Students carrying a CPC flag (right) and a flag of the Communist Youth League of China have a group photo taken in front of the Red Building. Photo: Cui Meng/GT

China plans to formulate a law on patriotic education by making full use of various resources, facilities and platforms, the first such law, which experts believe to be of great and far-reaching significance in galvanizing the national spirit and promoting the construction of a strong country and rejuvenation for the Chinese nation.

The draft will be reviewed during the third session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress (NPC), China's national legislature, which will be held in Beijing from Monday to Wednesday, officials announced at a press conference on Sunday.

Zang Tiewei, a spokesperson for the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the NPC, said that the draft was formed by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee  and the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the NPC after an in-depth investigation, extensive solicitation of opinions and repeated revisions and improvements.

Main contents of the draft law include the connotation goal, guiding ideology and overall requirements of patriotic education, the working principles and content of patriotic education, the duties of the competent departments and relevant departments, as well as the tasks of all relevant parties when carrying out patriotic education for different groups and targets, provisions on making full use of all kinds of resources, facilities and platforms to carry out patriotic education and providing support and safeguard measures for patriotic education, according to Zang.

In the drafting process, the opinions and suggestions of relevant parties, especially the grass-roots legislative contact points, were extensively solicited, Zang said.

A Beijing-based legal expert, who requested anonymity, told the Global Times on Sunday that although the Constitution, the National Defense Education Law, the Compulsory Education Law and other laws already have the content of patriotic education, the specialized law can better regulate educational activities, and is also a reflection of the will to promote the national spirit.

"In the next step, the commission will continue to solicit opinions and suggestions from the public through various channels and means, revise and improve the draft law, publicize and interpret the legal provisions, and better promote the spirit of patriotism," Zang noted.