Editor's note: China has clearly demonstrated its development blueprint for the next five years with the successful opening of the 20th National Congress of Communist Party of China. To further elucidate the plan to the world, CGTN has created the "China Blueprint: Opportunities for the World" series. This is the first piece focusing on China's democracy.  

人民民主是中国共产党始终高举的旗帜。中国共产党自成立之日起，就以实现人民当家作主为己任。近年来，越来越多的民意调查结果显示，中国政府在民众中享有超高的信任度，这是其他国家政府或政党难以企及的。 

People's democracy is a banner that the Communist Party of China (CPC) has always held high. Since its founding, the CPC has taken it as its mission to ensure people are the masters of their own country. In recent years, a growing number of public opinion polls have shown that the Chinese government enjoys a high level of trust among its citizens, which is unparalleled compared with other governments or political parties. 

2022年1月，全球知名公关咨询公司爱德曼发布《2022年度爱德曼信任晴雨表》报告。该报告显示，2021年中国民众对政府信任度高达91%，同比上升9个百分点，蝉联全球第一。哈佛大学一项持续十多年的民调发现，中国老百姓对政府的满意度连年超过90%。 

In January 2022, leading international public relations consultancy firm Edelman released the "Edelman Trust Barometer 2022." The report revealed that public trust in the Chinese government surged to 91 percent in 2021, up nine percentage points year-on-year. China also topped the ranking for a second time. A Harvard University poll, which has been ongoing for more than a decade, found that 90 percent of Chinese people are satisfied with their government for many years in a row. 

全过程人民民主是中国民主的优势形态和实践创新 

The whole-process people's democracy is a superior form and innovative practice of democracy in China 

全过程人民民主是中共中央总书记习近平创造性提出的重大理念，也是对“世界民主走向何方”这一重大命题给出的中国答案。在中国，全过程人民民主不仅有完整的制度程序，而且有完整的参与实践，是最广泛、真实、管用的民主。 

The whole-process people's democracy is a major concept put forward by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, and is China's answer to the important question of "whither the world democracy?" In China, the whole-process people's democracy not only has a complete institutional framework, but it also features a complete set of participatory practices. It is the most extensive, authentic and effective democracy. 

世界上规模最大的基层选举 

The world's largest grassroots election 

改革开放以来，中国县乡两级人大换届选举的选民参选率一直保持在90%左右，人民群众的真实意愿在选举结果中得到充分体现。比如，从2021年上半年到2022年6月底，中国31个省、自治区、直辖市直接选举产生了2629447名县乡两级人大代表，涉及10.64亿选民。全面完成了最新一轮的全国县乡两级人大换届选举工作。 

Since the reform and opening-up, the voter turnout in China's general elections to the people's congresses at the county and township levels have been hovering at around 90 percent. Therefore, the true will of the people is fully reflected in the election results. For example, from the first half of 2021 to the end of June 2022, China's 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities saw 2,629,447 deputies being directly elected to the county and township-level people's congresses, involving 1.064 billion voters. As a result, the latest round of general elections to the people's congresses at the county and township levels has been fully completed. 

真实的立法民主化进程 

The real legislative democratization 

基层立法联系点是中国立法机制的一项重要创新，是中国汇聚民意民智的“立法直通车”。自2015年设立第一批基层立法联系点以来，截止 2022年7月，全国人大常委会法工委共设立了22个基层立法联系点，覆盖全国2/3的省份。来自基层的意见建议，被原汁原味地直接反馈到中国的最高立法机关，这正是全过程人民民主的真实写照。 

The grassroots-level legislation contact points are an important innovation in China's legislative mechanism and a "bottom-up legislative fast-track" that gathers public opinion and wisdom. Since the establishment of the first batch of contact points in 2015, as of July 2022, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People's Congress Standing Committee has set up 22 such contact points, covering two-thirds of China's provinces. The opinions and suggestions from the grassroots are directly fed back to China's top legislature, which is a true reflection of the whole-process people's democracy. 

全社会广泛参与讨论的公共政策 

Public policies widely discussed by the whole society 

在政策制定过程中，呼吁社会广泛参与、听取各方建议是新中国成立 70多年来积累的一条重要经验。 

In the process of policy formulation, calling for broad public participation and listening to suggestions from all sides are important experiences that have been tested and proven over the past 73 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China. 

“五年规划”是中国政府最重要的公共政策。2020年8月16日至29日，“十四五”规划（2021-2025年）编制工作在网上公开征求意见，这是“五年规划”编制史上首次开展“网络问计”。广大人民群众踊跃参与，累计收到超过101.8万条建言，从中梳理出的1000余条建议被直接吸收采纳。 

China's five-year plans is the most important public policy of the Chinese government. From August 16 to 29, 2020, the draft of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) was made available for public consultation online. This was the first time in the history of producing five-year plans that an online consultation was launched. The general public participated enthusiastically, and the government received a total of more than 1.018 million suggestions, from which more than 1,000 suggestions were directly adopted. 

丰富多样的协商民主形式 

Diverse forms of consultative democracy 

总书记在二十大报告中指出，全面发展协商民主，推进协商民主广泛多层制度化发展，坚持和完善中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度，完善人民政协民主监督和委员联系界别群众制度机制。 

In his report to the 20th CPC National Congress, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to comprehensively develop consultative democracy, promote extensive, multi-layered and institutionalized development of consultative democracy, adhere to and improve the political system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC, and improve the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference's democratic supervision mechanism and its members' contact with the masses in their sectors. 

人民群众是中国协商民主的重点。当前，中国各地从自身实际出发，探索出诸如民主恳谈会、村民议事会、居民论坛、小院议事厅、板凳民主、坝坝会等一系列丰富多样的协商民主形式。很多基层民主协商形式已经在中国城乡社区逐步推广，有效发挥了协商民主在察民情、解民忧、暖民心上的重要作用，实现了人民群众更广泛的政治参与和更有效的民意表达。 

People are at the heart of China's consultative democracy. At present, various parts of China have explored diverse forms of consultative democracy based on local realities, such as democratic consultation meetings, villagers' councils, residents' workshops, courtyard discussions, neighborhood meetings, outdoor meetings and so on. Many forms of grassroots democratic consultation have gradually spread in China's urban and rural communities, effectively bringing into play the important role of consultative democracy in understanding public sentiments, solving their problems and warming their hearts, thereby achieving wider political participation and more effective expression of public opinion. 

以发展为先、质量为要的高质量民主 

High-quality democracy with emphasis on both development and quality 

目前，中国多个地方建立了“街巷吹哨、部门报到”“马上即办”“12345（热线电话）接诉即办”等解民忧工作体系，形成了听取-分类-交办-反馈-督查一整套的高效流程，真正做到了民有所呼、我有所应，及时解决了人民群众的身边事。 

At present, many places in China have established a work system for solving people's problems, such as "government's functional departments answering the call for help from neighborhood administrators," "quick response task force" and "12345 hotline service in addressing complaints." This has resulted in an efficient process of listening to people's voices, analyzing problems, assigning tasks, giving feedback and checking results, which has truly enabled people to have their voices heard and their concerns addressed in a timely manner.  

民主假与真？关键看民心。与国际政治舞台上某些打着民主旗号、实际上却是“财阀掌权、金钱政治、寡头民主”的国家不同，中国推行的全过程人民民主是真实的、广泛的、有效的。 

To tell whether a democracy is real or fake, the key lies in the hearts and minds of the people. Unlike some countries which engage in "plutocracy, money politics and oligarchic democracy" in the guise of democracy, China is promoting the whole-process people's democracy – a real, extensive and effective democracy.