NPC 2026: Agenda and Daily Schedule
Your daily guide to the 2026 session of China's National People's Congress
Welcome back to a special issue of NPC Observer Monthly, a (mostly) monthly newsletter about China’s national legislature: the National People’s Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee (NPCSC).
I’m crossposting all our coverage of the 2026 NPC session on our main site to this Substack. You can deselect “NPC Observer Crossposts” in the settings for this newsletter to opt out of the crossposts.
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[The following post was first published on NPC Observer]
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) has released its 2026 session’s agenda and daily schedule of meetings, as well as a preliminary schedule of press events during the session. This year’s session will open on the morning of March 5 and close on the afternoon of March 12, lasting eight full days. As the NPC spokesperson announced in 2024, Premier Li Qiang will not hold a press conference after this session (or during the remainder of this NPC term “absent special circumstances”).
All times below are in China Standard Time (UTC +8:00). For a primer on the NPC and its annual sessions, check out this FAQ.
The 2026 session’s agenda contains the following eleven items:
Deliberate the Government Work Report;
Review a draft Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (“15th FYP”);
Review a report on the implementation of the 2025 Plan for National Economic and Social Development (“Development Plan”) and on the draft 2026 Development Plan; and review the draft 2026 Development Plan;
Review a report on the execution of the 2025 Central and Local Budgets (“Budgets”) and on the draft 2026 Budgets; and review the draft 2026 Budgets;
Deliberate a draft Ecological and Environmental Code (“Environmental Code”)[生态环境法典];
Deliberate a draft Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress (“Ethnic Unity Law”) [民族团结进步促进法];
Deliberate a draft Law on National Development Plans (“Planning Law”) [国家发展规划法];
Deliberate the work report of the NPC Standing Committee (NPCSC);
Deliberate the work report of the Supreme People’s Court (SPC);
Deliberate the work report of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP); and
Deliberate the NPCSC’s Report on Efforts to Clean Up Laws and Opinions on Handling Relevant Laws and Decisions (“Cleanup Report”) [关于法律清理工作情况和有关法律和决定处理意见的报告].
Key documents will be introduced and voted on according to the following schedule:
March 5 (a.m.): Hear the Government Work Report; review the draft 15th FYP; review the report on the Development Plans and the 2026 Development Plan; review the report on the Budgets and the 2026 Budgets; hear explanations of the draft Environmental Code, draft Ethnic Unity Law, and draft Planning Law.
March 9 (a.m.): Hear the NPCSC’s, SPC’s, and SPP’s work reports; and review the Cleanup Report.
March 12 (p.m.): Vote on all resolutions, the draft Environmental Code, draft Ethnic Unity Law, draft Planning Law, and a draft decision to approve the Cleanup Report.
A more detailed description of the session’s daily schedule follows. “Delegates’ Corridors” [代表通道] and “Ministers’ Corridors” [部长通道] are brief Q&As that will take place immediately before and after, respectively, each plenary meeting. We will update this post with links to all plenary meetings and press events throughout the session. [Please check the original version of this post for updates.]
Thursday, March 5
🎙 a.m.: Delegates’ Corridor #1
9 a.m. (plenary meeting #1): Hear the Government Work Report from Li Qiang (Premier); review the draft the 15th FYP; review the report on the Development Plans and the 2026 Development Plan; review the report on the Budgets and the 2026 Budgets; and hear explanations of the draft Environmental Code, draft Ethnic Unity Law, and draft Planning Law by Li Hongzhong (NPCSC Vice Chairman).
🎙 a.m.: Ministers’ Corridor #1
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate the Government Work Report as delegations.
Friday, March 6
9 a.m.: Delegates review the draft 15th FYP as delegations.
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate the Government Work Report and review the draft 15th FYP in small groups.
🎙 p.m.: Press conference on the economy
Saturday, March 7
9 a.m.: Delegates review, in small groups, the report on Development Plans and the draft 2026 Development Plan, as well as the report on the Budgets and the draft 2026 Budgets.
🎙 a.m.: Press conference on “the people’s livelihood”
3 p.m.: Delegates review, in small groups, the report on Development Plans and the draft 2026 Development Plan, as well as the report on the Budgets and the draft 2026 Budgets.
Sunday, March 8
9 a.m.: Delegates deliberate the draft Environmental Code in small groups.
🎙 a.m.: Press conference on foreign affairs
📄 12 p.m.: Deadline for submitting delegate bills
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate the draft Ethnic Unity Law and draft Planning Law in small groups.
Monday, March 9
🎙 a.m.: Delegates’ Corridor #2
9 a.m. (plenary meeting #2): Hear the NPCSC’s work report from Zhao Leji (NPCSC Chairman); hear the SPC’s work report from Zhang Jun (SPC President); hear the SPP’s work report from Ying Yong (SPP Procurator-General); and review the Cleanup Report.
🎙 a.m.: Ministers’ Corridor #2
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate the NPCSC’s work report and Cleanup Report in small groups.
Tuesday, March 10
9 a.m.: Delegates deliberate the SPC’s and SPP’s work reports in small groups.
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate, in small groups, revised versions of the draft Environmental Code, draft Ethnic Unity Law, and draft Planning Law, as well as the SPC’s and SPP’s work reports.
Wednesday, March 11
9 a.m.: Delegates deliberate the NPCSC’s, SPC’s, and SPP’s work reports as delegations.
3 p.m.: Delegates deliberate, in small groups, four draft resolutions on the Government Work Report, 15th FYP, Development Plans, and Budgets, respectively.
Thursday, March 12
9 a.m.: Delegates deliberate, in small groups, three draft resolutions on the NPCSC’s, SPC’s, and SPP’s work reports, respectively; and a draft decision to approve the Cleanup Report.
🎙 p.m.: Delegates’ Corridor #3
3 p.m. (plenary meeting #3): Vote on all resolutions, the draft Environmental Code, draft Ethnic Unity Law, draft Planning Law, and the draft decision to approve the Cleanup Report.
🎙 p.m.: Ministers’ Corridor #3