Rare Act Of Dissent At China's Annual Parliament

After 11 days of interminable speeches, followed by ritualistic voting to approve everything put before it, China's annual parliamentary gathering will, once again, leave little worthy of note in its wake.

That is precisely the intention of course because it is not meant to hold power to account.

That is kept tightly in the hands of the ruling Communist Party, and the key policies have long been decided in advance.

Nonetheless, every year, the meetings do provide an occasional glimpse of something meaningful for those watching closely.

Here then are two of them for 2016; the first, a rare act of dissent that could not be stifled and the second, paradoxically, an all-too-common act of obeisance that was mysteriously hidden from view.

Much has already been written about Jiang Hong........ Read More