Standing Committee of the National People's Congress
The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, officially the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China is the permanent body of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China. Both the NPC and the NPCSC exercise the legislative power of the state. The NPCSC oversees the election of the NPC, and can extend the term of the current NPC by a put off election by at most a year with a two thirds majority vote. The NPCSC convenes the NPC once a year, and may do so when it finds it necessary or with a proposal from one fifth of NPC's members. The NPCSC holds power until the succeeding NPC elects its standing committee. Members of the NPCSC must not, at the same time, hold executive, judicial, supervisory positions. In contrast, members of the NPC do not have this restriction. The NPCSC has the power of judicial interpretation of law in the PRC, including its constitution. In contrast to other countries in which stare decisis gives the power of both final interpretation and adjudication to a supreme court, within Mainland China constitutional and legal interpretation is considered to be a legislative activity rather than a judicial one, and the functions are split so that the NPCSC provides legal interpretations while the Supreme People's Court actually decides cases. Because an interpretation of the NPCSC is legislative in nature and not judicial, it does not affect cases which have already been decided. A notable use of the constitutional interpretation power occurred in 1999 over the Right of Abode issue in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Lau Kong Yung v. Director of Immigration. The NPCSC interpreted the Basic Law of Hong Kong in accordance with the position taken by the Hong Kong governmentwith respect to the eligibility of permanent residency in Hong Kong. It is led by a Chairman, mainland China's top legislator, who is conventionally ranked third in Mainland China's political ranking system, after the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and the Premier of the People's Republic of China. The current Chairman is Li Zhanshu.
Zhang Chunxian : member of the 18th Politburo, member of the 16th to 19th CCCPCs, and former secretary of the CPC Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Committee and Hunan Provincial Committee.
Shen Yueyue : member of the 17th, 18th, and 19th CCCPCs; the former executive deputy head of the CCCPC Organization Department.
Ji Bingxuan : member of the 17th, 18th, and 19th CCCPCs; the former secretary of the CPC Heilongjiang Provincial Committee, and the former chairman of the Standing Committee of the Heilongjiang Provincial People's Congress.
Arken Imirbaki : member of the 19th CCCPC; chairman of the Standing Committee of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Regional People's Congress.
Wang Dongming : standing committee member of the 10th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a member of the 17th, 18th, and 19th Central Committees CCCPCs; the secretary of the CPC Sichuan Provincial Committee, and the chairman of the Standing Committee of the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress.
Padma Choling : member of the 18th CCCPC; the former chairman of the Standing Committee of the Tibet Autonomous Region People's Congress, and the Chairman of the Tibet Autonomous Region.
