An Analysis of the Fifth National People's Congress of China

Abstract

From February 26 to March 5 of this year the Communist Party of China [CPC] held the First Session of the Fifth National People's Congress in Peking. At the same time, the First Session of the Fifth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was also held in Peking. According to an official release, 3,500 deputies were elected to the congress, an increase of 815 deputies over the preceding congress. Representation in the congress is shown in the following breakdown: workers, 26.7 percent; peasants, 20.6 percent; military personnel, 14.4 percent; revolutionary cadres, 13.4 percent; intellectuals, 15 percent; patriotic personages, 8.9 percent; and returned Overseas Chinese, 1 percent. Middle-aged and young deputies made up 62.9 percent of the total. Deputies of national minorities accounted for 10.9 percent. The simultaneous convocation of these two conferences, in sum, was for the purpose of creating, through the composition and activities of the convention, an impression both at home and abroad that China had achieved "unity and stability," "democracy," and "the rule of law." It was also designed to give impetus to economic construction and the implementation of the four modernizations and to strengthen united front work both within and outside the country. The following is an analysis of the three items on the agenda of the First Session of the Fifth National People's Congress; it may serve to illustrate the purposes of the convention as stated above.