Constitutional Reforms in China
Past, Present, Future

Analyses China's modern constitutional reforms and the causes of their failures, and explores strategies toward success within the existing system.

Qianfan Zhang (Author)

9781009504119, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 January 2025

344 pages
23.4 x 15.9 x 2.5 cm, 0.66 kg

'Professor Zhang Qianfan has long been one of China's sharpest legal minds and a wonderfully erudite public intellectual, who treats the evolution and current trajectory of constitutional law in China with nuance, clarity, and courage. This book is a very welcome addition to China constitutional law scholarship in the English language and a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Chinese law and politics.' Eva Pils, Professor of Law, King's College London

This book offers the reformist perspective of one of the most persistent and outspoken constitutional reformers in China. Through the analysis of landmark constitutional events in China since the late nineteenth century, it reveals the fatal dilemma faced by constitutional reform and the deadly dangers of any violent revolution that arises out of the frustration with the repeated failures of reform. Although there is no easy way out of such a predicament, the book analyzes available resources in the existing system and suggests possible strategies that might bring success to future constitutional reforms.

1. From the third cooperation to the third republic: a centennial anticipation
2. From the xinhai revolution to the may fourth movement: fatal failures
3. The rise and fall of totalitarianism: the cultural revolution and beyond
4. The vicissitudes of a crippled reform: 1978–present
5. The constitutional manifesto: a centennial memorial to the Xinhai revolution
6. Towards the future: constitutional design, social contract and human dignity
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Constitutional & administrative law [LND]