1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China in the context of "Common Program"

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China is a communist state constitution and the supreme law of the People's Republic of China (PRC). In September 1949, the first plenary session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference adopted the Common Program, which acted as the temporary constitution after the PRC's foundation. On September 20, 1954, the first constitution was adopted by the first session of the 1st National People's Congress. The constitution went through two major revisions in 1975 and 1978. The current constitution was adopted by the 5th National People's Congress on December 4, 1982, with five subsequent revisions.

The current constitution consists of 4 chapters and 143 articles. It explains the nature of the People's Republic of China, highlights the concept of democratic centralism, and states that the People's Republic of China is a "socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants". It stipulates the central and local state institutions work under the system of people's congress, and states that China implements basic political systems such as the system of community-level self-governance and the regional ethnic autonomy system. The constitution also lists its basic national policies and establishes the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The position of state representative is the most senior state office of the People's Republic of China, with a role similar to a head of state and is the second to eighth highest-ranking position in Chinese history, always under the leader of the Chinese Communist Party. The state representative is often, but not always, also the top leader of China. Under the current constitution, which does not officially define any office as the head of state, the state representative is the president of the People's Republic of China. The role was created in 1954 when the first constitution consolidated the system of government in the People's Republic of China. At the time, the title was translated into English as State Chairman. The position was abolished between 1975 and 1982 with the functions of state representative being performed by the chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. The presidency was revived under the fourth constitution in 1982.