The first thing Zhou Hongyu does after his rise every morning is
to surf his personal website, www.hongyu-online.com, to
see if there are new proposals other netizens have sent him.
Zhou, 46, is the first netizen deputy to China's top
legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), who launches a
personal website designed as a forum for solicit proposals from
website discussion of state affairs.
"The Internet is a most primary means to collect information in
a modern society, and as the number of netizens swells and their
cultural accomplishments accumulate, the impact of web surfers over
the country's political affairs will increase daily," said Zhou,
also a noted professor of Central China Normal University.
Long before the annual NPC session opened last Friday, Zhou had
finalized 21 motions and proposals, half of which were based on
whatever materials coming from his personal website. "Some netizens
suggested drafting laws against discrimination and for national
reunification, and some advocated using scientific ways for family
planning," he said.
Zhou, who concurrently serves as deputy director of the Wuhan
city education bureau, said he has done a lot to pool the "good,
smart ideas" from netizens and incorporate them into motions and
proposals he brings to NPC sessions for deliberation.
China had 68 million netizens by July 2003, according to the
China Internet Information Center. The figure, though it accounts
for only 5.3 percent of the country's 1.3 billion population, is
increasing by a daily average of 50,000, said Cai Mingzhao, deputy
director of the Information Office of the State Council, China's
central government.
A survey conducted by the Social Development Research Center
under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 12 major cities
shows that 71.8 percent of the netizens agree to the notion "they
have more opportunities to express their views online," and 72.3
percent of them hold that "government officials can acquaint
themselves with more public opinions through the Internet."
In fact, most netizens air their views through media-run
websites, many of which began sorting out public opinion two weeks
before the sessions of the top legislature and advisory body.
Meanwhile, a growing number of deputies to the top legislature
and members of the national advisory body enrich and substantialize
their motions and proposals with selected materials from
netizens.
NPC deputy Lu Zhongmei, who took the lead in soliciting motions
and proposals on state affairs through the Internet, said the
high-tech-based web is an open, transparent pool that provides a
virtual forum for people to unbosom their hearts.
Lu, also an established law expert, predicted "Chinese netizens
will draw more responses from the lawmakers and political advisors,
who meet at their annual sessions, in the future as the online
media in China are in the process of being matured and rational
gradually."
Although the number of netizens makes up a small portion of
China's population, said NPC deputy Zhou Hongyu, they are mostly
part of the ordinary citizens and have rich first-hand knowledge
about how government policies are implemented at the grass-roots
level.
Therefore, their desires and wishes as "essential elements" of
the people's cannot be ignored, he said.
"Netizens are a special group of constituency who can express
their will at ease on the Internet, and their activities will
facilitate to some extent the development of democracy in China,"
Zhou said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2004)