page_title: Boluan Fanzheng
section_title: The Constitution of China
hierarchical_section_title: Boluan Fanzheng / Politics and law / The Constitution of China
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 1967-05 民众学习毛主席语录
context_page_description: Boluan Fanzheng, literally meaning "eliminating chaos and returning to normal", was a period in the history of People's Republic of China during which Deng Xiaoping, then paramount leader of China, led a far-reaching program attempting to correct the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao Zedong. The program gradually dismantled the Maoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution, rehabilitated millions of victims who were persecuted during the Revolution, initiated various sociopolitical reforms, and brought the country back to order in a systematic way. The Boluan Fanzheng period is regarded as an important transition period in China's history, which served as the bedrock of the historic Reform and Opening-up program starting in December 1978.
  After the Cultural Revolution ended in 1976, Deng Xiaoping first proposed the idea of "Boluan Fanzheng" in September 1977.
context_section_description: The first constitution of China, known as the "1954 Constitution", came into effect in 1954. However, in 1958, Mao Zedong publicly advocated the "rule of man" over the "rule of law", saying:
  We can't rule the majority of people by relying on law. The majority of people [can be ruled only] by relying on the cultivation of [good] habits. The army's reliance on rule by law didn't work; what's actually worked has been the 1,400-man conference. Who could remember so many clauses of a civil code or criminal law? I participated in the formulation of the Constitution, even I can't remember [it]. 
  During the Cultural Revolution, China's Constitution was revised in 1975 and the resultant second constitution, known as the "1975 Constitution", absorbed Maoism and vocabulary such as the "absolute leadership of CPC (in China)" into its main content; the Constitution also contained some descriptions of the CPC organization while removing the positions such as the President and the Vice President of the People's Republic of China.
  After the Cultural Revolution, under the guidelines of Hua Guofeng's "Two Whatevers", a third constitution (known as the "1978 Constitution") was published in 1978. Although some of the expressions associated with the Cultural Revolution were deleted from the 1978 Constitution, most of the contents from the 1975 Constitution remained in the new constitution, such as the "leadership of CPC" in China.
  During the Boluan Fanzheng period, Deng Xiaoping made an important speech titled "On the Reform of the System of Party and State Leadership (党和国家领导制度改革)" on August 18, 1980, proposing to the National People's Congress that China needed political reforms and a systematic revision of its Constitution. Deng pointed out that the new constitution must be able to protect the civil rights of Chinese nationals and must demonstrate the principle of separation of powers; he also described the idea of "collective leadership", advocating "one man, one vote" among senior leaders to avoid the dictatorship of the General Secretary of CPC. In December 1982, the fourth Constitution of China (known as the "1982 Constitution"), was passed by the 5th National People's Congress, embodying Chinese-style constitutionalism, and much of its content remain effective as of today. Within the 1982 Constitution,
  Cultural Revolution vocabulary such as "continuous revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat" was deleted;
  the descriptions of the organization of Communist Party of China was excluded;
  the statement of "the country is led by the Communist Party of China" was deleted (reversed by Xi Jinping in 2018);
  the statement of "all state organs, the armed forces, all political parties and public organizations and all enterprises and undertakings must abide by the Constitution and the law" was added;
  the positions of President of China and Vice President of China were re-established, with a two-consecutive-term limit and five years for each term (the term limits were cancelled by Xi Jinping in 2018).
caption: During the Cultural Revolution, the Little Red Book recording the quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong was popular and Mao Zedong's cult of personality reached it peak. At the time, the Constitution and rule of law was largely overlooked.[53]
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