2007 National People's Congress

2007 National People's Congress

The 5th Plenary Session of the 10th National People's Congress held its annual meeting from March 5 to March 15, 2007 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, in conjunction with the 2007 CPPCC. Many items were listed on the agenda for the two-week-long session of the National People's Congress. 2,937 delegates from every province and municipality attended, along with representatives from the People's Liberation Army. Among the delegations were those from the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau and a delegation representing Taiwan. Details on the election of these delegations can be found on the main article on the National People's Congress. The 2007 Session was chaired by Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo, with the annual Government Report delivered by Premier Wen Jiabao. The 2007 Session also set the precedent of allowing foreign journalists to approach and interview any NPC members without restriction. All proposals and resolutions from the session for the first time were fully translated into English. The 2007 NPC formally approved the Property Law of the People's Republic of China which had been under discussion for the last several years. Shanghai party chief Chen Liangyu has been suspended and therefore did not participate in the NPC. However, Vice-Premier Huang Ju, who had been widely speculated in the Hong Kong media and Western sources to have fallen into political disgrace, though reported in the Chinese press as having been in bad health, made an appearance at the opening ceremonies on March 5. Huang genuinely appeared ill.