Connecting the Past and the Future: Constitutional Identity in Transitional China

The constitutional identity of China is much more complex than socialism, collectiveness, or authoritarianism. Since the late 19th century, the reconstruction of political, economic and cultural systems has often exhibited conflicts between western theories and decaying Chinese traditions. From a historical perspective, we can reach the conclusion that multi-culturalism is the core social background of the Chinese constitution. First, the paper will study on the conception of constitution which came from western countries. Second, it is meaningful to study the roles of China’s legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. The following questions shall be answered: (a) can Chinese people be united with consensus on constitutional identity? (b) how and to what extent, “Chinese character” is defined in the matter of constitutional identity? (c) can “harmony” bring new elements to constitutional identity? (d) will the fourth industrial revolution change the constitutional identity?