By no means am I a national legislator, but over the past decade I've been enjoying some of the "perks" of a lawmaker, like meeting at the Great Hall of the People in early March each year.

Here at the grandiose building, about 3,000 deputies to the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, discuss and deliberate on legislation and national policies as an almost equal number of reporters chase them with sometimes bewildering questions.

It is a venue, I observe, that can best test the survival capabilities of a journalist.