The National People's Congress (NPC) has adopted this year's government work report at the closing meeting of its annual session on March 20. From drafting to revision, expert says the making of the government report itself represents the spirit of craftsmanship which the whole nation has called for.

During the State Council press conference on Tuesday afternoon, Han Wenxiu, deputy director of the State Council's research institute said the legislators made 86 changes to the government work report after it was delivered by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at NPC’s opening meeting. The additions add up to more than 700 characters.

The nearly 3,000 national legislators have reviewed the final draft. Members of China’s political advisory body – Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), have also been invited to offer their comments. Revisions range from expanding accountability for public officials who fail to tackle pollution, to furthering regulations on the training and oversight of preschool teachers. Han elaborated on how these revisions were made during the Two Sessions.

“I would like to show you the draft report here. In order to collect all suggestions and comments given by our NPC deputies and CPPCC members, we have made detailed notes on the margins of three copies of the government work report. As Premier Li Keqiang requires, the report-drafting team should absorb and adopt as many suggestions as possible, especially ideas that could make the report more accurate and complete,” Han said. 

At Tuesday's press conference, a Japanese reporter asked why this year's government work report did not directly mention the sentence about "letting markets play a decisive role in resource allocation". Han responded that rather than pointing out the exact sentence, the principle of making the market play a decisive role has been embodied in the whole report including reforms of the country's state-owned enterprises, development of private firms and the property rights reform.