The Chinese government has received more than 3,113,000 online suggestions for consideration in the country’s five-year plan, to be implemented from 2026 to 2030. The number is extraordinary even by Chinese standards and represents three times the number of suggestions made for the previous five-year plan.
In the previous consultation, for the 14th Five-Year Plan in 2020 – the first time suggestions were submitted online – people in China had submitted just over a million suggestions.
Earlier this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping, instructed the government and the Party to “investigate broadly and deeply the people’s conditions, listen to the voices of the people, and gather the wisdom of the masses to consolidate a powerful joint force that will push forward Chinese-style modernization and continuously realize the people’s aspirations for a better life.”
The president stated that the “high participation and broad coverage” represents an “exemplary practice of comprehensive process popular democracy“.
The online consultation was carried out from May 20 to June 20 this year through various national platforms, such as state media websites (People’s Daily, Xinhua and CCTV), and those of provincial or local governments.
The “Study to Strengthen the Nation” app was also one of the tools through which Chinese citizens submitted their suggestions. This platform was created in 2019 and brings together a significant collection of free content, including periodicals, ancient classics, music, films, and books, as well as online courses for Party members, civil servants, and the general public. As of last year, the platform had 345 million registered users and an average of 700 million daily visits.
Read some of the proposals
The suggestions covered a range of diverse topics such as scientific and technological innovation, diplomacy, defense, in addition to culture, rural revitalization, environment, education, employment, and common prosperity, among others.
The “Study to Strengthen the Nation” app gathered suggestions and made several of them available in blocks for the general public. User Du** (only the last name is disclosed) proposed, for example, “strengthening tobacco control in public places by adding more visible no-smoking signs and accessible reporting channels, encouraging public participation in enforcement.”
Du also suggested “increasing investments in public tobacco control propaganda and health education, raising health literacy and awareness about tobacco control across the population.”
The smoking rate among people aged 15 and older in China is 23.2%, above the world average according to the 2024 China Adult Tobacco Survey, conducted by the Planning Department of the National Health Commission and released in May of this year. The rate has been declining, but the country faces a significant problem with secondhand smoke, as smoking in public spaces, although prohibited, is widely practiced throughout the country.
User Li** expressed concern about the use of pesticides on crops:
“I recommend continued strengthening of food safety oversight; during the production stage, the use of hormones, ripening accelerators, chemicals, and prohibited pesticides should be strictly prohibited, and a safe withdrawal period should also be ensured after the application of pesticides.”
“It is necessary to establish a food traceability system, ensuring comprehensive supervision from the field to the table, to protect the safety of food consumed by the population,” he recommended.
Li** expressed concern about “the wide variety of consumer credit products on the market, with low down payment requirements and high interest rates. Students, in particular, lack experience and are prone to taking out high-value loans, which pose significant risks,” she argued.
“We should explicitly prohibit or strictly restrict the provision of student loans by credit institutions to protect their legitimate rights and interests,” Li suggested.
Yang** recommended more subsidy policies for raising children, “with the staggered granting of financial aid to families with second and third children, in addition to exploring mechanisms linked to policies such as income tax deductions and housing guarantees.”
They also stated that it is “necessary to expand maternity insurance coverage for informal workers … and increase the health insurance membership rate for newborns.”
Proposals submitted through the aforementioned platforms should contain up to 4,000 words. For longer suggestions, an email address from the State Council Information Office was made available.
*With information from Xinhua News Agency
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