The 2021 National People's Congress (NPC) was the Fourth Plenary Session of the

13th National People's Congress The 13th National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China was elected from October 2017 to February 2018 and will be in session in the five-year period from 2018 to 2023. It is scheduled to hold five sessions in this period, occurri ...

of the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was held from 5 March to 11 March 2021, concurrently with the

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

(CPPCC) as part of the annual

Two Sessions The Two Sessions (NPC & CPPCC National Committee annual sessions), or in Chinese ''Lianghui'' is a common Mandarin Chinese abbreviation for a pair of organizations which have close relations. In the Chinese government, the term refers to the ...

. The NPC was held at the

Great Hall of the People The Great Hall of the People is a state building located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the ruling Chinese Co ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Congress was mostly held

in camera ''In camera'' (; Latin: "in a chamber"). is a legal term that means ''in private''. The same meaning is sometimes expressed in the English equivalent: ''in chambers''. Generally, ''in-camera'' describes court cases, parts of it, or process wh ...

with journalists prohibited from attending. The thousands of deputies in attendance were all tested for

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

and isolated before the event. Most of the events involving reporters took place through

online conferencing Web conferencing is used as an umbrella term for various types of online conference, conferencing and collaborative services including webinars (web seminars), webcasts, and web meetings. Sometimes it may be used also in the more narrow sense of ...

. Premier

Li Keqiang Li Keqiang (born 1 July 1955) is a Chinese politician who is the outgoing premier of China. An economist by profession, Li is head of China's executive branch as well as one of the leading figures behind China's Financial and Economic Affai ...

announced a

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is often ...

growth goal of 6%, which was considered conservative compared to those of previous years, despite a goal from 2020 not being set due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Li also set targets for reducing the

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

's budget deficit from 3.6% of GDP in 2020 to around 3.2% of GDP in 2021 and announced plans to lower the quota on special bond issuance by local governments. The NPC reviewed the Draft Fourteenth Five Year Plan.

References

{{reflist National People's Congress, 2021 National People's Congress, 2021 National People's Congresses National People's Congress, 2021