All her suggestions, Chen said, were made together with her colleagues.
"I am not speaking for myself. I speak for all street cleaners."
Motions and suggestions are the key channels for deputies to influence state policies.
Since 2005, around 500 motions have been submitted by deputies to every annual session of the NPC. The 2016 session, for example, received around 460 motions, in addition to over 8,600 suggestions.
A CRUCIBLE OF IDEAS
Rizgul Kurakum works as a lab technician at a smelter in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Being a Uygur lawmaker, she concentrates on policies for ethnic minorities and for her region.
This year, she came with three suggestions. One about train services in Xinjiang, another about Xinjiang's beryllium resources and a third about copper.
She said she has found authorities to be quite efficient in handling her suggestions in the past. They give her feedback and ask if she is satisfied with the results.
"Being an NPC deputy is an honor which gives me a great sense of responsibility," she said. "I bring people's thoughts and needs to the session and hope I make a difference to our society."
COMING A LONG WAY
Padma Chodron is a township official from Tibet's Medog county. She is of the Monba ethnic group, one of the smallest ethnic groups in China.
Since elected to the NPC in 2013, she has submitted 10 suggestions concerning the development of her hometown.
With a complex terrain full of geological hazards, Medog was China's last unconnected county until 2013 when a highway opened.
"I have received feedback on all my suggestions," Padma said. "The Constitution authorizes us to be the masters of the country. It's a great honor for me to be here on behalf of my people."
China's system of the people's congress is designed to include people from various backgrounds and cover a good cross-section of society.
Of the nearly 3,000 deputies to the 12th NPC, about 14 percent are workers and farmers, up more than 5 percentage points from the previous NPC. The number of professionals rose by more than 1 percentage point.
More seats will be allocated to workers, farmers, professionals and women when the election of deputies to the 13th NPC are conducted before January 2018, according to a draft decision on the quota and election of deputies.
