China's National People's Congress (NPC) is sometimes called "the parliamentary body," however it is not exactly the same as a parliament in the Western sense.

In the Western political models, which are usually designed with the "trias politica" principle in mind, the parliament is only one branch of the system and stands on an equal footing with executive and judiciary branches.

But in China, the NPC is the representation of people's power, which is the highest power in the country. Thus, the NPC elects the president, vice president and the chief justice, according to people's will.

This can be seen as one of the biggest differences between China's political system and that of the countries in the West.