The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of four types of province-level divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government, being integral areas of the country. As a region, they possess the highest degree of autonomy from China's central government. However, despite the relative autonomy that the Central People's Government offers the special administrative regions, the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee remains capable of enforcing laws for the special administrative regions.
Chinese law is one of the oldest legal traditions in the world. The core of modern Chinese law is based on Germanic-style civil law, socialist law, and traditional Chinese approaches.
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the Chinese Communist government of the People's Republic of China in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. The geopolitical sense of the term includes islands such as Hainan, Chongming, and Zhoushan, even though those islands are offshore of the Chinese mainland. By convention, the territories that fall outside of mainland China include:
Chinese unification, also known as Cross-Strait unification or Chinese reunification, is the potential unification of territories currently controlled, or claimed, by the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China ("Taiwan") under one political entity, possibly the formation of a political union between the two republics. Together with full Taiwan independence, unification is one of the main proposals to address questions on the political status of Taiwan, which is a central focus of Cross-Strait relations.
The president of the Republic of China, commonly known as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (Taiwan) as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had authority of ruling over Mainland China, but its remaining jurisdictions has been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other smaller islands since the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War.
The political status of Taiwan or the Taiwan issue is a long-running dispute on the status of Taiwan, currently controlled by the Republic of China (ROC). Originally based in Mainland China, the ROC government retreated to Taiwan in 1949 after the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) won the Chinese Civil War and established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Mainland China. Since then, the effective jurisdiction of the ROC has since been limited to Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and smaller islands.
The term One China may refer, in alphabetical order, to one of the following:
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 further revisions about every five years. It is the fourth constitution in PRC history, superseding the 1954 constitution, the 1975 constitution, and the 1978 constitution.
The flag of the Republic of China, commonly known as the flag of Taiwan, consists of a red field with a blue canton bearing a white disk surrounded by twelve triangles; said symbols symbolize the sun and rays of light emanating from it, respectively.
The National Assembly was the authoritative legislative body of the Republic of China, from 1947 to 2005. Along with the Control Yuan and the Legislative Yuan, the National Assembly formed the tricameral parliament of China. If still functional, at 3,045 members, the National Assembly would have been the largest parliamentary chamber in the world.
The time period in China from the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 until the Tianamen Square protests in 1989 is often known as Dengist China. In September 1976, after Chairman Mao Zedong's death, the People's Republic of China was left with no central authority figure, either symbolically or administratively. The Gang of Four was purged, but new Chairman Hua Guofeng insisted on continuing Maoist policies. After a bloodless power struggle, Deng Xiaoping came to the helm to reform the Chinese economy and government institutions in their entirety. Deng, however, was conservative with regard to wide-ranging political reform, and along with the combination of unforeseen problems that resulted from the economic reform policies, the country underwent another political crisis, culminating in the crackdown of massive pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.
The 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China was adopted and enacted on September 20, 1954, through the first session of the First National People’s Congress in Beijing.This constitution was amended and formulated on the basis of the Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which served as a provisional constitution in 1949, and is the first constitution of the People's Republic of China. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is the fundamental law of the People's Republic of China and has the highest legal effect.
The 1975 Constitution of the People's Republic of China was promulgated by the 4th National People's Congress. The offices of President and Vice-President were officially scrapped under the Constitution.
Since its founding in 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has had a diplomatic tug-of-war with its rival in Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC). Throughout the Cold War, both governments claimed to be the sole legitimate government of all China and allowed countries to recognize either one or the other. Until the 1970s, most Western countries in the Western Bloc recognized the ROC while the Eastern Bloc and Third World countries generally recognized the PRC. This gradually shifted and today only 12 UN member states recognize the ROC while the PRC is recognized by the United Nations, 180 UN member states and the State of Palestine as well as Cook Islands and Niue. Both the ROC and the PRC maintain the requirement of recognizing its view of the One China policy to establish or maintain diplomatic relations. The United Kingdom did recognize the PRC in 1950 but an exchange of Ambassadors was refused by the PRC until 1972.
The Law of the People's Republic of China, officially referred to as the Socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics, is the legal regime of China, with the separate legal traditions and systems of mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau.
The origin of the current law of the People's Republic of China can be traced back to the period of the early 1930s, during the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic. In 1931 the first supreme court was established. Though the contemporary legal system and laws have no direct links to traditional Chinese law, their impact and influence of historical norms still exist.
An exclusive mandate is a government's assertion of its legitimate authority over a certain territory, part of which another government controls with stable, de facto sovereignty. It is also known as a claim to sole representation or an exclusive authority claim. The concept was particularly important during the Cold War period when a number of states were divided on ideological grounds.
The term "Two Chinas" refers to the geopolitical situation where two political entities exist under the name "China".
The Constitutional history of the People's Republic of China describes the evolution of its Constitutional system. The first Constitution of the People's Republic of China was promulgated in 1954. After two intervening versions enacted in 1975 and 1978, the current Constitution was promulgated in 1982. There were significant differences between each of these versions, and the 1982 Constitution has subsequently been amended several times. In addition, changing Constitutional conventions have led to significant changes in the structure of the Chinese government in the absence of changes in the text of the Constitution.
The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the head of state of the People's Republic of China. The presidency on its own is a ceremonial office and has no real power in China's political system. However, since 1993, the post has been held by the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and chairman of the Central Military Commission, who is China's de facto leader.
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