For two weeks in March, the Great Hall of the People in Beijing played host to one of the most important yearly meetings in China. Gathering from across the country, 2,987 parliamentarians, with a majority of 2,157 being members of the Communist Party, and stakeholders from nongovernmental sectors joined the fifth session of the 12th National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), respectively. As the two events usually take place together, they are jointly referred to as the “two sessions” or the “two assemblies.”

According to the Chinese Constitution, the NPC is the most important political body nationwide, with the power to legislate, oversee the operations of the government, and elect the major officers of the state. However, critics say that these powers are just de jure and that, in fact, the Communist Party decides on all major issues, which is why NPC has been commonly referred to as a “rubber stamp” Parliament by Western media. Unlike the NPC, the CPPCC has no legislative power. As its own name suggests, the CPPCC is a consultative body with many of its 2,000 members not members of the Communist Party. Among them are some of China’s most popular figures, like the actor Jackie Chan, the basketball player Yao Ming, or Wang Jianling, the owner of Wanda Group and also China’s richest businessman.

During the two sessions, the Communist Party announced its intention to introduce a comprehensive Civil Code, designed to improve the existing civil rules that are scattered throughout many pieces of legislation. This is part of a broader plan to reform the country’s legal system by 2020. The ambitious reform agenda was announced three years ago during the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), in October 2014.

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This article has been published by Andreea Leonte, Project Manager and Fellow for China Studies at RISAP, and Valentina Crivăț, Fellow at RISAP, in The Diplomat. You can read the full article in The Diplomat.