The Constitution Is Closely Related to the Practical Explorations of the Chinese People Under the Leadership of the Party

China’s Constitution is closely related to the practical explorations of the Chinese people under the leadership of the Party and continues improving along with the progress of the times and the development of the cause of the Party and the people. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, four versions of the Constitution have been promulgated. Each reviews and summarizes in its Preamble the past struggles and essential achievements in the course of the Chinese people’s revolution and construction under the Party’s leadership, from which we can conclude that the Party’s leading position is neither self-proclaimed nor forced upon others, but a choice of history and the people. It is based on such a historical logic that the four versions of China’s Constitution recognize, in their respective Preamble, the great struggles and essential achievements in the course of the Chinese people’s revolution and construction under the Party’s leadership, and affirm the Party’s leadership in state governance.

The current Constitution of China was adopted in 1982. At that time, the new great revolution of the reform and opening up just started in China. After painstaking practice and exploration, the Party has led the people to successfully blaze a trail of socialism with Chinese characteristics, profoundly inspiring the creativity of the people, greatly freeing and developing the productive forces, and deeply enhancing the vitality of social development. Across more than three decades, China has created a stunning miracle of development. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the Party has led the people to uphold socialism with Chinese characteristics, devise comprehensive plans for the great struggle, great project, great cause and great dream, and coordinate the implementation of the Five-sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Strategy. Such policies are expected to produce historic achievements and development in the cause of the Party and the country as socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era. The Chinese nation has achieved a tremendous transformation – it has stood up, grown rich, and become strong. Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth. The great practice of reform and opening up has proven that the Party’s leadership is the foundation and lifeline of the nation as well as the guarantee on the interests and wellbeing of the people. Without the leadership of the Party, practice of socialism would have not happened in China, let alone the creation and development of socialism with Chinese characteristics. The important statement by General Secretary Xi Jinping that “the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics is the leadership of the Communist Party of China” is a completely new concept that integrates the historical logic of the people’s revolution and development under the Party’s leadership and the practical logic of the people implementing reform and opening up under the Party’s leadership.