Unveiling the Lies and Intimidation of the Constitution: The Chinese People Must Redraft the Constitution

On March 5, 2021, the day before the opening of China‘s National People‘s Congress (NPC), police patrol Tiananmen Square with dogs on a day of heavy air pollution in Beijing. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images.

[People News] China’s Constitution is an illegal, Party-controlled constitution. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used intimidation, lies, and deceit, enforced through violence, to impose the Chinese Constitution upon the people. The notion that “the crux of China’s constitutionalism lies in implementing the constitution rather than drafting it” is harmful. The Chinese people must redraft their constitution.

The Four Cardinal Principles Written into the Preamble of the Constitution

The preamble of the Constitution emphasizes that “the people of all ethnic groups in China will continue, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, guided by Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of the ‘Three Represents,’ the Scientific Outlook on Development, and Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, to uphold the people’s democratic dictatorship, to adhere to the socialist path, —, to build our country into a prosperous, strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious, and beautiful modern socialist power, and to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

This passage writes the Four Cardinal Principles—“continuing the leadership of the Communist Party of China, being guided by Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought, upholding the people’s democratic dictatorship, and adhering to the socialist path”—into the preamble of the Constitution. The CCP forces the Chinese people to continue down the path of violent socialism, to accept violent Marxism, and to use the people’s democratic dictatorship to intimidate and suppress the resistance of the Chinese people, stubbornly clinging to the CCP’s autocratic rule and continuing to deprive citizens of their freedoms and equal rights.

The Lies and Intimidation in the Preamble of China’s Constitution

1. The preamble declares, “In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-sen led the Revolution of 1911, which overthrew the feudal monarchy and founded the Republic of China. However, the historical mission of the Chinese people to oppose imperialism and feudalism has not yet been completed.”

This is a shameless lie of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the Beiyang Government period, China had already begun exercising its national sovereignty and took the initiative to recover foreign concessions—successively reclaiming the German concessions in Hankou and Tianjin, the Austro-Hungarian concession in Tianjin, Qingdao and Jiaozhou Bay, and the Russian concessions in Tianjin and Hankou, as well as taking over the British concession in Xiamen. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, China abolished a series of unequal treaties, restored sovereignty over all foreign concessions, and recovered Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, which had been occupied by Japan for half a century.

The victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan ended the long history of China’s repeated defeats in the face of foreign invasions and raised China’s international standing. In April 1945, during the founding of the United Nations, the conference was jointly presided over in rotation by the chief representatives of the four major powers—the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and China. The Republic of China was one of the founding members of the United Nations and one of the five permanent members of the Security Council possessing veto power.

The Republic of China was an independent constitutional democracy. There was no such thing as the rule of imperialism, feudalism, or bureaucratic capitalism. The claim that “under the leadership of Chairman Mao Zedong, the Chinese Communist Party led the people of all ethnic groups in China and finally overthrew the rule of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism” is a lie of the CCP. It serves only to conceal the fact that the CCP betrayed the nation by aligning itself with the Soviet Communist Party and seizing state power through violence with Soviet assistance.

2. The preamble declares, “The Chinese people have taken control of state power and become masters of the country.” Undoubtedly, this too is a shameless lie of the CCP. The Party emphasizes that “the Party leads everything—Party, government, military, civilian, and academic affairs, in the east, west, south, north, and center.” In reality, all power in the People’s Republic of China rests in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party. The PRC is not a state where “sovereignty resides in the people,” but rather one where “sovereignty resides in the Party.” The CCP’s bureaucratic elite are the true masters of China.

3. The preamble declares, “After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, our society gradually achieved the transition from new democracy to socialism. The socialist transformation of private ownership of the means of production has been completed, and the system of exploitation of man by man has been eliminated.” This is another lie of the CCP, intended to conceal its own exploitative crimes. The system of human exploitation has by no means been eliminated in China; the CCP’s bureaucratic class is the largest exploiting class. They control the nation’s land, oil, and other key resources, and exploit the sweat and labor of the Chinese people through state-owned enterprises. These state-owned enterprises are the CCP’s vast treasury.

4. The preamble declares, “The People’s Republic of China is a unified multiethnic state jointly founded by the people of all ethnic groups in the country. A relationship of equality, unity, mutual assistance, and harmony among all nationalities has been established.” This too is a lie of the CCP. In reality, the Chinese Communist Party has long subjected Muslim populations in Xinjiang and the people of Tibet to brutal repression.

5. The preamble declares, “In our country, the exploiting classes as classes have been eliminated, but class struggle will continue to exist within certain limits for a long time. The Chinese people must wage a struggle against domestic and foreign hostile forces and hostile elements who are hostile to and seek to undermine our socialist system.” The CCP has always used the term “hostile forces and hostile elements” to intimidate the Chinese people. But who exactly are the external hostile forces to the Chinese people, and who are the internal hostile elements among them?

The Outer Mongolia Incident

In July 1921, the Mongolian People’s Party signed the Soviet–Mongolian Treaty with Soviet Russia. The treaty allowed Soviet troops to be stationed in Outer Mongolia, openly undermining the unity and integrity of China’s territory. In response, Li Dazhao astonishingly remarked, “Placing Outer Mongolia under Soviet rule might allow the people there to live better lives.” Placing Soviet interests above those of China, Li Dazhao was later arrested and executed for colluding with the Soviet Union in an attempt to overthrow the Chinese government.

In November, Chen Duxiu wrote in his The Chinese Communist Party’s Program on Practical Issues, saying, “We should not only passively recognize Mongolia’s independence, but should also actively help them overthrow the privileges of princes and high lamas, establish the economic and cultural foundations necessary to achieve the true independence and self-governance of the Mongolian people.” This marked the first time the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) brazenly betrayed the interests of the Chinese people, openly supporting Soviet Russia’s attempt to divide China’s territory.

The Chinese Eastern Railway Incident

In 1929, Zhang Xueliang attempted to use military force to reclaim partial control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which was at that time under Soviet control. This led to an armed conflict between China and the Soviet Union. During the incident, the Chinese Communist Party actually called for “armed defense of the Soviet Union,” publicly supporting the Soviet Communist Party and organizing large-scale demonstrations opposing the Nationalist government and supporting the Soviets. The CCP’s disgraceful behavior drew nationwide condemnation, earning it a notorious reputation as a party of traitors.

The Chinese Soviet Republic

On September 18, 1931, Japan launched its invasion of China. Less than two months later, on November 7, under the support of the Soviet Communist Party, the Chinese Communist Party seized upon the “September 18 Incident” to launch an armed rebellion against China and established the Chinese Soviet Republic in Jiangxi, with Mao Zedong as its puppet “Chairman” and Ruijin as its capital. This puppet regime, dependent on Soviet Russia, predated the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo on March 1, 1932, by over four months, and the puppet National Government of Wang Jingwei in Nanjing on March 30, 1940, by nearly nine years. The Chinese Soviet Republic was the first treasonous regime in modern Chinese history.

The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact

On April 13, 1941, the Soviet Union and Japan signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact and issued a joint declaration stating that, in order to maintain friendly relations between the two nations, the Soviet Union would respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of “Manchukuo,” while Japan would respect the territorial integrity and inviolability of the “Mongolian People’s Republic.” Both nations thus gravely violated China’s sovereignty.

On April 16, the CCP commented on the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact, calling it “another great victory of Soviet foreign policy.” The CCP ignored the fact that the Soviet Union had severely infringed upon China’s territorial sovereignty. At a time when the nation faced life-and-death peril, the CCP, disregarding China’s national and ethnic interests, slavishly followed the orders of the Soviet Communist Party. The Chinese people were shocked and denounced the CCP’s treacherous, nation-betraying behavior.

Imitating the Soviet Communist Party in Establishing a Party-State System

After seizing power, the CCP eradicated private ownership in the economy and established a violent system of public ownership. During the “land reform” campaigns, the CCP executed nearly two million landlords, persecuted tens of millions of rich peasants, and confiscated their land and property. During the public–private partnership campaigns, it expropriated the assets of artisans and industrial and commercial entrepreneurs, driving many to suicide. Thereafter, the CCP implemented a planned economy, eliminating markets and private trade. Its reckless “Great Leap Forward” campaign led to the starvation deaths of tens of millions of people between 1959 and 1961.

Politically, the CCP monopolized all public power, merging Party and state. Authority became highly centralized within the CCP’s top leadership, culminating in Mao Zedong’s personal dictatorship. To maintain his autocracy, Mao launched the so-called Cultural Revolution, “practicing fascist dictatorship, persecuting cadres from above and the masses from below, fabricating countless unjust, false, and wrongful cases, toppling veteran comrades, labeling large numbers of cadres and ordinary citizens as ‘capitalist roaders’ or ‘counterrevolutionaries,’ and subjecting them to brutal persecution. Including those affected, the victims numbered in the hundreds of millions—about one-ninth of China’s population.”

Ideologically, the CCP established a rigid system of indoctrination under Marxism-Leninism, Stalinism, and Mao Zedong Thought. Mao launched a series of political campaigns—such as criticizing the film The Life of Wu Xun, denouncing Yu Pingbo and Hu Shi’s “bourgeois idealism,” attacking Hu Feng’s “counterrevolutionary clique,” and suppressing rightists—viciously persecuting intellectuals.

Since Xi Jinping took power, censorship and control over speech and the press have been further tightened.

In 2013, Xi Jinping imposed the “Seven Don’ts” policy on mainland universities. In February 2016, he explicitly demanded that “the media must bear the Party’s surname, follow the Party’s leadership, and speak for the Party.” Starting from July 9, 2015, the CCP’s public security forces launched a large-scale crackdown across 23 provinces, arresting, detaining, summoning, or interrogating over a hundred lawyers, civil rights activists, petitioners, and their family members.

The CCP tore up the Sino–British Joint Declaration on the Question of Hong Kong, enacted the National Security Law, persecuted Hong Kong citizens who upheld the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, and brutally suppressed the “Occupy Central” and “anti-extradition” movements, coercing, arresting, detaining, and imprisoning Hong Kong’s pro-democracy figures.

Worst of all, the CCP created a class of political pariahs among Chinese citizens. From the “Five Black Categories” to the “Seven Black Categories” and then to the “Nine Black Categories”—landlords, rich peasants, counterrevolutionaries, bad elements, rightists, traitors, spies, capitalist roaders, and intellectuals—these political outcasts carried so-called “political stains” in their personal records wherever they went. From central to local levels, policies and “red-headed documents” listed them as targets of surveillance. Across the country, they were subjected to house raids, “jet-plane” struggle sessions, parades with tall hats and placards, and public humiliation with “yin-yang” haircuts, becoming objects of relentless persecution. Many were beaten to death or driven to suicide. Their children were insulted as “spawn of dogs,” inheriting the status of the “Five Black Categories.” They faced severe discrimination in education, military enlistment, and employment. The CCP committed unforgivable crimes against humanity.

Reviewing modern Chinese history reveals this truth: the Soviet Communist Party was the most harmful external hostile force to the Chinese people, and the Chinese Communist Party has been the most destructive internal hostile element against the Chinese people.

Lies and Deceptions in the Main Text of the Chinese Constitution

1. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 1:
“The People’s Republic of China is a socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants.”

This is a lie of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). From the moment it took power, the CCP divided the entire nation into two main classes: cadres and the masses. All those who held leadership or administrative positions in the military or government were called cadres, while everyone else was classified as the masses.

These cadres, who held state power, exercised political, economic, and ideological control over all citizens. They enjoyed special privileges according to rank. Even during the famine of 1960, when millions starved to death, cadres continued to receive rations of fresh meat, eggs, sugar, and cigarettes. To this day, senior CCP officials still enjoy lifetime privileges.

Politically, the working class in China has no right to form its own independent labor unions. Economically, during Mao Zedong’s rule, workers had no freedom to choose their jobs and were essentially confined to factories as obedient tools, doing whatever they were told. In the 1990s, when the government pursued “downsizing and efficiency,” workers were forced into unemployment without any say. Since 1978, the working class has still had no genuine political rights.

The late scholar Lu Xueyi, in his Research Report on Contemporary Chinese Social Strata, classified modern Chinese society into ten strata based on occupation, organizational resources, economic resources, and cultural resources. The top stratum consists of state and social administrators—those with actual administrative authority, namely CCP cadres. Industrial workers, by contrast, rank eighth. How could the eighth stratum—the workers—be the “leading class”? The CCP cadre class is the true ruling class. Ordinary Chinese habitually call them “leaders.”

2. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 2:
“All power in the People’s Republic of China belongs to the people. The organs through which the people exercise state power are the National People’s Congress and local people’s congresses at various levels.”

There are two lies in this article:

First, that all power belongs to the people.
In reality, all power in the People’s Republic of China belongs to the Chinese Communist Party.

Second, that the people exercise state power through the people’s congresses.
In reality, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and local congresses are rubber stamps. Actual state power rests with the CCP Central Committee and its subordinate Party organizations at all levels.

The CCP defines itself as the “core leadership” of China’s economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological development. Under its rule, the government is the Party’s government, the military is the Party’s military, the economy is the Party’s economy, and culture is the Party’s culture. The CCP tightly controls all power in China.

3. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 5:
“The People’s Republic of China governs the country according to law and builds a socialist country under the rule of law.”

This is another lie. All Chinese laws, from the Constitution to basic statutes, are made under CCP control. China is not ruled by law, but ruled by the Party.

4. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 6:
“The basis of the socialist economic system of the People’s Republic of China is socialist public ownership of the means of production, namely ownership by the whole people and collective ownership by the working people. Socialist public ownership eliminates exploitation of man by man, and applies the principle of ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his work.’”

This is a lie. In practice, socialist public ownership in China is Party ownership.

5. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 10:
“Urban land belongs to the state.”

This is a lie. Urban land belongs to the Communist Party.

When the CCP’s “Constitutional Amendment Committee” altered this clause—concerning private property rights of urban residents—it offered no public explanation, no notice to citizens, and carried out no requisition or compensation procedures. By simply inserting a sentence into the Constitution, the CCP used the power of its guns to seize all urban private land across the country without paying a single cent. Chinese city dwellers’ land ownership was stripped away overnight.

6. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 13:
“Citizens’ lawful private property is inviolable.”

This is a lie. In 2018, Xi Jinping launched a campaign aimed at eliminating private ownership. In 2020, he warned private entrepreneurs to be “clear-minded people,” to obey the Party and follow its lead. For those who refused, Xi used coercion or imprisonment to subdue them. Entrepreneur Sun Dawu was sentenced to prison, and his Dawu Agricultural and Animal Husbandry Group was sold off cheaply.

According to the Legal Daily (Beijing, May 8), citing the Supreme People’s Procuratorate: “Since July 2019, after the Supreme Procuratorate launched a special review on the necessity of detaining private entrepreneurs, a total of 10,922 people were investigated, 3,506 cases were filed, and 2,519 proposals were made to change coercive measures—of which 2,266 were adopted, an adoption rate of 90%.”

From mid-2019 to May 2020—just ten months—10,922 private entrepreneurs were investigated. The number is staggering. The total number imprisoned under Xi Jinping’s rule is beyond imagination.

7. Chapter One, General Principles, Article 29:
“The armed forces of the People’s Republic of China belong to the people.”

This is a lie. The Chinese armed forces are under the absolute leadership of the CCP. The highest command and control rest with the CCP Central Committee and its Central Military Commission.

8. Chapter Two, Article 33:
“All persons holding the nationality of the People’s Republic of China are citizens of the People’s Republic of China. All citizens are equal before the law.”

This is a lie. The CCP’s national flag—the Five-Star Red Flag—reveals that Chinese citizens are not equal before the law.

The flag was designed by Shanghai citizen Zeng Liansong: “I used red to symbolize revolution; one large five-pointed star containing a hammer and sickle represents the Communist Party and the People’s Army; the four smaller stars represent the broad masses—the working class, peasantry, petty bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie. Each small star points toward the center of the big star, symbolizing the great unity of the people under the leadership of the Party.”

The “encircling-star” design explicitly depicts social hierarchy. The large star, placed in the upper-left corner, towers above the four smaller ones. The four small stars on the lower right encircle and gaze up at the big star—symbolizing subordination. The large star’s diameter is three times that of the small ones, signifying dominance. The flag expresses inequality: one political party reigning above all four social classes. The CCP’s bureaucratic elite are the rulers; the workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie are the ruled. The Five-Star Red Flag’s core message is “the Party above the people.” From the moment it first rose over Tiananmen Square, the flag of Party-state authoritarianism began to fly arrogantly over China, marking the formal establishment of CCP rule.

The CCP’s flag tells the Chinese people that the claim “the working class is the leading class” is nothing but a façade. The Party’s bureaucratic elite are the true ruling class. When a political party becomes the “leading class,” how can equality exist?

9. Chapter Two, Article 34:
“All citizens of the People’s Republic of China who have reached the age of eighteen, regardless of nationality, race, sex, occupation, family background, religious belief, education, property status, or length of residence, have the right to vote and to stand for election; except those deprived of political rights in accordance with the law.”

This is a lie. Most Chinese citizens have never even seen a ballot. Election after election, independent candidates running for grassroots people’s congresses have not only failed but have been harshly suppressed by the authorities. From the central to the local level, people’s congress delegates are not democratically elected—they are handpicked by the CCP. Ordinary citizens have no voting rights.

10. Chapter Two, Article 35:
“Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession, and of demonstration.”

This is a lie. There is no freedom of speech in China.

We will not forget that in 1957, the CCP launched the Anti-Rightist Campaign—the most brutal crackdown on free speech in Chinese history.
We will not forget Xi Jinping’s “Seven Taboos” imposed on universities, his opposition to constitutionalism, and his intensified censorship of public discourse and the internet—shutting down social media accounts and WeChat groups of critics, and punishing those who “speak improperly about the Central Committee.”
We will not forget that Liu Xiaobo died in detention, and Xu Zhiyong, Xu Zhangrun, and Ren Zhiqiang were persecuted for exercising freedom of speech.

China has been, for six consecutive years, the world’s largest jailer of writers. In 2024, 118 writers were imprisoned.

China ranks dead last in the world for internet freedom.

11. Chapter Two: The Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens, Article 36 — Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of religious belief.

This is a lie of the Chinese Communist Party. There is no freedom of belief in China! In May 2015, Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the United Front Work Conference, where he said regarding religious policy: “We must actively guide religions to adapt to socialist society and adhere to the direction of sinicization.”

On April 24, 2016, People’s Daily reported that Xi Jinping attended the National Religious Work Conference, emphasizing that China must insist on the CCP’s leadership over religion, run religious affairs independently, resolutely resist foreign forces using religion to infiltrate China, and prevent the erosion of the country by religious extremism.

In April 2018, the Chinese government ordered that religion must be “sinicized,” and that “media, religion, and enterprises must all bear the Party’s name.”

On August 27, under the leadership of Abbot Shi Yongxin, Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan, held the first flag-raising ceremony with the Five-Star Red Flag in the temple’s 1,523-year history.

In Xinjiang, the CCP government has imposed strict control over Islam and continued its suppression, detaining hundreds of thousands of Uyghurs, Kazakhs, and other Muslims in internment camps. Those detained are subjected to months or even years of ideological indoctrination and interrogation, forcing them to pledge loyalty to the CCP.

In Tibet, the CCP forces Tibetans to sever ties with the Dalai Lama and demands that they “feel the Party’s grace, listen to the Party, and follow the Party.” The CCP conducts “patriotic reeducation” campaigns in many monasteries across the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, compelling monks and nuns to participate in “legal education” programs, to be loyal to the government-approved Panchen Lama, to study Mandarin, and to recite materials praising the CCP’s leadership and the socialist system. In recent years, hundreds of Tibetans have been detained for participating in religious activities or expressing opinions, nearly a hundred have been sentenced to prison, and every year some die while in police custody.

The number of Christians in China approaches 100 million, roughly equal to the number of CCP members. Christianity has become the largest social organization outside the Party’s control, which greatly alarms the CCP. As a result, the CCP government has brutally suppressed Christianity—demolishing crosses and churches—and even using social welfare as leverage to coerce low-income believers into abandoning their faith. China’s house churches have faced massive crackdowns and closures.

Analyzing the Chinese Constitution article by article reveals even more lies, deceit, and intimidation. To avoid excessive length and reader fatigue, the author stops here.

The facts above show that the Chinese Constitution is an evil law designed by the CCP to maintain its dictatorial rule. It is full of lies, deception, and terror. Without abolishing the current Chinese Constitution, it will be impossible to establish a constitutional democracy in China.

As stated in Article 16 of The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen from the French Revolution: “A society in which the guarantee of rights is not assured, nor the separation of powers determined, has no constitution.”

The Chinese people have no guarantee of rights, and the CCP government’s powers are concentrated and undivided. In this sense, China has no constitution. The Chinese Constitution is, in fact, the CCP’s Party law. Zhang Qianfan’s view that “the current Chinese Constitution is fine” and that “the problem of Chinese constitutionalism lies in its implementation rather than its making” is wrong. The Chinese people must draft a new constitution.

(Source: Democratic China)
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