Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress

Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
中华人民共和国全国人民代表大会 常务委员会委员长
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
Flag of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent Li Zhanshu since 17 March 2018
Type	Presiding officer
Appointer	National People's Congress
Term length	5 years, renewable once consecutively
Formation	27 September 1954 (1954-09-27)
First holder	Liu Shaoqi

Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
Traditional Chinese	全國人民代表大會常務委員會委員長
Simplified Chinese	全国人民代表大会常务委员会委员长
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì Chángwù Wěiyuánhuì Wěiyuánzhǎng
Officially abbreviated as
Traditional Chinese	全國人大常委會委員長
Simplified Chinese	全国人大常委会委员长
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Quánguó Réndà Chángwěihuì Wěiyuánzhǎng

The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is the presiding officer of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPCSC), which is the permanent body of the National People's Congress, highest organ of state power and top legislative body in the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The chairman presides over the work of the NPCSC and convenes and presides over its meetings. The chairman is assisted by the vice chairpersons and secretary-general of the NPCSC. 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. The position holds reserve constitutional powers under the 1982 revision of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. As stipulated in Article 84 of the Constitution, should both the president and vice-president become incapacitated, and the National People's Congress is unable to elect a timely replacement, the chairman of the NPC Standing Committee will act as president.

From 1998 to 2013, the position was ranked second in China's political hierarchy since Li Peng was barred from seeking a third term as premier in 1998. In the political order of precedence, the chairman ranks below the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and president. The ranking of this position is not necessarily reflective of its actual power, which varies depending on the officeholder. The incumbent chairman is Li Zhanshu.

History

Initially, there were disagreements to whether name the post "chairman" (委员长 or 主席) or "speaker" (议长). However, ultimately the word "chairman" (委员长) was adopted.

From 1975 to 1983, the chairman of the Standing Committee served as head of state of the People's Republic of China, as the presidency had been written out of the 1975 constitution and was also excluded from the 1978 draft. Theoretically, during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, the NPC chairman 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.

List of chairmen

Multiple terms in office, consecutive or otherwise, are listed and counted in the first column counts individuals and the second column (term number).

Generations of leadership

•   Mao Zedong Administration
•   Deng Xiaoping Administration
•   Jiang Zemin Administration
•   Hu–Wen Administration
•   Xi–Li Administration

No.	Chairman		Term	Took office	Left office	Political Party
1		Liu Shaoqi 刘少奇	1	September 15, 1954	April 28, 1959	Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
2		Zhu De 朱德	2	April 28, 1959	January 4, 1965
			3	January 4, 1965	January 17, 1975
			4	January 17, 1975	July 6, 1976
—		Song Qingling 宋庆龄		July 6, 1976 (acting)	March 5, 1978	Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK)
3		Ye Jianying 叶剑英	5	March 5, 1978	June 18, 1983	Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
4		Peng Zhen 彭真	6	June 18, 1983	April 13, 1988
5		Wan Li 万里	7	April 13, 1988	March 27, 1993
6		Qiao Shi 乔石	8	March 27, 1993	March 15, 1998
7		Li Peng 李鹏	9	March 15, 1998	March 15, 2003
8		Wu Bangguo 吴邦国	10	March 15, 2003	March 15, 2008
			11	March 15, 2008	March 14, 2013
9		Zhang Dejiang 张德江	12	March 14, 2013	March 17, 2018
10		Li Zhanshu 栗战书	13	March 17, 2018	Incumbent

•   Head of State (under the 1975 Constitution
  & 1978 Constitution)

Timeline

See also

• Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
  • Council of Chairpersons
    • Vice Chairpersons
    • Secretary-General
• National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
  • Chairperson
• President of the Legislative Yuan
• List of leaders of the People's Republic of China