The Fifth Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) opens at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 3, 2012 (XINHUA)

The Fifth Session of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the country's top political advisory body, opened in Beijing Saturday.

More than 2,000 members of the CPPCC National Committee will discuss major issues of the country during the annual session scheduled to conclude on March 13.

At the opening meeting started at 3 p.m. in the Great Hall of the People, CPPCC National Committee Chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a report on the work of the CPPCC National Committee's Standing Committee over the past year.

Top Communist Party of China (CPC) and state leaders Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang, and Zhou Yongkang attended the opening meeting.

Founded in 1949, the CPPCC consists of elite figures of the Chinese society who are willing to serve the think tank for the government and for the legislative and judicial organs.

As an open forum where the ruling CPC, non-Communist parties and people without party affiliation discuss state affairs freely and on an equal footing, the CPPCC is the manifestation of China's socialist democracy.

(Xinhua News Agency March 3, 2012)