March 9 marked the deadline for submitting proposals to the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top advisory body. The conference panel of handling proposals had received 4,772 proposals by 2 PM yesterday.

Submitting proposals is an important way members of this advisory body fulfill their functions. During the on-going session of the CPPCC, 42.8 percent of the proposals submitted have dealt with economic problems ranging from economic planning and urban-rural construction to trade and finance.

Li Tielin, the director of the Committee for Handling Proposals, paid tribute to the members for all of their valuable proposals.

"The proposals mainly revolve around government work and public concerns. They contained nuggets of soundly based meticulous research. The newly-elected members showed great enthusiasm in fulfilling their duties," he said.

Li introduced an entire arsenal of proposals mainly reflecting public concerns about education, medical care, environmental protection and social security. The current CPPCC session held two meetings to determine how to handle the proposals last Friday and Saturday.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter He Shan, March 10, 2008)