Image of Asia: Outside the Great Hall of the People

Thousands of delegates are in the Chinese capital this week to attend the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress. The rubber-stamp congress is scheduled to open Thursday, when its delegates will review the government’s work report and its annual budget. The consultative conference is an advisory body to the congress. The opening of the annual full meeting of the largely rubber-stamp National People’s Congress comes less than a week after China cut interest rates for the second time in three months, underscoring the growth challenges that the country faces this year.

Asia-Pacific china congress