Yuan Longping, known as China's "Father of Hybrid Rice," inspects the new breed in the fields in Hekou Township in Xiangtan City, central China's Hunan Province, Sept. 29, 2017. China's annual political sessions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) are scheduled to convene in March, 2018. During the two sessions, development agendas will be reviewed and discussed, and key policies will be adopted. Year 2018 marks the first year of fully implementing the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, in which innovation has been labeled as the primary driving force behind development and the strategic underpinning for building a modernized economy. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)