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Unit 6: Socio-Economic Bases and Salient Features of the Constitutions

administration of the country is done from the national capital – Beijing. The Central government Notes
has been empowered to make changes in the powers and status of the administrative units
located at the lower levels.
3. Unicameral System: Like its predecessor, the new Constitution provides a unicameral legislature.
It is the National People’s Congress having powers of legislation despite the fact that its deputies
are to be chosen from the ranks of the people, units of provincial and regional administration,
and armed forces. Though a quite unwieldy body, it has been given a Standing Committee that
functions on its behalf during the inter-session period. One may marvel at the fact that not the
Parliament as such as its small committee has been given the status of a continuously functioning
national legislature.
4. Vertical Rule and Dual Rule System: State administration of China is based on two principles
adopted by the Chinese founding fathers from the Soviet system. China is not a federal State
and yet it has large units of regional and local governments which operate under the control of
the Central government. Within ‘vertical rule’, central-level ministries and commissions under
the State Council supervise the work of corresponding functional bodies at the lower levels of
government. Within ‘dual rule’, government agencies are subject to control by the Communist
Party as well as being subordinate to higher government bodies. Under vertical and dual rule,
a county government, for example, would be subordinate to both the provincial government
and to the county-level Communist Party organisation. “Such a system leads to complex and
sometimes conflicting lines of authority within the Chinese bureaucracy, but it also reinforces
two key aspects of governance and policy making in China – centralisation and Party
domination.”
5. Fundamental Rights and Duties: Like its predecessor, the new Constitution provides
fundamental rights and duties, now in a largely comprehensive form. The citizens have been
given the right to education, to elect and be elected on completing the age of 18 years, to work,
to have rest and leisure, to get material assistance in old age or in the event of physical
inability, to prevent transgression of duty by a public servant, and the like. The state has been
enjoined to grant equal rights to women, protect marriage and the family and the just interests
of the Chinese living abroad. Besides, freedoms relating to speech, assembly, expression, and
correspondence have been guaranteed. Inviolability of person and home has also been
recognised. The citizens have been granted right to profess and propagate atheism. No person
can be arrested except by a decision of a People’s Court or with the sanction of a public security
organ. The state grants right of residence to any foreign national persecuted for supporting a
just cause, for taking part in revolutionary movements, or for engaging in scientific activities.
Besides, fundamental duties have been mentioned like supporting the leadership of the
Communist Party, strengthening the socialist system and abiding by the Constitution and the
laws of the country, protecting public property, observing family planning, respecting social
ethics, safeguarding State secrets, defending the motherland and resisting aggression.
6. Democratic Centralism: In accordance with the celebrated system of a communist State as
adopted under the previous arrangement, the principle of democratic centralism has been
sanctified under the new dispensation as well. This system applies to the organisation of both
the party and the government. Art.5 of Constitution of the Communist Party of 1973 says: “The
organisational principle of the Party is democratic centralism. The leading bodies of the Party
at all levels shall be elected through democratic consultation in accordance with the requirements
for successors to the cause of the proletarian revolution and the principle of combining the old,
middle-aged and the young. The whole Party must observe unified discipline. The individual
is subordinate to the organisation, the minority is subordinate to the majority, the lower level
is subordinate to the higher level, and the entire Party is subordinate to the Central Committee.”
The idea of democratic centralism is contained in the official affirmation that the leading units
of the Party and the Government at all levels shall regularly meet and report their working to
the respective Congresses or general body meetings, constantly listen to the opinions of the
masses and accept their supervision. Party members have the right to criticise organisations
and leading members of the Party at all levels and make proposals to them. If a party member

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