Targeted collection

He Aiqun, director of the legislative affairs commission of the standing committee of Xiangyang's legislature, said soliciting opinions on legislation from the grassroots is done thoughtfully.

For instance, suggestions on the then draft section on marriage and family in the Civil Code were collected in Gaozhuang, "as such content was something everyone could identify with, so most of the residents had something to share", he said.

In addition, while gathering opinions on a draft amendment to the Wildlife Protection Law in April, He and his colleagues visited people living and working in the forests of Nanzhang county in Xiangyang as well as wildlife protection centers in the city, and they held seminars with relevant departments.

Wei Zhengcai, an official from Xiangyang's natural resources conservation bureau, attended one of those seminars in April. He suggested legislators add a clause in the draft amendment to allow local governments to compensate villagers when their agricultural products are damaged by wild animals.

"I made that suggestion because I heard frequent complaints from villagers who had trouble with wild boars eating or destroying watermelons, which created a dilemma for law enforcement because the animals are protected," Wei explained.

"Some people built wire fences to keep the boars out of their fields, but the fences could harm the animals," he said. "If we just focus on wildlife protection, the villagers may face economic losses or even personal safety risks."

He also suggested that the NPC Standing Committee seeks a balance between protecting wild animals and upholding the people's interests in its next version of the draft amendment.

Such targeted collection is essential, he said.

"It can help us figure out what grassroots law enforcement departments urgently need, and then we give accurate responses to the country's top legislature," he said.

As of April, Xiangyang's legislature had selected 17 smaller collection stations to gain more opinions on legislation. So far, people in the city have provided more than 1,100 suggestions on 58 items of national-level legislation, and 149 of these have been accepted by the NPC Standing Committee.

The NPC Standing Committee designated six other places, including the China University of Political Science and Law, as the second group of collection stations last year after finding success with the first group.

Li Zheng, director of the university's Research Office, said his collection station concentrates more on improving the quality of legislative suggestions, "as some 500 law academics of the university are a think tank for legal research".

"Their legislative views are more professional, and discussions among the experts from different fields will improve lawmaking," he said.

"Many law professionals, such as those focusing on the Constitution, administrative laws and criminal laws, exchanged ideas several times, and their professionalism could provide major support for other suggestions collected from the grassroots," he said.