8. Putting considerable effort into safety work to safeguard the safety and stability of the capital. Bearing firmly in mind that ensuring safety is a heavy responsibility, we put in place a sound safety responsibility system for monitoring public security, production, food and drugs, and public health. We also energetically looked for ways to develop a long-term mechanism for carrying out safety work. We established contingency management institutions at both the municipal and district levels, formulated contingency plans for dealing with all kinds of public emergencies, stepped up development of facilities and professional personnel for handling emergencies, launched campaigns to inform the masses about public security, put in place most of the elements of an emergency management system, and promptly and appropriately handled a variety of public emergencies. We set up a sound mechanism for identifying and correcting safety hazards and eliminated a total of 1,587 safety hazards that fell under the jurisdiction of the municipal government. We strengthened the laws and systems related to safe production, and introduced government regulations on safety management in crowded places and standards for safety management in other areas. We fully instituted a responsibility system for industry oversight, overall oversight and local government oversight and for the enterprises or agencies doing the work. We intensified oversight of coalmines, non-coal mining operations, hazardous substances, and crowded places, and kept overall production safety stable. We set up a unified system for food safety and food product recalls and effectively handled major food safety emergencies. We strengthened oversight over drugs from production to sale, established a mechanism for shutting down unsuitable pharmaceutical producers and resolutely cracked down on false advertising to ensure drug safety. We intensified efforts to investigate and resolve conflicts and disputes, properly handled complaints from the public expressed in letters and calls, carried out effective administrative reviews, and made great efforts to link civil, administrative and judicial mediation. We constantly improved crime prevention and control measures, launched extensive community campaigns to promote peace and security, and comprehensively promoted the project to improve safety through technology. We strictly combated all types of illegal and criminal activities and actively ran trials of community-based correction measures. We engaged in a resolute struggle against Falungong and other unhealthy cults and worked intensively to prevent sabotage by domestic and foreign hostile forces. All this ensured stability in public order in the capital.

9. Constantly strengthening the government's self-improvement efforts and striving to provide better services and management. We completed the work of restructuring government bodies, adjusting the management systems of seven departments, including the departments of transportation, water and landscaping, constantly improved the administrative law enforcement system, made steady progress in reform of township, town and neighborhood management systems, and gradually divested government institutions of their approval function. We supported the faster development of industry associations and social intermediaries. We thoroughly implemented the State Council's Program for Advancing All Aspects of Government Administration in Accordance with the Law and effectively put government administration on a stronger legal footing. We submitted 41 local statutes over the past five years to the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress for deliberation and approval, and passed, revised or rescinded 260 government regulations. We conscientiously implemented the Law on Oversight, comprehensively carried out the resolutions of the People's Congress and its Standing Committee, adhered to the system of reporting major matters to the Standing Committee, and faithfully submitted special work reports to the Standing Committee. We took the initiative to expand our contacts with the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPPCC and earnestly considered the opinions of the democratic parties, the Beijing Municipal Federation of Industry and Commerce, persons without party affiliation and mass organizations. We adhered to the system for maintaining ties with deputies to the People's Congress and members of the CPPCC Committee, and over the past five years handled 9,257 bills and suggestions from deputies to national and municipal people's congresses and 6,713 proposals from members of national and municipal CPPCC committees. We improved the rules and procedures for making major decisions to make decision-making more scientific and democratic. We quickened the pace of efforts to make government affairs more transparent and set up e-government. We cut back regular expenditures for government departments and standardized income distribution for all civil servants. We effectively carried out the education campaign to ensure Party members preserve their vanguard nature. We stepped up efforts to improve the work style of leading cadres, effectively improving their work style in eight areas. We conscientiously implemented a responsibility system to promote good Party conduct and clean government, resolutely investigated and prosecuted violators of laws and regulations, and gave the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection strong support in dealing with the case of Liu Zhihua for his serious violations of disciplinary standards. We strictly implemented the Civil Service Law, required that civil servants have clearly defined duties and responsibilities, have a clear understanding of the work situation, submit accurate data, be honest in their work and be productive. We paid close attention to basic work at the community level and worked hard to provide quality service to primary-level bodies, enterprises and the masses.
Notable achievements were made over the past five years in developing socialist democracy and the socialist legal system, and promoting cultural and ethical progress. Primary-level democracy was expanded and gradual progress was made in expanding self-government at the village and urban community level and making government administration in villages and management in enterprises more transparent. Campaigns to inform the public about the law were made more intensive, increasing public awareness of the law. Extensive activities were held to instill the socialist concept of honor and disgrace among the public, and the level of activities to promote cultural and ethical progress was constantly raised. Much work was done to improve the ideological and moral standards of young people and strengthen ideological and political education for university students. Continued progress was made in work related to ethnic groups, religions, overseas Chinese, and Taiwan. Substantive progress was made in population work and family planning. Sound progress was made in developing programs for women and children, the elderly, and the physically and mentally challenged. Improvements were made in national defense education and the army reserves for national defense. Work continued to encourage government agencies and the public to support the army and give preferential treatment to families of service personnel and martyrs, urge the army to support the government and respect civilians, and support the army and the people in working together to promote cultural and ethical progress. The army's intimate ties with the government and the people were further consolidated.
 The past five years was a period in which the people of Beijing seized opportunities presented by the coming Olympics, made institutional innovations and structural adjustments, and improved the environment in line with the requirements of the Scientific Outlook on Development to make progress on all fronts. During this period substantive progress was made in building a harmonious socialist society, and great efforts were made to address issues affecting people's well-being, from which most people benefited. In this period we all made a concerted effort to prepare for the Olympics in accordance with the plan and made significant progress. The past five years saw tremendous changes in urban and rural areas, with a significant increase in the city's ability to deliver services, steady progress in modernizing the city and constant improvement in the level of civility among the population. We owe these achievements to the correct guidance of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the strong leadership of the Beijing CPC Municipal Committee and the united and unremitting efforts of all the people of Beijing. On behalf of the municipal government, I would like to express our highest regards and sincere thanks to the people of all ethnic groups in Beijing, to deputies to the people's congresses and members of the CPPCC committees, to the democratic parties, mass organizations and people from all walks of life, to all the departments of the central authorities, fellow provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government, to workers who have come to Beijing from all over China, to the armed forces stationed in Beijing, and to our compatriots in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Taiwan and overseas Chinese communities, as well as to our foreign friends who care about and support the capital's development!

Fellow Deputies,
 During the past five years of work we constantly deepened our understanding of how to promote reform, opening up and modernization in the capital:
 First, we must resolutely remain closely in compliance with the CPC Central Committee, fully adhere to all its policies and principles, comprehensively follow the series of guidelines it issued on work for Beijing, stress politics, place the interests of the whole first, conscientiously safeguard the authority of the Central Committee at all times and under all circumstances and ensure its decrees are smoothly implemented in Beijing.

 Second, we must continue to emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, keep up with the times and, taking the nature and functions of the capital city as the starting point, constantly deepen our awareness and understanding of the laws governing the capital's economy, society and nature, pool the resources and wisdom of all quarters and fully carry out the government's "four-service" function.

 Third, we must fully apply the Scientific Outlook on Development, maintain the orientation of the capital's economic growth, constantly work to diversify the capital's economy, take full advantage of the opportunities presented by the Olympics, strengthen the capital's capacity for independent innovation, truly change the pattern of economic development, accelerate industrial restructuring, work hard to alleviate the pressure on resources and the environment caused by population growth, and promote the sound and rapid development of the capital's economy.

 Fourth, we must always keep in mind that the Party was established for the public and runs the government for the people, take the realization, safeguarding and development of the fundamental interests of the masses as the starting point and ultimate goal of all our work, attach greater importance to social development, focus on safeguarding and improving the well-being of the people, ensure the broad masses of the people share in the fruit of reform and development, and strive to make the capital a great place by building a harmonious socialist society.

 Fifth, we must continue to develop the socialist market economy, unwaveringly accelerate reform and opening up, give full play to the basic role of the market in allocating resources, focus on improving the development environment, provide institutional and mechanism guarantees for scientific development and continuously work to convert the capital's resource strengths into development advantages.

 Sixth, we must accelerate efforts to make the government more service-oriented and work hard to define specific ways for the municipal government to carry out its functions, making overall plans for doing a good job in the six areas of "planning, social and economic development, urban development, operations, services and administration" in order to constantly raise the level of the city's services and administration.

 While reviewing our achievements and experience, we must also be aware that there are still some serious difficulties and problems plaguing the capital's economic and social development. These are mainly evident in the following areas: population pressure on resources and the environment has not been mitigated and the tasks of bringing environmental pollution and traffic congestion under control remain daunting. In addition, the government's ability to provide public services urgently needs to be strengthened and the level of municipal administration urgently needs to be enhanced. The pattern of economic development needs to be further improved, the gap between the urban and rural areas and between regions is still too great, and economic and social development is uneven. The housing market structure is irrational, housing prices are rising too fast and cases of illegal land appropriation are still occurring. Efforts to address issues affecting the immediate interests of the public, such as employment, the social safety net, income distribution, education, public health, and industrial safety, need to be accelerated. Finally, the transformation of government functions has not yet been completed; service consciousness, work style and productivity are still substandard; and a tiny number of cadres are still engaging in corrupt practices such as using their powers for personal gain, embezzlement and accepting bribes. We must pay close attention to these problems and continue to work diligently to resolve them.