March 4, 2013
Translated by Chen Min

Today's Beijing Times introduces readers to the city's 55 delegates to the National People's Congress, which officially opens in the capital tomorrow.

The number of people in the delegation is down on five years ago, a result of a recent change to China\'s electoral law that empower rural citizens to elect an equal amount of delegates as urban voters.

Of the 55 representatives, 23 are carry-overs who also represented Beijing over the past 5 years as part of the 11th NPC. Beijing municipality choose 42 of the delegates and the remaining 13 were nominated to represent Beijing by central authorities. Most of the delagation are party members, with only 18 not member of the CPC.

The report also mentioned that only 54 of the delegates will take part in the two-week meeting as Wang Qinghai (王青海), the chairman of Shougang Steel, is sick and won't be able to attend.

Comments made by Ma Xu (马旭), head of a research institute attached to the State Family Planning Commission and one of the city's representatives at the NPC, regarding the possible introduction of a "second-child" policy in some provinces attracted quite a bit of media attention.

According to the Beijing Times' report, Ma noted that China was beginning to experience low fertility levels and because of this, provinces like Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin are exploring ways in which they could gradually relax current restrictions and perhaps introduce a "second-child" policy.

Ma Xu also went on to note that as population and economic development varies among different regions, any such "second-child" policy should be carried out step by step according to local conditions.

Links and Sources
Beijing Times: 国家计生委研究所所长建议分省分步放开二胎生育