| Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
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| 全国人民代表大会常务委员会委员长 | |
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| Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |
| Type | Presiding officer |
| Status | National-level official |
| Member of | Council of Chairpersons |
| Nominator | Presidium of the National People's Congress |
| Appointer | National People's Congress |
| Term length | 5 years, renewable once consecutively |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of China |
| Formation | 27 September 1954; 71 years ago (1954-09-27) |
| First holder | Liu Shaoqi |
| Deputy | Vice Chairpersons Secretary-General |
| Salary | CN¥150,000 per annumest. (2015)[1] |
| Website | www.npc.gov.cn |
| Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress | |||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 全国人民代表大会常务委员会委员长 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 全國人民代表大會常務委員會委員長 | ||||||
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| Officially abbreviated as | |||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 全国人大常委会委员长 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 全國人大常委會委員長 | ||||||
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Thechairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is thepresiding officer of theStanding Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), which is the permanent body of theNational People's Congress (NPC), the national legislature of China.
The chairman is formally nominated by thePresidium of the NPC during a session and approved by the delegations of the NPC, though in reality is chosen within the rulingChinese Communist Party (CCP).[2] The chairman presides over the work of the NPCSC and convenes and presides over its meetings. The chairman is assisted by thevice chairpersons andsecretary-general of the NPCSC, who together makeup theCouncil of Chairpersons.[3] A vice chairperson may be delegated to exercise some of the chairman's powers by the chairman. In the case that the chairman becomes incapacitated, NPCSC temporarily elects one of the vice chairpersons until the chairman is able to resume their work or a new chairman is elected by the NPC.[4][non-primary source needed] The position holds reserve constitutional powers under the 1982 revision of theConstitution of the People's Republic of China. As stipulated in Article 84 of the Constitution, should both thepresident andvice president become incapacitated, and the National People's Congress is unable to elect a timely replacement, the chairman of the NPCSC will act as president.[4][non-primary source needed] The chairman leads theLeading Party Members Group of the NPCSC, which is responsible for the implementation ofCCP Central Committee policies in the NPCSC.[5]
From 1998 to 2013, the position was ranked second in the hierarchy of thePolitburo Standing Committee of the CCP, sinceLi Peng was barred from seeking a third term aspremier in 1998. In thepolitical order of precedence, the chairman ranks below theCCP general secretary (paramount leader) andpresident (state representative).[6] The ranking of this position is not necessarily reflective of its actual power, which varies depending on the officeholder. The incumbent chairman isZhao Leji, who is the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee.
During the drafting of thePRC constitution, there were debates on which title to use for the head of the NPC Standing Committee. On 23 March 1954, at the first meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee, theCentral Committee of the CCP put forward a draft that used the title "speaker" (议长). During the draft discussion, there were various discussions on whether to use "speaker" or "chairman" (委员长) for the title of the post. Those who used the "chairman" title argued that it would be unpopular asChiang Kai-shek also used that title, while those supporting it saw no issue. There were also ones proposing the use of "chairman" (主席), similar to the chairman of thePresidium of the Supreme Soviet, but others argued against this by saying the title was the same as thechairman of the People's Republic of China, meaning that the masses could easily confuse them.[7]
During the discussionTian Jiaying, the deputy secretary-general of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said that the NPC is an organ of power rather than just a deliberative organ, and that the "speaker" title is not commensurate with its nature. Eventually, the word "chairman" (委员长) was adopted. The office came into existence with the adoption of the1954 Constitution, withLiu Shaoqi becoming its first holder.[7] From 1975 to 1983, the chairman of the Standing Committee served asstate representative of the People's Republic of China, as the presidency had been written out of the1975 constitution and was also excluded from the1978 draft; the presidency was restored in 1982.[8] Theoretically, during the1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the officeholder at the time,Wan Li, had the power to call an emergency session of the NPC to resolve the issue constitutionally. However, Wan's freedom of movement was restricted, and ultimately rendered powerless in the situation.[9]
Between 1993 and 1998, the office was held byQiao Shi, who was the third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Qiao tried to get rid off the NPC's "rubber stamp" reputation and turn it into an institution with real power in establishing therule of law.[10] On 16 March 1998,Li Peng was elected the chairman of the NPCSC, replacing Qiao Shi. However, he was elected with less than 90% of the vote, with around three hundred delegates not backing him, despite the fact that he was the only candidate.[11] Under Li, the NPCSC chair was the second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee just after the CCP General Secretary, which continued underWu Bangguo, who held the office from 2003 to 2013.[12] In 2013, the political importance of the office decreased whenZhang Dejiang became the officeholder; Zhang was the third-ranking member behind the CCP General Secretary and the Premier.[13]
Multiple terms in office, consecutive or otherwise, are listed in theTerm column.
| No. | Chairperson | Term | Term of office | Political party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Took office | Left office | |||||
| 1 | .jpg) | Liu Shaoqi 刘少奇 | 1st | September 27, 1954 | April 27, 1959 | Chinese Communist Party (CCP) |
| 2 |  | Zhu De 朱德 | 2nd | April 27, 1959 | January 3, 1965 | |
| 3rd | January 3, 1965 | January 17, 1975 | ||||
| 4th | January 17, 1975 | July 6, 1976 | ||||
| Office vacant July 7, 1976–March 5, 1978[a] | ||||||
| 3 |  | Ye Jianying 叶剑英 | 5th | March 5, 1978 | June 18, 1983 | Chinese Communist Party (CCP) |
| 4 |  | Peng Zhen 彭真 | 6th | June 18, 1983 | April 8, 1988 | |
| 5 | Wan Li 万里 | 7th | April 8, 1988 | March 27, 1993 | ||
| 6 | Qiao Shi 乔石 | 8th | March 27, 1993 | March 16, 1998 | ||
| 7 |  | Li Peng 李鹏 | 9th | March 16, 1998 | March 15, 2003 | |
| 8 | .jpg) | Wu Bangguo 吴邦国 | 10th | March 15, 2003 | March 15, 2008 | |
| 11th | March 15, 2008 | March 14, 2013 | ||||
| 9 |  | Zhang Dejiang 张德江 | 12th | March 14, 2013 | March 17, 2018 | |
| 10 |  | Li Zhanshu 栗战书 | 13th | March 17, 2018 | March 10, 2023 | |
| 11 | | Zhao Leji 赵乐际 | 14th | March 10, 2023 | Incumbent | |
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| Politics of province-level divisions (current leaders) |
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