Wu Ming, a CPPCC member said: "During previous conferences we had papers piled in stacks several meters high. This year's improvement is both efficient and environmentally friendly."

Li Jun, also a CPPCC member, agreed with Wu Ming, adding, "There is a general trend for e-materials to gradually replace paper in an information society."

According to Xinhua News Agency, China has decided to streamline the annual sessions of its top legislature and top advisory body and cut dining and boarding expenses in a bid to reduce cost, as the unfolding global financial crisis takes its toll on the country, one of the world's largest economies.

"The 2009 CPPCC session will last nine days," Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the session, told a press conference held in Beijing on March 2.

With a more efficient agenda this year, the nine-day CPPCC session, down from 11 days last year, is "the shortest in CPPCC history," Xinhua quoted Zhao as saying.

(China.org.cn March 4, 2009)