On September 15, 1954, 67 years ago, the first session of the First National People's Congress was solemnly opened in Beijing, and the giant ship of the "fundamental political system" of New China rumbled and set sail.
67 years have passed, and China's people's democratic system has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Every year, NPC deputies enter the Great Hall of the People, and the lens of exercising power on behalf of the people is also deeply imprinted in people's minds.
However, the Great Hall of the People was built in 1959 on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the founding of New China. That is to say, from 1954 to 1959, the first to fifth sessions of the first National People's Congress and the first session of the Second National People's Congress were not held in the Great Hall of the People. So which political auditorium witnessed this major historical event? What happened at the First People's Congress?
Huai Ren Tang
After the founding of New China, with the stabilization of the domestic political situation and the recovery of the national economy, as well as the improvement of the level of people's organization and consciousness, the topic of convening the National People's Congress and formulating the Constitution of the People's Republic of China began to be included in the agenda of the CPC Central Committee. In November 1952, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to convene the National People's Congress and formulate a constitution as soon as possible.
At 15:00 on September 15, 1954, the first session of the First National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China was grandly opened in Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai.
In fact, from the first session of the First National People's Congress in 1954 to the first session of the Second National People's Congress in 1959, each meeting was held in Huairen Hall in Zhongnanhai.
Deputies to the First National People's Congress took a group photo in front of HuaiRen Hall
According to a report by the Liberation Daily on September 15, 1954, "more than 1,000 people's deputies, who have gathered the will of the 600 million people of the whole country, will gather together to hold this solemn meeting at huairen hall, where the political consultative conference of the Chinese people and the founding of the People's Republic of China was proclaimed five years ago."
In addition, in order to meet this conference, Huai Ren Tang also carried out special modification projects. According to the report, "The roof of the foyer was re-covered with emerald glazed tiles, and the steps were paved with marble." The red columns of the palace gate, the shadow wall inside the palace gate and the columns have been renovated. The venue has expanded from before, with seats increasing by almost a third.
Huairen Hall is one of the main buildings in Zhongnanhai. In 1949, the Communist Party of China held the first Chinese Political Consultative Conference in Huairentang. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Huairen Hall became the auditorium of the central government, and often held various political conferences and literary evenings.
In the summer of 1958, in preparation for the celebration of the 10th anniversary of the founding of New China, the central government decided to build ten major buildings. On September 24, 1959, the Great Hall of the People, one of the ten largest buildings, was inaugurated. On the afternoon of March 30, 1960, the Second Session of the Second National People's Congress was solemnly held in the Great Hall of the People. Since then, the plenary meeting of the National People's Congress has been set in the Great Hall of the People.
First moment of silence
At the first session of the First National People's Congress, there were 1,226 delegates present at the meeting, which were elected by 45 electoral units (including Taiwan, which has not yet elected deputies), including representatives of all democratic classes and democratic parties in our country. Of these representatives, 177 were representatives of ethnic minorities and 147 were women.
Yuan Shuipai, a reporter from the People's Daily, wrote in the article "Six Hundred Million People's Hearts Blossom":
The delegates entered the room and took their seats in the highest organ of state power. They came from the lathes, from the fields, from the mines, from the sentries on the coast. Put down the pliers, put down the plow rake, put down the pickaxe, put down the pen holder, the compass... Together with the leaders of the Party and the state whom they loved, they discussed the important affairs of the country. Many of them are people who have made outstanding contributions to the cause of the people's revolution, many of whom are representatives of various democratic parties and democratic strata, and who are the expressions of the common will of the six hundred million people. ”
At this meeting, the oldest representative was Qi Baishi, 93 years old, and the youngest was Hao Jianxiu, 19 years old.
Judging from the xinhua news agency's report at that time, of the 1226 deputies, 1211 actually reported to the deputies, 15 did not report for leave due to illness, and 70 were temporarily absent due to illness after reporting. The actual number of delegates present at that time was 1,141.
Mao Zedong presided over the opening ceremony of the conference, which was very brief, from 3 o'clock to 3:20 o'clock, and lasted only 20 minutes.
Mao Zedong delivered an opening speech entitled "Striving to Build a Great Socialist Country." He pointed out: "Our meeting has great historical significance. This meeting marks a milestone in the new victories and new developments of our people since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the Constitution formulated at this meeting will greatly promote the cause of socialism in our country. ”
At this meeting, there is one detail that deserves attention. After Chairman Mao Zedong's opening remarks, the band played the national anthem. Immediately afterward, the audience stood in silence for three minutes to mourn the revolutionary martyrs who died in the cause of the Chinese people's revolution. This was the first time that a silent silence was held by the highest organ of state power.
The people of Shanghai listened to reports on the live broadcast of the National People's Congress
"May Fourth Constitution"
The meeting adopted the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, historically known as the "May Fourth Constitution."
The May Fourth Constitution, drafted by Mao Zedong himself, lasted more than 7 months, followed by 3 months of national discussion, and more than 150 million people proposed 1.18 million amendments and supplementary opinions.
After the opening of the first session of the First National People's Congress, the meeting continued to meet at 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, adopted the agenda of the meeting, and immediately entered the first agenda. First of all, Liu Shaoqi, a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the People's Republic of China, made a "Report on the Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China."
According to Xinhua News Agency, "Liu Shaoqi's report ended at 7:25 a.m. His report continued to attract enthusiastic applause from the audience. ”
After several days of deliberations by the deputies' group, on the afternoon of September 20, the first session of the First National People's Congress voted by secret ballot.
After the voting method was adopted, the list of directors, deputy directors and supervisors was read at the meeting, and the full text of the final version of the "Draft Constitution of the People's Republic of China" amended and adopted by the Central People's Government Committee was read out at the meeting. The Executive Chairman asked delegates whether they had any comments on the final version. The delegates had no opinion, and the audience applauded enthusiastically. The Executive Chairman immediately announced that the final version would be put to the vote.
According to reports, the "vote through the Constitution of the People's Republic of China" at that time was pink and printed in Four languages: Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Uyghur. A representative who does not know these four languages, when writing the ticket, has an interpreter to explain it for him.
The results of the NPC deputies' vote on the Constitution were: a total of 1,197 votes and 1,197 votes in approval. As a result, the audience rejoiced and stood up, and the stormy applause and cheers lasted for five minutes.
At this point, the conference successfully completed its primary task - the formulation of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China.
Column Editor-in-Chief: Zhang Jun Text Editor: Zhang Jun
Source: Author: Zhang Jun Finishing