General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speech at the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the National People's Congress reviewed the glorious process of the Party leading the people to establish and improve the system of people's congresses, and made comprehensive arrangements and clear requirements for adhering to, improving, and operating the system of people's congresses, which is the fundamental guideline for doing a good job in the work of the National People's Congress in the new era. I was born in January 1955, which coincided with the establishment of the people's congress system. For 30 years after 1986, I have been working in the organs of the National People's Congress, serving the standardized operation of the people's congress system, witnessing the continuous improvement of the people's congress system, and participating in the construction of national democracy. My personal growth, work, and destiny are closely linked to the system of the People's Congress. On the occasion of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National People's Congress, I told three stories about the development and improvement of the people's congress system since the reform and opening up, and shared them with readers. The first differential election of members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress was held on March 25, 1988, and the first session of the Seventh National People's Congress began. There were 135 members to be elected to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, 144 candidates were proposed, the difference was 9, and the difference ratio was 6.67%. This is the first competitive election of members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress since its establishment in 1954. I vividly remember the announcement of the number of votes received by each candidate at the election venue on April 8th. According to the election rules, the candidate's vote count shall be announced in descending order of the number of affirmative votes received, and the last 9 candidates with the highest number of affirmative votes shall not be elected. At that time, several colleagues and I were on site. Whenever we heard the staff read out the votes of a candidate, we quickly found the names on the draft list (arranged by stroke) and recorded the votes. One of the elected members said to me sincerely, "Xiaokan, do you know how worried I was when I didn't hear my name in the election roll call? My heart was almost in my mouth!" The purpose of the margin election was to enable the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress to gain a broader public opinion base. It can provide voters with more choices and enhance the sense of responsibility of elected committee members, cherishing their rights and fulfilling their responsibilities. From then on until 2023, the members of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress were elected by margin. The difference ratio in the election of members of the Standing Committee of the Fourteenth National People's Congress was the same as that in the Thirteenth National People's Congress, exceeding 8%. It was the two highest difference ratios among the eight difference elections. The differential election of members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is a major progress in China's democratic system and a concrete manifestation of the continuous improvement of the people's congress system. The meeting system of the National People's Congress increasingly standardizes the work of the People's Congress, which differs significantly from other state organs in that it exercises its functions and powers collectively. Therefore, the rules of procedure for meetings are very important, as they can ensure democratic deliberation, improve deliberation efficiency and quality. Procedural democracy guarantees substantive democracy. The establishment of written rules of procedure for meetings is one of the signs of the improvement of the system of people's congresses. The conference system of the National People's Congress for more than ten years at the beginning of its establishment is composed of the relevant provisions of the 1954 Constitution and the 1954 Organic Law of the National People's Congress, as well as some practices formed in previous meetings during this period. From the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress in 1979 after the reform and opening up to the Second Session of the Seventh National People's Congress in 1989, the system of the National People's Congress has been restored, improved and standardized one by one. During this period, the Fifth Session of the Fifth National People's Congress in 1982 adopted the fully revised Constitution and the Organic Law of the National People's Congress, which affirmed and stipulated the important achievements of the system construction of the National People's Congress at the stage. In 1989, the Second Session of the Seventh National People's Congress formulated the rules of procedure of the National People's Congress, which systematically stipulated the holding of meetings, the submission and deliberation of bills, the deliberation of work reports, the deliberation of national plans and budgets, the election, removal, appointment, removal and resignation of members of state organs, inquiries and questions, speeches and votes. So far, the NPC system has been standardized and legalized. This has become an important milestone in the history of the development of the NPC system. In March 2021, the fourth session of the 13th National People's Congress made supplementary amendments to the rules of procedure of the National People's Congress in accordance with new circumstances and experience, further improving the deliberation system of the National People's Congress. The election of National People's Congress deputies embodies the election system of equality for all, regions, and ethnic groups. It is an important component of the People's Congress system and the foundation of the People's Congress system. Without the election system for National People's Congress deputies, the system of National People's Congress cannot be established. In November 1952, the CPC Central Committee decided to prepare for the convening of the first National People's Congress. In February 1953, the Central People's Government adopted the Electoral Law of the National People's Congress and Local People's Congresses of the People's Republic of China. According to the nature of our country, the national conditions at that time, and the population structure, the election law stipulated different population ratios for urban and rural representatives to be elected. Later, after three amendments to the Electoral Law in 1979, 1982 and 1995 on the ratio of rural to urban population for the election of deputies to the National People's Congress, the number of deputies to the people's congresses of counties and autonomous counties, autonomous prefectures, provinces and autonomous regions, and the National People's Congress is uniformly distributed according to the principle that the number of people represented by each rural representative is four times the number of people represented by each urban representative. From the end of 1986 to the beginning of 1987, when participating in the study of the plan for the number of deputies to the Seventh National People's Congress, I found that there was no definite proportional relationship between the number of deputies to the First to Sixth National People's Congress and the total population of the country in the corresponding year. Specifically, China's total population increased year by year, while the total number of deputies to the National People's Congress did not increase year by year. Therefore, I began to study how to determine the number of deputies to the National People's Congress. It took me nearly half a year to complete my research work and write the paper "Discussion on the Basis for Determining the Number of Deputies to the National People's Congress". The research conclusion of the paper is that the determination and allocation of the number of deputies to the National People's Congress should reflect the equality of the basis of representation, and specifically follow three principles: the principle of proportional representation of population and deputies, that is, the same number of deputies is produced for the same population, and the population represented by each delegate is generally equal; The principle of administrative regions, which means that administrative regions of the same level have the same basic quota; The ethnic principle means that each ethnic group has an appropriate number of representatives in the National People's Congress. The report of the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2007 proposed to gradually implement the election of National People's Congress deputies in urban and rural areas according to the same population ratio. Since 2008, an old leader of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress has taken the lead in revising the electoral law. One morning in May 2009, he invited me to his office specifically to listen to my opinions on amending the election law. I reported the relevant research results, and he listened, asked, and discussed with me at the same time. In March 2010, all the deputies to the Third Session of the Eleventh National People's Congress deliberated and passed the revised election law, which defined three principles for the election and allocation of the number of deputies to the National People's Congress: equality of all people, regional equality, and ethnic equality. The relevant provisions of the Election Law have been supplemented and revised accordingly. (Liao Xinshe) Author: Kan Ke (former deputy director of the Legal Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress)