December 4, 2012 marked the 30th anniversary of China's current Constitution. Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) pledged to promote the authority of the Constitution and the rule of law.

"The Constitution adapts to national conditions and realities, and also meets the requirements of the times," Xi said. "No organization or individual is privileged to be beyond the Constitution or the law, and any violation of the Constitution and the law must be investigated," he stressed.

Professor Han Dayuan, President of the Research Center for Constitutional Studies under the Chinese Law Society and Dean of the Law School at Renmin University of China, was recently interviewed by Legaldaily.com.cn. His views are as follows:

Remarkable progress has been seen in China's legislation over the three decades since the Constitution was adopted and promulgated for implementation in 1982. Governed by its Constitution, China has formed a legal system, laying a solid foundation to ensure that people "act in accordance with the law" and that "the Party conducts its activities within the limits permitted by the Constitution and other laws of the state."

The Legislation Law, adopted in 2000, provides a legal guarantee for establishing the authority of the Constitution and the law. 

The Constitution highlights the core values of "respect for and protection of human rights." During the fourth revision of the Constitution in 2004, a provision that "the state respects and guarantees human rights" was added to the Constitution. The "human rights provision" is now an important yardstick for evaluating the capacity for public rights, and a modern concept of constitution based on human dignity and value, rights and freedom has been established.

According to the Constitution, the primary responsibility of state organs is to safeguard citizens' rights. Putting human rights into the Constitution has injected vigor into China's modernization drive and profoundly changed the values of Chinese society.

Over the past 30 years, achievements have been made in the following areas. First, the Constitution has been kept updated with the changes of the times. Four revisions have included into the Constitution the ideas of "non-public sector of the economy," "market economy," "rule of law" and "human rights." Second, the text of the Constitution is more methodical and well-structured. Third, the Constitution's authority is clear. The principle of "a unified legal system" set by the Constitution has become the most important legal basis for implementing the rule of law in China.

To truly understand constitutional implementation, some concepts should be distinguished. For example, constitution implementation and supervising the constitution implementation are two different concepts. Constitution implementation mainly depends on state organs, social organizations and individual citizens to meet their constitutional obligations.

Yet, an important part of constitution implementation lies in how to respond to legal subjects that don't or are unwilling to fulfill their constitutional obligations. Therefore, state organs at all levels should conscientiously fulfill their constitutional duties. Looking ahead, another important task is to improve the efficiency of constitutional implementation through institutionalization.