'Premier Wen, I have a question for you'
By Wang Shanshan (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-03-14 05:40

Premier Wen Jiabao will answer questions from foreign and domestic journalists today in Beijing after the conclusion of the annual session of the lawmaking body but "newshounds" on the Net already have a list of their own.

The netizens have no doubt been encouraged by Wen, who said at the end of the National People's Congress annual session last year that he had read hundreds of questions put to him online and expressed his gratitude to netizens.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao delivers the government work report during the opening of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing March 5, 2006. [Xinhua]

On one online forum alone this year, www.xinhuanet.com, more than 2,500 people have posted their questions and 240,000 have read them. There are dozens of such websites in China.

In addition, well-known journalists like Hong Kong TV host Sally Wu are also soliciting questions from netizens on their personal blogs.

The soaring prices of real estate, education and medical care are among the top worries of urban netizens.

"I am going to have a baby, so my husband and I want to buy our own apartment. It would be a big burden when we also have to pay for our kid's education and medical care for our parents," said Yue Ya'er at xinhuanet.com.

"Would you please tell me what you are going to do to make any of these an apartment, children's education or seeing doctors more affordable?" she asked.

There is also anxiety about finding employment.

"I am a senior college student and will graduate in July, but about two-thirds of the students in my class, including myself, haven't found a job," said Ruo Han at the same forum.

"Those who have rich parents are going to pursue further studies in Europe or the United States, but what about us from ordinary families? Can you help us?" he asked.

It is not just the more computer-savvy urbanites expressing their concern, their relatively disadvantaged rural compatriots are also making their voices heard.

"The county government has sold the farmland in my village and the developer will soon pull down my house. It was built only four years ago and we have not paid off the loan we took to build it," said a man who called himself "Countryside Intellectual" in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region at www.sina.com.

"I understand that you and your government are building a 'new countryside" featuring social harmony. So I'd like to know what's your view on the county government's move," he asked the premier.

Meanwhile, a village health worker in North China's Hebei Province said that he wants to know more about rural medical reform, which Wen emphasized in his speech on the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10) days ago.

"People like me have worked for decades but cannot benefit from the social security system when we get old. I'd like to know how the government is going to help us," he said at www.sina.com.