Deputy, wife take people's work to heart
By Zhang Feng (China Daily)
Updated: 2004-03-10 11:27

The motions deputy Jiang Deming submitted to the 10th National People's Congress (NPC) are for the most part results of a team of two.

The agriculture technician who has had two operations in his left leg and lung due to cancer often has to do his work in rural areas by sitting on the back of his wife's bicycle.

"I am proud of him," said Jiang's better half, Ji Huilan. "He has devoted himself to serving farmers, spreading agriculture technology and doing investigative work as an NPC deputy."

In that role over the past seven years, Jiang has submitted 88 proposals, including 48 for this session, to China's top legislature.

This year, he focused on nine laws related to agricultural issues, such as protecting the interests of farmers-turned-workers and the biological environment.

As an agriculture technician in Sheyang County in Yancheng city of East China's Jiangsu Province, Jiang has done a lot of research and spread word of "green" agriculture products, especially about vegetables grown without any chemical pollutants.

He now has established such a "green" vegetable base with an area of more than 10 mu (0.66 hectares).

"In Sheyang County, or even in Yancheng city, farmers know me well not only as a technician, but as an NPC deputy," said Jiang who has lost his whole left leg in 1994 as a result of a cancer operation.

"Before I became an NPC deputy in 1998, people liked to call me 'Jishuyuan,' a Chinese name for a technician, and since 1998, they prefer to call me 'Daibiao,' which means NPC deputy, every time I go to villages with my crutches," Jiang said.

Although NPC deputy is a concurrent post, Jiang regards it as important as, or even more important than his job and pays great attention to probing rural areas and listening to things people are most concerned about.

His hard work has won great respect and trust from farmers and people from various fields.

"They like to ask for new agriculture technologies, and also are willing to tell me their troubles," said Jiang.

This trust has provided him with opportunities to collect first-hand materials and information on the country's hot problems, which are quite vital for him to use in preparing his proposals.

Every year, he receives more than 1,000 visitors, letters and telephones calls, also an important channel of communication, he says.

"I know that I may die at any time, and I really value the time I have now," he said. "I want to devote myself to doing more things, especially for needy farmers, in my limited life time," Jiang said.

These words reduced his wife of 25 years to tears.

"It is no use trying to persuade him to stop his work, so what I can do is to give him my love and care for him as much as I can," Ji said.

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