Anti-corruption, social security remain people’s top concerns: survey

Anti-corruption, social security and educational reform are the top concerns of Chinese citizens, an online survey conducted by People's Daily Online preceding the Two Sessions has revealed.

Anti-corruption is one of the most concerning social issues as clarified by the results in the eighth annual opinion survey. The Communist Party of China has made remarkable achievements during the last year to combat corruption. Two campaigns gained the most attention, including pilot work revolving around the deepening reform of the national supervisory system as well as the crackdown of half of the 100 most-wanted corrupt Chinese officials who have fled overseas.

Elderly pension plans are mostly focused in terms of social security. Over forty percent of respondents regarded that the elderly people without families as well as those elderly people living alone need more security.

Educational reform became a hot topic for the second time after the reform materialized across the country about thirteen years ago. More than half of the respondents agreed that the gap between the urban and rural areas in the regard of educational resources has narrowed since 2017.

Moreover, the result indicates that nearly one third called for more efforts to solve college entrance exam difficulties facing the children of migrant workers in cities where their parents work and live.

In addition to the top three most concerning topics, another two items were initially added to the survey to understand people’s opinions regarding reform and opening up as well as regarding revitalization of rural areas.

2018 marks the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up, a big move that has brought real changes to everyone. The most remembered event of the reform and opening up remains the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of Communist Party of China in 1978 that re-established guidelines for seeking truth from facts.

In the survey, most people said that an overall systematic and coordinated reform is the key to deepening the reform and opening wider to the outside world.

It has been a tradition for People’s Daily Online to launch an opinion survey every year before the annual sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the top legislature, and the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, so as to make people’s voice better heard during the Two Sessions. From Feb 8 to 27, over four million netizens participated in the survey.