The National Constituent Assembly () was a constituent assembly in China, assembled for drafting the Constitution of the Republic of China. Meetings were convened in November and December 1946 at National Great Hall, Nanjing.

Boycotted by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its allies, the Assembly was joined by Chinese Nationalist Party (or Kuomintang, KMT), Young China Party (Youth), and China Democratic Socialist Party (CDSP), with delegates directly or indirectly elected. The Constitution drafted by the Assembly was considered to have resulted in the issue of Two Chinas with distinct constitutions.

Background Under Plans (or Fundamentals) of National Reconstruction proposed by Sun Yat-sen, later honoured as founding father of the Republic of China, the revolution was divided into three stages: military-rule, political tutelage, and constitutional government.

One of the earliest constitutions of the Republic of China was promulgated by Cao Kun in 1923 (Tsao's Constitution; 曹錕憲法). The junta based in Canton, led by Sun from Kuomintang, boycotted the enactment and called for the convocation of National Convention for drafting a new constitution.

Following the Beijing Coup in 1924 that overthrown Cao's government, Sun accepted the invitation by Feng Yuxiang to convene National Convention. Sun, however, died in 1925 and the convention was abandoned. The will left by Sun before his death includes the convocation of such meetings.

Upon the conclusion of Northern Expedition in 1928, one-party rule by the KMT began and so was the drafting of the new constitution. In 1936, a new constitutional draft (May Fifth draft; 五五憲草) was announced.

The authorities decided to convene a National Constituent Assembly in 1937 to adopt the draft, only to be delayed by the Second Sino-Japanese War. The Assembly was further delayed to 1946 for various reasons. + Delay of National Constituent Assembly Planned convocation Proponent Reason 12 November 1936 5th National Congress of KMT Provincial elections underway 12 November 1937 3rd Plenary Session of 5th Central Committee of KMT Outbreak of war 12 November 1940 6th Plenary Session of 5th Central Committee of KMT Delegates in occupation zones unable to attend 12 November 1945 Nationalist Government CCP demanded reforming government 5 May 1946 Political Consultative Conference CCP declined to submit list of delegates 12 November 1946 Supreme Military Commission of Nationalist Government Await submission of list of delegates by CCP, CDL

On 1 January 1946 or the 35th anniversary of the Republic of China, Chiang announced the decision of convening the Assembly by the end of the year. After six delays, the Assembly was finally convened on 15 November 1946 after Young China Party and China Democratic Socialist Party confirmed the attending delegates.

Electoral method An election was held in 1936 across the nation to elect members of the Assembly, except in Japanese-occupied Northeast China (Manchukuo) which special elections substituted direct elections. The Nationalist Government invited celebrities unwilling to campaign for the election to the Assembly, while members of KMT's Central Committee were designated as ex-officio members of the Assembly. CCP was unable to participate in the election due to KMT-CCP civil war and could only enter the Assembly with party-list quota. Tenure of the elected and selected members of the Assembly was extended to 1946 due to the delay of the Assembly.

Political Consultative Conference After the victory in Sino-Japanese War in 1945, the Chinese Government was urged by the public to convene the Assembly. KMT and CCP, which by then became a substantial anti-government force, along with China Democratic League (CDL), Young China Party, and independents, convened Political Consultative Conference on 10 January 1946 in Chongqing, wartime capital of the China. The Conference, lasted until 31 January, adopted 12 resolutions including reforming government, amending draft constitution, and convening National Constituent Assembly. A committee on organising draft constitution was also formed.

The membership quota of the National Constituent Assembly was one of the rifts between Nationalists and the Communists. CCP and CDL demanded disqualifying the members elected in 1936, while KMT insisted the membership was still legitimate and rejected the idea of disqualification for respecting the integrity of the government and the law. Both sides eventually compromised on disqualifying the unelected members of the Assembly, i.e., appointed members in special elections and ex-officio members of KMT's Central Committee, and replacing them with party representatives.

Resolution on National Assembly by Political Consultative Conference (translation)

The National Assembly to be convened on 5 May 1946. The duties of the first session of the National Assembly shall be enacting the constitution. The adoption of the constitution shall be agreed by three-fourths of attending members. The membership of 1,200 delegates elected by Areas and Occupational Groups shall be unchanged. Taiwan and Northeast shall be assigned with additional 150 delegates in total for Areas and Occupational Groups. Political parties and dignitaries shall be assigned with additional 700 delegates; distribution of such shall be in accordance with the annexed terms. The total number of delegates of the National Assembly shall be 2,050. Authority for implementing constitutionalism as stipulated by the constitution shall, within six months upon promulgation of the constitution, hold elections and convene (the National Assembly) in accordance with the constitution.

Annex:

Representatives sent to the National Assembly by the political parties shall uphold the drafted constitution as amended in the Political Consultative Conference in the National Assembly. Any advice on improving the constitution draft shall be decided after temporary consultation between the parties. The distribution of additional delegates for political parties and dignitaries is as follows: Nationalist Party, 230 members Communist Party, 200 members Youth Party, 100 members Democratic League, 100 members Dignitaries, 100 members The Nationalist Party and the Communist Party shall each yield 10 members to the Democratic League.

Civil war Despite the new constitution draft (Conference Draft; 政協憲草) and other important agreements, the relation between the KMT and CCP worsened sharply after KMT's Central Committee meeting in March 1946 due to ideological differences and lack of mutual trust. Conflicts and skirmishes in Northeast broke out a month later.

Negotiations between two sides in Chongqing and Nanjing were also near breakdown. Over the membership of reformed coalition government, communists insisted on assigning 14 members to CCP and CDL out of 40 to secure one-third veto power. KMT, in return, only agreed on assigning 13. The standoff prolonged for more than half a year without much progress.

Members

TypeStatutory delegatesAttending delegatesNotesAreas770735Directly electedOccupational groups437406Elected by occupational groupsSpecial143142Selected by the governmentKMT representatives220216CCP representatives1900BoycottedCDL representatives800Boycotted (excluding CDSP)CDSP representatives4039Split from CDLYouth representatives10099Dignitaries7064Majority of independent members of Total2,0501,701Quorum of 82.98%

Session Pre-meeting controversies

According to resolution of Political Consultative Conference, the National Constituent Assembly shall be convened on 5 May 1946, anniversary of Sun's inauguration as "Extraordinary Great President" (非常大總統). Nevertheless, it was forced to delay as CCP and CDL declined to submit list of delegates amid stalled negotiations with KMT on reforming the government. The diplomatic mission by George C. Marshall, United States Special Envoy to China, to broker peace between two sides also failed.

With the aim of ending the party-rule as soon as possible, Kuomintang decided to convene, unilaterally, the National Assembly on 12 November, the birthday of Sun, claiming the Communists continued the armed rebellion. The decision was immediately opposed by CCP and CDL, then both decided to boycott the Assembly. Youth rested with the decision of participating, while CDSP split with CDL with the internally assigned quota of 40 delegates, hoping CDL would reverse their boycott. The Communists later described the decision of participating in the "puppet National Assembly" as the "touchstone" distinguishing whether the party is standing with the people.

Opening of Assembly

On 11 October 1946, Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Nationalist Government, ordered the convention of the National Assembly, after strategic town Zhangjiakou was captured from the Communists. Originally planned on 12 November, the Assembly was further delayed for three days to await delegation list from Youth and CDSP.

The Assembly opened on 15 November, but then adjourned as CDSP had not submitted the list yet, which only did on 20 November. As the required quorum of 75% was met, the Assembly re-convened without CCP and CDL. In addition to 1936-elected members of mainland China, members from Taiwan joined the meeting as Japanese rule ended in 1945. The Assembly elected the Presidium to rotate the chairmanship, and chose Hung Lan-yu as Secretary-general, Chen Qitian and Lei Chen as vice secretary-general.

The presidium was elected by a total of 1,446 delegates. Some resigned upon election, as indicated by strikethrough, and replaced by italicised supplementary members. Members of the presidium are as follows, with votes received bracketed.

Chiang Kai-shek (1,371) Sun Fo (1,246) Bai Chongxi (1,193) Yu Youren (1,165) Zeng Qi (1,125) Hu Shih (1,099) Wu Tiecheng (1,053) Chen Guofu (1,035) Li Huang (1,026) (1,020) Cheng Qian (982) Serengdongrub (958) Wu Yi-fang (953) (939) Chang Li-sheng (913) Paul Yu Pin (905) Mo Teh-hui (876) (851) Ku Cheng-kang (844) (844) Li Zongren (841) Zhang Qun (830) Wu Jingheng (802) Chen Cheng (798) Thubten? (圖丹桑批; 793) Chen Lifu (788) (775) Ehmetjan Qasim (739) Hu Shuhua (720) H. H. Kung (706) Zhu Jiahua (689) Lin Qingnian (林慶年; 681) He Chengjun (670) Huang Kuo-shu (633) Zhang Ji (631) (615) Guo Zhongkai (郭仲隗; 614) (604) (588) (561) Sun Weiru (558) Liu Heng-ching (527) Wang Yun-wu (520) (436) (434) Yu Ching-tang (427) (425) Ding Weifen (419) Tien Chung-chin (408) Zhou Yongneng (周雍能; 401)

Xu Fulin

Party-or-state dispute

Upon entering the National Great Hall, opposition parties including CDSP and Youth requested replacing the party flag of Kuomintang with national flag, arguing the National Assembly is not party congress. The authorities agreed and therefore took off the party flag.

The two parties then declined to take oath of office, claiming the Tridemism references in the oath were incompatible with the ideology of their parties, and insisted the importance of freedom of thought.

Deliberation

The debate on the constitution draft adopted the three readings procedures. Prior to the first reading, some delegates proposed drafting a new constitution by the Legislative Yuan, instead of following the agreed "Conference Draft". The Assembly later decided to deliberate with "Conference Draft" as the basis after opposition from the minor parties.