The Communist Party of China (CPC) opened its five-yearly national congress in Beijing to map out the country's next five years. Altogether 2,237 delegates from across the country gathered in the Great Hall of the People, listening to the speech by President Hu Jintao on October 15.

Here, some of the Party delegates give their views on Hu's speech and discuss their concerns and expectations on the future.

Ma Kai Minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission

"Putting 'fast' before 'good' will get the job done, but at a low quality; this ends up being costly. However, if we put 'good' before 'fast', and strive to produce as quickly as possible for a high quality, that's the core meaning of the Scientific Outlook on Development."

Xie Xuren Minister of Finance

"The finance ministry will increase investments in projects concerned with common people's lives to help all people share the fruit of the reform and development of our country."

Liu Mingkang Chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission

"The regulation of increasing the rate of down-payment has a clearer aim in preventing the risk of banks, than any other ways even including raising the required deposit reserve ratio. To keep pace with the times, this is a new measurement facing the change of finance risk."

Shang Fulin Chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission

"The stock market of China is now taking the role as a 'weatherglass' of the economy. In the past five years, there were great achievements and changes in the development and basic regulations establishment. Until this September, the stock prices have surged to 25 trillion yuan, which list at the fourth in the world. The ranking is the same with the gross economy of our country."

Hu Xiaolian Director of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange

"In terms of foreign exchange, we must improve the balance of international payments, which need a balance foundation, including the two most important aspects: the transformation of the economic growth mode and structure adjustment. The imbalance of international payments is related to many deep-rooted problems such as savings, expenditures, investments, exports and imports, so our key role in the work is to adopt a scientific approach to solve these deep-rooted problems."

Xiang Junbo President of the Agricultural Bank of China

"As one of the top four banks in China, the Agricultural Bank will reform in the same way as the other three banks. Now the work on the joint-stock system reform is proceeding smoothly and the plan is in discussions. Once approved by the higher authorities, we'll implement it."

Xiao Gang Chairman of Bank of China

"There is no timetable for the 'nonstop train to Hong Kong stock market' yet. But the Bank of China is well prepared for that, and can provide those services once the plan is approved."

Wu Yongqi Curator of the Qinshihuang Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, Shaanxi

"My biggest wish is to let increasingly more students visit the museum, because what they see in the museum is different from what they learn in a classroom. Also, scientific achievements displayed in the museum play a major role in improving teaching quality. I think cultural relics' conservation and utilization is not contradictory. The director of China's State Administration of Cultural Heritage recently used an apt metaphor to describe the two causes as wheels of a carriage and wings of a bird. Conservation and utilization are both means for an identical objective: to record the history and pass it on from generation to generation. Therefore, cultural relics, without utilization, would be of no value, whereas it would be wasteful to blindly utilize them without any thought of conservation. The two sides have same weight. I am not for excavating the mausoleum of Emperor Qinshihuang. I believe that a nation must respect their ancestors first in order to gain the respect of other peoples. I have even written a fantasy article depicting a kind of technology that would be invented in the future to allow us to have a view of the emperor's underground empire without actually unearthing his mausoleum."

Xu Zhenchao Leader of bridge crane team of Qingdao Port, Shandong

"As a delegate to the Party's 17th National Congress and a member of its Presidium sitting on the rostrum, I am very excited: I feel not only the honor but also the pressure and the responsibility.  I thought a lot this evening about my workmates and about Qingdao Port where I trained. On October 12 we celebrated the 115th anniversary of Qingdao Port. I feel that Qingdao Port will develop soundly and quickly if it sticks firmly to the direction of scientific development."

Ouyang Pingkai President of Nanjing University of Technology, Jiangsu

"I attended the 16th National Congress and now I'm taking part in the 17th National Congress. I have a very intense feeling that our country is becoming more and more prosperous.   My main concern focuses on the fact that the central government shall continue to make science and education the development priority and take them as the solid foundation for building a harmonious society. Our education, especially at the higher levels, has been developing very fast. According to many foreigners, Nanjing University of Technology is a good place to cultivate engineers and currently our country is graduating more engineers than America. Not surprisingly, foreign interest in China is also increasing accordingly. This shows that China's soft power has improved rapidly. We have made great progress in the field of education. But much more needs to be done."

Zhou Haijiang CEO of Hongdou Group, Jiangsu

"I think now is the best time to cultivate our private enterprises. President Hu's report at the Congress pointed out that we would further deepen our reform and opening-up. Private enterprises will march forward in the ongoing reform and opening-up. A bright future is awaiting us ahead. We private enterprises shall take advantage of this opportunity to make more progress. To our enterprises, pursuing development in a scientific way contains a major change in theory. What is an enterprise? An enterprise is a profit-oriented organization. But this definition is not adequate. An enterprise must also increase its economic efficiency and save natural resources. Only in this way can it realize its maximum social value as well as better assume its social responsibilities."

Ren Yuling President of China Central and Western Regions Development & Reform Institute, Beijing

"This national congress is paying more attention to livelihood issues. I have found that many delegates fully expressed the opinions of the Party members and the broad masses as well as their concern about livelihood issues. Just as President Hu Jintao said in his June 25 speech, all the tasks and work of the Party are designed to benefit the people. I think he actually means to solve the livelihood issues. I visited several developed countries in 1982. At that time, I felt it would be very comfortable to live in developed countries: walking on the carpets, loitering on the grass, driving cars and living in skyscrapers. China's highest building at that time was the 17-story Beijing Hotel. When would we be able to lead this kind of life? I sometimes thought to myself. For at that time this was inconceivable. Our nation has undergone tremendous changes over the last 20 years: we've got skyscrapers, grass, carpets and a lot of cars.

Chen Guangming Chief team leader fighting drug trafficking, Chongqing

"As Mr. Hu Jintao mentioned in his report, the rule of law constitutes an essential requirement of socialist democracy. We must persist in scientific and democratic legislation to improve our legal system with Chinese characteristics. We need to improve the overall quality of judicial, procuratorial and public security personnel to ensure that law enforcement is strict, impartial and civilized. We are China's police: we must respect and safeguard people's rights, and ensure that all Chinese citizens have equal rights toward participation and development in accordance with the law," Chen stated. Where there is a man, there is also a woman. Men and woman are the same and can do the same job. I have never regretted becoming a policewoman. And I hope in the future that my daughter will become a policewoman too. The residents in Chongqing treat me as their daughter: they help me and support me. I have no reason not to repay them with my dedicated service."

(China.org.cn October 19, 2007)