Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong province is a vital window into China's reform and opening-up and one of the country's earliest special economic zones. Upholding the spirit of the special economic zones — daring to venture, open new ground and be hard-working pioneers — the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee has explored the establishment of deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries in areas with high industrial agglomeration, industrial clusters and areas with pressing development needs. This initiative has shifted deputies' duty performance from being geographically dispersed to being industry-focused, enabling professional deputies to perform their duties on professional platforms, thereby transforming institutional strengths into momentum for industrial development.

Recently, Shenzhen held a conference on developing deputy liaison stations for sectors and industries. Participants reviewed the achievements of the liaison stations and shared practical experiences from their frontline work. Through their exchanges, the distinctive features and advantages of the liaison stations as well as their priorities for future efforts became increasingly clear.

According to the conference, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee adheres to the principle of "building liaison stations wherever industries cluster". Since the first deputy liaison station for specific sectors and industries was established in 2019, the city has set up 25 municipal-level and 36 district-level such liaison stations, achieving full coverage across all 10 districts, deputies to people's congresses at all four levels and all key industries.

"Deputies are selected for the liaison stations through various channels, including self-nomination, targeted invitations and cross-district coordination, and those who have deep professional backgrounds, strong influence in their industries and a strong sense of commitment to their duties were eventually chosen. This truly ensures that industry insiders handle professional matters, which is the biggest difference between liaison stations for specific sectors and industries and other grassroots liaison stations," said an official from the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee.

On this basis, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress has established a "1+2+5+N" organizational framework: one leader of the district-level people's congress standing committee oversees the liaison station's work; one deputy to the people's congress and one director of the working committee of the sub-district people's congress serve as co-conveners; at least five deputies from the relevant industries and sectors serve as resident deputies at the liaison station; and "N" deputies to people's congresses at all four levels involve in the liaison station's work. This forms a well-structured organizational system with clear division of labor, collaborative efforts and broad participation.

At the same time, the liaison stations actively bring in industry associations, industrial parks, leading enterprises, and experts and scholars for in-depth participation, creating a multi-dimensional collaborative model. Currently, Shenzhen's deputy liaison stations for sectors and industries have partnered with more than 60 industry associations and over 1,000 enterprises.

The biomedical industry is one of Shenzhen's strategic emerging industries. Guo Huiqin, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) who has served at the station for years, noted that the liaison station regularly conducts research, special inspections and enterprise visits, allowing her to go deep into industrial parks, gain firsthand understanding of the industry's development and the difficulties faced by enterprises, and hear authentic grassroots voices.

This has helped build bridges between government and enterprises, and assist enterprises in resolving their difficulties. "This makes my work as a deputy more targeted and effective, and gives me a greater sense of fulfillment and initiative in performing my duties," Guo said.

Deputies at the port and logistics industry liaison station of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress organize a research activity on the application of battery-swap models for new-energy heavy trucks and innovative practices in the green and low-carbon transformation of ports, and formulate relevant suggestions on May 27, 2025, which are to be handled by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress. [Photo provided by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress]

In September last year, Min Qishuang, a deputy to the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress and convenor of the smart home industry liaison station, joined forces with several fellow deputies and industry heavyweights to host a livestreaming session themed "Deputies talk: What makes a better home", which attracted over 560,000 online views and further boosted the visibility of the "Sungang Smart Home" industry brand.

Reflecting on the founding of the liaison station, which was established last year, Min said that "go to Sungang for furniture" was a shared memory for many Shenzheners. However, as consumer demand evolved and technology advanced, the shortcomings of the traditional home furnishing business, including limited adoption of smart technologies and scenarios for consumers, have become increasingly evident.

Leveraging the opportunity of urban renewal and with the support of the liaison station, Sungang has been striving to transform from a traditional warehousing cluster into a smart and high-end home furnishing hub. Today, more than 250 upstream and downstream enterprises have settled here, and the once-declining industry has been revitalized.

"Through the liaison station, we have truly integrated the deputies' research, supervision and suggestion offerings into every link of industrial development." With the sustained efforts of the liaison station, the Sungang smart home industry has been incorporated into Shenzhen's industrial development plan, and Luohu district has issued policies such as the Several Measures of Luohu District to Support the Agglomeration and Development of the Smart Home Industry, offering much-needed reassurance to related enterprises.

Liaison stations serve as both a booster for industrial upgrading and a detector of sector-specific bottlenecks.

As a leading hub for China's gold and jewelry industry, Shenzhen boasts a complete industrial chain spanning design, processing, testing and trading. However, during field research, Huang Xiqin, an NPC deputy, and other deputies at the liaison station found that the development of Shenzhen's gold and jewelry industry still faces certain obstacles.

In response to the industry's development challenges, the deputies at the liaison station submitted nearly 30 suggestions on issues such as consumption tax reform, digital transformation and financing relief to people’s congresses at various levels. In recent years, Huang has also submitted multiple suggestions at the annual NPC sessions, including on establishing an international jewelry and jade comprehensive trading center in Shenzhen and on accelerating the shift of the consumption tax on jewelry and jade to the retail stage, bringing the voices from the industrial frontline to the Great Hall of the People.

The rule of law provides the best business environment. Leveraging their strengths of being closely connected with industries and having a deep understanding of industry realities, the liaison stations have contributed legal expertise to the development of various industries and sectors. The legal services industry liaison station, in collaboration with Futian's national-level grassroots legislative outreach office, has participated routinely in legislative consultations, providing critical input for the drafting and revision of over 60 laws and regulations, including the Private Economy Promotion Law. The gold and jewelry industry liaison station has carried out legal awareness activities tailored to industry needs, reaching over 100,000 participants both online and offline.

In 2025, Shenzhen's 25 municipal-level deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries conducted a total of 613 activities, including inspections, research and study sessions, produced 59 research reports, and put forward 295 suggestions. Of these, 118 suggestions concerning legislation and policy were adopted, helping resolve 349 industrial bottlenecks. Behind these efforts lies the dynamic momentum with which the liaison stations empower industrial development, serving as a vivid example of whole-process people's democracy in the industrial context.

The smart home industry liaison station of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress hosts a public lecture and a special deliberation session on May 21, 2026. [Photo provided by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress]

Institutional development provides the fundamental safeguard for the standardized and long-term operation of liaison stations.

At the conference, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress, in collaboration with the Shenzhen Institute of Standards and Technology, unveiled the country's first official standard for deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries. The standard establishes a comprehensive performance management system covering organizational structure, duty performance systems, operational oversight and performance evaluation and iteration, offering a replicable model for other regions.

"This marks a new phase of standardized and regulated operations for Shenzhen's deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries," said an official from the Deputy Affairs Commission of the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee. The official emphasized that Shenzhen has prioritized institutional building throughout the development of these stations, continuously refining the system to ensure steady progress from having rules to follow to efficient and standardized performance.

To break down industry boundaries and regional barriers, the Shenzhen Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee has innovatively established a joint meeting system, dividing the 25 municipal-level deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries into four major categories. Joint research activities and cross-sector forums are organized on a regular basis, and the liaison stations also engage in cross-sector collaboration.

For instance, the smart home and green industry liaison stations jointly host public lectures by deputies; the gold and jewelry and coastal eco-cultural tourism liaison stations co-organized deputies' deliberation sessions; and the digital entertainment and specialty cultural tourism and eyewear industry liaison stations collaborate on field studies to assess development needs of the cultural tourism industry. These efforts have pooled strength for high-quality development of the industries.

Grounded in the broader context of coordinated regional development across the province and expanding the space for industrial synergy, Shenzhen's deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries have also proactively reached out. Since last year, deputies to people's congresses and industry delegations have traveled to cities such as Shantou and Heyua to explore industrial partnerships, resulting in dozens of industrial cooperation projects.

After more than seven years of exploration, practice and improvement, the development of Shenzhen's deputy liaison stations for specific sectors and industries has not only effectively enhanced the professionalism, relevance and effectiveness of deputies' duty performance, empowering high-quality development, but also provided a vivid "Shenzhen model" for upholding and improving the people's congress system and advancing whole-process people's democracy.