2nd National People's Congress

The 2nd National People's Congress (NPC) was in session from 1959 to 1964.^[1] It held four sessions in this period.

2nd National People's Congress 第二届全国人民代表大会
← 1st 3rd →
National Emblem of the People's Republic of China
18 April 1959 – 21 December 1964 (5 years, 247 days) Overview
Type	Highest organ of state power
Election	Indirect elections
Leadership
Chairman	Zhu De
Vice Chairmen	Lin Boqu, Li Jishen, Luo Ronghuan, Shen Junru, Guo Moruo, Huang Yanpei, Peng Zhen, Li Weihan, Chen Shutong, Tenzin Gyatso, Saifuddin Azizi, Cheng Qian, Choekyi Gyaltsen, He Xiangning, Liu Bocheng, and Lin Feng
Secretary-General	Peng Zhen
Standing Committee	80 (2nd)
Members
Total	1,235 members

2nd National People's Congress
Traditional Chinese	第二屆全國人民代表大會
Simplified Chinese	第二届全国人民代表大会
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dì Èr Jiè Quánguó Rénmín Dàibiǎo Dàhuì
Abbreviation
Traditional Chinese	第二屆全國人大
Simplified Chinese	第二届全国人大
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dì Èr Jiè Quánguó Réndà

Background

Since the succeeding Congress was to be the first to be elected under the 1954 Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, in February 1959, finished all the preparatory work for selection of deputies, which were voted by representatives of the provincial legislatures and the city legislatures of the then two Direct-administered municipalities of China: Beijing and Shanghai. The elections were held in accordance with the 1953 Electoral Law.

Seat distribution

Major party		Chairman	Seats
	Chinese Communist Party	Mao Zedong	1,047
Other Parties		Chairperson	Seats
	Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party	Ji Fang	179
	Jiusan Society	Xu Deheng
	China Democratic League	Shen Junru
	China Association for Promoting Democracy	Zhou Jianren
	China National Democratic Construction Association	Huang Yanpei
	Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang	Li Jishen He Xiangning
	Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League	Vacant
	China Zhi Gong Party	Chen Qiyou
	Independents	N/A

The first session

The first session was held in 18–28 April 1959. During the first session, Mao Zedong relinquished his role as chairman of the People's Republic to Liu Shaoqi.^[2] The Congress elected the state leaders:

• Chairman of the People's Republic of China: Liu Shaoqi
• Vice Chairmen of the People's Republic of China: Soong Ching-ling and Dong Biwu
• Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress: Zhu De
• Premier of the State Council: Zhou Enlai
• President of the Supreme People's Court: Xie Juezai
• Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate: Zhang Dingcheng

The third session of the 2nd NPC in 1962.

The fourth session of the 2nd NPC in 1966.