Constitution of China

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is a communist state constitution and the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

First attempts at a constitutional system in China started near the end of the Qing dynasty, which was overthrown following the 1911 Revolution. The newly-established Republic of China adopted a Provisional Constitution in 1912, which provided a parliamentary system. However, the constitution was largely ineffective as China quickly disintegrated into warlordism. In 1928, the Kuomintang unified most of China and promulgated the Provisional Constitution of the Political Tutelage Period in 1931, intended to remain in effect until the country had been pacified. In 1947, the Kuomintang adopted the Constitution of the Republic of China; however, the constitution was never extensively nor effectively implemented due to the outbreak of the Chinese Civil War.

In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Program, which acted as the temporary constitution after the PRC's foundation in October 1949. On 20 September 1954, the first constitution was adopted by the first session of the 1st National People's Congress. The constitution went through a major revision during the Cultural Revolution in 1975. The constitution went through further revisions in 1978 following the end of the Cultural Revolution. The current constitution was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on 4 December 1982, which was adopted during the reform and opening up. The 1982 constitution has gone through five subsequent revisions.

The current constitution consists of 4 chapters and 143 articles. It explains the nature and basic policies of the People's Republic of China, highlights the concept of democratic centralism, and states that the People's Republic of China is a "socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants". It stipulates the central and local state institutions work under the system of people's congress, and states that China implements basic political systems such as the system of community-level self-governance and the regional ethnic autonomy system. The constitution also lists its basic national policies and establishes the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).