"The report said that the government completely rescinded the agricultural tax, livestock tax and tax on special agricultural products throughout China, reducing the burden on farmers by 133.5 billion yuan (about 18.8 billion U.S. dollars) a year. It is a shining landmark in Chinese history," said a netizen at the CCTV website, who went by the name of Little Revolutionary. "Many farmers appreciate this greatly."
"The report faced a lot of problems about people's livelihood, " said a netizen named Bluecollar on Xinhuanet. "The report posts the achievements of the past five years; more importantly, it calmly judges the current situation," Bluecollar said.
Wen's report used four paragraphs on two pages to state shortcomings and challenges, said a netizen named Dajiabao.
The netizen quoted from them: "The functions of government have not been completely transformed, and public administration and public services are still weak. Some government departments have overlapping responsibilities, their powers and responsibilities are not well matched, some try to shirk their responsibilities, and their performance is poor."
Dajiabao said that every word there got to the heart of the problem and left no room to hide. The netizen thought that these sections were more than self-criticism -- they showed determination to eradicate social ills.
Unshaken determination to solve problems, like education, medical insurance, domestic prices, and corruption, can be seen in the report, Netizen Shuizhihan wrote in his blog.
Suggestions were also posted. One netizen said that Wen should change the sentence "conscientiously accept supervision by all sectors of society" into "conscientiously and forwardly accept supervision by all sectors of society, such as the public and the media, and firmly fight against any reversion".
There was humorous advice, too. A netizen asked on the CCTV website: "Why not give our beloved Premier Wen a comfortable chair when he was delivering the report?"
(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2008)