Chinese netizens have hit out this week at photos of delegates to this year's sessions of China's parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), sporting designer clothes and accessories as the country revises its growth forecast and boosts spending on "social stability."
Amid criticism from rights campaigners and political activists over their failure to represent the average struggling Chinese person, delegates are clearly physically cut off from ordinary people by a massive security cordon around the building where they will pass laws for the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
Comments circulating on the popular Tianya forum this week satirized China's parliamentarians as a "supporters' brigade," following revelations from Shen Jilan, an elderly delegate from the northern province of Shanxi, that she had never once cast a vote against anything.
"They supported the Great Leap Forward, People's Communes, the Cultural Revolution, the attacks on Deng Xiaoping," read one post which was circulating widely on the forum on Tuesday.
"Then they supported the denials of the Great Leap Forward, the People's Communes, the Cultural Revolution, and the attacks on Deng Xiaoping."
Keenly aware of the total U.S. $89.8 billion net worth of the 70 tycoons who are invited back to parliamentary sessions annually, netizens passed around photos of Li Xiaolin, daughter of late former premier Li Peng, sporting an Emilio Pucci suit contrasted with a group of impoverished rural children in ragged clothes.
Other delegates have been spotted sporting designer bling by Hermes, LV, Dior, and other major brands.
"Every year, the parliamentary sessions look like the Oscars," wrote user @aichijianghucaidealan in a comment to a post on the popular Sina Weibo microblogging service that was forwarded more than 20,000 times. "They really should roll out a red carpet, there are so many luxury items there."
"Who are the biggest winners from this year's NPC? Why, Chanel, Hermes, and Emilio Pucci, of course," added user @cuilinguandian.
Rubber stampers
Online activist Liu Yiming said she felt like swearing when she saw official media reports claiming that NPC delegates were elected by the people.
"Real delegates would [occasionally] cast an opposing vote," Liu said. "They would have to take responsibility towards the people who had elected them."
"Some delegates ... don't even understand politics; what are they doing at the [parliamentary advisory body]?"
Shenzhen-based political activist Zhu Jianguo said the photos of rich "people's" representatives only underline a reality that has been true all along.
"They don't represent the interests of the people, but the interests of high officialdom and big business," Zhu said. "They use these meetings to network and build contacts, exchange ideas, and make deals."
"The delegates who supposedly represent peasants or workers have never once tabled a motion on behalf of such groups."
He called on the government to make public the expenses paid out during the annual meetings of the NPC and its sister advisory body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
"They don't tell us how much they spend on the NPC, which has now become a staged event."
"The main concerns of ordinary people are corruption, and another is food safety, which wasn't even brought up as a topic," Zhu said. "If they are going to recruit so many more police nationally, why can't they spend a bit more on food safety supervision?"
"The most important thing for them is to maintain stability for a trouble-free leadership succession."
Reported by Fang Yuan by RFA's Mandarin service. Translation and additional reporting by Luisetta Mudie.
