The Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (RPC) issued a white paper titled Building of Political Democracy in China on Wednesday

The following are some figures and facts:

-- "The state power of the People's Republic of China belongs to the people. The organs through which the people exercise state power are the people's congresses and people's governments at all levels," says the "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference," which was adopted in September 1949 and served as a provisional constitution of the new republic.

-- The first general election in Chinese history - with the biggest-ever turnout of the people - was held all over the country in 1953.

-- Worker and farmer deputies account for 18.4 percent of the total number of deputies to the Tenth National People's Congress (NPC) (March 2003-March 2008), the top legislature.

-- In the three decades from 1949, when the PRC was founded, to 1978, the NPC formulated 134 laws, 16 of which are still in force today.

-- In 1982, the NPC revised the Constitution, and adopted four amendments to it in the ensuing years. As of 1978, the NPC and its Standing Committee has enacted more than 200 laws that are still in effect and over 200 decisions on legal issues.

-- There are nine political parties in China at present. The salient characteristics of China's political party system are: multi-party cooperation under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), with the CPC holding power and the democratic parties participating fully in state affairs.

-- In 2003, when a new term of office began, 176,000 members of the democratic parties and personages without party affiliation were elected deputies to the people's congresses at various levels nationwide. Among them, seven are vice-chairpersons of the NPC Standing Committee and 50 are members of the NPC Standing Committee.

-- Since 1989, the central committees of the democratic parties have submitted to the CPC Central Committee, the State Council and departments concerned nearly 180 important proposals, and their local organizations have submitted more than 80,000 proposals and motions. Many of the proposals and motions have been adopted.

-- Now, China has established 155 ethnic autonomous areas, including five autonomous regions, 30 autonomous prefectures and 120 autonomous counties (banners).

-- Starting from the First NPC, the proportion of deputies of ethnic minorities in the total number of deputies has remained around 14 percent, much higher than their population proportion of about 8 percent in the nation's total population.

-- By the end of 2004, Tibetan Buddhist sites numbered more than 1,700 in the Tibet Autonomous Region, with 46,000 resident monks and nuns, and mosques numbered 23,900 in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with 27,000 clerical personnel.

-- Among China's population of 1.3 billion, over 800 million are rural residents. According to incomplete statistics, the average participation rate in political elections is above 80 percent in rural China, with some places even boasting over 90 percent. To date, 85 percent of the villages in China have established the system of villagers' meetings or villagers' representative meetings for democratic decision-making.

-- By the end of 2004, 1.732 million enterprises and public institutions had established trade unions.

-- In March 2004, an Amendment to the Constitution was adopted by the Second Session of the Tenth NPC, which included the statement "the State respects and safeguards human rights" in the Constitution, thus ushering in a new chapter in the progress of China's human rights under-takings.

-- According to incomplete statistics, there are now over 100 million religious adherents, about 300,000 members of the clergy, and more than 100,000 venues for religious activities in China.

-- Among the deputies to the Fourth NPC in 1975 to the Tenth NPC in 2003, women made up more than 20 percent of the total.

-- There are 60 million disabled people in China, almost the population of an average medium-sized country. In 2004, the employment rate of the disabled reached 80 percent, and over 3.3 million disabled people overcame their disabilities to varying degrees.

-- China has joined 21 international conventions on human rights.

Source: Xinhua