The National People’s Congress

Category: Government & Politics
Established: September 1954 (First National People’s Congress)
Members: Approximately 2,900–3,000 deputies (current session)
Sessions: Convenes annually for approximately 10–14 days in March

Summary

The National People’s Congress (NPC; Chinese: 全国人民代表大会, Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì) is the chief legislative institution of the People’s Republic of China, described in the Constitution as “the highest organ of state power.” Established at the First National People’s Congress in September 1954 — initially as a transitional institution under the 1954 Constitution — the NPC formally represents the legislative authority of the Chinese state and, in constitutional theory, the sovereign will of the people. The NPC’s Standing Committee, a permanent body of approximately 175 members, conducts legislative work between annual sessions, interpreting law, overseeing state administration, and managing day-to-day state functions. In practice, the Communist Party of China (CPC) exercises authority through the NPC via party discipline and the nomenklatura system of cadre appointment; deputies are selected through a pyramidal process of lower-level people’s congresses and party-controlled nomination, ensuring the party’s direct control of legislative outcomes. Despite its nominal supremacy in the constitutional hierarchy, the NPC functions primarily as a ratification body for policies determined by the party’s leadership.

The NPC’s structure parallels the hierarchical organization of government and society: provincial, municipal, county, and township people’s congresses below it submit deputies upward through a carefully managed electoral process. The Congress has expanded from approximately 1,200 deputies at its first session to roughly 2,900–3,000 by the 21st century. Its permanent, professional staff — consolidated into the Standing Committee — handles continuous legislative work, including drafting laws, conducting oversight of the State Council (the executive branch), supervising courts and prosecutors, and managing state finance and budget approval.

Constitutional Framework and Theory

Under the 1954 Constitution (revised in 1975, 1978, and 1982), the NPC is the “highest” state organ, theoretically embodying the sovereignty of the people and holding paramount authority over all other state bodies — the presidency, the State Council (executive), the judiciary, the military commission, and lower-level governments. The Constitution stipulates that only the NPC can amend the Constitution itself, enact basic laws, and elect key state officers (the President and Vice-President, members of the State Council, the President of the Supreme Court, and the Procurator-General of the Supreme Procuratorate). In formal structure, sovereignty flows upward from citizens through local congresses to the NPC, which then authorizes the executive and judicial branches — a model derived from Leninist principles of the “dictatorship of the proletariat” exercised through representative bodies.

The NPC Standing Committee, elected by the NPC and accountable to it, concentrates considerable power. The Standing Committee can enact laws between NPC sessions (with certain restrictions on fundamental laws), interpret the Constitution, supervise the State Council and courts, approve international treaties, declare war, approve the state budget, and appoint key officials. The Standing Committee meets roughly every two months, giving it practical control over ongoing state business. The top leadership positions within the Standing Committee — particularly its chairmanship — have historically been held by senior figures in the party hierarchy, binding it to CPC authority.

Electoral Process and Composition

The NPC’s deputies are elected through a hierarchical system that ensures party control while maintaining the façade of popular representation. At the lowest level, township and county people’s congresses are nominally elected by the general population, though the party controls candidate nomination, media, and ballot presentation. At each ascending level — county, provincial, and national — deputies are selected by the congress at that level. The entire process is shepherded by Communist Party committees and the Organization Department, which curate candidate lists. While contested elections with multiple candidates occasionally occur in lower-level congresses, the party ensures that candidates at higher levels face no serious competition and that outcomes align with party decisions reached at standing meetings.

Deputies to the NPC include high-ranking party officials, military officers, government administrators, representatives from mass organizations (trade unions, women’s federations), model workers, intellectuals, and, since the 1980s, an increasing percentage of entrepreneurs — reflecting the party’s ideological evolution. Women comprise roughly 25–30% of deputies, and ethnic minorities (who make up ~8% of China’s population) are guaranteed a minimum of 10% of seats. These quotas are met through controlled nomination rather than open competition.

Formal Legislative Functions

The NPC formally exercises several constitutional powers:

Constitutional Amendments: Only the NPC can amend the Constitution. The People’s Republic has adopted four successive constitutions (1954, 1975, 1978, and the current 1982 charter), and the 1982 Constitution has since been amended five times (1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018). Each amendment requires the approval of two-thirds of all NPC deputies. Constitutional amendments have marked major policy shifts — the removal of presidential term limits in 2018, permitting Xi Jinping’s indefinite continuation in office, exemplified the NPC’s ratificatory role.

Legislation: The NPC enacts laws governing fundamental areas — criminal law, civil law, procedural law, and constitutional amendments. The Standing Committee fills in legislative details through subordinate regulations. During NPC sessions (held annually in March since 1998), deputies formally review and vote on legislation prepared by the Standing Committee and government bodies, though these votes overwhelmingly pass with near-universal approval (typically >99%).

Budget Approval: The NPC formally approves the national budget and final accounts (settlements of previous budgets). This power is largely ratificatory, as the Ministry of Finance and party leadership determine budgetary priorities; the NPC session reviews and endorses them.

Personnel Elections: The NPC elects the President, Vice-President, Chairperson of the Standing Committee, and appoints the Premier and state councillors nominated by the President. These elections, too, are predetermined by party leadership and concluded via voice vote with unanimous approval.

Oversight Functions (in Theory and Practice)

The Constitution grants the NPC power to supervise state organs: questioning government officials, investigating state agencies, and impeaching judges or procurators. In practice, oversight is constrained by party discipline and the integration of party authority with state authority. Questioning of government officials occurs during NPC sessions, with officials present to respond, but questions are vetted in advance and responses follow talking points. Criticism remains procedural and rarely results in removal of officials — the party’s Organization Department handles accountability for major officials. The NPC has never impeached a sitting president or premier, nor has it ever held a vote of no-confidence in the government. Its oversight role complements rather than challenges party authority.

Evolution and Contemporary Role

1954–1966: The NPC functioned as a legislating body with genuine deliberative elements, including debate and occasional amendments to proposed laws. Deputies had more latitude for criticism. Sessions were held less frequently (1–2 per year).

1966–1976 (Cultural Revolution): The NPC held no plenary sessions for roughly a decade. After the Third NPC met in early 1965, no congress was convened until the Fourth NPC gathered for a single brief session in January 1975, as the Cultural Revolution essentially suspended formal legislative work in favor of mass mobilization and factional struggle.

1978–Present (Reform Era): The NPC expanded its scale and systematized annual sessions beginning in 1998. From Deng Xiaoping onward, the NPC has been reinforced as the formal venue for promulgating market-oriented laws while retaining party authority. The 1982 Constitution restored constitutional governance after the Cultural Revolution’s chaos. The NPC enacted the Sino-Foreign Joint Venture Law (1979), the Criminal Law (1979/1997), the Civil Procedure Law (2012/2022), and numerous economic regulations enabling the Special Economic Zones and market reforms. Its Standing Committee expanded its legislative output, passing hundreds of laws and regulations annually.

Xi Jinping Era (2012–Present): Under Xi’s leadership, the NPC has been repositioned as a vehicle for consolidating party power. The 2018 constitutional amendment (adopted by the 13th NPC’s first session on March 11, 2018) removed the two-term limit on the presidency established in 1982, permitting Xi Jinping to remain President indefinitely. The amendment passed 2,958 to 2, with 3 abstentions — the two “no” votes, anonymously cast, represented an unprecedented degree of dissent. The NPC also codified in the Constitution Xi Jinping’s political theory (“Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era”), elevating his personal ideology to the same textual status as Mao Zedong Thought. Hong Kong’s autonomy was altered fundamentally when the NPC Standing Committee passed the Hong Kong National Security Law on June 30, 2020, criminalizing secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces — bypassing Hong Kong’s own Legislative Council and effectively ending the “one country, two systems” framework in substance. The following year, the NPC approved electoral reforms (March 2021) that reduced directly elected seats in Hong Kong’s legislature from 35 to 20 (out of 90) and mandated that all candidates pass a “patriots only” vetting committee.

The 14th NPC (2023–2028), convened in March 2023, elected Zhao Leji as Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee (replacing Li Zhanshu), and formally appointed Li Qiang as Premier and Xi Jinping for a third presidential term — both historically unprecedented actions in the post-Mao system. The 2023 session also restructured several government ministries, creating a new National Data Bureau and reorganizing financial regulatory bodies. A landmark achievement of the 13th NPC was the adoption of China’s comprehensive Civil Code (Minfǎdiǎn) on May 28, 2020 — a 1,260-article codification of civil law (property rights, contracts, personality rights, marriage and family, inheritance, and tort liability) that represented the most comprehensive private-law reform since 1949.

Relationship with the Communist Party

The NPC’s operational reality diverges from its constitutional role as supreme sovereign authority. The party’s Central Committee and its top bodies (the Politburo and Politburo Standing Committee) make strategic decisions that are then channeled through state institutions, including the NPC, for formal enactment. Party discipline ensures that CPC members serving as NPC deputies (which comprise the vast majority of deputies) vote in alignment with party direction. The party’s Organization Department controls the nomination of deputies, particularly at higher levels, ensuring alignment with party interests.

This arrangement reflects a fundamental principle of Communist rule: the party exercises authority through state organs rather than alongside them. The NPC is thus a state organ that embeds and operationalizes party power. Senior NPC officials — the Chairperson of the Standing Committee and other prominent figures — are typically high-ranking party cadres. The Chairperson of the NPC Standing Committee is consistently drawn from the Politburo Standing Committee (PBSC), the apex seven-member body of party authority: Li Peng (1998–2003), Wu Bangguo (2003–2013), Zhang Dejiang (2013–2018), Li Zhanshu (2018–2023), and Zhao Leji (2023–present) have all simultaneously held PBSC rank, ensuring that the NPC’s leadership is inseparable from the party’s inner circle.

The “Two Sessions” (Liǎng Huì): NPC and the CPPCC

The annual NPC session is joined in March by a parallel gathering of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC; 中国人民政治协商会议), creating the so-called liǎng huì (“Two Sessions”) — the most politically significant annual event in China’s governance calendar. The CPPCC, established in September 1949 (predating the NPC by five years) and refounded in 1978, is a multi-party advisory body that formally includes representatives from eight minor parties (the “democratic parties,” such as the China Democratic League and the China National Democratic Construction Association), people’s organizations, ethnic minorities, religious bodies, overseas Chinese, and prominent cultural and scientific figures.

The CPPCC has no legislative power — it is a consultative body that submits proposals, reviews policy reports, and advises on national priorities. Its approximately 2,100 members are selected through similar party-controlled processes as NPC deputies. In practice, CPPCC membership serves as a mechanism for co-opting social elites — successful entrepreneurs, celebrated artists and scientists, prominent academics, and representatives of religious and ethnic communities — within the party-state’s institutional structure without granting them direct legislative authority.

The liǎng huì sessions run concurrently for approximately ten to fourteen days each March, generating intensive official media coverage. The Premier’s Government Work Report, delivered on the opening day of the NPC session, is the most-watched political speech of the year, outlining GDP growth targets, social policy priorities, and defense spending. The convergence of NPC and CPPCC in this single annual event creates a theatrical display of the breadth of representation while maintaining the party’s control over outcomes.

International Engagement and Soft Power

In recent decades, the NPC has developed international connections through parliamentary diplomacy. The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee conducts bilateral exchanges with foreign legislatures, hosts delegations, and participates in inter-parliamentary organizations. These activities, while modest compared to engagement by some democracies, serve to project China’s image as a functioning state with representative institutions — though the limited autonomy of NPC members constrains genuine legislative exchange.

Significance and Legitimacy

The NPC serves multiple functions in China’s political system. Constitutionally, it represents the state’s formal sovereign authority and anchors the rule of law by embodying the legal hierarchy. Politically, it provides a venue for top party leadership to exercise state power and make high-profile appointments and legislative decisions. Symbolically, it embodies the Chinese state’s claim to represent “the people” — a crucial element of the party’s legitimacy in a system where competitive elections do not exist. For deputies, service provides status, networking opportunities, and signals of party favor. For the party and government, the NPC ratifies policies with the appearance of legislative deliberation, adds procedural legitimacy to high-stakes decisions (constitutional amendments, personnel changes), and allows official speeches at annual sessions to set the tone for the year’s governance.

The relationship between the NPC and the Communist Party illustrates a broader pattern in one-party states: the maintenance of formal institutional structures borrowed from democratic models (legislatures, constitutions, separation of powers) while concentrating actual authority within the party. The NPC has enabled the post-Mao Chinese state to govern through laws and regulations rather than pure cadre command while preserving the party’s monopoly on political power — a model of “party-state” fusion distinctive to contemporary China.

Related

• The Communist Party of China — the ruling party whose authority the NPC institutionalizes and through which all major state decisions are coordinated.
• Deng Xiaoping — architect of reform-era governance who reinstituted constitutional procedures and the NPC as a ratification venue for market-oriented laws.
• Xi Jinping — the paramount leader who used the NPC to remove presidential term limits in 2018, consolidating his authority.
• Economic Reform & Opening-up — the post-1978 policy agenda that the NPC formally enacted through multiple laws and regulations.
• The Standing Committee of the Politburo — the party’s inner leadership body whose decisions the NPC formally ratifies through party discipline.
• Regional Autonomy — the ethnic-autonomy framework whose 1984 Law on Regional National Autonomy the NPC enacted, and whose autonomous regulations its Standing Committee must ratify.

Sources

• Constitution of the People’s Republic of China. 1982 (as amended through 2018). The formal legal basis for NPC authority and structure.
• Saich, Tony. Governance and Politics of China. Macmillan, 2015 (updated editions). Comprehensive analysis of NPC’s role within the party-state system.
• Backer, Larry Catá. “The State, the Party, and the Nature of the Legal Order in China.” Pepperdine Law Review, 2011. Scholarly analysis of how the NPC functions within party-dominated governance.
• O’Brien, Kevin J. & Li, Lianjiang. “Villagers and Popular Resistance in Contemporary China.” Modern China 22, no. 1 (1996): 28–61. Examination of how local people’s congresses interact with state and party authority.