Deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC) and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) come from all parts of China and from many walks of life. To find out how the people of China are best served by their chosen representatives, china.org.cn takes a close-up look at the Congress deputies and what concerns they have for the China of today.

Here we meet Zhang Zhuo, a college president from Hebei Province.

Q: To which group of the CPPCC do you belong?

A: I am from the Education Group.

Q: What is your profession?

A: I am a professor at the Ordnance Engineering College and the president of the school.

Q: Where are you from originally?

A: Shijiazhuang City in Hebei Province.

Q: What is the issue of most concern to people in your circle?

A: Higher education. The recent increase in university enrollment quotas has helped to disseminate higher education to more people, but it also has brought problems like shortages of teaching facilities and staff. Higher education opportunities shouldn’t be expanded at the expense of education quality. While many universities have built many new classrooms in recent years, they lack enough qualified teachers.

The government needs to increase investment into the education sector to help more schools get out of trouble. The investment is worthwhile, even though the rewards won’t be immediately apparent.

Better education will bring a better future to the nation, as it has more well-educated citizens.

Q: What proposals will you make, and what do you hope to accomplish at this session?

A: I will submit four proposals. The first one is about agriculture and farmers, which is such a hot topic today. In the proposal I advise building more and better irrigation systems for farmers. The second one concerns public security and social stability. I suggest that the government improve the police force and its work performance. My third and fourth proposals are about information security: the third one proposes legislation of related laws and regulations, and the last one sets out what needs to be done to guarantee the safety and precision of information flow.

Q: What are your comments on the new government leadership?

A: They have done a quite good job, and you know that Chinese citizens are satisfied with their work. They have demonstrated their capabilities and determination in the battle against the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) epidemic, and their wisdom and resoluteness in dealing with diplomatic affairs and Taiwan affairs.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Chen Chao, March 6, 2004)