The Chinese government attaches great importance to the drafting of the Government Work Report that Premier Li Keqiang delivered at the annual session of the National People’s Congress on the morning of March 5.

Ning Jizhe, one of the main drafters of the report and head of the research department of the State Council, China’s cabinet, made the comments in Beijing on March 5.

Since September, when State Council researchers started drawing up the report, President Xi Jinping hosted two special meetings of senior Party leaders of the Communist Party of China to discuss the content.

Premier Li held at least three conferences involving all ministers and report writers since January to seek opinions on the draft version from representatives from all walks of life.

The writers used big data and the Internet to write the report, edited for grammar and wording, and sought suggestions from around the globe — so as to make the final version more comprehensive, informative and concise.

“We sent out more than 4,000 copies of the draft report to solicit advice from people around the country, and we also received about 40,000 different suggestions from around the world, sent to us via the State Council’s official website, gov.cn,” said Ning.

He added that about dozens of the suggestions were included in the final report.

The writers paid special attention to advice from Chinese think tanks, foreign experts in China — from six different countries — and also suggestions from county heads whose performance is of great importance for the good governance of the world’s most populous country.

Ning said the report was modified many times, with about 50 draft versions, adding that the only unsatisfactory aspect was the fact that the 18,000-word final version could have been reduced to about 17,000 words.

He also said the Premier would certainly have preferred a much shorter report, but they have to make sure that most people can easily understand it, and they did their best to make it brief and informative.