国之命在人心

In a press conference closing the 2011 “two meetings” of the National People’s Congress and People’s Political Consultative Conference — at which the proceedings had largely avoided the issue of political reform — Premier Wen Jiabao (温家宝) again stressed the importance of political reform and creating the conditions for the people to criticize and monitor the government. During the press conference, Wen introduced a new catchphrase affirming the important of the popular will in Chinese politics: “I know only too well that a nation’s fate lies in the hearts of its people,” he said. This phrase, guó zhī mìng zài rénxīn (国之命在人心), is inspired by the words of Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli (杨万里).


David Bandurski

Now director of the CMP, leading the project’s research and partnerships, David joined the team in 2004 after completing his master’s degree at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. He is currently an honorary lecturer at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre. He is the author of Dragons in Diamond Village (Penguin/Melville House), a book of reportage about urbanization and social activism in China, and co-editor of Investigative Journalism in China (HKU Press).