Health and the Two Sessions (Pt 1 of 2): What China’s Top Political Event Really Revealed This Year
China’s Two Sessions each March is a political mega-event. It’s more than the King’s Speech or State of the Union combined—where top policymakers set up the year through suits, slogans and symbolism.
🔬This is Part 1 in my deep dive 2-parter on “Health and the Two Sessions.” This Real Diagnosis series on the Two Sessions is really special. It’s truly the only place where you can find publicly available health-specific analysis on China’s most important annual political event. I’m bringing the consultancy insights I deliver for my clients, right into your inbox.
Today: What was (and wasn’t) said about health at the Two Sessions—and what it signals for China’s policies, patients and ambitions.
Next time: Why these trends matter—and how they’ll shape the next months and years of living, working and doing business in China’s health system.
Every spring, Beijing’s political calendar kicks into high gear. It’s not just fashion week that has reporters and analysts glued to their screens—the Two Sessions (两会, Lianghui) dominates headlines, social feeds and policy memos.
It’s China’s biggest political event of the year. This is when the country’s top leadership unveils national priorities, economic targets and policies that will shape the year ahead.
Thousands of delegates, identical in their black suits and dyed dark hair, pack into the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Announcements roll out via tightly scripted schedules. Journalists, analysts and industry insiders analyse every line for clues about China’s next move.
If you’re deep in policy circles, you’ve likely been drowning in Lianghui analysis for weeks. But if you’re not? You might have only skimmed a headline—or missed it entirely.
Big mistake.
If you want to understand where China’s health system is headed, how it’s evolving, and what that means globally—you need to understand the Two Sessions. Because it’s the only political event where health gets this much public airtime—alongside economics, industry and national strategy.
What is said (and not said) during the Two Sessions will go on to shape the health of one in five people on the planet. And that affects all of us—whether you work in policy, tech or just care about how health systems are adapting to ageing, AI and other global shifts.
At LINTRIS Health, we’ve been covering this closely for our clients. Now, here at China Health Pulse, I’m breaking it down for you too—in a direct and digestible way.
Let’s dive right in.
What are the Two Sessions?
The “Two Sessions” refers to two meetings which make up a choreographed double act of power and pageantry:
National People’s Congress (NPC): China's top legislative body (like Parliament or Congress), which reviews and rubber-stamps policies, budgets and laws
Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC): a political stage for elite advisors—academics, business execs and Party loyalists. They don’t pass laws, but they do signal what sectors are in favour.
It happens every year, and it’s highly public. (By contrast: China’s Party Congress, held every five years, is more about leadership reshuffles and ideology, and the Central Committee Plenums are closed-door, elite-only affairs.)
The closest Western equivalents:
US: it’s like combining the State of the Union, the federal budget rollout and a legislative strategy speech all into one—with no public debate.
UK: imagine the Budget and the King’s Speech fused together — with announcements that directly shape national strategy across health, tech energy and more.
But unlike in Westminster or Washington, this isn’t about debate or drama. It’s about alignment. And signalling. Everything is pre-agreed, but everything is on purpose.