169-570: The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the supreme law of the People's Republic of China . It was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with five subsequent revisions . It is the fourth constitution in PRC history, superseding the 1954 constitution , the 1975 constitution , and the 1978 constitution . The first Constitution of the People's Republic of China
338-458: A federal system, the Chinese constitution formally creates a unitary multi-national state. The preamble describes China as "a country with one of the longest histories in the world. The people of all of China's nationalities have jointly created a culture of grandeur and have a glorious revolutionary tradition." The preamble dates this revolutionary history as beginning in 1840. Article 1 of
507-569: A federal state trying to legislate in an area that the constitution allocates exclusively to the federal parliament, such as ratifying a treaty. Action that appears to be beyond power may be judicially reviewed and, if found to be beyond power, must cease. Legislation that is found to be beyond power will be "invalid" and of no force; this applies to primary legislation, requiring constitutional authorization, and secondary legislation, ordinarily requiring statutory authorization. In this context, "within power", intra vires , "authorized" and "valid" have
676-402: A students' union may be prohibited as an organization from engaging in activities not concerning students; if the union becomes involved in non-student activities, these activities are considered to be ultra vires of the union's charter, and nobody would be compelled by the charter to follow them. An example from the constitutional law of sovereign states would be a provincial parliament in
845-634: A 28-year-old electrician at the Beijing Zoo, put up his big-character poster on the Democracy Wall. Entitled " The Fifth Modernization ", it complained that after the Cultural Revolution, the status quo remained unchallenged. The only democracy acknowledged was "democracy under collective leadership", which was only lip service when people were not actually allowed to make their own decisions. Strongly critical of Mao, Wei called him
1014-583: A big-character poster against their directors. These seven people had many reasons to write this poster, one of them being their personal grudge against two of the principal targets, Song Shuo and Lu Ping. In 1964, during the Socialist Education Movement , Lu Ping , President of Peking University and Secretary of the University Party Committee, was criticized by leftist activists as a capitalist. However, when
1183-408: A big-character poster as a "mistake", but he still believed that the chaos was necessary to bring people's attention to the critical issue. In November and December 1966, more senior party leaders were criticized, including Deng Xiaoping , Zhu De , and Zhou Enlai . This aimless wave of attack was labeled the "evil wind of November and December." In the mid-1970s, big-character posters critical of
1352-562: A big-character poster, "the best way of attacking the school's party leadership." They easily found something to attack. Since September 1961, Deng Tuo , Wu Han (deputy mayor of Beijing), and Liao Mosha (Head of the Beijing United Front Work Department) co-authored the column "Sanjiacun Zhaji" (Three-Family Village Reading Notes) on the party magazine Qianxian (Frontline) . The 67 published essays included some veiled criticism against Mao. In May 1966, under
1521-498: A bourgeois dictatorship and struck down the surging movement of the great Cultural Revolution of the proletariat", everyone at the time knew that the person under attack was Liu Shaoqi. Originally, the poser was only supposed to circulate among participants in the Plenum, but its content was immediately leaked. This was the first time that Mao Zedong's profound disagreement with Liu Shaoqi was made public, and students quickly picked up
1690-475: A chord, as in 1975, the first Constitution of the People's Republic of China was formulated. The right to put up big-character posters was listed as one of the "Four Great Freedoms." Article 13 states that the right to use big-character posters in political movements was protected by the state, as long as they "help consolidate the leadership of the Communist Party of China over the state and consolidate
1859-405: A constitution in general terms was "the arrangement of the offices in a state". In his works Constitution of Athens , Politics , and Nicomachean Ethics , he explores different constitutions of his day, including those of Athens, Sparta , and Carthage . He classified both what he regarded as good and what he regarded as bad constitutions, and came to the conclusion that the best constitution
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#17327654073842028-631: A constitutional basis for China's status as a one-party state and formally rendering any competitive multi-party system unconstitutional. Xi "now has the distinction of being the first Chinese leader ever to have his theories enshrined in the constitution during his own lifetime." The leadership of the CCP is now constitutionally enshrined as the "defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics", and therefore it establishes one-party rule as an end-in-itself. Xi says: Party, government, military, civilian, and academic, north, south, east, west, and center,
2197-579: A day, the campus was covered by big-character posters. According to a witness account, those who supported the poster and those who opposed it were evenly balanced. However, according to Lin Haoji, more posters refuted the first poster. Allegedly, Lu Ping also engaged his supporters to write big-character posters that denounced Nie Yuanzi's action as an "opposition to the Party Central Committee." Vice President Huang Yiran urged Nie to remove
2366-470: A decree issued by the Pope , now referred to as an apostolic constitution . William Blackstone used the term for significant and egregious violations of public trust, of a nature and extent that the transgression would justify a revolutionary response. The term as used by Blackstone was not for a legal text, nor did he intend to include the later American concept of judicial review : "for that were to set
2535-674: A heightened sense of immediacy. Inspired by the Soviet Union , the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also used wall newspapers and posters in their propaganda campaign, as they could be easily produced and reproduced and were written in accessible language conducive to mass mobilization. It was commonly believed that big-character posters originated in Yan'an , the CCP headquarter during the Anti-Japanese War and
2704-652: A means of self-criticism. Big-character posters were also mobilized against "bourgeoise individualist behavior," which was essentially any demand for academic independence, personal freedom, individual economic benefit, etc. During the Great Leap Forward , big-character posters were also used in rural villages to rectify the operation of People's Communes and to promote production. Many news articles claimed that big-character posters had motivated farmers and contributed to an increase in production. For instance, more rice seedlings were allegedly transplanted after
2873-748: A new anti-graft agency, extending the powers of the CCP's graft watchdog, adding Hu Jintao's Scientific Outlook on Development and Xi Jinping Thought to the Preamble of the Constitution, and removing term limits for both the President and Vice President, enabling Xi Jinping to remain president indefinitely. Xi is also the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party , the de facto top position in CCP ruling China without term limit. The concept of ecological civilization building
3042-541: A party decision ratified by the National People's Congress. The right to strike was also dropped from the 1982 Constitution. The widespread expression of the four big rights during the student protests of late 1986 elicited the regime's strong censure because of their illegality. The official response cited Article 53 of the 1982 Constitution, which states that citizens must abide by the law and observe labor discipline and public order. Besides being illegal, practicing
3211-553: A period of 20 years would be the optimal time for any constitution to be still in force, since "the earth belongs to the living, and not to the dead". Indeed, according to recent studies, the average life of any new written constitution is around 19 years. However, a great number of constitutions do not last more than 10 years, and around 10% do not last more than one year, as was the case of the French Constitution of 1791 . By contrast, some constitutions, notably that of
3380-603: A period of more than four hundred years, an important aspect of the constitutional structure of the Holy Roman Empire . In China , the Hongwu Emperor created and refined a document he called Ancestral Injunctions (first published in 1375, revised twice more before he died in 1398). These rules served as a constitution for the Ming dynasty for the next 250 years. The oldest written document still governing
3549-551: A production center, a distribution center, and even a correspondent network. According to official media, big-character posters were effective not only in raising but also in solving problems. Issues that had remained for years were immediately solved once brought to public attention in big-character posters. However, the content and form of big-character posters were closely monitored by the party and nothing that could jeopardize its authority would be published. According to PRC legal scholar Hua Sheng, big-character posters were at most
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#17327654073843718-410: A profound and specific revolution. Nie et al. found fault with Lu Ping and Song Shuo's attempt at limiting the form and scope of the masses' political participation. Their big-character poster claimed that the university was controlled by bourgeois anti-revolutionaries .It raged against the university for putting down faculty and students' strong revolutionary demand and for its reluctance to support
3887-601: A rally in protest. "Inflammatory notices" on the campus bulletin board announced their plan. When Sun Yat-sen died in 1925, and during the lying-in-state held in Central Park in Beijing, people spontaneously hung thousands of funeral scrolls around the park, which were often inscribed with a couplet expressing their grief and respect for the leader of the Xinhai revolution . Posters were also used extensively in 1925 during
4056-863: A single code until the Codex Theodosianus (438 AD); later, in the Eastern Empire, the Codex repetitæ prælectionis (534) was highly influential throughout Europe. This was followed in the east by the Ecloga of Leo III the Isaurian (740) and the Basilica of Basil I (878). The Edicts of Ashoka established constitutional principles for the 3rd century BC Maurya king's rule in India . For constitutional principles almost lost to antiquity, see
4225-667: A single document or set of legal documents, those documents may be said to embody a written constitution ; if they are encompassed in a single comprehensive document, it is said to embody a codified constitution . The Constitution of the United Kingdom is a notable example of an uncodified constitution ; it is instead written in numerous fundamental acts of a legislature, court cases, and treaties. Constitutions concern different levels of organizations, from sovereign countries to companies and unincorporated associations . A treaty that establishes an international organization
4394-455: A sovereign nation today is that of San Marino . The Leges Statutae Republicae Sancti Marini was written in Latin and consists of six books. The first book, with 62 articles, establishes councils, courts, various executive officers, and the powers assigned to them. The remaining books cover criminal and civil law and judicial procedures and remedies. Written in 1600, the document was based upon
4563-538: A state council consisting of 21 members while executive authority was vested in the office of " Lord Protector of the Commonwealth ." This position was designated as a non-hereditary life appointment. The Instrument also required the calling of triennial Parliaments , with each sitting for at least five months. The Instrument of Government was replaced in May 1657 by England's second, and last, codified constitution,
4732-579: A sympathetic audience, but the central authority urged the Guangzhou Revolutionary Committee to denounce the poster. What the party found especially threatening was its implicit rejection of a privileged party stratum that would rule above the people. The Party Committee of Guangdong Province labeled the poster "a counter-revolutionary big-character poster," and called its writers part of "a counter-revolutionary clique." Perhaps Li-Yi-Zhe's call for socialist legality did strike
4901-457: A token of free expression which gave the public an illusion of participation. Indeed, though miscellaneous local problems were exposed, opinions expressed in these big-character posters tended to be homogeneous in their unanimous support for Mao and the Party, and is thus similar to other forms of political propaganda. Mao Zedong continued to promote the use of big-character posters in 1958 during
5070-519: A total of a billion big-character posters. This emphasis on quantity was a general tendency shared across all production units and industries during the Great Leap Froward . The enthusiasm of writing was unsustainable once every issue had been discussed and every problem had been exposed after a period of fervent posting. To maintain their production, societies of big-character posters were set up in different party institutions to organize
5239-617: A two-term limit (10 years total) on all but the chair of the Central Military Commission . Much of the PRC Constitution is modeled after the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union , but there are some significant differences. For example, while the Soviet constitution contains an explicit right of secession , the Chinese constitution explicitly forbids secession. While the Soviet constitution formally creates
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5408-557: A work unit of only 32000 employees produced 40,000 posters in August 1957. In Tianjin, 300,000 big-character posters were written in only twenty days. Between late October and mid-November, 5,000 posters appeared in Chengdu Industrial College. Not all of the posters were critical, as some simply praised the governance of CCP. In some places, the writing of posters were highly organized, with an editorial board,
5577-473: Is ab initio , that is, from inception, not from the date of the finding. It was never "law", even though, if it had been a statute or statutory provision, it might have been adopted according to the procedures for adopting legislation. Sometimes the problem is not that a statute is unconstitutional, but that the application of it is, on a particular occasion, and a court may decide that while there are ways it could be applied that are constitutional, that instance
5746-587: Is a Marxist-Leninist big-character poster. It must be immediately broadcast and immediately published." On June 2, People's Daily reprinted the poster in its entirety, together with Chen Boda's article "Hail Peking University's Big-Character Poster." Chen supported the main ideas proposed in the Peking poster and further criticized Lu Ping, Song Shuo, and Peng Peiyun as reactionary, anti-party, and anti-socialist. He also insisted that every proletarian revolutionary must follow CCP's discipline and unconditionally accept
5915-409: Is a normal phenomenon and an indication of stability in our country. Writing big-character posters is permitted by our constitution. We have no right to deny [the masses] this right or criticize them for promoting democracy by putting up big-character posters. If the masses feel some anger, we must let them express it." The right to write big-character posters, along with the other "Four Great Freedoms",
6084-510: Is also its constitution, in that it would define how that organization is constituted. Within states , a constitution defines the principles upon which the state is based, the procedure in which laws are made and by whom. Some constitutions, especially codified constitutions, also act as limiters of state power, by establishing lines which a state's rulers cannot cross, such as fundamental rights . Changes to constitutions frequently require consensus or supermajority . The Constitution of India
6253-489: Is considered foundational to the rule of law . Excavations in modern-day Iraq by Ernest de Sarzec in 1877 found evidence of the earliest known code of justice , issued by the Sumerian king Urukagina of Lagash c. 2300 BC . Perhaps the earliest prototype for a law of government, this document itself has not yet been discovered; however it is known that it allowed some rights to his citizens. For example, it
6422-646: Is considered part of the compilation of Constitutions) until 1716, when Philip V of Spain gave the Nueva Planta decrees , finishing with the historical laws of Catalonia . These Constitutions were usually made formally as a royal initiative, but required for its approval or repeal the favorable vote of the Catalan Courts , the medieval antecedent of the modern Parliaments. These laws, like other modern constitutions, had preeminence over other laws, and they could not be contradicted by mere decrees or edicts of
6591-433: Is dominated by big characters written in the center. The sentence read: "If the peasants want to plough their fields, they must help the revolutionary army." Compared to contemporary designs, which were often more flamboyant and distracting, this poster has a simple grotesque-style border that directs the reader's attention to the words. Although the poster was printed, the characters appear as forceful handwritings that convey
6760-457: Is known that it relieved tax for widows and orphans, and protected the poor from the usury of the rich. After that, many governments ruled by special codes of written laws. The oldest such document still known to exist seems to be the Code of Ur-Nammu of Ur (c. 2050 BC). Some of the better-known ancient law codes are the code of Lipit-Ishtar of Isin , the code of Hammurabi of Babylonia ,
6929-539: Is the longest written constitution of any country in the world, with 146,385 words in its English-language version, while the Constitution of Monaco is the shortest written constitution with 3,814 words. The Constitution of San Marino might be the world's oldest active written constitution, since some of its core documents have been in operation since 1600, while the Constitution of the United States
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7098-496: Is the oldest active codified constitution. The historical life expectancy of a constitution since 1789 is approximately 19 years. The term constitution comes through French from the Latin word constitutio , used for regulations and orders, such as the imperial enactments ( constitutiones principis : edicta, mandata, decreta, rescripta). Later, the term was widely used in canon law for an important determination, especially
7267-572: Is unconstitutional. However, in one case, after media outcry over the death of Sun Zhigang the State Council was forced to rescind regulations allowing police to detain persons without residency permits after the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC) made it clear that it would rule such regulations unconstitutional. The Open Constitution Initiative was an organization consisting of lawyers and academics in
7436-572: The Byzantine emperors ' Novellae (most were taken from Justinian 's Novellae). The Nomocanon was a completely new compilation of civil and canonical regulations, taken from Byzantine sources but completed and reformed by St. Sava to function properly in Serbia. Besides decrees that organized the life of the church, there are various norms regarding civil life; most of these were taken from Prohiron. Legal transplants of Roman - Byzantine law became
7605-695: The Grandees of the New Model Army had presented the Heads of Proposals as their alternative to the more radical Agreement of the People presented by the Agitators and their civilian supporters at the Putney Debates . The Instrument of Government was adopted by Parliament on 15 December 1653, and Oliver Cromwell was installed as Lord Protector on the following day. The constitution set up
7774-539: The Hittite code , the Assyrian code , and Mosaic law . In 621 BC, a scribe named Draco codified the oral laws of the city-state of Athens ; this code prescribed the death penalty for many offenses (thus creating the modern term "draconian" for very strict rules). In 594 BC, Solon , the ruler of Athens, created the new Solonian Constitution . It eased the burden of the workers, and determined that membership of
7943-510: The House of Commons . The Nomocanon of Saint Sava ( Serbian : Законоправило/Zakonopravilo ) was the first Serbian constitution from 1219. St. Sava's Nomocanon was the compilation of civil law , based on Roman Law , and canon law , based on Ecumenical Councils . Its basic purpose was to organize the functioning of the young Serbian kingdom and the Serbian church . Saint Sava began
8112-579: The Humble Petition and Advice , proposed by Sir Christopher Packe . The Petition offered hereditary monarchy to Oliver Cromwell , asserted Parliament 's control over issuing new taxation , provided an independent council to advise the king and safeguarded "Triennial" meetings of Parliament. A modified version of the Humble Petition with the clause on kingship removed was ratified on 25 May. This finally met its demise in conjunction with
8281-663: The Instrument of Government included elements incorporated from an earlier document " Heads of Proposals ", which had been agreed to by the Army Council in 1647, as a set of propositions intended to be a basis for a constitutional settlement after King Charles I was defeated in the First English Civil War . Charles had rejected the propositions, but before the start of the Second Civil War,
8450-725: The Lord High Chancellor of Sweden Axel Oxenstierna after the death of king Gustavus Adolphus . This can be seen as the first written constitution adopted by a modern state. In 1639, the Colony of Connecticut adopted the Fundamental Orders , which was the first North American constitution. It is the basis for every new Connecticut constitution since, and is also the reason for Connecticut 's nickname, "the Constitution State ". On 4 January 1649,
8619-851: The May 30th Movement , for instance in urging patriotic citizens to stop using foreign products. At the time, the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) used slogans and posters in their political propaganda. Some early posters share the visual aesthetics of later big-character posters. For instance, a poster printed by the Political Department of the General Headquarters of the National Revolutionary Army led by KMT
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#17327654073848788-459: The Myanmar 2008 Constitution was being secretly drafted for more than 17 years, whereas at the other extreme, during the drafting of Japan 's 1946 Constitution, the bureaucrats drafted everything in no more than a week. Japan has the oldest unamended constitution in the world. The record for the shortest overall process of drafting, adoption, and ratification of a national constitution belongs to
8957-523: The Romania 's 1938 constitution, which installed a royal dictatorship in less than a month. Studies showed that typically extreme cases where the constitution-making process either takes too long or is extremely short were non-democracies. In principle, constitutional rights are not a specific characteristic of democratic countries. Autocratic states have constitutions, such as that of North Korea , which officially grants every citizen, among other things,
9126-621: The Rump Parliament declared "that the people are, under God, the original of all just power; that the Commons of England, being chosen by and representing the people, have the supreme power in this nation". The English Protectorate set up by Oliver Cromwell after the English Civil War promulgated the first detailed written constitution adopted by a modern state; it was called the Instrument of Government . This formed
9295-1094: The Salic Law of the Franks , all written soon after 500. In 506, the Breviarum or "Lex Romana" of Alaric II , king of the Visigoths, adopted and consolidated the Codex Theodosianus together with assorted earlier Roman laws. Systems that appeared somewhat later include the Edictum Rothari of the Lombards (643), the Lex Visigothorum (654), the Lex Alamannorum (730), and the Lex Frisionum (c. 785). These continental codes were all composed in Latin, while Anglo-Saxon
9464-413: The Statuti Comunali (Town Statute) of 1300, itself influenced by the Codex Justinianus , and it remains in force today. In 1392 the Carta de Logu was legal code of the Giudicato of Arborea promulgated by the giudicessa Eleanor . It was in force in Sardinia until it was superseded by the code of Charles Felix in April 1827. The Carta was a work of great importance in Sardinian history. It
9633-418: The Zhou Dynasty (1046 BC - 771 BC), when posters were the only means of communication between the emperor and his people. Local governments also used such posters, for instance to announce news or describe the physiognomy of wanted criminals. Documentation of posters used to express political dissent can be found as early as the Han Dynasty . Around 172 AD, a poster attacking the powerful eunuchs appeared on
9802-401: The code of Manu . Many of the Germanic peoples that filled the power vacuum left by the Western Roman Empire in the Early Middle Ages codified their laws. One of the first of these Germanic law codes to be written was the Visigothic Code of Euric (471 AD). This was followed by the Lex Burgundionum , applying separate codes for Germans and for Romans; the Pactus Alamannorum ; and
9971-417: The freedom of expression . However, the extent to which governments abide by their own constitutional provisions varies. In North Korea, for example, the Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System are said to have eclipsed the constitution in importance as a frame of government in practice. Developing a legal and political tradition of strict adherence to constitutional provisions
10140-420: The press , of assembly , of association, of procession, and of demonstration." In the 1978 constitution, these rights were guaranteed, but so were the right to strike and the "four big rights", often called the "four bigs": to speak out freely, air views fully, hold great debates, and write big-character posters . In February 1980, following the Democracy Wall period, the four bigs were abolished in response to
10309-424: The "self-exalting autocrat" who led China to the wrong road. He also criticized Deng's regime, under which "the hated old political system has not changed, and even any talk about the much hoped for democracy and freedom is forbidden." He defined true democracy as "the holding of power by the laboring masses" and deemed it a necessary pre-condition for successful modernization. Anyone who refused to grant this democracy
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#173276540738410478-413: The 1911 Xinhai Revolution . They have also incorporated limited-circulation newspapers, excerpted press articles, and pamphlets intended for public display. Big-character posters can be seen as part of a long tradition of using writings to convey information and express dissent in public. Wall posters have been used in China to publicly announce royal edicts, pronouncements, and various orders since at least
10647-492: The 1975 version, the emphasis on their use for "socialist revolution" was removed. Ye Jianying commented on the revision, insisting that these rights remained dependent upon one's compliance with the socialist system and CCP's leadership and that this right was only granted to ensure democracy under the leadership of the proletariat. Between 1978 and 1979, big-character posters posted on the Xidan Democracy Wall stirred national attention and controversy. The Xidan Democracy Wall
10816-439: The Anti-Rightist Campaign , out of the 500,000 people designated as rightists, many were exposed and condemned by big-character posters. Local party organizations also tried to engage the public in the writing of big-character posters against class enemies. At first, people were unmotivated, fearing that their writings would be used against them in the future. In October 1957, Mao wrote another essay, "Be activists in promoting
10985-577: The Beijing Municipal Committee's University Department) word, who demanded that the party organization in the university "strengthen their leadership and hold their post" to lead the agitated masses to "the correct path". They insisted that the refutation of anti-party and anti-socialist rhetoric should happen on the theoretical level and must rely on reasoning. Instead of posting big-character posters, they encouraged people to lead small group discussions and write small-character posters ( xiaozibao ) and critical essays, since big plenary sessions could not lead to
11154-515: The Beijing No.4 High School within 10 minutes of the airing of the declaration. An unbelievable number of big-character posters were allegedly produced during the Great Leap Forward . For instance, in the anti-waste and anti-conservatism campaign, 90,000 big-character posters appeared in Peking University in a day. According to Wenhui Daily , teachers from Shanghai's Xuhui District produced 800,000 big-character posters between February 24 and February 26, 1958. Shanghai claimed that in 1958 it created
11323-470: The CCP. On March 23, 1942, Wang Shiwei , a 36-year-old pro-Communist journalist and writer, posted an essay titled "Two Reflections". Written in large characters, the essay criticized certain party leaders for repressing forms of political dissent. In the next week, several other posters similarly critical of the party also went up, which triggered intense debate among the party leadership. The party did not appreciate such public criticism of its operation, and
11492-418: The Chinese constitution are of great importance to the development of China [...] We will make serious efforts to carry them out in practice." The Constitution was amended on 11 March 2018, with 2,958 votes in favor, two against, and three abstentions. It includes an assortment of revisions that further cement the CCP's control and supremacy, including setting up the National Supervisory Commission, establishing
11661-559: The Constitution describes China as "a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship " meaning that the system is based on an alliance of the working classes—in communist terminology, the workers and peasants—and is led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the vanguard of the working class. Elsewhere, the Constitution provides for a renewed and vital role for the groups that make up that basic alliance—the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference , minor political parties, and people's organizations . Article 3 describes
11830-412: The Constitution omits all references to the Cultural Revolution and restates CCP Chairman Mao Zedong 's contributions in accordance with a major historical reassessment produced in June 1981 at the Sixth Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee, the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party since the Founding of the People's Republic of China . There had been five major revisions by
11999-405: The Cultural Revolution and Mao Zedong began to emerge, the most famous one of which was "On Socialist democracy and the legal system," a 20,000-word poster written on 64 large pieces of paper, posted on a busy downtown street in Guangzhou in November 1974. It was written by Li Zhengtian, a student from the Guangzhou Art Academy, Chen Yiyang, a high-school student, and Wang Xizhe , a worker, under
12168-565: The Cultural Revolution wholeheartedly. It attacked Song Shuo, Lu Ping , and Peng Peiyun as a "bunch of Khrushchev-type revisionist elements" for going against the Central Committee and Mao Zedong, and labeled their preference for theoretical discussion as revisionist. It also criticized their discouragement of big-character posters and big planetary meetings, framing any limitation on mass participation as suppression and opposition to mass revolution. Song Yixiu purportedly wrote
12337-439: The Cultural Revolution , big-character posters were pasted on the trains from mainland China to Hong Kong. Even foreign experts were influenced by the atmosphere and wrote big-character posters to complain about their privileged treatment and lack of political participation. The movement quickly went into chaos. On October 25, 1966, Mao Zedong himself described the publishing of Nie Yuanzi's big-character poster and his writing of
12506-462: The Cultural Revolution . He accused "the democracy activists" for holding on to past problems and colluding with foreign forces. On March 16, 1979, Deng announced the " Four Cardinal Principles ," namely the principle of upholding the socialist path, the people's democratic dictatorship, the leadership of CCP, and Mao Zedong Thought and Marxism–Leninism. Without explicit statement, this announcement essentially curtailed people's right to openly criticize
12675-573: The Cultural Revolution" on 25 May 1966, coauthored by seven cadres from Peking University's philosophy department, including Nie Yuanzi ( 聂元梓 ; 聶元梓 ), Song Yixiu, Xia Jianzhi, Yang Keming, Zhao Zhengyi, Gao Yunpeng, Li Xingchen. The poster was typically referred to as the first big-character poster written during the Cultural Revolution , but two days earlier two senior cadres in the Academy of Sciences' Department of Philosophy and Social Sciences (today's Chinese Academy of Social Sciences ) already wrote
12844-506: The Demon-Detectors to Expose All Ox-Demons and Snake- Spirits," which characterized big-character poster as an effective weapon against "ex-demons and snake-spirits" and asserted that all true revolutionaries must welcome big-character posters and anyone who suppressed its writing and posting was a counter-revolutionary conservative. At the time, the work teams initially sent by Deng Xiaoping, Liu Shaoqi, and Zhou Enlai were still in
13013-604: The Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth CCP Central Committee, Liu Shaoqi claimed full responsibilities for the work teams' mistakes. Yet Mao Zedong was dissatisfied, as he launched a more severe criticism against Liu Shaoqi and the work teams and alleged that all those who failed to support the student movement should be dealt with. Mao Zedong was determined to remove Liu Shaoqi from his position. On August 5, he wrote " Bombard
13182-605: The Great Leap Forward . In April 1958, he advised that big-character poster could be used "wherever the masses congregate. Wherever it has been widely used, people should continue using it." Posters appeared in party organs and administrative offices, revealing instances of corruption and waste. Universities remained centers of producing big-character posters. Students frequently attacked their professors for valuing professionalism more than political consciousness. Many professors, who didn't write any poster in previous campaigns, started reading and writing big-character posters, mostly as
13351-500: The Hundred Flowers Campaign also used big-character posters to criticize bureaucratism in the running of factories. For instance, in 1956, Li Lesheng, a deputy chairman of a trade union, wrote a big-character poster against local party secretary Deng Song, whose policies were not welcomed by workers and other trade-union cadres. The student unrest became the last straw for Mao Zedong, who was already impatient with
13520-507: The National People's Congress (NPC) to the 1982 Constitution. The 1982 State Constitution provided a legal basis for the broad changes in China's social and economic institutions and significantly revised government structure. The posts of President and Vice President (which were abolished in the 1975 and 1978 constitutions) are re-established in the 1982 Constitution. Prior to 1982 there were no term limits on key leadership posts. Deng imposed
13689-443: The Party leads everything. Though technically the "supreme legal authority" and "fundamental law of the state", the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has a documented history of violating many of the constitution's provisions and censoring calls for greater adherence to it. The constitution stipulates that the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee have the power to review whether laws or activities violate
13858-637: The People's Republic of China that advocated the rule of law and greater constitutional protections. It was shut down by the government on July 14, 2009. In early 2013, a movement developed among reformers in China based on enforcing the provisions of the constitution. In 2019, Ling Li of the University of Vienna and Wenzhang Zhou of Zhejiang University wrote that "the constitution appeals to [the CCP] because it does not provide solutions to fundamental issues of governance. Instead, such issues are kept out of
14027-487: The State Council's Foreign Affairs Office, to caution the students that since foreign students were present on campus, they should refrain from putting up big-character posters in public space. After meeting with the Central Committee, Liu Shaoqi , Zhou Enlai , and Deng Xiaoping decided to send down work teams to various universities to further control the movement, and Mao Zedong initially approved their decision. To support Nie Yuanzi and other student activists against
14196-456: The United States, have remained in force for several centuries, often without major revision for long periods of time. The most common reasons for these frequent changes are the political desire for an immediate outcome and the short time devoted to the constitutional drafting process. A study in 2009 showed that the average time taken to draft a constitution is around 16 months, however there were also some extreme cases registered. For example,
14365-765: The Wenhui Daily editorial team a "rightist system" and characterized big-character poster as an evil weapon used by rightists against the party. Big-character posters critical of Mao or CCP soon vanished. While the content of this first wave of big-character posters irritated Mao Zedong , he was impressed by the medium's effectiveness in engaging the masses, and he decided to adopt it for his political goals. In June 1957, Mao already observed: "According to Beijing's experience, posting dazibao in party organs and universities can, first, expose faults such as bureaucratism; secondly, expose those who have reactionary or incorrect thoughts; thirdly, train party members and those still in
14534-639: The Wise the Grand Prince of Kiev , was granted to Great Novgorod around 1017, and in 1054 was incorporated into the Russkaya Pravda ; it became the law for all of Kievan Rus' . It survived only in later editions of the 15th century. In England, Henry I's proclamation of the Charter of Liberties in 1100 bound the king for the first time in his treatment of the clergy and the nobility. This idea
14703-477: The basis of government for the short-lived republic from 1653 to 1657 by providing a legal rationale for the increasing power of Cromwell after Parliament consistently failed to govern effectively. Most of the concepts and ideas embedded into modern constitutional theory, especially bicameralism , separation of powers , the written constitution, and judicial review , can be traced back to the experiments of that period. Drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653,
14872-645: The basis of the Serbian medieval law. The essence of Zakonopravilo was based on Corpus Iuris Civilis . Stefan Dušan , emperor of Serbs and Greeks, enacted Dušan's Code ( Serbian : Душанов Законик/Dušanov Zakonik ) in Serbia , in two state congresses: in 1349 in Skopje and in 1354 in Serres . It regulated all social spheres, so it was the second Serbian constitution, after St. Sava's Nomocanon (Zakonopravilo). The Code
15041-475: The basis of universal consensus of all chiefs following discussions that were initiated by a single nation. The position of Sachem descends through families and are allocated by the senior female clan heads, though, prior to the filling of the position, candidacy is ultimately democratically decided by the community itself. In 1634 the Kingdom of Sweden adopted the 1634 Instrument of Government , drawn up under
15210-614: The campaign started to go out of control, Peng Zhen , First Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee and Major of Beijing, intervened and sent a work item that included his Deputy Secretary Deng Tuo to Peking University to restore order. In March 1965, Deng Xiaoping also stepped in and reinstalled Lu Ping. Socialist education activists were criticized, including those in the philosophy department, Nie Yuanzi , Zhang Enci, Kong Fan, and Sun Pengyi. In particular, due to her fierce attack against Lu Ping, Nie Yuanzi
15379-482: The citizens shall not be violated" ) and human rights ( "the State respects and protects human rights" ). The government argued that this represented progress for Chinese democracy and was a sign from the CCP that they recognized the need to adapt to the booming Chinese economy, which had created a growing middle class who wanted private property protections. Chinese leader Hu Jintao said that "These amendments of
15548-512: The climax of their attack, and they are going at it in high spirits... We shall let the Rightists run amuck for a time and let them reach their climax. The more they run amuck, the better for us... Why is such a torrent of reactionary, vicious statements being allowed to appear in the press? To let the people have some idea of these poisonous weeds and noxious fumes so as to have them uprooted or dispelled." The first critical big-character poster
15717-516: The collective pseudonym Li-Yi-Zhe. It began with a nominal celebration of some positive aspects of the Cultural Revolution but quickly went on to criticize the concurrent lack of democracy and a robust legal system. It called the situation "a rehearsal for socialist-fascism in our country", with Lin Biao "the rehearsal's chief director." In the end, the poster called for democracy, socialist legality, and revolutionary and personal rights. The poster found
15886-441: The consciousness of rationality so far as that consciousness is developed in a particular nation." Since 1789, along with the Constitution of the United States of America (U.S. Constitution), which is the oldest and shortest written constitution still in force, close to 800 constitutions have been adopted and subsequently amended around the world by independent states. In the late 18th century, Thomas Jefferson predicted that
16055-445: The constitution so that they can be addressed by the Party through other regulatory mechanisms outside of the constitutional realm." Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity , organization or other type of entity , and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these principles are written down into
16224-456: The constitution. Unlike many Western legal systems, courts do not have the power of judicial review and cannot invalidate a statute on the grounds that it violates the constitution. Since 2002, a special committee within the NPC called the Constitution and Law Committee has been responsible for constitutional review and enforcement. The committee has never explicitly ruled that a law or regulation
16393-712: The death of Cromwell and the Restoration of the monarchy. All of the British colonies in North America that were to become the 13 original United States, adopted their own constitutions in 1776 and 1777, during the American Revolution (and before the later Articles of Confederation and United States Constitution ), with the exceptions of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts adopted its Constitution in 1780,
16562-683: The dictatorship of the proletariat." Throughout the Cultural Revolution , some big-character posters were used against the Gang of Four. In 1970, during the One Strike-Three Anti Campaign , local authorities were unclear about who they should attack, and sometimes even Jiang Qing was criticized as a revisionist. In 1976, when the Gang of Four decided to go against the newly reinstated Deng Xiaoping , they encountered strong resistance. In Sichuan, Deng's home province, big-character posters praised Deng Xiaoping and questioned
16731-492: The direction of Jiang Qing , three articles were published on Jiefang Daily and Guangming Daily against the column, which was characterized as an "anti-party, anti-socialism big poisonous weed" that intended to overthrow the dictatorship of the proletariat and restore capitalism in China. While the entire country was agitated against the column and its writers, Peking University did not support their blind criticism. On May 14, 1966, Lu Ping repeated Song Shuo's (vice-president of
16900-553: The document focuses more on social morality than on institutions of government, and remains a notable early attempt at a government constitution. The Constitution of Medina ( Arabic : صحیفة المدینه , Ṣaḥīfat al-Madīna), also known as the Charter of Medina, was drafted by the Islamic prophet Muhammad after his flight ( hijra ) to Yathrib where he became political leader. It constituted a formal agreement between Muhammad and all of
17069-477: The early 1960s. Big-Character posters were among the "four bigs," political instruments which the masses used widely during the Cultural Revolution. The other three referred to great airing of opinions ( daming ), great freedom ( dafang ), and great debate ( dabianlung ). A key trigger in the Cultural Revolution was the publication of a "What are Song Shuo, Lu Ping , and Peng Peiyun up to in
17238-538: The election law passed in March 2010. The 1982 constitution included the birth planning policy known as the one-child policy . The National People's Congress amended Articles 10 and 11 of the Constitution. Allow the emergence of the private sector and allow the transfer of the Land tenure. The Constitution was amended on 14 March 2004 to include guarantees regarding private property ( "legally obtained private property of
17407-409: The first draft on May 24, 1966, and Yang Keming revised the poster. Though Nie Yuanzi put her name first, she was only marginally involved in the actual writing of the poster. Nie only added three slogans at the end of the text: "Defend the party center! Defend Mao Zedong Thought! Defend the dictatorship of the proletariat!" She did meet with Cao Yiou on May 25 and asked for her approval to put
17576-452: The first few posters only retold personal stories, the content of big-character posters soon became bolder, and some began to attack the Cultural Revolution , the Gang of Four , Mao Zedong , and finally Deng Xiaoping . One of the most famous was " The Fifth Modernization ", whose bold call for democracy brought instant fame to its author, Wei Jingsheng . On December 5, 1978, Wei Jingsheng ,
17745-773: The fold of one community – the Ummah . The precise dating of the Constitution of Medina remains debated, but generally, scholars agree it was written shortly after the Hijra (622). In Wales , the Cyfraith Hywel (Law of Hywel) was codified by Hywel Dda c. 942–950. It served as the main law code in Wales until it was superseded by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 . The Pravda Yaroslava , originally combined by Yaroslav
17914-483: The four big rights offered the possibility of straying into criticism of the CCP, which was in fact what appeared in student wall posters. In a new era that strove for political stability and economic development, party leaders considered the four big rights politically destabilizing. Chinese citizens are prohibited from forming new political parties. Among the political rights granted by the constitution, all Chinese citizens have rights to elect and be elected. According to
18083-729: The gate of the Imperial Palace. In the Republic of China , increased popular literacy enabled a more effective use of public posters as a form of political propaganda. Posters and other forms of public writings were frequently employed to express nationalist sentiment. During the May Fourth Movement in 1919, Peking University students were enraged by the Treaty of Versailles , which handed German-occupied territory in China to Japan after World War I and decided to hold
18252-409: The government failed to promptly address every victim's request for official rehabilitation and reparation. Thousands of people traveled to Beijing to petition for their cases to be reevaluated, and many publicized their sufferings in the form of big-character posters. It was reported that at one time around 40,000 people went to the Democracy Wall to post, read, and discuss big-character posters. If
18421-426: The headquarters—my big-character poster ", which was distributed to the plenum two days later. Strictly speaking, this was not a big-character poster, as it was never actually mounted on a wall but draught down on an old Beijing Daily. Perhaps Mao intentionally appropriated the name to borrow its spontaneous and rebellious connotation. Though the poster only vaguely targeted "some leading comrades" who had "enforced
18590-631: The judgment of Mao and CCP. Most party media were silent about the student movement. "The Democracy Wall in Peking University", written by Liu Guanghua from Wenhui Daily , was one of the few articles sympathetic towards it. Some posters quoted in his article had evident "anti-party" and "anti-socialism" sentiment. Liu's essay encouraged nationwide writing of big-character posters, which started to appear in universities in Nanjing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, etc. This first wave of big-character posters
18759-456: The judicial power above that of the legislature, which would be subversive of all government". Generally, every modern written constitution confers specific powers on an organization or institutional entity, established upon the primary condition that it abides by the constitution's limitations. According to Scott Gordon, a political organization is constitutional to the extent that it "contain[s] institutionalized mechanisms of power control for
18928-589: The king. The Kouroukan Founga was a 13th-century charter of the Mali Empire in West Africa , reconstructed from oral tradition in 1988 by Siriman Kouyaté . It included the "right to life and to the preservation of physical integrity" and significant protections for women. The Golden Bull of 1356 was a decree issued by a Reichstag in Nuremberg headed by Emperor Charles IV that fixed, for
19097-618: The later promulgated election law, rural residents had only 1/4 vote power of townsmen (formerly 1/8). As Chinese citizens are categorized into rural resident and town resident, and the constitution has no stipulation of freedom of transference, those rural residents are restricted by the Hukou (registered permanent residence) and have fewer political, economic, and educational rights. This problem has largely been addressed with various and ongoing reforms of Hukou in 2007. The aforementioned ratio of vote power has been readjusted to 1:1 by an amendment to
19266-782: The leadership of the Central Committee. The national reproduction of Nie et al.'s big-character poster immediately activated students. Between June 1 and June 6, more than 50,000 big-character posters were posted in Peking University, and 65,000 posters appeared in Tsinghua University. In the Post and Telecommunications Sector in Beijing, each person on average wrote more than 7 big-character posters in June, 1966. This first wave of writing mainly targeted school leaders and party committee members who previously did not support students' posting of big-character posters. More people went to
19435-402: The legal judgement of his peers, or by the law of the land. This provision became the cornerstone of English liberty after that point. The social contract in the original case was between the king and the nobility but was gradually extended to all of the people. It led to the system of Constitutional Monarchy , with further reforms shifting the balance of power from the monarchy and nobility to
19604-1007: The legislative, executive, and judiciary branches, well before the publication of Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws . This Constitution also limited the executive authority of the hetman , and established a democratically elected Cossack parliament called the General Council. However, Orlyk's project for an independent Ukrainian State never materialized, and his constitution, written in exile, never went into effect. Corsican Constitutions of 1755 and 1794 were inspired by Jean-Jacques Rousseau . The latter introduced universal suffrage for property owners. Big-character posters Big-character posters ( Chinese : 大字报 ; lit. 'big- character reports') are handwritten posters displaying large Chinese characters , usually mounted on walls in public spaces such as universities, factories, government departments, and sometimes directly on
19773-666: The masses during the Hundred Flowers Campaign , he looked back to the Yan'an period in his talk at the supreme state conference: "A few big-character posters were written in the Yan'an period, but we didn't promote it. Why? I guess maybe we were a bit foolish back then." In late 1956, Mao Zedong believed that internal contradictions within the socialist society and within the party leadership, such as issues of subjectivism, bureaucratism, and secretarianism, must be solved before they develop into serious antagonism that requires more violent and radical measures. To expose these contradictions, Mao
19942-470: The middle." In July 1957, Mao further redefined big-character posters as "a revolutionary form that is beneficial to the proletarian and not to the bourgeoise". He reasoned that "the fear of big-character poster is unfounded", since it would only "expose and solve contradictions and help people make progress." Big-character posters were coopted by the party as a useful weapon against the rightists, many of whom were arrested for posting critical posters. During
20111-511: The motivation of the Gang of Four. After the death of Zhou Enlai , in the April 5 Tiananmen Incident , many big-character posters attacked the Gang of Four. The writing of big-character posters continued after the Cultural Revolution . As Deng Xiaoping gradually ascended to power, he was initially tolerant of big-character posters or the public expression of political dissent. On November 27, 1978, he said: "[The presence of big-character poster]
20280-409: The next three days, and the number continued to grow. The content of these big-character posters varied from criticizing the "three evils" (subjectivism, bureaucracy, and sectarianism), criticizing dogmatism in teaching, demanding freedom to form communities and societies, and urging the cancellation of bans on books. One poster by Long Yinghua from the philosophy department suggested that a section of
20449-604: The oldest still-functioning constitution of any U.S. state; while Connecticut and Rhode Island officially continued to operate under their old colonial charters, until they adopted their first state constitutions in 1818 and 1843, respectively. What is sometimes called the "enlightened constitution" model was developed by philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment such as Thomas Hobbes , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and John Locke . The model proposed that constitutional governments should be stable, adaptable, accountable, open and should represent
20618-423: The party. On October 24 and 25, he stated that it was not good to post big-character posters against Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping on the streets, as they should not be completely stricken down. However, the situation was impossible to control, and big-character posters against Liu Shaoqi still appeared in the public. The eleventh Plenum not only effectively removed Liu from his position, but the "Sixteen Directives"
20787-550: The people (i.e., support democracy ). Agreements and Constitutions of Laws and Freedoms of the Zaporizian Host was written in 1710 by Pylyp Orlyk , hetman of the Zaporozhian Host . It was written to establish a free Zaporozhian-Ukrainian Republic , with the support of Charles XII of Sweden . It is notable in that it established a democratic standard for the separation of powers in government between
20956-585: The poster up. At the time, Cao Yiou was sent by Kang Sheng (a leading member of the Central Case Examination Group and adviser to the Central Cultural Revolution Group) to Peking University as the head of a seven-person central investigation team, the apparent intention of which was to review the progress of Peking University's academic criticism. Nevertheless, they had already decided that the criticism
21125-578: The poster, but Nie refused. Mao Zedong was not in Beijing at the time. Liu Shaoqi and other leaders tried to control the movement by issuing an eight-point directive restricting the posting of big-character posters, yet the guidelines were not strictly followed by the students. On May 25, Li Xuefeng , the newly appointed First Secretary of Beijing, visited Peking University at midnight and exhorted students and party members that they must "struggle in an orderly way instead of scrambling everything up." Zhou Enlai also sent Zhang Yan, deputy director of
21294-510: The posting and discussion of big-character posters. In the 1964 Socialist Education Movement , big-character posters were again employed. According to Göran Leijonhufvud, one of his informants recalls that posters were everywhere in his village in Guangdong Province. Even illiterate people were expected to generate big-character posters by asking people to write for them. Nevertheless, the writing of big-character posters declined in
21463-736: The posting of big-character posters in the Jingxi County in Guangxi. People also wrote big-character posters to support China's sovereignty. When the US navy moved into the Taiwan Strait in 1958, numerous big-character posters were produced in support of Zhou Enlai's declaration on September 4 that no foreign aircraft or military vessels may enter China's territorial sky and waters without permission. According to People's Daily , hundreds and thousands of posters were produced by students from
21632-403: The protection of the interests and liberties of the citizenry , including those that may be in the minority ". Activities of officials within an organization or polity that fall within the constitutional or statutory authority of those officials are termed "within power" (or, in Latin, intra vires ); if they do not, they are termed "beyond power" (or, in Latin, ultra vires ). For example,
21801-579: The radical criticism aired by non-party intellectuals. In the first week of June 1957, Mao launched the Anti-Rightist Campaign . Those critical of the party or the government were labeled "rightists" or "capitalist-roaders" and were punished for attempting to sabotage the dictatorship of the proletariat. Their use of big-character posters was also condemned. On June 14, People's Daily criticized Wenhui Daily' s sympathetic coverage of big-character posters. On July 1, People's Daily called
21970-696: The reign of Zara Yaqob . Even so, its first recorded use in the function of a constitution (supreme law of the land) is with Sarsa Dengel beginning in 1563. The Fetha Negest remained the supreme law in Ethiopia until 1931, when a modern-style Constitution was first granted by Emperor Haile Selassie I. In the Principality of Catalonia , the Catalan constitutions were promulgated by the Court from 1283 (or even two centuries before, if Usatges of Barcelona
22139-435: The relationship between the central government and local governments: "The division of responsibility and power between the central and local government is governed under the unified leadership of the central government, while fully encouraging the principle of local government initiative and proactivity." Article 35 of the 1982 Constitution proclaims that "citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech , of
22308-425: The revolution," which established the legitimacy of big-character posters as a form of mass struggle. He described big-character posters as "the most suitable for the masses to take the initiatives and to raise their responsibility...as they fully exercise socialist democracy." In the same month, official media such as People's Daily and Beijing Daily started promoting big-character posters. In an attempt to mobilize
22477-546: The ruling class was to be based on wealth ( plutocracy ), rather than on birth ( aristocracy ). Cleisthenes again reformed the Athenian constitution and set it on a democratic footing in 508 BC. Aristotle (c. 350 BC) was the first to make a formal distinction between ordinary law and constitutional law, establishing ideas of constitution and constitutionalism , and attempting to classify different forms of constitutional government. The most basic definition he used to describe
22646-400: The same meaning; as do "beyond power", ultra vires , "not authorized" and "invalid". In most but not all modern states the constitution has supremacy over ordinary statutory law (see Uncodified constitution below); in such states when an official act is unconstitutional, i.e. it is not a power granted to the government by the constitution, that act is null and void , and the nullification
22815-467: The signal. On August 22, 1966, the first poster against Liu Shaoqi appeared, in which a Tsinghua University student attacked Liu Shaoqi for being oppositional to Mao Zedong thought. Millions more similar big-character posters were posted in Beijing in the next several months. Mao Zedong was ambivalent about such public opposition against Liu Shaoqi. Although Mao wanted to eliminate Liu as a powerful political rival, he still treated this problem as internal to
22984-591: The significant tribes and families of Yathrib (later known as Medina ), including Muslims , Jews , and pagans . The document was drawn up with the explicit concern of bringing to an end the bitter intertribal fighting between the clans of the Aws ( Aus ) and Khazraj within Medina. To this effect it instituted a number of rights and responsibilities for the Muslim, Jewish, and pagan communities of Medina bringing them within
23153-427: The socialist path, Mao decided that it was enough. On May 15, 1957, he wrote an article "Things are starting to change", which was immediately passed around party cadres but not yet made public. In the article, Mao insisted that "In recent days the Rightists in the democratic parties and institutions of higher education have shown themselves to be most determined and most rabid... To date, the Rightists have yet to reach
23322-459: The streets. In Changsha, the walls of the grey buildings along the main streets were colored white by paper. After the Red Guards went to the country to "integrate with the masses", workers and peasants also started to write big-character posters. In Shanghai, in the propaganda sector alone, around 88,000 big-character posters attacked more than 1300 people by June 18. In the early years of
23491-431: The streets. They were used as a means of protest, propaganda, and popular communication. A form of popular political writing, big-character posters did not have a fixed format or style, and could appear in the form of letter, slogan, poem, commentary, etc. Though many different political parties around the world have used slogans and posters as propaganda, the most intense, extensive, and varied use of big-character posters
23660-496: The students. On July 24, Mao finally ordered all work teams to withdraw from colleges and middle schools. The central target of Nie et al.'s poster, Lu Ping , was eventually dismissed. The entire Peking University Party Committee was reorganized, and Nie Yuanzi became an important member of the new committee. In the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Eighth CCP Central Committee held between August 1 and 12, 1966, Nie Yuanzi and other "revolutionary representatives" were invited. In
23829-399: The subsequent civil war . They not only disseminated news and communist ideas but were also used to purge party officials during the 1942 Rectification Movement . During this early use of big-character posters, both the target and the degree of criticism were strictly controlled by the CCP party units. However, occasionally, though rarely, people also used big-character posters to criticize
23998-619: The supreme law used in parts of Germany as late as 1900. Around 1240, the Coptic Egyptian Christian writer, 'Abul Fada'il Ibn al-'Assal , wrote the Fetha Negest in Arabic . 'Ibn al-Assal took his laws partly from apostolic writings and Mosaic law and partly from the former Byzantine codes. There are a few historical records claiming that this law code was translated into Ge'ez and entered Ethiopia around 1450 in
24167-580: The universities to read big-character posters, and many middle school students went to learn how to write a big-character poster. According to the celebrated Chinese writer Ji Xianlin , "every day hundreds of thousands of people came...in addition to people, the walls, the ground, and the trees were covered by big and small character posters, and they all have the same content, supporting the first Marxist-Leninist big-character poster." The press continued to celebrate big-character poster. On June 21, People's Daily published "Revolutionary Big Character Posters are
24336-409: The universities, and the tension between work teams and student activists escalated. Though work teams seemingly encouraged students to criticize bourgeois or revisionist teachers, they were given the mandate to monitor the most outspoken teachers and students, and unorganized and unsupervised accusations and struggles against individual teachers and cadres were criticized. The students, who assumed that
24505-465: The university wall should be designated as a forum for such democratic discussion, and hence the Democracy Wall was born in Peking University. Some of the more radical posters questioned the primacy and legitimacy of CCP and demanded absolute democracy. Liu Qidi's poster "Hu Feng is certainly not a counter-revolutionary" challenged the accusations of the intellectual Hu Feng three years ago in an earlier rectification campaign, which essentially questioned
24674-657: The work on the Serbian Nomocanon in 1208 while he was at Mount Athos , using The Nomocanon in Fourteen Titles , Synopsis of Stefan the Efesian , Nomocanon of John Scholasticus , and Ecumenical Council documents, which he modified with the canonical commentaries of Aristinos and Joannes Zonaras , local church meetings, rules of the Holy Fathers , the law of Moses , the translation of Prohiron, and
24843-416: The work teams should support all their revolutionary effort, became dissatisfied with the imposed restrictions and wrote big-character posters against the work teams. In late July, Mao Zedong intervened. He insisted that those who wrote big-character posters should not be arrested, even if they wrote reactionary slogans. He urged all cadres to go to Peking University to read big-character posters and encourage
25012-562: The work teams, Kang Sheng sent a copy of the poster to Mao Zedong , who was enjoying his vacation in Hangzhou. Mao read it on June 1 and wrote an instruction: "This text could be published by the Xinhua News Agency in all the national journals and magazines. It is absolutely necessary. Now we can smash the reactionary stronghold that is Peking University. Do so as soon as possible! The big-character poster from Peking University
25181-401: The writers were punished. In particular, Wang was accused as a "Trotskyist spy" and beheaded in 1947. In 1945, during The 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party , Mao Zedong reflected on Wang's big-character poster: "We were defeated by him. We acknowledged our defeat and worked hard at rectification." In 1957, when Mao Zedong had started to use big-character posters to mobilize
25350-414: The writing of big-character posters in factories, leading party cadres including Mao Zedong , Liu Shaoqi , Zhou Enlai , and Zhu De all went to different Beijing factories to read big-character posters. With such explicit encouragement, big-character posters finally flourished in every major Chinese city. In a factory in Beijing, 110,000 big-character posters were posted within two weeks. In Shanghai,
25519-422: Was "a shameless bandit no better than a capitalist who robs workers of their money earned with their sweat and blood." He called for action: "Let me call on our comrades: Rally under the banner of democracy and do not trust the autocrats' talk about 'stability and unity.'...Democracy is our only hope. Abandon our democratic rights and we will be shackled once again. Let us believe in our own strength!" Wei Jingsheng
25688-452: Was a brick wall in Xidan, a shopping district in Beijing at the intersection of West Chang'an Street and Xidan North Street. After 1976, although the Cultural Revolution was criticized, Mao Zedong's reputation in general and the CCP's fundamental authority were deemed unquestionable by the new regime, which caused some discontent among those who suffered during the past ten years. In addition,
25857-468: Was a mixed system including monarchic, aristocratic, and democratic elements. He also distinguished between citizens, who had the right to participate in the state, and non-citizens and slaves, who did not. The Romans initially codified their constitution in 450 BC as the Twelve Tables . They operated under a series of laws that were added from time to time, but Roman law was not reorganized into
26026-414: Was also added to the Constitution. The amendments also add the phrases "Communist Party of China" and its "leadership" into the main body of the Constitution. Prior to the amendment, the CCP and its leadership were only mentioned in the preamble. Constitutional preambles are often not legally binding and as the legal applicability of the Chinese constitution is debated, the amendment may be seen as providing
26195-417: Was also ratified at the Plenum, the fourth directive of which encouraged the masses to "make fullest use of big-character posters." The official endorsement of big-character posters triggered widespread fervor. Millions of people wrote big-character posters, which could be found almost everywhere in the nation, from urban cities to rural villages, from university campuses to factories, from government offices to
26364-652: Was an organic, coherent, and systematic work of legislation encompassing the civil and penal law . The Gayanashagowa , the oral constitution of the Haudenosaunee nation also known as the Great Law of Peace, established a system of governance as far back as 1190 AD (though perhaps more recently at 1451) in which the Sachems , or tribal chiefs, of the Iroquois League's member nations made decisions on
26533-598: Was based on Roman - Byzantine law . The legal transplanting within articles 171 and 172 of Dušan's Code, which regulated juridical independence, is notable. They were taken from the Byzantine code Basilika (book VII, 1, 16–17). In 1222, Hungarian King Andrew II issued the Golden Bull of 1222 . Between 1220 and 1230, a Saxon administrator, Eike von Repgow , composed the Sachsenspiegel , which became
26702-405: Was declared in 1954. The current Constitution was declared in 1982, after two intervening versions enacted in 1975 and 1978. There were significant differences between each of these versions, and the 1982 Constitution has subsequently been amended five times. The 1982 Constitution expunges almost all of the rhetoric associated with the Cultural Revolution incorporated in the 1978 version. In fact,
26871-427: Was determined to create an open atmosphere in which people may freely air any constructive advice. In February 1957, he launched the Hundred Flowers Campaign , which attempted to mobilize the masses, especially non-party intellectuals, to voice their concerns and contend with each other. However, as criticism started to target Mao's judgment and question whether China should be led by CCP and whether China should adopt
27040-617: Was extended and refined by the English barony when they forced King John to sign Magna Carta in 1215. The most important single article of Magna Carta, related to " habeas corpus ", provided that the king was not permitted to imprison, outlaw, exile or kill anyone at a whim – there must be due process of law first. This article, Article 39, of Magna Carta read: No free man shall be arrested, or imprisoned, or deprived of his property, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor shall we go against him or send against him, unless by
27209-804: Was in China in various political campaigns associated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Big-character posters were first used extensively in the Hundred Flowers Campaign , and they played an instrumental role in almost all the subsequent political campaigns, culminating in the Cultural Revolution . Though the right to write big-character posters was deleted from the Constitution of the People's Republic of China in 1980, people still occasionally write big-character posters to express their personal and political opinions. Dazibao have been used in China since imperial times, but became more common when literacy rates rose after
27378-399: Was kept in the 1978 Constitution . In Chapter 3, "The Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens", Article 45 reinstates: "Citizens enjoy freedom of speech, correspondence, the press, assembly, association, procession, demonstration and the freedom to strike, and have the right to "speak out freely, air their views fully, hold great debates and write big-character posters." However, compared to
27547-404: Was not allowed or legitimate. In such a case, only that application may be ruled unconstitutional. Historically, the remedies for such violations have been petitions for common law writs , such as quo warranto . Scholars debate whether a constitution must necessarily be autochthonous , resulting from the nations "spirit". Hegel said "A constitution...is the work of centuries; it is the idea,
27716-414: Was not immediately arrested for putting up this poster, but Deng Xiaoping grew increasingly impatient about such attacks on his policies and the party, which he complained about during the Third Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Communist Party. Deng was wary that this call for democracy would push the country too rashly for radical liberalization that may return the society to the same chaos as
27885-498: Was not on the right track and Lu Ping would be held responsible, and Cao's real task was to mobilize the masses against the school's party leadership. She thus had no reason to turn Nie Yuanzi down. At two o'clock in the afternoon, the poster was put up on the eastern wall of the university's canteen. Within a few hours of its posting, more than a hundred similar big-character posters targeting Lu Ping and Peng Peiyun also appeared, mostly written by Nie's supporters. In less than half
28054-437: Was not welcomed by university party cadres. For instance, Cui Xiongkun, the deputy secretary of CCP in Peking University, stated: "big-character is not the best practice." Party authorities urged students to stop posting, which only generated more posters denouncing their restriction of freedom of expression. The Peking University Party Committee eventually gave consent to the posting of big-character posters. Factory workers in
28223-436: Was posted on May 19, 1957, on the walls of the dining hall of Peking University , after Mao made up his mind that all those criticizing the party would be encouraged to speak up only to be eliminated later. This first poster was not exceptionally radical. It questioned how representatives to the National Congress of Youth League were selected and implied that the responsible cadres were nepotistic. 500 more posters followed in
28392-481: Was severely criticized in 1965. Yet on May 19, 1966, CCP announced the May 16 Circular authored by Mao. It attacked Peng-Luo-Lu-Yang ( Peng Zhen , Luo Ruiqing , Lu Dingyi , Yang Shangkun ) as an Anti-Party Clique and dismissed the Five-Person Cultural Revolution Small Group led by Peng. Those who criticized socialist education activists were openly denounced. Nie Yuanzi and Zhao Zhengyi saw an opportunity to reinstate their position and on May 23, they decided to write
28561-461: Was used for those of England, beginning with the Code of Æthelberht of Kent (602). Around 893, Alfred the Great combined this and two other earlier Saxon codes, with various Mosaic and Christian precepts, to produce the Doom book code of laws for England. Japan 's Seventeen-article constitution written in 604, reportedly by Prince Shōtoku , is an early example of a constitution in Asian political history. Influenced by Buddhist teachings,
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