New laws speeding through under legislative relaxation

FINER LEGISLATIVE STRUCTURE

The structure of the legislature itself, especially the local legislatures, also saw significant improvement in 2015.

With the revision to the Legislation Law last March, legislative power was expanded from 49 Chinese cities to at least 284, a step to devolve power.

The NPC Standing Committee also put forward a major program to improve the work of county and township legislatures, such as training of local lawmakers and better communication mechanisms with the government and judicial agencies.

The public took a bigger part in legislation as most bills were published through mass media and the Internet to solicit their opinions, after every reading.

"We used to publish bills once, after the first reading. Last year we published the upgraded versions after the second reading as well. The to and fro process was more inclusive and open and contributed a lot to drafting good laws," Liang said.