Constitution by the 2018 amendment

The 2018 amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China refers to the package of twenty-one revisions adopted by the First Session of the 13th National People's Congress (NPC) on 11 March 2018, the fifth amendment to the 1982 Constitution after those of 1988, 1993, 1999 and 2004. It was passed by a vote of 2,958 in favour, 2 against and 3 abstentions, following the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's recommendations issued in January 2018. Constitutional amendment in China follows Article 64, which requires a proposal by the Standing Committee or one-fifth of NPC deputies and adoption by a two-thirds majority of all deputies — a higher threshold than ordinary legislation passed by simple majority. The 2018 revision is the most consequential since the reform-era charter was promulgated on 4 December 1982.

Its most internationally noted change deleted from Article 79 the clause limiting the President and Vice-President of the state to "no more than two consecutive terms," abolishing the presidential term limit introduced under Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent a recurrence of lifelong leadership. The amendment also inscribed "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era" into the Preamble alongside Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the Scientific Outlook on Development. It elevated the CPC's "leadership" into the main body of the text — Article 1 now declares that "leadership by the Communist Party of China is the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics." It further added language on the "community of shared future for mankind," the rule of law, and ecological civilisation.

Institutionally, the 2018 amendment created a wholly new state organ: the National Supervisory Commission and its subordinate supervisory commissions, written into a new Section 7 of Chapter III (Articles 123–127). This anti-corruption "fourth power," ranking alongside the State Council, the courts and the procuratorate, consolidated the Party's discipline-inspection apparatus and the procuratorate's anti-graft bureaus into a single state body, given effect by the Supervision Law enacted by the same NPC session on 20 March 2018. As of 2026 these provisions remain in force; Xi Jinping was re-elected President for a third term in March 2023, the practical consequence of the removed term limit.

For exam preparation — particularly the China Shenlun (申论) writing paper and comparative-constitution questions in the Guokao civil-service examination, and for UPSC/FSOT candidates studying comparative government — the 2018 amendment is a high-value topic. Shenlun essays frequently require candidates to articulate the rationale of Party leadership, the New Era framework and the supervision system in officially sanctioned terms; comparative-politics questions test the contrast between China's flexible amendment practice and entrenched basic-structure doctrines elsewhere (such as India's Kesavananda Bharati, 1973). Typical question angles ask candidates to identify what the amendment changed (term limits, Xi Jinping Thought, the Supervisory Commission), to cite the relevant articles (Articles 1, 79, 123–127, 64), and to evaluate its significance for centralised governance and rule-by-law versus rule-of-law debates.