China

China

Right	Section	Contents
Freedom of Association	History	Chapter 2-4 of the Provisional Constitution of the Republic of China (1912) stated that “citizens shall have the freedom of speech, of composition, of publication, of assembly and of association.” https://archive.org/details/jstor-2212590/page/n1/mode/2up Under the current government of China, Article 35 of the 2018 Constitution of the People’s Republic of China states: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China shall enjoy freedom of speech, the press, assembly, association, procession and demonstration.” http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/constitution2019/201911/1f65146fb6104dd3a2793875d19b5b29.shtml
Freedom of Expression	History	The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China of 1982 explicitly protects the freedom of expression. “People's Republic of China.” Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Accessed September 20, 2022. http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/constitution2019/201911/1f65146fb6104dd3a2793875d19b5b29.shtml.
Freedom of Religion	History	The Constitution establishes freedom of religion, but limits it to "normal religious activity" without defining normal. Religious groups are controlled if they are perceived to be a threat by the Communist Party. In recent years, there has been a campaign of religious persecution of the Uighurs in the Xinjiang province (U.S. Department of State, "CHINA (INCLUDES TIBET, XINJIANG, HONG KONG, AND MACAU) 2018 INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM REPORT").
Freedom of the Press	History	One of the earliest references to press freedom came about in 1904, when “the newspaper Dongfang Zazhi (The Eastern Miscellany) published a leading article arguing that in a country where people were allowed to express their opinions freely, its citizens were wiser than those who lived in a country where press freedom was not guaranteed.” This article echoed the sentiment of many leading Chinese intellectuals at the time (Guo 89-90, 2020) . Legally, Chapter III, Article 87 of China’s 1954 Constitution first protected freedom of the press. Today, similar language is located in Chapter II, Article 35 of China’s Constitution: “Citizens of the People’s Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration” (The National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, “Constitution”).
Privacy Rights	History	In 1975, the Chinese Constitution protected the right to privacy to the person and the home in Chapter III, Article 28 (Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, 1975, 39). Today, Articles 38-40 protect privacy in China. Article 38 is for personal dignity, 39 for the home, and 40 for correspondence (Constitute Project, “China (People’s Republic of) 1982 rev. 2018” ). https://constituteproject.org/constitution/China_ 2018? lang=en https://china.usc.edu/sites/default/files/article/attachments/peoples-republic-of-china-constitution- 1975. pdf
Voting Rights and Suffrage	History	Under Chapter II, The Fundamental Rights and Duties of Citizens, Article 34 all citizens 18 years of age have the right to vote and stand for election without discrimination. (Constitute Project, “China (People’s Republic of)'s Constitution of 1982 with Amendments through 2018” ).