China

Final Report by Claire Gong

In this report, I will briefly introduce the meaning of Chinese national flag as well as the composition of governmental body.

Speaking of the meaning of the national flag of People’s Republic of China, the red represents the communist revolution and the five stars and their relationship represent the unity of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Sometimes, the flag is referred to as the "Five-star Red Flag". Due to government regulations, cities and provinces of China cannot have their own flags, while the only sub-national flags that exist are those of the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions.

In the original description of the flag, the larger star symbolizes the Communist Party of China, and the four smaller stars that surround the big star symbolize the four social classes of Chinese people, but they are no longer exist now. Each of the top points of the four smaller stars are rotated such that they point towards the center point of the larger star.

So, is China a capitalism country or socialism country?

As the government defined, socialism with Chinese characteristics might be a better answer. However, I think planning and market forces are not the essential difference between socialism and capitalism. A planned economy is not the definition of socialism, because there is planning under capitalism; the market economy happens under socialism, too. Planning and market forces are both ways of controlling economic activity. Although “privatization” is spreading in a larger extent, there’re still a lot of large enterprises of key industries remain state-owned or invested by the government.

The current Constitution is the PRC's 4th promulgation. On December 4, 1982, it was promulgated and has served as a stable Constitution for 30 years. The role of the Presidency and the courts were normalized, and under the Constitution, all citizens were equal. Amendments were made in 1988, 1993, 1999, and most recently, in 2004, which recognized private property, safeguarded human rights, and further promoted the non-public sector of the economy.

According to the Constitution Law of People’s republic of China, the governmental body is mainly composed by three parts. Namely the National People’s Congress, the State Council and the Supreme People's Court

The National People's Congress is the highest state body and the only legislative house in the People's Republic of China. Although the membership of the NPC is still largely determined by the Communist Party of China, since the early 1990s it has moved away from its previous role as a symbolic but powerless rubber-stamp legislature, and has become a forum for mediating policy differences between different parts of the Party and the government. For the NPC to formally defeat a proposal put before them is rare, but the NPC has become the forum in which legislation is debated before being put to a vote.

The President (formerly, Chairman) and Vice President are elected by the National People's Congress for five-year terms. The President is a ceremonial office and serves as the nominal head of state. The office was created by the 1982 Constitution. Formally, the President is elected by the National People's Congress in accordance with Article 62 of the Constitution. In practice, this election falls into the category of 'single-candidate' elections. The candidate is recommended by the Presidium of the National People's Congress. Currently the President of China is Xi Jinping and the Vice President is Li Yuanchao.

The State Council is the chief authority of the People's Republic of China. It is appointed by the National People's Congress and is chaired by the Premier and includes the heads of each governmental department and agency. There are about 50 members in the Council. In the politics of the People's Republic of China, the Central People's Government forms one of three interlocking branches of power, the others being the Communist Party of China and the People's Liberation Army. The State Council directly oversees the various subordinate People's Governments in the provinces, and in practice maintains an interlocking membership with the top levels of the Communist Party of China.

The Supreme People's Court is the highest court in the judicial system of the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong and Macau, as special administrative regions, have their own separate judicial systems based on British common law traditions and Portuguese civil-law traditions respectively, and are out of the jurisdiction of the Supreme People's Court. The judges of the Supreme People's Court are appointed by the National People's Congress.

In conclusion, under the current PRC constitution, the President's most important political power is to nominate the Premier of the People's Republic of China. The NPC votes on the nomination, but since only one name is on the ballot, it can only approve or reject. To date, it has never rejected a personnel nomination. Since the Premier, the head of government in China, is the most important political appointment in the Chinese government, the nomination power, under some circumstances, may give the President real political influence. To date, the political right of Chinese citizens has laid in a gray area. To me, it seems pale to give a comment or brief explanation without in-depth acknowledge.