As a new term of grass-roots representatives is elected, the authority, media and active citizens, who act as their own characters, take part in the regular election with their own appeals, in the politics of China during the modern times. They develop effects of controlling, arguments and joining in activities within a direct election(only for representatives at the level of a county and a town) opened by laws. At the same time, there are lots of significant suggestions and proposals, proposing to innovate the system of people’s national congress. These suggestions and proposals reflect an ideal appealing for political democracy in China. These events and discussions have a relation to the representative of people’s congress system in China, to how to standardize and to construe“legislative power” born by people’s congress and to a relationship of allocating modern legal jurisdiction between“representatives” and “people”. This is one of essential problems involved in modern politics, faced by China under a transitional era. “People” are the base of the system of modern legal jurisdiction. Therefore, it is critical for modern politics how to be self-realized in the constitution. People’s congress system of China is a representative democracy. From the legal forms, some basic systems, such as democratic election, legislation by representatives and so on, have been founded. However, the execution is not as people wish. The problems are not only from the system of people’s congress in itself, but also from an effect of constitutional government system, which is rooted in Chinese society and which is also a structural problem. In addition, a system that people could join in the election“directly” remains in Chinese constitution. Furthermore, the constitutional development seems to keep pace with a development of representative in recent years. Firstly, this paper would interpret and evaluate the representative of people’s congress in China and the deficiency in the system, from a perspective of representatives as a career. And then, it will explore and investigate the standardization of “legislative power” from the perspective of procedures and mechanisms. Procedures form legal origins of people’s congress representatives and internal nature of the representativeness while mechanisms form operational orientation of legislative power, which is the main function of people’s congress. We could represent the relation of“representatives & people” in a modern construction of Chinese politics from a more complete view of theories and systems if only we view contents above as a whole.
　　I. The internal nature of representative: a problem that representative as a career
　　The election of people’s congress representatives aims to solve the problem of representatives’ democracy and legality. However, people’s congress representative as a profess plans to solve a problem of improvement of representative function. Representative as a profess is a critical factor to improve the internal nature of people’s congress representatives, which can not be avoided for the future.
　　Representatives appear as micro-molecules bearing legislative power. But representatives greatly are constrained by the system in the frame of legislative power. Therefore, professional representatives have not formed a character of “subjectivity” until now. Chinese representatives at different levels of people’s congress are part-time, from various circles of the society. From the representative, there is no problem. But it is a big problem for deliberation. On the one hand, representative as a part-time job results in that representatives cannot escape from interests within a specific district or industry, so they are hard to become true“representatives of people’s congress”. On the other hand, they can not spend proper and effective time and energy to practice their responsibility. Compared with representatives,“committee member” has turned to be a vocation, including members of standing committee of people’s congress at all levels and members of particular committees. According to basic theory of representative democracy, the committee of a congress is an affiliated department, serving for representative functions, rather than a directly representative organ. The committee is not a congress in itself but a “tool”of the congress. The problem in China is that “tools” are professional but “hosts” are part-time. “Representatives as part-time ones” and “professional members of committees”, within the system of people’s congress in China, is a relation of reason & result. This combination evidently has a bad effect on democracy and fairness of people’s congress system in China and their actual representativeness. The real subjectivity of people’s congress system should be“representatives” rather than “members of committees”. As a result, the function of people’s congress to be enhanced and improved firstly should make representative as a vocation. The essence is to provide independent time and interests for representatives, which is a basic protection.
　　In practice, people’s congress representatives in China often are criticized to be out of their responsibility, to isolate from voters, to be lack in proposals or good proposals, to elect high rate of officer representatives and the like. These problems could be solved gradually providing representatives are professionalized. The professionalization of representatives is a premise that representatives act as true “representatives”, and also a premise that national people’s congress (including people’s congress at all levels) become really representative departments. The reason is that representative organs are not routine as that in administrative or judicial departments. The function of representative organs to be developed mainly depends upon meetings. Therefore, there is lack in the function of the system in itself. Moreover, the form of part-time representatives makes the national authority useless. Thus, when subjective structure of legislative power could not be established at once, professional representatives are significant to enhance and to improve functions of people’s congress from the view of systems.
　　The problem that representatives of people’s congress become vocations is a hot topic in amendments to representative law in 2010. This is the first time to modify representative law firstly issued in 1992. However, legislators seem to make a completely different decision that representatives should not found personal workrooms or not be independent from their own work or jobs, which are opposite to public appealing for making “representatives as vocations”. When Li Shishi, the director of legal action center of standing committee of National People’s Congress, interpreted Draft of Amendments to Representative Law, representatives should not establish their own workroom, considering that administrative bodies and working bodies of standing committees of people’s congresses at all levels act as collective assistants to offer advice and serving departments. It stands out a conflict between vocations of“representatives” and “committees’ members” in the above analysis. The report of the thirteenth national congress of CPC (the communist party of China) in 1987 proposed“to improve organizing and constructing national people’s congress, the standing committees in particular. We would realize members of committees to be younger gradually as professional members of committees are realized”. From then on, professional “members of committees” had oriented the development of people’s congress system. Standing committees of people’s congresses at all levels also have taken the most important status in the system of people’s congress gradually. However, the professionalization of“representatives” still is a problem. In fact, the power of“members of committees” and their functions necessarily would be reduced if “representatives” are professionalized, because the democracy of “representatives” is naturally greater than that of “members of committees”. The innovation to make representatives as vocations appeared in two towns of county Loujiang, Deiyang of province Sichuan when amendments to the law were under a discussion. The Main form was to set up “workrooms for professional representatives of people’s congresses”. They should receive voters during regular time, listen to and gather suggestions of citizens. The basic protection for professional representatives is treated with cadres of a family-level, living subsidy and fees for investigations, which were included in financial budget of people’s congress of their county. The trial spots of workrooms of people’s congresses representatives also emerged in other places, such as Jiangning district of Nanjing. Representative law was revised and passed at last on October 28th, 2010. In theory, the law negated the legal possibility of “professional representatives”. It stipulates that representatives could not be independent from their work and should participant activities altogether. However, the law does not negate forms of “workrooms for representatives” evidently in practice. Surely, some pioneers of “professionalization” also face with much difficulty because of lacking in the support of allocated innovation, for example, reception in “workrooms”turning to be “petition”, the problem of actual power of professional representatives, the problem of representatives’competence to solve problems and so on.
　　Since representative law does not negate the form of “professional representatives” evidently in practice, it shows that legislators keep this problem to be executed and explored. Professionalization of people’s congress representatives is involved in many systems, for example, the conflict of professional power of “representatives” and“members of committees” has a relation to whether the orientation of innovating people’s congress system is to enhance standing committees or representative functions of representatives. The status of “administrative officers”should be separated from that of “representatives” after representatives are taken as vocations. The problem how to allocate incomes and welfare for representations should be solved. The problem of a relationship between professional representatives and voters and other problems caused by an election and an impeachment would appear. These problems all are significant one that we can not escape from when we investigate how to standardize legislative power in China. As for these great problems, we should keep open, tolerant and reasonable to approve of innovating“professional representatives” with kinds of forms in grassroots and learn lessons involved in the system, which is specially suitable to a rule of gradual trials in innovations, as the politics and specific mechanism can not make a deal and further necessary decisions should be made. During the creative process of this system, the key factor is a political tolerance of local Party committees and local governments and active exploration made by some representatives of people’s congress, which has a close relation to whether the innovation could be developed.
　　II. Procedures and mechanism: innovative proposal of standardizing legislative power in China
　　During two sessions in 2011, the chairman of committee, Wu Bangguo, declared that legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been founded. Although experts considered that some important department laws are required to be constituted, the completeness of Chinese laws has been improved a lot, as for the system and structures. It marked that “legislative campaign” was almost over with the innovation of marketoriented economic since the innovation started thirty years ago. The systems to be formed, which are legal fruits, evidently are a direct result caused by an execution of legislative power. However, legislative fruits only are achievements in quantity. According to the investigations and analyses, standardization of legislative power in itself actually is not as people wish. This paper would generally summarize some procedures and mechanisms of standardizing and constructing legislative power in China as follows, and it also proposes some suggestions for the systems.
　　1. Standardizing subjectivity of legislative power
　　This problem mainly is involved in representative structure in China. According to the frame of 1982’s constitution, China adopts unicameral system but it is not purely a unicameral system. The reasons are the standing committee of national people’s congress is relatively independent from national people’s congress. The standing committee executes nationally legislative power as the congress does not hold meetings. On the one hand, the standing committee could be considered as the second chamber from a longitudinal perspective. On the other hand, the standing committee could be considered as the second representative department from a perspective of time. Secondly, During 1949 to 1954, CPPCC (Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee) once acted as national people’s congress. And then CPPCC has an effect on participating in the management of state affairs, which is similar to the senate of bicameral system in foreign countries. Therefore, the subjectivity of legislative power, calls for being standardized, because unicameral system in China is not thorough. In fact, the time and fields for national people’s congress’ developing its function is limited. Moreover, CPPCC participating in the management of state affairs has not formed a system and also not been given rights. Therefore, the number of national people’s congress representatives should be properly reduced. The amount of meetings should increase. And the duration of meetings should properly be prolonged. The procedure of arguments among different groups should be founded. Thus, it could enhance the function of national people’s congress to be“one representative department”, improve representative effect and represent completeness and authority of national people’s congress. Furthermore, the power of standing committee of national people’s congress should properly be reduced because there is lack in democracy and fairness to make the committee as “the second representative department”. Strictly speaking, representatives of national people’s congress are like representatives in foreign House while members of the standing committee of national people’s congress and members of CPPCC, who often are“talents” in the society, are similar to senators. From a view for a long term, the standing committee and CPPCC could be tried to be combined to be a representative department, like the senate, as the representative function of national people’s congress is enhanced. Provided that the structure can not be adjusted like this, legislative power of the country actually could be controlled or monopolized by the standing committee, taken as “the second representative department”, which is surely harm for establishing a democratic politics in China.
　　2. Standardizing procedures of legislative power
　　According to Legislative Law, the procedures of legislative law in China could be divided into proposal, deliberation, voting and declaration. The main problem in proposal is lack in unified and equal procedure to treat with proposals. The function of representatives to be subjectivity of legislative power is suppressed and the right to offer proposals fundamentally is controlled by other state organs.
　　The right of proposal has a close relation to an arrangement of legislative agenda. Therefore, the innovation should be oriented with developing functions of representatives. The following steps should be realized gradually. First, the procedure to treat with proposals should be equal. We should pay more attention to instruct how to offer proposals rather than discriminating origins of different proposals. Second, an evident rate of proposals which are from different districts should be determined before the innovation of proposal-oriented offered by representatives is accomplished, in order to assure that the rate of proposals offered by representatives should more than 50% at least. Third, the limitation to constrain numbers of representatives who offer one proposal should be loosen, finally to realize personal proposals. As for deliberation, the main problems lie in the deliberation by grouping, which is harmful for the representation of a wholeness of national people’s congress to be a representative department. Furthermore, national legislation is not involved in one or two departments or interests of some representative group, but an interest of the wholeness. As a result, the innovation involved in deliberation should realize a wholeness to examine proposals. The system of legislative hearing in a whole meeting is quite critical in a wholeness of deliberation. Necessity and possibility of deliberation basically have been eliminated provided that the whole meeting is only for voting. Procedures closely are related to quality of legislative democracy, so procedures should become one of focuses to standardize legislative power. Robert’s Rules of Order, summarizing experience of representative history in foreign countries, should be carefully studied and learned. In addition, the system of hearing suggestions publicly also is worthwhile to be normalized and to be instructed, so as to make the system to be important supplements of legislative democracy.
　　3. Standardizing the mechanism to solve legislative conflicts
　　An important innovation of Legislative Law is to provide several legal principles, specific procedures of adjudication and a mechanism to apply for examination for legislative conflicts. Even in 2004, “record department for examining rules” was particularly established, which led to a sharp discussion in the field of constitutions in our country. However, these innovative systems and mechanism do not have a legal effect as people wish. The conflict rules, which are not judicial, in Legislative Law, were confirmed by people’s congress in a case about seeds in Henan, 2003. “Justice” of laws to standardize and to examine is blocked. The so-called system of citizens’ examination and suggestion only is advice, showing from cases, like“the case of Sun Zhigang” in 2003 and “the case of Tang Fuzhen” in 2009, who suffered when they suggested some legal advice. These innovations finally are limited within a frame of internal examination “between politics and administration”. They only lie in a system where external judicial system and social citizens can not step into. The problem is that internal examination widely has insufficient power, closed procedures, indefinite standards of laws and other deficiencies, which is hard to develop presupposed function of the system, to improve legal unity and to promote citizens’ acknowledgment of the country and Constitution.
　　The authority, unity and wholeness would be in danger provided that effective mechanism to solve legislative conflicts is lack. Therefore, the innovation of legislative conflict mechanism should focus on“externalization” and “routinization”. “Externalization”means to explore that judicial departments examine laws and rules from regulations, gradually gathering judicial experience to examine laws and provisions, and finally to other regulations. This external examination is good for making up many deficiencies of internal examination.“Routinization” refers that the procedure of citizens’ applying for examination, founded in Legislative Law, should focusingly be amended and improved in accordance to fundamental factors of examining procedures. The focus points lie in identifying citizens’ quantification as citizens to be consultants become parties in procedures, in identifying the limitation of examination, in disclosing examining procedures and relative examining information to the public, except for those to be legally confidential.
　　4. Standardizing local legislative power
　　There is lack in indefinite range and non-uniform standards in local legislative power, in the constitution and legislative aw. Although there is a huge space for local legislative power, the boundary and reliably legal anticipation is undetermined. Thus, there is an coordination between the central and local policies, and the later are various and complex. Policies given by the central means that locals wish to obtain stable and particular legislative power, over that in other places at the same level. The mode of “special economic zones” is a product of the reform and opening up in a particular period. It has particularly political function to have a policy trial. However, the allocation of local legislative power with different treatment evidently has not met legal development under the condition that the legal system of socialism with Chinese characteristics has been formed and legal base in our country has almost been unified. Therefore, it requires for law (not surely the constitution, otherwise, it becomes federalism) to identify issues and ranges of local legislative power, in order to truly reach that “central issues belong to the central while local issues to locals”, to share responsibility independently and to develop harmoniously.
　　If the right to determine administrative rights of the central and locals only belong to the central, the central would escape from national responsibility by a form of apportion, but would receive local wealth greatly by a form of “recycle”. Evidently, it is urgent to construct the standardization of local legislative power, under a new trend to encourage local development, to identify power between the central and locals, to promote an equally public and basic service and the like, so as to be good for enriching democratic rights for representatives at all levels and voters, to form a democratic habit and to obtain democratic practice.
　　5. Supplements to the system of non-representative: legislation to be open and to make people participant in
　　In recent years, it is noted that “open legislation”of national people’s congress appear. “Open legislation”means that legal drafts and its general specifications are declared to the society when national people’s congress constitutes laws, and national people’s congress widely accepts suggestions and advice from all circles of the society. In the legislative procedures of national people’s congress (the standing committee) in recent years, laws, including The Property Law, Labor Contract Law and Employment Promotion Law, experienced “open legislation”. Suggestions offered by the public for the law were responded actively by people of our country. Number of relative advice often is thousand, to form a situation where “a discussion is made by all people”. At present, amendments to the law of individual taxes also have similar characteristics. To constitute laws, in order to receive suggestions publicly, is not a specifically legal obligation in Legislative Law. However, specifically legislative practice has become a constitutional convention for supreme legislative organs to exercise nationally legislative power.
　　The systematic construction of legislative openness has definite base in the constitution. It needs to interpret article two of general outlines in Chinese constitution. In this article, item one identifies principles of people’s sovereign, which is a fundamentally political principle of People’s Republic of China. In other words, systems, which violate principles of people’s sovereign, would illegal in the constitution. From the system of Chinese constitution, the principle of people’s sovereign in the constitution, as “constitutional approaches”, become two “bodies” of representative system. One is that the representative system of truth, orienting towards articles of polity. The core constitutional meaning is to form a routinization of representativeness through advanced Party. The other one is that the system of people’s congress, orienting towards articles of regime and procedures. Except for these two representative systems above, there is systematic space for people to practice “direct democracy” in Chinese constitution. As in item three, article two of general outlines in the constitution, the system of participating in democracy means that “people manage state issues, economic and cultural affairs and social affairs in accordance to laws and provisions and through kinds of approaches and forms”. “In accordance to laws and provisions” here offers definitely legislative obligations for people’s congress with representative forms. In other words, it is good for protecting people’s right to participate in state affairs thought legislation of that right. This kind of “system with non-representatives who join in democratic system” has an original significance of people’s sovereign. However, it is an orderly participant, stipulated by the constitution or laws rather than the whole people join in, from the view of constituent power. In practice, it often represents that citizens have rights to join in the process of national power in accordance to laws and citizens have autonomous rights in the society. A prominent phenomenon in constitutional development in China in recent years is that legislation by people’s congress and administration of governments pay more attention to disclose information and to make the public join in. As for “participating in management”, the central and locals together reach a consensus and also provide corresponding systems It rightly reflects the principle of “political constitution”, in the texts of Chinese constitution. Specifically, it responds to “the system of nonrepresentatives’ taking part in democracy”. Thus, in the constitutional life of China, representatives and people both are half-representative. People have certain rights and chances to participant in and management state affairs with legal protection. Compared with representative system in western countries, although this system has become a mainstream in western democracy, it also brings representative risks and political indifference, which are considered as political sacrifice. It might finally causes to“the system to elect a master”, called by Professor Wang Shaoguang. As citizens, we should not only focus on rights to elect representatives, but also concern on citizens’virtues that they in themselves are parts of the country and responsibility to join in politics. A good political system should not be a complete system of representatives. A pure system of representatives probably is a system of nobles rather a democratic system, likely to make some talents control political and cultural resources, which is an imbalanced structure and which is another autocracy. People require for representatives for freedom and reasonable management, but people should keep joining in politics actively for always being those who have sovereign and qualified citizens. The revival of republicanism inspires people’s reflection and adjustments of representative system again. The development of internet eliminates “the scale” of democratic participant, which was a technological problem. Therefore, standardizing legislative power in China requires for two ways to be pushed together. One is to emphasize responsibility of representatives and citizens while the other is to realize the system of representatives and non-representatives’ joining in democratic system based on systematic arrangement, so as to realize structural balance.
　　The construction of legislative openness has dominantly political and legal significances. First, the representativeness through people’s congress representative could be made up with suggestions provided by the public directly, so as to enrich the base of legal fairness. Second, a balanced situation where multi-groups in the society to participant in politics could be for competitiveness among groups which have interests and experts, in order to assure the law with an orientation of public-interests. Third, democratic competence of citizens can be cultivated and trained through the public takes part in legislation, in order to make them form awareness and abilities to true “masters” of our country. Fourth, some specific laws and their solutions could be originally popularized and educated, so as to be good for legal execution afterwards. Fifth, the public takes part in politics directly and are given political achievements, in order to enhance a consensus for national laws. Surely, the system of hearing suggestions provided by the public only is a beneficial supplement for the legislation of people’s congress rather than the importance to construct laws of legislative power. We need paying attention to following points. First, an improvement of people’s congress system still be in line with enhancing representative function of representatives and procedures of deliberation. Second, the procedure of hearing legislative suggestions provided by the public should be standardized and improved, to establish an official mechanism of response and to encourage the public to participant in state affairs continuously. Third, public suggestions produced when legislative suggestions are heard openly should be taken as important resources of legislative topics in our country, expect for legislative tasks serving for agenda, and should be fully utilized and effectively responded.
　　It is sure that there are other problems in standardizing legislative power in China. In the process of standardizing legislative power in China, it is also a process of democratic politics and constitutional politics to become mature. In modern country, legislation is an origin of rights and of provisions. Thus, standardization of legislative power is “a radical reform” for China governed by laws, which has a significant influence. However, Rome can not be built within one day. How the subjectivity and members of legislation are on earth should be born by all voters, also called citizens. Provided that voters do not join in the election, supervision, suggestion and participating in political rights, standardization of legislative power would be lack in powerful origins and fair base, which are fundamental. Providing that we are more concerned with our country and laws, further acknowledge the situation where the community is governed by laws has a direct effect on individuals’ freedom, property rights and even citizens’dignity, then standardization of legislative power would become each citizen’s consensus and responsibility.