Most officials are clad in dark suits, and many are men from the military. Representatives of China's national minorities, who appear wearing colorful traditional costumes, are a favorite with photo-journalists, who are looking to break up the monotony of the meeting.


The two women from Jiangsu are wearing light jackets and trousers. Lou Wenyin is an elementary school teacher and Guan Xiaowen teaches medicine. When asked what they are expecting from the People's Congress, Lou says: "The differences between education in the countryside and the cities have to be balanced out." Guan adds: "Many people in the countryside can't afford to go to the doctor." This gap between China's rich and poor is slated as the main themse for this year's National People's Congress.

Both hurry into the hall. Seconds later the military marching music starts up. Then the members of the Politburo enter. Head of state and party leader Hu Jintao leads the group -- at a precisely measured distance in order to demonstrate his prominent position. Then Premier Wen steps up to the brown podium, bowing twice to the delegates. This is a new gesture -- Wen wants to demonstrate that he is a servant of the people.

Fourteen young women in red costumes serve hot water to the functionaries sitting at the rostrum. The officials read the speech on paper, following it as it is delivered by the premier. When they turn the page in unison, the huge hall with the illumanted red star on its ceiling is filled with the sound of thousands of sheets being rustled.

Behind an opulent flower display Wen relates in a monotone voice the progress of the government over the past year. He speaks of "remarkable successes" and "new progress." The economy has grown by 9.9 percent, prices are stable and currency reserves are high.

Wen predicts that over the next five years there will be a slightly slower growth rate of an annual average of 7.5 percent. An even greater proportion of the Chinese budget is to be spent on armaments. Indeed, the day before the Congress launched, the party announced it would increase military spending by 14.7 percent.

Wen also mentions some of the darker aspects of the past five years -- severe environmental pollution  and myriad  social problems , including the imbalances caused by the country's rapidly growing economy. "The gap is widening between the development in the cities and the countryside," he says, "and between development in different regions, as is the income gap between some members of society, while the development of the social welfare is falling behind."

Wen pledged a 14 percent increase in spending on China's rural areas, roughly equivalent to the hike in the defense budget, with a total of about €35 billion in government money being pumped into the regions. Many of the country's poorer rural regions have been little touched by the country's economic rise.  

Wen promises that school fees in the rural regions will soon be abolished and access to medical treatment will be improved in the countryside. The government pledges to spend almost €2 billion over the next five years on this program. He also wants to increase wages to farmers as part of its "new socialist countryside" program.