BEIJING - China's first domestic violence law, to take effect on March 1, was adopted after two hearings, instead of the ordinary three, an example of the changing rhythm and style of the current legislature.

The top legislature said it did not insist on protocol in this case because the bill addressed an urgent issue that the law has failed to cover for too long and there was a solid consensus among lawmakers that it was ready for a vote at the second reading.

Though there were only two readings at an interval of four months, lawmakers had been involved in the drafting much earlier, with several pieces of research done in the past few years and in-depth discussions with the government and women's associations, said Chen Jialin, an official with the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, who was deeply involved in the drafting.

This led to a carefully written draft and ensured lawmakers were well informed on the topic, he said.

Liang Ying, a senior official with the legislative affairs commission, told Xinhua that lawmakers and staff of the NPC Standing Committee are working much faster on more difficult bills to higher standards than they were a few years back.

"Not only has the time span of reading a bill been shortened in some legislations but also the frequency of revising laws has notably increased," Liang said.

A major revision to the food safety law was adopted in April 2015. The revision process started in 2014, five years after the law took effect, a rather short interval for such a large-scale amendment, in which the number of articles increased from 105 to 154 with key articles rewritten.

The food safety bill was just one of 12 bills reviewed by the administrative law division under the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission last year.

"The workload in 2015 was much heavier compared with previous years. Most bills focus on the most immediate needs of our society," said Huang Wei, the division's deputy head.