ABSTRACT
While the role of the NPC was traditionally circumscribed by Party prerogatives, during the early 1980s NPC-SC chairman Peng Zhen began to use the institution to build a political power base. Peng oversaw revisions to the 1982 Constitution that expanded the legislative and administrative powers of the Standing Committee.5 Whereas previously the NPC-SC had served mainly to relay agenda items already decided by the Party Politburo and to organize full meetings of the NPC, the 1982 Constitution authorized the Standing Committee to enact laws and also to supervise the work of the State Council and other administrative bodies.6 Throughout the period of his tenure as chairman of the NPC-SC, Peng Zhen consistently argued in favor of a stronger role for the NPC and the lower-level people’s congresses.7