Amend the Constitution

To amend the constitution means to change its text through the rigid, supermajority procedure the document itself prescribes, marking the difference between a flexible constitution (amendable by ordinary law, as in the United Kingdom) and a rigid one requiring special majorities and sometimes ratification. In the People's Republic of China — the focus of the China Political System course — amendment is governed by Article 64 of the 1982 Constitution, which vests amendment power exclusively in the National People's Congress (NPC). A proposal may be made by the Standing Committee of the NPC or by one-fifth or more of the deputies, and adoption requires a two-thirds majority of all deputies — a stricter threshold than the simple majority used for ordinary statutes under Article 64's second clause. Amendments are promulgated as numbered "Amendments" (修正案) appended to the text.

The Chinese amendment record reveals the instrument's political function. The 1982 Constitution has been amended five times: 1988, 1993, 1999, 2004, and 2018. The 1988 amendment legitimised the private economy and land-use transfer; 1993 inserted the "socialist market economy" formula; 1999 enshrined "Deng Xiaoping Theory" and the rule of law (依法治国); 2004 added the protection of lawful private property and the "Three Represents." The 2018 amendment was the most consequential: it removed the two-term limit on the President and Vice-President (Article 79), wrote Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into the preamble, and constitutionalised the National Supervisory Commission (Article 123–127). Each amendment is first deliberated by the Communist Party Central Committee, which issues a proposal to the NPC Standing Committee — illustrating that in China constitutional amendment is a Party-led process clothed in state-organ procedure.

Comparatively, exam candidates should contrast China's single-chamber two-thirds rule with rigid procedures elsewhere: India's Article 368 requires a two-thirds majority of members present and voting plus, for federal provisions, ratification by half the state legislatures, and is constrained by the basic structure doctrine of Kesavananda Bharati (1973); the United States' Article V demands two-thirds of both Houses (or a national convention) and ratification by three-fourths of the states; Pakistan's Article 238–239 needs two-thirds of each House. Unlike India, China recognises no judicially enforceable "basic structure" limiting amendment, since the NPC is constitutionally supreme and there is no constitutional court with power of judicial review over amendments.

For the exam, this term sits in the Comparative Government and Constitutional Law sections (FSOT, UPSC GS-II, CSS Political Science, China Guokao 政治 paper). The typical question angle asks candidates to identify the amending authority and threshold, to list the dates and substance of China's five amendments, or to contrast rigid versus flexible amendment and the presence or absence of implied limitations. High-scoring answers cite Article 64 by number, the two-thirds rule, the 2018 term-limit removal, and the Party Central Committee's agenda-setting role, then draw the comparative contrast with Article 368 and the basic structure doctrine to demonstrate analytical range.