National People's Congress & the legislature

The Supreme Organ of State Power

Article 57 of the 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China declares the National People's Congress (NPC) the "highest organ of state power," and its Standing Committee (NPCSC) its permanent organ. This formulation is decisive for Guokao purposes: China operates a system of unified power (议行合一), not separation of powers. Under Article 3, the NPC and local people's congresses are constituted through democratic election and are responsible to, and supervised by, the people; all administrative, supervisory, adjudicatory and procuratorial organs are created by, accountable to, and supervised by the congresses. There is no co-equal judiciary or executive that can check the legislature.

Composition and Term

The NPC comprises deputies elected by the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, the special administrative regions, and the armed forces (Article 59). Its term is five years; the current 14th NPC, elected in early 2023, seats roughly 2,977 deputies, making it the world's largest parliament by membership. Crucially, election is indirect at the national level: provincial-level congresses elect NPC deputies, who in turn are elected by congresses below them, down to direct election only at the county and township levels under the Electoral Law (last major revision 2020, increasing the rural-urban deputy ratio to 1:1, completing the equalization begun in 2010).

Because the full NPC convenes in plenary session only once a year — typically each March, for about ten days — it cannot exercise day-to-day legislative power. That function devolves to the NPCSC.

Enumerated Powers

Article 62 vests the NPC with the power to amend the Constitution (by a two-thirds majority of all deputies, Article 64), enact and amend basic statutes governing criminal offences, civil affairs and state organs, elect the President and Vice-President, decide on the choice of the Premier upon the President's nomination, elect the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, and elect the heads of the National Supervisory Commission, Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate. Article 63 grants the corresponding power of recall. The NPC also examines and approves the national economic and social development plan and the state budget (Article 62(10)–(11)).

High-yield dated instances the examiner expects: the NPC adopted the Civil Code on 28 May 2020 (effective 1 January 2021), the first statute styled a "code" since 1949; it passed the Hong Kong national-security decision on 28 May 2020; and the 13th NPC's first session on 11 March 2018 amended the Constitution to remove presidential term limits and to write "Xi Jinping Thought" and the supervisory commissions into the text. Retain these as fixed reference points — they recur across plenary and current-affairs questions.

The Standing Committee: Where Lawmaking Lives

The NPCSC, with roughly 175 members elected by the NPC (Article 65), exercises legislative power between plenary sessions and bears the bulk of the statutory workload. Its members may not concurrently hold posts in administrative, supervisory, adjudicatory or procuratorial organs — a deliberate insulation written into Article 65. Under Article 67 the NPCSC interprets the Constitution and supervises its enforcement, enacts and amends statutes other than those reserved to the full NPC, interprets statutes, annuls administrative regulations that conflict with the Constitution or law, decides on the ratification of treaties, and, when the NPC is not in session, may make partial supplements to NPC-enacted statutes provided they do not contravene their basic principles.

The NPCSC meets roughly every two months. It is here, not in the annual plenary, that detailed legislation is debated through the standard three-reading procedure prescribed by the Legislation Law (立法法, enacted 2000, substantially revised 2015 and again 2023). The 2015 revision is exam-critical: it curtailed the power of ministries and localities to create de facto law and reaffirmed that taxation may be established only by statute (税收法定), responding to long-standing critiques of administrative overreach.

Democratic Centralism and the Party Connection

Article 3 enshrines democratic centralism (民主集中制) as the organizing principle: free discussion, then binding unified decision; the individual subordinate to the organization, the minority to the majority, the lower level to the higher. In practice the Communist Party of China (CPC) exercises leadership over the NPC; major legislative initiatives originate as Party proposals translated into NPC decisions. The NPC's role is therefore better understood as deliberation, refinement and authoritative enactment of decisions reached within the Party-state, not as autonomous initiation against the executive. Candidates must articulate this without caricature: the NPC genuinely revises drafts (the Civil Code drew over a million public comments) and its supervisory powers — interpellation under Article 73, special-investigation committees under Article 71, and budget review — are real instruments, though sparingly deployed.

Local People's Congresses

The Constitution (Articles 95–104) establishes people's congresses at provincial, prefectural, county and township levels. Provincial-level congresses and their standing committees may enact local regulations (地方性法规) so long as these do not contradict the Constitution, statutes or administrative regulations (Article 100). The Legislation Law's 2015 reform extended this regulation-making power to all districted cities (设区的市), expanding the layered legal hierarchy candidates must rank: Constitution > basic statutes (NPC) > statutes (NPCSC) > administrative regulations (State Council) > local regulations and departmental rules.

Why This Matters for the Exam

In the Guokao political-theory paper, the NPC sits at the intersection of two reliably tested domains: the constitutional structure of the state and the operating principle of democratic centralism. Examiners probe it in three recurring ways.

First, enumerated-power recall. Objective items ask which organ holds a specific power: constitutional amendment (full NPC, two-thirds, Article 64) versus statutory interpretation (NPCSC, Article 67); electing the President (NPC) versus appointing ministers (the President nominates, the NPC decides on the Premier, the Premier nominates ministers). Confusing the NPC with its Standing Committee is the single most common error. Memorize the Article 62 (NPC) / Article 67 (NPCSC) division cold.

Second, the legal hierarchy. Ranking questions test the order: Constitution, basic statutes, statutes, administrative regulations, local regulations, departmental rules. The Legislation Law (2000; revised 2015, 2023) is the governing authority and a frequent stem. Know that taxation requires statute (税收法定) and that districted cities gained regulation-making power in 2015.

Third, conceptual short-answer and essay. You will be asked to explain why China rejects separation of powers in favour of unified power under the NPC, and how democratic centralism reconciles popular sovereignty (Article 2: all power belongs to the people) with CPC leadership (Article 1 and the 2018 preamble amendment). A strong answer cites Articles 2, 3 and 57, names democratic centralism, and grounds claims in dated instances — the 2018 constitutional amendment, the 2020 Civil Code, the 2020 Electoral Law equalization.

The PYQ angle: Guokao items increasingly pair a static constitutional fact with a current-affairs hook drawn from the most recent March plenary. Anchor every principle to an article number and at least one dated event, and you will satisfy both the recall and the application halves of the question.