Xiang Chunyi, a veteran revolutionary, took part in the drafting of New China's first Constitution in the first few years following the birth of the People's Republic in 1949.

The Constitution was adopted in 1954 after its passage at the First National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.

His experience proved essential when China pulled itself out of the chaotic 10-year "cultural revolution" (1966-76) during which even parts of the Constitution existed only in name.

In March 1979, he joined the secretariat staff of the Standing Committee of the 5th NPC and was entrusted to work for its Legal Committee.

His job, complicated but crucial, has been to follow NPC deputies' proposals concerning legal affairs, to help gather legal professionals and other experts together to draft the laws, and to prepare legal portfolios of these draft laws for the NPC deputies to examine before they deliberate and decide whether the NPC should adopt the drafts as law or advise on further changes.

Xiang, former deputy director of the Legal Affairs Working Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, once said: "Before the 'cultural revolution,' China had only the Constitution, the Marriage Law and a few other laws. Such basic laws as the Criminal Law and the Civil Law were not available.

"But today, almost all the basic laws guaranteeing the legal rights of citizens and governing the law and order of the society are in place."

The mission of building the legal system was restarted in 1979 after China steered itself towards economic development and modernization.

The 1982 Constitution officially established the lawmaking mechanism under which the NPC and its standing committee could enact laws. It also granted the State Council powers to work out administrative legislation, and allowed people's congresses at local level and their standing committees, to exercise local legislative power while giving leeway to autonomous ethnic minority areas. At the end of last month, the NPC and its standing committee had adopted four amendments to the 1982 Constitution, 329 laws, 139 aspects of decisions concerning laws and 10 legislative interpretations. The State Council has worked out more than 800 administrative regulations, and local people's congresses have passed over 10,000 pieces of local legislation.

Over the past two decades, the country has gone through three major phases of lawmaking.

Basic legal foundation

Legislation made between 1979 and 1992 laid the basic foundation of the legal system, convoying the progress of the country's reform and opening-up.

Major laws passed during that period included the Criminal Code in 1979 and the General Principles of the Civil Law in 1986.

The Chinese-Foreign Joint Ventures Law was eye-catching among the seven laws passed by the Fifth NPC in 1979.

Before the birth of that law, the operation of the Beijing Air Catering Co Ltd, one of the first batch of joint ventures on the mainland had to win approval from the central authority for registration. Absence of related legislation had held many outside investors in limbo.

Looking back over the drafting process of the law, Xiang said: "The law was made very simple because China had no enough experience in introducing foreign capital. The State Council later made relevant rules, but the law has played a historical role in attracting foreign capital to China."

The law, together with the 1986 Law on Foreign-capital Enterprises and the 1988 Law on Sino-foreign Co-operative Joint Ventures, became a driving force for the country's booming utilization of foreign investment.

Shortly before China's WTO entry, the Ninth NPC revised the three laws to fit into the requirements of the global trade club.

The law had not only stimulated economic reform -- but also promoted grassroots democracy.

The Law on the Organization of Villagers' Committee was adopted in 1987 for trial implementation, greatly challenging previous management regimes under which heads of villagers' committee were appointed by higher authorities instead of being elected.

Bao Zhengzhao, a farmer of Cangnan County in East China's Zhejiang Province, sued his local government for imposing the punishment of forcefully demolishing his building in March, 1988. Bao was among the vanguard in a society where individuals had a tradition of shying away from legal conflicts with the government. Such a tradition was challenged by the Administrative Litigation Law which was passed in 1988. This evoked the Chinese people's awareness of democracy and their need to safeguard their individual rights and acutely changed the manner and mentality of the administration. The law was thus widely regarded as a milestone in China's legal system.

A year and a half after the law was passed, courts across the mainland handled more than 17,000 administrative cases, equivalent to the total number of cases heard in previous seven years.

In the past two decades, the country has seen the birth of laws governing administrative punishment, supervision, review and licensing, and State compensation, gradually forming a legal system that regulates administrative power.

A series of civil, penal, economic, administrative and procedural legislation passed in this period offered the country a basic rule of law.

Market economy

Economic legislation boomed between 1993 and 1997 as powerhouse for the country's efforts to build its market economy.

Among the 115 items that the Eighth NPC Standing Committee planned in 1994 for its five-year tenure, 55 were directly related to building a market economy.

The 1993 Company Law saved the country from embarrassment in that not a single law was until then, governing millions of newly formed companies. This unveiled the reform of modern corporate regimes.

The Law on the Protection of Consumers' Rights was passed in the same year.

Holding the law which stipulates exemplary dual compensation for fake products, 23-year-old Wang Hai in East China's Shandong Province came to Beijing to buy two sets of counterfeit Sony earphones and then sued the store for compensation.

Nationwide debate over the case served training for Chinese consumers on how to better use the law to safeguard their individual rights.

To ensure order in a fair market, the Eighth NPC and its standing committee also passed the laws on products quality, anti-unfair competition, arbitration, advertisement, guarantee, insurance and auction.

The lawmakers adopted laws on budget, auditing, the central bank and price for a better macro-management of the national economy.

They also enacted the laws on commercial banks and partnership.

These laws have offered timely support for the growth of market economy in the country.

A comprehensive system

Since 1998, the legislators maneuvered to complete the legal system framework intertwining with its efforts to prepare the country for its entry into the WTO.

The nation has set a goal of completing a comprehensive legal system, with specific Chinese characteristics, by 2010. Senior legal scholars claim the country is well on track.

It is commonly accepted that a comprehensive legal system comprises constitutional, civil and commercial, administrative, economic, social, criminal and procedural legislation, which comply with the basic tenets of the Constitution.

Jiang Enzhu, spokesman for the 10th NPC, said such a legal system is taking shape with laws governing almost every aspect of China's political, economic and social life.

The Ninth NPC Standing Committee has completed drafting the country's first civil code -- one of the most important private laws which deal with the legal rights and relationships of individuals. Jiang said the legislature will continue to review the draft civil code part by part.

He said the lawmakers will give priority to meeting the needs of the market economy, social progress and the challenges of WTO membership during its five-year term.

The process of establishing and improving the legal system has also reflected the progress of democracy and the legislators' efforts to improve legislative quality.

The unprecedented fervor seen in an open debate over the amendments to the Marriage Law was a typical example.

Wang Shengming, deputy director of the Legal Affairs Working Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, said ordinary people are playing an increasingly active role in revising laws because they now realize what a large stake they have in them.

Wang's commission received 3,829 separate comments from the public on the revision of the Marriage Law in 2001, touching on subjects like bigamy, freedom to divorce, the allocation of family properties and domestic violence.

Contributors came from all walks of life, including college students, soldiers, farmers, civil servants, judges and the retired, with ages ranging from 13 to 90.

Xu Xianming, president at China University of Politics and Law, said the legislative process should be more open to the public. "A bill drawn up with greater participation of the public will have more vitality and popularity when it becomes a law," he says, adding the legislature could even solicit draft bills from the public.

The 10th NPC elected 19 professionals from different fields into its standing committee last year, hoping to enhance its lawmaking capacity.

It is widely accepted that the wide range of expertise -- which includes sciences, economics and the arts -- possessed by the new members will help ensure the legislature is much better prepared when it comes to drawing up laws.

(China Daily September 16, 2004)