The 1978 Constitution of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was promulgated in 1978. This was the PRC's 3rd

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

, and was adopted at the 1st Meeting of the

5th National People's Congress The 5th National People's Congress () was in session from 1978 to 1983. It succeeded the 4th National People's Congress. It held five plenary sessions in this period. The Congress passed the 1978 Constitution of the People's Republic of China ...

on March 5, 1978, two years after the downfall of the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The gang ...

. The number of articles grew from the 1975 Constitution's 30 articles to double the amount. The courts and the procurates, which were minimised or dumped altogether in the

1975 Constitution of the People's Republic of China The 1975 Constitution of the People's Republic of China was promulgated by the 4th National People's Congress. The offices of President and Vice-President were officially scrapped under the Constitution. This Constitution reduced the total num ...

, were somewhat restored. A number of

checks and balances Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typic ...

present in the 1954 Constitution, including

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

s for party leaders,

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

and more independence in the judiciary, were restored. The 1978 Constitution was the first Constitution in the PRC to touch explicitly on the

political status of Taiwan The controversy surrounding the political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is a result of World War II, the second phase of the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949), and the Cold War. The basic issue hinges on who the islands of Taiwan, P ...

. It said that "Taiwan is part of China" and said that the PRC "must liberate Taiwan, and finish the great task of reunifying the motherland". However, in 1979, the PRC dropped the liberation stance and opted for peaceful reunification instead. Notice the usage of the word "China" in the 1978 Constitution; the 1982 Constitution mentioned that "Taiwan is a sacred part of the territory of the People's Republic of China" instead of just "China". Citizen rights were also reinstated somewhat. The right to strike was still present, although it would be removed in the 1982 Constitution. However, the required support for the leadership of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

and the socialist system remained as part of citizens' duties. However, the Constitution still suffered from the backdrop of the just-gone-by

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. Revolutionary language was still persistent (such as "Revolutionary Committees"), although the slogans were gone. The 1978 Constitution survived for four years before being superseded by the current (1982)

Constitution of the People's Republic of China The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China. It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with further revisions about every five years. It is the fou ...

during the

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. Aft ...

era. In addition to inheriting some fundamental principles from the 1954 Constitution, the 1978 Constitution officially included the

Four Modernizations The Four Modernizations (simplified Chinese: 四个现代化; traditional Chinese: 四個現代化) were goals first set forth by Deng Xiaoping to strengthen the fields of agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology in China. T ...

policy with an emphasis on socialist democracy, scientific and educational development. It also mandated in the preamble part that China must "be constructed into a great, powerful, modern socialist country in agriculture, industry, national defense, science and technology within the century".

References

External links

* The Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1978)
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China (1978)

Political history of China Constitution of China

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