ANHUI, Sept. 24(Xinhuanet)-- Yan Taifang, a 70-year-old retiree unknown to the public several days ago has now become a person to whom many senior residents in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui Province, want to express thanks.

And that owes to his suggestions for making a law which guarantees the right of grand parents to visit their grandchildren.

Yan's only son died accidentally recently and he and his wife were denied the right to visit their grandson by their daughter-in-law. They appealed to the court but the issue could not be handled due to the lack of relevant regulations.

Anhui Province launched a month-long program to solicit public suggestions in law-making since the beginning of this month. Upon hearing the news, Yan rushed to the legal office of the Anhui provincial government and appealed for"making a law that protectsthe rights of grandparents to visit their grandchildren."

Yan's story was reported by local media and his suggestions formaking such a law were agreed to and supported by many people in the city of Hefei, especially some who had the same experience as Yan.

Zhang Wuyang, head of the legal office of the provincial government, said they received more than 40 suggestions within 20 days and most of the suggestions are about the protection of the rights and interests of women and children, anti-corruption and building a clean government, urban construction and traffic management.

In the past, the government and the standing committee of people's congresses of various levels decided on the birth of a law. Some local laws and regulations were even directly worked outby the provincial-level governments.

Common Chinese have been allowed to voice their opinions on law-making since the late 1990s. Normally, legislatures of variouslevels have held public hearings, inviting commoners to attend their meetings or publish draft laws to solicit public views for further revisions.

But Anhui's practice enables ordinary people to have even more say in law-making. It is now the general public who say what kind of laws and regulations should be made and how the laws and regulations are drafted.

On Wednesday, The Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress invited a group of 25 primary and middle school students to attend a symposium to discuss the framing of regulations to prevent minors from committing crimes.

Li Tingting, a girl from the Hefei No. 45 Junior Middle School,suggested that cyber cafes, which are usually blamed for seducing minors to commit crimes, should not be operated near schools.

Gao Fuming, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the Anhui Provincial People's Congress, said that inviting juveniles to discuss the regulations fully reflects that the provincial legislature puts people first in law-making.

Other provinces in China have also introduced this way to solicit public opinions for law-making.

The Standing Committee of the Liaoning Provincial People's Congress in northeast China launched a program to solicit public opinions for law-making from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15 last year. All together, the standing committee decided to enact laws and regulations based on 58 public suggestions selected from among 486public suggestions.

The Liaoning Provincial legislature drafted the Provincial Regulations on Urban Housing Demolition based on a suggestion set forth by a resident of Shenyang, the provincial capital, in July this year.

"Laws are reflections of people's will and law-making public hearing embodies the democratic procedure of law-making," said Wang Chunying, an associate professor with Beijing-based Foreign Affairs College.

"A law that gives expression to the will of the people is more authoritative and will be better respected by the people," Wang added. Enditem