The National People's Congress (NPC) is the supreme state organ of power of the People's Republic of China that heads the country's system of people's congress. It is vested with unified state power and carries out its duties under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as the party is constitutionally enshrined as having the "leading role" in China's communist state system. The NPC uses its status in the state system to establish a division of labour between itself and inferior state organs. The relationship between the NPC and the inferior organs make up the unified state apparatus.
As the supreme organ of state power, the NPC has the power to amend China's communist state constitution, enact legislation, and oversee the operations of the state's inferior organs. It elects and can remove the top officials of the inferior state organs: the State Council, the state president, the Supreme People's Court (SPC), the Supreme People's Procuratorate, the National Supervisory Commission, and the Central Military Commission. Since the session of the NPC, referred to as the full Congress, typically convenes only once per year, it delegates the majority of its powers to its permanent organ, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC). The NPCSC consists of approximately 170 legislators and holds bi-monthly sessions to ensure the continuous exercise of state power when the NPC is not in session.
The NPC holds annual sessions every spring, usually lasting from 10 to 14 days, in the Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. At these sessions, it votes on important pieces of legislation and personnel assignments, among other things. These sessions are usually timed to occur with the meetings of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), a consultative organ whose members represent various social groups. As the NPC and the CPPCC are the main deliberative organs of China, they are often referred to as the "Two Sessions" (Lianghui). According to the NPC, its annual meetings provide an opportunity for the officers of state to review past policies and to present future plans to the nation.
In China, as with most communist states, the legislative body of the NPC has been characterized as a rubber stamp for the CCP. The deputies are elected by provincial-level people's congresses, which are themselves indirectly elected. The CCP controls the nomination and election processes at all levels of the people's congress system. The NPC and its Standing Committee are required to uphold the leadership of the CCP and adhere to CCP ideology per law. With 2,847 members in 2026, it is the largest legislative organ in the world. The NPC is elected for a term of five years. Membership for deputies is part-time and unpaid. Delegates to the National People's Congress may hold seats in other organs of government simultaneously, and the party and the NPC typically include all senior figures in Chinese politics. However, membership of the Standing Committee is often full-time and carries a salary, and Standing Committee members are not allowed to simultaneously hold positions in executive, judicial, prosecutorial, or supervisory posts.
History The current National People's Congress can trace its origins to the First National Congress of the Chinese Soviets of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies. This was held on 7 November 1931, in Ruijin, Jiangxi, on the 14th anniversary of the Russian October Revolution—with a subsequent Soviet Congress taking place in Fujian on 18 March 1932, the 61st Anniversary of the Paris Commune. The official Second National Congress took place from 22 January to 1 February 1934. During the event, only 693 deputies were elected with the Chinese Red Army taking 117 seats.
In 1945, at the conclusion of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the CCP and the Kuomintang held a Political Consultative Conference with the parties holding talks on political reforms. This was included in the Double Tenth Agreement, which was implemented by the Nationalist government, who organized the first Political Consultative Assembly from 10 to 31 January 1946. Representatives of the Kuomintang, CCP, Young China Party, and China Democratic League, as well as independent delegates, attended the conference in Chongqing, a temporary capital of the Republic of China during the war.
A second Political Consultative Conference took place in September 1949, inviting delegates from various friendly parties to attend and discuss the establishment of a new state (PRC). This conference was then renamed the People's Political Consultative Conference. The first conference approved the Common Program, which served as the de facto constitution for the next five years. The conference approved the new national anthem, flag, capital city, and state name, and elected the first government of the People's Republic of China. It was a de facto legislature of the PRC during the first five years of existence. In 1954, the Constitution transferred this function to the National People's Congress.
Organization The NPC meets for about two weeks each year at the same time as the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, usually in the spring. The combined sessions have been known as the Two Sessions (Lianghui). Between these sessions, NPC's power are exercised by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. During the Two Sessions, the NPC and the CPPCC hear and discuss reports from the premier of the State Council, the president of the Supreme People's Court, and the prosecutor general.
Presidium
Before each plenary session of the NPC, a preparatory meeting is held, where a Presidium and a Secretary-General for the plenary session is elected. The Presidium presides over the daily affairs of the Congress during its plenary session days, determining its daily schedule, decides whether to list a delegate's bill on the agenda, hear deputy deliberation reports and decides whether to put an item to vote, nominates the candidates for the top state offices, and organizes the constitutional oath of office ceremonies. Its functions are defined in the Organic Law of the NPC, but not how it is composed.
Standing Committee
The NPC Standing Committee is the permanent organ of the NPC, elected by the legislature to meet regularly as opposed to once a year. It consists of a chairman, vice chairpersons, a secretary-general, as well as regular members. NPCSC membership is often full-time and carries a salary, and members are not allowed to simultaneously hold positions in executive, judicial, prosecutorial or supervisory posts.
As the NPC only meets annually, the NPCSC effectively functions as the national legislature of China for the rest of the year. It is granted with nearly all the lawmaking powers as the NPC itself, though it lacks the powers to amend the constitution and to appoint or remove national-level personnel. The NPCSC passes the vast majority of China's laws, and has the powers to conduct oversight over governmental organs, appoint or remove top-level personnel that are not in the national-level, ratifies treaties, grant special amnesties, and confer state honors.
Special Committees
In addition to the Standing Committee, ten special committees have been established under the NPC to study issues related to specific fields. They include full time staff, who meet regularly to draft and discuss legislative work and policy proposals and the deputies assigned to the committees. A large portion of legislative work in China are effectively delegated to these committees in between the bimonthly plenary sessions of the NPCSC. There are currently 10 special committees, which are:
Ethnic Affairs Committee Constitution and Law Committee Supervisory and Judicial Affairs Committee Financial and Economic Affairs Committee Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee Foreign Affairs Committee Overseas Chinese Affairs Committee Environmental Protection and Resources Conservation Committee Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee Social Development Affairs Committee
These are organized in like manner as the Standing Committee.
Working organs A number of working organs have also been established under the Standing Committee to provide support for the day-to-day operation of the NPC. These include:
General Office Credentials Committee Legislative Affairs Commission Budgetary Affairs Commission Hong Kong Basic Law Committee Macao Basic Law Committee Deputies Affairs Commission
Powers and responsibilities
Under the constitution, the NPC is the supreme state organ of power in China, and all four Chinese constitutions have granted it a large amount of lawmaking power. According to Chinese legal scholar Zhou Fang, "[t]he powers of the National People's Congress as the [SSOP] are boundless, its authority extends to the entire territory of the country, and, if necessary, it can intervene in any matter which it finds it requisite to do so." The presidency, the State Council, the PRC Central Military Commission, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and the National Supervisory Commission are all formally under the authority of the NPC.
The constitution mandates a leadership role for the CCP. The Organic Law of the National People's Congress states that the "National People's Congress and its Standing Committee uphold the leadership of the Communist Party of China" and adhere "to the guiding principles of Marxism–Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the Theory of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and the Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era".
The NPC does not serve as a forum of debate between government and opposition parties as is the case with Western parliaments. This has led to the NPC being described as a rubber stamp legislature or as only being able to affect issues of low sensitivity and salience to the CCP. Legislation typically passes quickly, but there are notable examples where laws do not get through the NPC, and negative votes have become more commonplace since its inception.
According to academic Rory Truex of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, NPC "deputies convey citizen grievances but shy away from sensitive political issues, and the government in turn displays partial responsiveness to their concerns." According to Austin Ramzy, writing for The New York Times, the NPC "is a carefully crafted pageant intended to convey the image of a transparent, responsive government." One of the NPC's members, Hu Xiaoyan, told BBC News in 2009 that she has no power to help her constituents. She was quoted as saying, "As a parliamentary representative, I don't have any real power."
Formally, there are four main functions and powers of the NPC:
Constitutional supervision
The NPC has the sole power to amend the constitution. Amendments to the Constitution must be proposed by the NPC Standing Committee or one-fifth or more of the NPC deputies. In order for the Amendments to become effective, they must be passed by a two-thirds majority vote of all deputies. The NPC is also responsible for supervising the enforcement of the constitution.