Article
During China’s 2008 annual sessions of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, an ‘Ask the Premier’ campaign run jointly by Xinhuanet.com and China Mobile let ordinary citizens put questions to Premier Wen Jiabao by text message, collecting more than 250,000 messages from China Mobile’s 100 million-plus subscribers, many from blue-collar workers, farmers and students. Political commentators framed the scheme as part of a wider, officially encouraged expansion of grassroots political participation, with mobile messaging emerging as a new channel for citizens to engage in China’s political process alongside traditional grassroots voting.