How well are women and ethnic minorities represented in China’s National People’s Congress?

Beijing has long touted its national legislature as a representative mechanism for China’s people, but the make-up of its delegates show that women do not yet hold up half the sky. Women and members of China’s 55 recognised ethnic minorities remain locked out of leadership positions within the
National People’s Congress (NPC), while the Politburo Standing Committee – the Communist Party’s top decision-making body – consists of seven men from the dominant Han ethnic group. Within the 25-member Politburo, there is only one woman, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan, and there are no ethnic minority members.

Rory Truex, a China politics specialist from Princeton University, said that while there is diversity within the national legislature, groups such as government officials, Communist Party cadres and businesspeople are generally over-represented, while there is underrepresentation of the working class.

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