
Contents
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Who Was the State? Who Was the State?
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The Constitution in Context The Constitution in Context
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The Constitution as the Dominant Textual Authority The Constitution as the Dominant Textual Authority
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Referring to Political Documents and History Referring to Political Documents and History
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The Constitution in Comparative Contexts The Constitution in Comparative Contexts
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Constitutional Theory to Practice Constitutional Theory to Practice
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Officials and Ideology Officials and Ideology
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1 Officials Read the Draft Constitution
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Published:January 2022
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Abstract
This chapter examines how the 1954 constitutional discussion provides an unprecedented and unlikely-to-be-repeated opportunity for “constitutional anthropology.” During this discussion period, ordinary officials were not only allowed to offer commentary but encouraged to do so. Officials were asked about constitutional history (“Where did the constitution come from?”), role (“What is a constitution?”), ideological foundations (“Whose interests does the constitution represent?”), and institutional underpinnings (“Who is the premier?” “What does the National People's Congress do?”), and how China's constitution was different from those in capitalist countries. These questions were not easy to answer; even Mao Zedong seemed unclear about how a “president in a capitalist country” was different than the People's Republic of China's state chairman position. Focusing primarily on the Shanghai area, with several other areas sprinkled in, the chapter looks at the state from the inside out, beginning with officials' political and sociocultural concerns, and then to the process by which they got educated about the constitution. The chapter then considers the officials' reactions to two key elements in the constitution that were critical to their work: public order and ideology.
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