The first session of the 11th National People's Congress held its annual meeting from March 5 to March 18, 2008 in the Great Hall of the People in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, in conjunction with the 2008

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s United front (China), united front system. Its members adv ...

. The 10-day plenum elected China's new government leaders. Up for confirmation for a second term were President

Hu Jintao Hu Jintao (born 21 December 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 2002 to 2012, the president of China from 2003 to 2013, and chairman of the Central Military Comm ...

and Premier

Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao ( zh, s=温家宝, p=Wēn Jiābǎo; born 15 September 1942) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the 6th premier of China from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behin ...

. The State Council went through important personnel and structural changes following the 17th Party Congress. Zeng Qinghong's Vice-Presidency came to an end and the position was taken by

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

. Three new Vice-Premiers were confirmed and took office, with rising star Li Keqiang ranking first in this group.

The session

Government Report

Premier Wen Jiabao delivered the government report on March 5, 2008, reviewing the work from the past five years. The main points that come out of the report were * Rebuilding of snowstorm hit areas in Southern China. Rebuild power, communications and water infrastructure in Hunan, Anhui, Guangdong, Sichuan and Hebei.China's Cabinet sets tasks for new term_English_Xinhua
/ref> * Control of inflation and maintain price stability for basic necessities, food and essential commodities. * Regulation of excessive investments in fixed assets. * Education reforms which include free nine years of education and education initiatives to assist with the rural regions. * Increase resources towards energy conservation, more efficient technologies and reduction of emissions.

State Council reform

A massive reform took place in China's cabinet, the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

. Several ministries were consolidated to form super ministries. The several "superministries" The State Council also created the National Energy Commission which oversaw national energy strategy, security and development. While the National Development and Reform Commission continued to control the administration and regulation of the energy sector. The State Food and Drug Administration was incorporated and came under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health. Therefore, the Health ministry took over the responsibility for food and drug safety. The People's Bank of China increased its coordination role between all the financial executive agencies, namely the National Development and Reform Commission and the Finance ministry.

Premier's Press Conference

Premier

held a press conference on March 18, 2008. He introduced the new Vice-Premiers, Li Keqiang, Hui Liangyu,

Zhang Dejiang Zhang Dejiang (; born 4 November 1946) is a Chinese retired politician who served as the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress between 2013 and 2018. He was also the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standin ...

and Wang Qishan. Wen addressed the direction of the government in the next five years. He also addressed the ongoing Tibetan protests. Wen asserted that the

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

was "masterminding" the protests in Tibet. Wen said that 2008 could be a very difficult year for the Chinese economy because of both international and domestic reasons.

Voting results

State positions

* No other candidates formally stood for these positions, although votes were cast for other

write-in candidate A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

s."Hu Jintao Re-Elected As China President"
Associated Press, March 15, 2008.

Resolutions

Notes

External links

NPC Official WebsiteNews Centre of the 2008 National People's Congress
{{National People's Congress

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

National People's Congresses