KEY POINTS:
China's annual parliament, the National People's Congress, is to consider phasing out the farming of black bears for their bile.
Sichuan delegate Zhou Ping has proposed the move, saying it is cruel to the 7000 bears farmed in China.
The bile, used in traditional medicine, is collected as it drips from a cut made in the bears' spleens, making the practice the focus of much anger from animal welfare groups.
The plight of the black bear is just one of the topics up for discussion at the gathering of 3000 delegates in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square.
The congress still bears the hallmarks of Cold War communism, with strong unanimity behind any measures introduced by the Politburo and no room for explicit dissent.
On the surface, the 12-day event is a talking shop, but it is also the largest gathering of opinion in China and a useful forum for gauging what's on the mind of the general populace.
With Chinese youngsters becoming too easily addicted to the internet, the Government has banned any new internet cafes opening this year and wants laws to keep teenagers out of the ones that already exist.
One of the most significant bills up for debate will be China's first law on property rights which, for the first time under the Communist government, grants the same protection for state, collective and private property. The aim is to create a better environment for doing business. Last year it was pushed off the agenda by hardliners.
The notion of private property is already part of the constitution but this new bill is a milestone because it will enshrine private property rights in law.
Most believe it's unlikely to make a difference to the 800 million rural Chinese, increasingly irritated by having their land taken away almost at will by greedy speculators, and by the expanding wealth gap which leaves their incomes further behind those in the rich eastern cities.
Not that the general populace will be allowed anywhere near the Soviet-era Great Hall of the People.
Human Rights Watch has written to Premier Wen Jiabao saying China should adopt reforms to strengthen rights protections.
China's Parliament will also unanimously back an 18 per cent rise in the defence budget, something that has rattled China's neighbours, particularly the island of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province and has threatened to retake by force if it attempts independence.
The yearly talking shop will be its last before the 17th Communist Party Congress this autumn, when a sweeping leadership reshuffle is expected as President Hu Jintao cements his grip on power.
- INDEPENDENT
Up for debate
Delegates will push for:
* Tobacco: Greater efforts to curb smoking.
* Bear bile: The farming of black bears for their bile to be phased out.
* Same-sex rape: Same-sex assaults to be considered crimes.
* Religion: Religion to play a part in promoting social and global harmony.
* Pollution: The dirtiest steel mills closed and polluted rivers cleaned up.
