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However, the news media devoted prime space and time on Wednesday and Thursday on how the country’s top 110-meter hurdler Liu Xiang, a CPPCC deputy from Shanghai, was chased by a huge crowd of journalists, mostly from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Under the bombardment of reporters, Liu admitted that the bill he was going to submit this time was actually written by someone else. It was a proposal calling for better benefits for sports coaches. He also conceded that only 20 percent of the content reflected his views, the rest belonging to others. He didn’t specifically name who the others were.

The news is deeply troubling.

First, the news media is still obsessed with celebrity news, even during the NPC and CPPCC sessions when only serious topics for the nation and the world should be addressed, such as the widening income disparity, corruption, environmental pollution and a shortfall of funding for education.

There should be plenty of brilliant experts who can offer good solutions to tackle these tough challenges. Liu Xiang and many of the sports and pop stars attending the meetings would not come anywhere near these experts in understanding the issues.

In this sense, many reporters should be reminded that they are not travelling to the events looking for sensational celebrity news. It is simply a wrong time to zoom in on celebrities when 1.3 billion Chinese are gravely concerned about some urgent matters from skyrocketing housing prices to flawed medical and social security systems.

Second, although the 26-year-old Liu Xiang was honest in telling that someone else penned the bill for him and only a fraction of the bill was his own views, there are many other questions to be answered, such as why it was the first time in the last three years he ever attended the CPPCC opening ceremony and why it was the first time he ever submitted a bill.

Of course it was not the news media which is preoccupied by celebrity news, cities and provinces have been busy over the years in turning their sports and pop star celebrities into deputies to the local and national NPC and CPPCC.

Many sports and pop stars, willingly and reluctantly, have taken the titles in the past years, without knowing the heavy social responsibility involved.

The trend of electing and chasing celebrity deputies should be stopped immediately, simply because most of these celebrity deputies lack expertise or any knowledge in legislating and advising on key political, social and economic issues.

Besides Liu Xiang, there are many more other sports and pop star celebrities attending the NPC and CPPCC this year. Paparazzi news about these entertaining celebrities should not become a distraction from the serious talks by many of the nation’s top pundits, thinkers, practitioners and social activists.

We should look into the issue of how these celebrity deputies were elected in the first place. For time being, we should zoom in on the real experts and focus on the serious issues facing the nation.

There should be no more celebrity distraction in the remaining days of the NPC and CPPCC sessions.