Female lawmakers and political advisors, with record-high representation at ongoing annual "two sessions," are playing an irreplaceable role in pooling wisdom to fuel the country's development, as China embarks on a new journey toward socialist modernization.

Official data shows that women make up 24.9 percent of national legislators at the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) and 20.4 percent of members of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body.

The figures are 1.5 and 2.6 percentage points higher than the 12th NPC and 12th CPPCC National Committee, respectively.

The greater female presence offers a glimpse into the increasingly vital role that women are playing in every aspect of Chinese society.

International Women's Day, which falls on Monday this year, was marked with flowers, best wishes, and celebrations of the achievements of women.

President Xi Jinping on Saturday extended festive greetings to the country's women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life, applauding their contributions to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said the joint efforts of the whole Chinese nation, including Chinese women, are needed in realizing the development goals of the Party and the state. He urged Party committees and governments at all levels to fully understand the great significance of women's causes and protect women's rights and interests in accordance with the law.

As China zeroes in on fully building a modern socialist country, topics including rural vitalization, sci-tech innovation, and the protection of women's and children's rights and interests have been widely discussed among the female legislators and political advisors.

Urnisa Kader, an NPC deputy and vice director of a technology promotion center for the forestry and fruit industry in Turpan City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, submitted proposals on developing local tourism and building a local logistics center to this year's NPC session.

Having devoted the past 20 years to teaching local farmers standardized fruit cultivation techniques and helping them raise their incomes, Kader, of Uygur ethnicity, said she and local farmers are aiming for a more prosperous future as China pushes ahead with its rural vitalization strategy after eradicating absolute poverty nationwide.

"Turpan now has high-speed rail and an airport thanks to infrastructure construction in the past few years. We hope the development of the tourism industry and the construction of a dried fruit logistics center will help the farmers make more money," she said.

Chen Wei, a leading medical scientist and a CPPCC National Committee member, has focused on strengthening research into COVID-19 and vaccine development in her proposals.

Chen was among the first batch of frontline workers that rushed to the central Chinese city of Wuhan to help when COVID-19 hit the city hard. She also led the research and development of an adenovirus-vectored COVID-19 vaccine, which has been approved for use in China.

Related research work should be further enhanced by using innovative technologies such as biotech, big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to better understand the sources, animal hosts, and pathogenic mechanisms of viruses, Chen said.

She stressed the need to carry out pre-research on vaccines, nucleic acid tests and antibody detection reagents against the variant strains.

She also called for more support for basic research, technological innovation and talent cultivation as the country pursues innovation-driven development.

The protection of disadvantaged groups' rights and interests is another hot topic during the "two sessions."

Tai Lihua, head of the China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe and a national political advisor, said she had submitted proposals on improving education for disabled children, calling for schools to meet the diverse educational needs of children and provide customized education programs.

"In addition to teaching disabled children knowledge, we need to pay more attention to their all-round development and help them better adapt to society," she said.