Although the annual sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) came to a close last week, Wu Zhongxin, a CPPCC member, is still busy writing reports.

"I'll convey the main points and social concerns about the two sessions to my colleagues," Wu, 45, president of the Hunan University of Finance and Economics in Changsha, told the Global Times yesterday.

The sessions of the legislative body and political advisory body have long been called a formality by some, as they believe delegates from across the country go through well-scripted reports and meetings and vote for pre-determined laws and submit work reports to various authorities.

But Wu said he felt differently after finishing the last leg of the five-year term of the 11th CPPCC.

"In previous years, some discussions were a bit reserved," he said. "But this year, topics we discussed were more diversified and sharp."

Increasing spats

Ge Jianxiong, a CPPCC member and head of the Fudan University Library, became famous for his daring and critical speech on the two sessions.

When Yuan Guiren, the minister of education, attended the group discussion of educational representatives on March 7, Ge stood up and said, "I require the Ministry of Education (MOE) respond to the current scandal over the 2012 national entrance exam for graduate students in January and apologize to all the exam candidates."

"This is not the first time such an incident has occurred. How do we make up for the candidates' loss? Does corruption exist in the exam authority?" Ge asked.

Yuan said police have begun an investigation into the incident, and the results will become public at the proper time, adding that all the cheating candidates' qualifications would be cancelled and the relevant education authorities would be punished.

It is not common in China for a citizen to directly challenge a ministerial-level official to his face. But such heated debates were not uncommon during this year's two sessions.

In a group discussion among CPPCC members from economic fields on March 4, Liu Kegu, an advisor of the China Development Bank, went through two rounds of debates that lasted one and a half hours.

Liu said statistics authorities should release the Gini Coefficient, an index on the fairness on income distribution, because the gap between the rich and the poor has been widening with China's speedy development.

Deng Wei, a vice chairman of the Heilongjiang Provincial Federation of Industry and Commerce Association, disagreed with him.

Deng argued that the Gini Coefficient was not fit for China as it has a ternary society and includes many rural areas, towns and cities, whereas some Western countries which apply the index are unified societies.

Another debate occurred during a news conference on the reform of the cultural system on March 8.

When talking about how some local governments use all means available to apply for world cultural heritage status, Feng Jicai, a CPPCC member and a vice chairman of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, fiercely attacked the financial motives behind such actions.

"Money should not be involved when determining a nation's value. A nation that only pursues money has no hope," he said.

Feng's opinion was challenged by Wang Jianlin, board chairman of Dalian Wanda Group, which is involved in the estate, luxury hotel and cultural industry.

"To the Chinese, money is not too much but too little. Without pursuing money, businessmen like me can't survive," Wang argued.

Value of different voices

During his five-year term as a CPPCC member, Tang Weijian, a vice director with the civil affairs administration monitoring department of the Supreme People's Procuratorate and also a member of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), has changed his opinion of the CPPCC.

"Before I joined in the 11th CPPCC, I had thought it was just to applaud consensus and for NPC deputies to put up their hands when passing pre-made decisions," Tang said.

The situation has changed over the years, he said, adding that the CPPCC has been having more of a role in involving the nation in political life.

For example, with persistent efforts from the RCCK, the Anti-Secession Law was passed by the NPC in 2005, Tang said.

However, some deputies or members were criticized for following the masses.

Shen Jilan, an 83-year-old farmer from Shanxi Province, has been a NPC deputy since 1954. She has received numerous criticisms on the Internet for not once voting in opposition to proposed national changes.

However, as a whole, the numbers of opposition votes on some changes have increased in recent years.

On Wednesday, about 90 people voted in opposition to the 2012 Report on the Work of the Government, 429 on the work report of the Supreme People's Court, 393 on the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and 438 on the Report on the Implementation of the Central and Local Budgets for 2011 and the Central and Local Budgets for 2012, according to China News Service.

Among them, the number of opposition votes over the budget report reached its highest level in the past five years. More than 360 last year voted in opposition, with 317 recorded in 2010 in opposition to the budget reports.

Though much progress has been made toward democracy, Ge said it is not enough to just speak of implementing CPPCC responsibilities.

"There's still much room for improvement as the CPPCC functions as a way for the nation to monitor the government, make proposals and participate in politics."

Formalism still exists in CPPCC discussions. For example, written reports are prepared solely to show off achievements to supervisors at the proper occasion, Ge said.

"The two sessions are routine conferences for China," Ge said. "People should care more about how the policies made at the two sessions are implemented after the conferences."