Directions: In this section, there is a short passage with 5 questions. Read the passage carefully. Then answer the questions on the answer sheet.
China’ s top legislature on Monday started discussions on a constitutional amendment on protecting private property and human rights.
A draft of the amendment, submitted by the National People’ s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee to the NPC session on Monday, calls for private property not to be encroached upon and says that the State should add compensation to the current law that “the State has the right to expropriate urban and rural land” .
Xia Bing, a lawyer with a Shanghai-based law firm, says, “It is a substantive breakthrough in China and makes me think of the past when we were proud of being penniless and giving all our possessions to the country. ”
China began its reforms and opening-up in the late 1970s. By 2003, per capital GDP had reached US$1, 000. More and more, Chinese have bought or are planning to buy houses and cars, which are coming to be regarded as modern necessities. The economic boom has brought a change in people’ s thinking: there’ s pride in getting rich through hard work in a lawful way. By the end of last November, China had 2. 97 million private enterprises, with registered capital of more than 334. 7 billion yuan.
“The practice of encouraging the private sector but avoiding reference to it in the law doesn’ t sit well with the private sector, ” says Lian Xisheng, a legal scholar at China University of Politics and Law.
This will be the first time in New China that capital goods, property, and invisible capital such as intellectual property rights will have Constitutional protection.
The draft also includes the Three Represents, which emphasize that the Communist Party represents the fundamental interests of the majority of the people. Also, protection of human rights will be written into the Constitution.
Article 33 of Chapter Two of the Constitution will be altered to say, “The State respects and protects human rights. ”
Wang Zhaoguo, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee, says that “this principle is adopted by the Party and the State to respect and protect human rights. Writing it into the Constitution will provide a legal guarantee for its implementation. ”
Zhu Guanglei, a professor of law at Tianjin’ s Nankai University, says that this unusual event means significant progress for China. “Just 20 years ago, human rights were still regarded as a ‘ capitalist notion’ here, but now they will have a place in the fundamental law, ” he says. ” This development shows what a great leap forward China has made in human rights protection over the past two decades, ” Zhu adds.
The amendments were proposed by the CPC Central Committee last October and adopted by the NPC Standing Committee in December. T
hey need a two-third consenting majority of the nearly 3, 000 NPC deputies to be approved. It is currently in the middle of a 10-day annual session in Beijing.
A vote has been scheduled for Sunday, March 14.
Questions: