| Summary: | 碩士 === 淡江大學 === 大陸研究所 === 89 === To understand the political system of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), one must study its constitution and the institution in charge of constitutional reforms. A constitution is the basic law of a country; it proscribes the basic rules of governmental organization and civil rights and obligations. Studying a constitution’s promulgation and its subsequent reforms enables one to understand the spirit of a nation and its governmental system. In North America, Europe, Japan, or Taiwan, constitutional reforms must be completed by certain mechanisms and processes. In Taiwan, the National Assembly is the governmental institution in charge of amending the constitution, while the National People’s Congress (NPC) is its counterpart in the PRC. Although the NPC has legislative and oversight powers and the ability to amend the constitution, it is generally regarded as a mere“rubber stamp”or“hand-raising machine,”given China’s one-party, authoritarian system. This paper intends to investigate the promulgation of the PRC’s constitutional provisions and the process involved to understand the changes in its constitution and the differences between rulemaking and its actual implementation. Furthermore, this study will facilitate an insight into the characteristics of the PRC’s constitution as well as the essential qualities of the Chinese Communist Party.
The paper will examine the four constitutions adopted in 1954, 1975, 1978, and 1982 since the establishment of the PRC in 1949. In addition, the paper divides the constitutions into four periods: 1949 to 1966, the beginning of the Cultural Revolution;1966 to 1976, the end of the Cultural Revolution; 1976 to 1982, the newest constitution after Deng Xiaoping’s rise to power; and 1982 to present. The paper studies the background of the PRC’s promulgation of its constitution and its constitutional reforms. Moreover, the process and characteristics of amending the constitution and the actual mechanism of the NPC will be studied to further analyze the PRC’s political system.
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