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'Premier Wen, I have a question for you'
By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-14 05:40
Premier Wen Jiabao will answer questions from foreign and domestic
journalists today in Beijing after the conclusion of the annual session of the
lawmaking body but "newshounds" on the Net already have a list of their own.
The netizens have no doubt been encouraged by Wen, who said at the end of the
National People's Congress annual session last year that he had read hundreds of
questions put to him online and expressed his gratitude to netizens.
![Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers a speech during the opening of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 5, 2006. The Premier promised a economic growth rate of 8% for 2006, and a massive US$420b spending to improve the rural sector. [Xinhua]](xin_560303140858786122572.jpg)
Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao delivers the government work report during the opening of the
National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing
March 5, 2006. [Xinhua] | On one online forum alone this year, www.xinhuanet.com, more than 2,500
people have posted their questions and 240,000 have read them. There are dozens
of such websites in China.
In addition, well-known journalists like Hong Kong TV host Sally Wu are also
soliciting questions from netizens on their personal blogs.
The soaring prices of real estate, education and medical care are among the
top worries of urban netizens.
"I am going to have a baby, so my husband and I want to buy our own
apartment. It would be a big burden when we also have to pay for our kid's
education and medical care for our parents," said Yue Ya'er at xinhuanet.com.
"Would you please tell me what you are going to do to make any of these an
apartment, children's education or seeing doctors more affordable?" she asked.
There is also anxiety about finding employment.
"I am a senior college student and will graduate in July, but about
two-thirds of the students in my class, including myself, haven't found a job,"
said Ruo Han at the same forum.
"Those who have rich parents are going to pursue further studies in Europe or
the United States, but what about us from ordinary families? Can you help us?"
he asked.
It is not just the more computer-savvy urbanites expressing their concern,
their relatively disadvantaged rural compatriots are also making their voices
heard.
"The county government has sold the farmland in my village and the developer
will soon pull down my house. It was built only four years ago and we have not
paid off the loan we took to build it," said a man who called himself
"Countryside Intellectual" in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region at
www.sina.com.
"I understand that you and your government are building a 'new countryside"
featuring social harmony. So I'd like to know what's your view on the county
government's move," he asked the premier.
Meanwhile, a village health worker in North China's Hebei Province said that
he wants to know more about rural medical reform, which Wen emphasized in his
speech on the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) days ago.
"People like me have worked for decades but cannot benefit from the social
security system when we get old. I'd like to know how the government is going to
help us," he said at www.sina.com.
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