Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
From Freepedia
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (Chinese: 中国人民政治协商会议 Pinyin: Zhongguo renmin zhengzhi xieshang huiyi), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China. The organization consists of both Party members and non-Party members, who discuss Chinese communism's principles, and occasionally, create new government organizations. The members are chosen by the Communist Party of China, but are from a somewhat broader range of people than normally chosen for government office. In particular, the CPPCC contains members from the United Front parties allied with the CPC and non-Party members. The CPPCC typically holds a yearly meeting at the same time as plenary sessions of the National People's Congress.
A less common translation is "the National Congress". This translation is discouraged, as it causes confusion with the National People's Congress as well as with the National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
The Conference dated prior to the existence of People's Republic of China and served as the de-facto legislature of the PRC until the Constitution of 1954 when this function was transferred to the National People's Congress.
Since then, the CPPCC has not been formally included in the PRC Constitution. However, its role and powers are somewhat analogous to an advisory legislative upper house and there have been occasional proposals to formalize this role in the PRC Constitution.
