In today's special series, Faces of NPC and CPPCC, we sit down with political advisor Shi Jie, who is also a practising lawyer. In the past seven years, he has submitted over 100 proposals to China's national advisory body. Some of his suggestions have been adopted and enacted by law.

    As a political advisor to the CPPCC, Shi Jie takes his job seriously. During the two sessions, the average number of proposals submitted by each member to the national advisory body stands at two. But Mr. Shi usually comes much more prepared.

    "Altogether I have submitted 19 proposals this year. These are all urgent social issues. As a lawyer myself, I hope to see more judicial reforms to make our law environment more fair and just. Especially now that China is deepening its comprehensive reform in all sectors, these actions must first of all be regulated by law," said Shi Jie, CPPCC member.

    Unlike NPC motions, CPPCC proposals are not legally binding once adopted. They serve to facilitate the party's political consultation process. This has raised questions about the usefulness of such advice. But in Shi's case, with a professional background in law, some of his past proposals have led to revisions of the law, and in the end, his proposals became legally binding. In 2010 he proposed an amendment to the law to criminalize drunk driving in China. One year later his proposal was enacted, and just within a week, it significantly reduced drunk driving accidents throughout the country.

    "Two of my main concerns this year is driving overloaded vehicles and driving under the influence of drugs. These behaviors should be punished by criminal laws because such cases are on the rise and pose great dangers. We must prevent such accidents from happening rather than try to decide who is at fault after they have already happened," said Shi Jie.

    Other than those two, Shi is also ready to advise the party on air quality, social security, government purchases of legal services and many more things.

    Every year CPPCC members submit thousands of proposals. Although one person's voice and opinion may not be so easily heard, when all of them point out the same prominent social issues and concerns, the chances of them getting solved, become much bigger.

http://english.cntv.cn/program/china24/20140310/105063.shtml