"Why did the faculty and students still elect me though I made no commitments to the university?" asks Xu Zhiyong. He believes the constituents elected him for his ability to participate in political affairs. To better perform his duties as a deputy to the district people's congress, Xu Zhiyong visited the United States in 2004 to observe and study elections. He worked as a volunteer for both the Democratic and Republican parties, to deepen his experience.

Xu focused on speaking up for people with AIDS and those appealing to higher authorities for help. He inquired about the budget of Haidian District, and contributed to raising objections to the expensive relocation of the Beijing Zoo. He convinced the Standing Committee of the Haidian District People's Congress of the need to put each meeting of the committee under the supervision of two ordinary deputies, who are in charge of recording the attendance of committee members and the issues under discussion, and reporting on such to the Standing Committee and all deputies. Such is deputies' supervisory role.

The experiences of Yao Lifa, an ordinary staff member of the Education Bureau of Qianjiang City, Hubei Province, are more complicated than Xu Zhiyong's. Yao Lifa is upright and dares to point out shortcomings of the bureau. From 1987 to 1998, he stood for election four times as an independent candidate, and was mocked and sneered. In 1998, however, he was elected deputy to the fourth People's Congress of Qianjiang City. After that, he earnestly performed his duties, and took an active part in political affairs. At the congress meetings he often criticized deficits in the government's performance or inquired about overdue payments to teachers at the city's financial bureau, in the case of the latter, publicly demanding immediate payment. He investigated and found legal violations in the election of village committees in Qianjiang's countryside.

Influenced by Yao Lifa's work, 32 independent candidates joined the competition for seats in the people's congress.

Entrepreneurial Class Representation

Following the development of the market economy and progress with political democratization, the people's congress has become the highest social platform for the political game among various strata of interest. Each social stratum and group has its own spokesman to represent its political appeals and pursuits. According to statistics by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in the past few years, more than 9,000 deputies to the people's congresses at the county level or higher are private entrepreneurs. Of the 641 deputies to the 10th People's Congress of Zhejiang Province, 96 hold the title of Chairman of the Board of Directors or General Manager, making up 15 percent of the total, and most of these are in the private sector.