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China THE GOVERNMENT
Constitutional Framework
The formal structure of government in 1987 was based on the
State Constitution adopted on December 4, 1982, by the National
People's Congress (NPC), China's highest legislative body. Three
previous state constitutions--those of 1954, 1975, and 1978--had
been superseded in turn. The 1982 document reflects Deng Xiaoping's
determination to lay a lasting institutional foundation for
domestic stability and modernization. The new State Constitution
provides a legal basis for the broad changes in China's social and
economic institutions and significantly revises government
structure and procedures.
The 1982 State Constitution is a lengthy, hybrid document with
138 articles. Large sections were adapted directly from the 1978
constitution, but many of its changes derive from the 1954
constitution. Specifically, the new Constitution deemphasizes class
struggle and places top priority on development and on
incorporating the contributions and interests of nonparty groups
that can play a central role in modernization. Accordingly, Article
1 of the State Constitution describes China as a "people's
democratic dictatorship," meaning that the system is based on an
alliance of the working classes--in communist terminology, the
workers and peasants--and is led by the Communist Party, the
vanguard of the working class. Elsewhere, the Constitution provides
for a renewed and vital role for the groups that make up that basic
alliance--the CPPCC, democratic parties, and mass organizations.
The 1982 Constitution expunges almost all of the rhetoric
associated with the
Cultural Revolution (see Glossary)
incorporated
in the 1978 version. In fact, the Constitution omits all references
to the Cultural Revolution and restates Mao Zedong's contributions
in accordance with a major historical reassessment produced in June
1981 at the Sixth Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee, the
"Resolution on Some Historical Issues of the Party since the
Founding of the People's Republic."
There also is emphasis throughout the 1982 State Constitution
on socialist law as a regulator of political behavior. Thus, the
rights and obligations of citizens are set out in detail far
exceeding that provided in the 1978 constitution. Probably because
of the excesses that filled the years of the Cultural Revolution,
the 1982 Constitution gives even greater attention to clarifying
citizens' "fundamental rights and duties" than the 1954
constitution did. The right to vote and to run for election begins
at the age of eighteen except for those disenfranchised by law. The
Constitution guarantees the freedom of religious worship as well as
the "freedom not to believe in any religion" and affirms that
"religious bodies and religious affairs are not subject to any
foreign domination."
Article 35 of the 1982 State Constitution proclaims that
"citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of
speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession,
and of demonstration." In the 1978 constitution, these rights were
guaranteed, but so were the right to strike and the "four big
rights," often called the "four bigs": to speak out freely, air
views fully, hold great debates, and write big-character posters.
In February 1980, following the
Democracy Wall period (see Glossary),
the four bigs were abolished in response to a party
decision ratified by the National People's Congress. The right to
strike was also dropped from the 1982 Constitution. The widespread
expression of the four big rights during the student protests of
late 1986 elicited the regime's strong censure because of their
illegality. The official response cited Article 53 of the 1982
Constitution, which states that citizens must abide by the law and
observe labor discipline and public order. Besides being illegal,
practicing the four big rights offered the possibility of straying
into criticism of the CCP, which was in fact what appeared in
student wall posters. In a new era that strove for political
stability and economic development, party leaders considered the
four big rights politically destabilizing.
The new State Constitution is also more specific about the
responsibilities and functions of offices and organs in the state
structure. There are clear admonitions against familiar Chinese
practices that the reformers have labeled abuses, such as
concentrating power in the hands of a few leaders and permitting
lifelong tenure in leadership positions. In addition, the 1982
Constitution provides an extensive legal framework for the
liberalizing economic policies of the 1980s. It allows the
collective economic sector not owned by the state a broader role
and provides for limited private economic activity. Members of the
expanded rural collectives have the right "to farm private plots,
engage in household sideline production, and raise privately owned
livestock." The primary emphasis is given to expanding the national
economy, which is to be accomplished by balancing centralized
economic planning with supplementary regulation by the market.
Another key difference between the 1978 and 1982 state
constitutions is the latter's approach to outside help for the
modernization program. Whereas the 1978 constitution stressed
"self-reliance" in modernization efforts, the 1982 document
provides the constitutional basis for the considerable body of laws
passed by the NPC in subsequent years permitting and encouraging
extensive foreign participation in all aspects of the economy. In
addition, the 1982 document reflects the more flexible and less
ideological orientation of foreign policy since 1978. Such phrases
as "proletarian internationalism" and "social imperialism" have
been dropped.
Data as of July 1987
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