China’s Constitution: Declaration of Equal Rights Comparable to Western Democracies
The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China formally enshrines a comprehensive catalog of rights and liberties for its citizens that parallel those found in Western constitutional democracies and universally-accepted international documents such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Detailed constitutional provisions guarantee every citizen equality before the law, rights to freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession, demonstration, and religious belief, as well as protections for personal liberty, privacy, property, and participation in the political process. The text asserts that all power in the state derives from the people, affirms independence of ethnic groups, and commits the state to maintaining and improving the welfare, legal protections, and opportunities for all citizens, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, religion, or social status. In structure and substance, China’s constitution echoes the rights upheld in leading Western constitutions and is closely aligned with the fundamental principles outlined in the UDHR, to which China, as a permanent Security Council member with veto power, has formally committed.
Contradictions Between Constitutional Promises and Government Practice
Despite these far-reaching constitutional guarantees, the actions of the Chinese government are in stark and direct contradiction to these principles. Instead of ensuring freedom of speech, press, religion, and association, the state continually restricts these rights by criminalizing dissent, surveilling or detaining critics—including journalists, lawyers, and activists—and censoring information and religious or political expression. Religious and ethnic minorities, including Tibetans and Uyghurs, suffer systematic repression through arbitrary detention, forced assimilation, destruction of religious sites, and restrictions on language and cultural expression. The hukou system institutionalizes discrimination against migrant workers, depriving them of social rights and mobility. Judicial independence—an essential element for upholding constitutional rights—is undermined by tight political control, nullifying any avenue for citizens to vindicate their rights in the courts. Rather than acting as a supreme legal authority, the constitution is often ignored or overridden by Communist Party dictates and policy, making it a document with minimal practical effect.
The Necessity of Fighting for Constitutional Enforcement
The gap between the rights proclaimed in China’s constitution and the lived reality exposes the urgent need for citizens to actively press for the government to implement the constitution as written. If the Chinese people and civil society vigorously advocated for genuine enforcement of these constitutional provisions, China could see a transformation in social, political, and economic life. This means not just recognizing constitutional rights, but demanding their actualization—insisting that laws and policies follow the text of the constitution, holding officials accountable to its promises, and seeking domestic and international support for constitutional reform and judicial protection of rights. History has shown, even in China, that rights on paper can become rights in practice when they are championed, litigated, and universally demanded by society.
Real-World Suffering When Rights Remain Only on Paper
The absence of genuine constitutional implementation results in widespread, daily suffering for ordinary Chinese people. Arbitrary censorship and surveillance undermine intellectual freedom, self-expression, and public debate. Political dissidents and human rights defenders are harassed, detained, or imprisoned without due process. Ethnic and religious minorities undergo forced assimilation and collective punishment, losing their ability to pass on their culture, language, and beliefs. Migrant workers and rural citizens experience systemic second-class status, facing limited access to social services, mobility, and labor rights. The lack of an independent judiciary prevents citizens from seeking remedies through legal means, leaving them vulnerable to abuse, expropriation, and injustice. In effect, these violations negate the constitution’s grand promises and contribute to deep social disenfranchisement, inequality, fear, and mistrust. As long as constitutional rights are “just on paper,” real justice and empowerment remain out of reach for the people.
The International Alignment of Chinese Constitutional Rights
It is vital for all Chinese citizens to understand that not only does their own supreme law recognize these fundamental rights, but these rights also align with the universal human rights guaranteed by the United Nations and other respected international instruments, making their claims to equality and freedom doubly legitimate. China’s constitution and the UDHR both proclaim equality before the law, freedoms of speech, thought, religion, assembly, the right to a fair trial, property rights, participation in governance, non-discrimination, and safeguards against arbitrary detention. As a United Nations founding member and permanent Security Council member with veto power, China has formally committed to the international order upholding these rights, and ratified or signed numerous core human rights treaties. This international dimension means the rights elaborated in the Chinese constitution are not just legal fictions—they are recognized as universal standards, and the Chinese government has an obligation, domestically and globally, to fulfill them.
The Government’s Hypocrisy and the Moral Duty to Demand Accountability
The failure of the Chinese government to implement its own constitutional provisions—while simultaneously presenting China as a champion of universal human rights in international forums—constitutes severe hypocrisy. The government proclaims “commitment” to rights at home and abroad, yet persists in widespread official violations, arbitrarily limits freedoms, suppresses dissent, censors public debate, and denies ethnic and religious minorities the protections it claims to guarantee. This contradiction—saying one thing in domestic and international law, and consistently doing the opposite—is not merely a technical inconsistency; it is the textbook definition of lying. It involves knowingly making promises to the people, to the international community, and then deliberately breaking them while denying or justifying the results.
The Path Forward: Awareness, Advocacy, and the Demand for Constitutional Action
The Chinese people should not forget that their rights are rooted in their own constitution as well as in international agreements to which China is bound. Recognizing the current reality, they must fight for authentic and complete implementation of the constitution, both to ensure government accountability and to secure genuine freedom, dignity, and justice for all. By doing so, they can hold leaders to their word, expose dishonesty and hypocrisy, and foster a society in which liberty, equality, the rule of law, and fundamental human rights are more than empty promises—they become real, lived experiences for every Chinese citizen.
