.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)