Wen Jiabao challenged over 'people-centred' approach
More than 3,000 citizens have joined a Guangdong netizen's call for Premier Wen Jiabao to hold an online dialogue with the public and overseas Chinese during the national parliamentary session.
A thread posted on Thursday on a popular local website (www. oeeee.com) by a college lecturer in Guangzhou asking Mr Wen to go online for a chat sparked ripples across the country within a day, the Southern Metropolis Daily had reported.
Most major Web portals placed the story high on their sites and enthusiastic netizens have even started discussing how to avoid an online traffic jam should the premier consent to the request.
Xu Yuanyuan, a National People's Congress delegate from Guangdong, said she would bring this message to Beijing as she believes the central government should adopt a more open and spontaneous communication with the public if it was serious about its promised 'people-centred' approach.
The initial posting said it was 'a bold suggestion' to invite Mr Wen to an online chat with 'all the Chinese people around the world on a range of issues big or small'.
Open conversation with top party leaders is still a novelty in China, although at the provincial level party chiefs have started to experiment in this new form of communication.