Just ask the 580 award recipients whose suggestions for China's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) were so appreciated that the State Development Planning Commission (SDPC) yesterday honored them with certificates of recognition.

The lucky 580 were a small fraction of the more than 17,000 who sent letters to or e-mailed the SDPC.

This is no elite group, either. A quarter of the winners are farmers and laborers. About 30 percent are experts and teachers.

The SDPC also selected more than 150 suggestions that proved constructive and innovative for a book published by the Beijing-based People's Publishing House.

To encourage common people to take part in State affairs, the SDPC began to gather advice in October, 1998 as work began on the new blueprint for China's short-term future.

At yesterday's ceremony, the SDPC Minister Zeng Peiyan said the success in drafting the plan is built on the common people's participation.

The plan was approved by 97.7 percent of deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) at last month's Fourth Session of the Ninth NPC.

The minister also said many suggestions received, including those about the need to increase farmers' incomes, strengthen ocean protection and deepen education reform, were contained in the plan.

"It is too bad we cannot use every idea in the plan, " Zeng said. "But our civil servants are encouraged by the public's zeal."

(China Daily 04/02/2001)