At the closing meeting of the fourth session of the 14th National People's Congress, Chinese lawmakers voted to adopt the National Development Planning Law. The legislation marks a major step in codifying decades of China's experience in national development planning into law. Why has China decided to formalize its long-standing planning system through legislation? To understand more about the move, we spoke to Tong Weidong, Director of the State Law Department under the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.