The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) was composed in 1981 and adopted by the Fifth National People’s Congress (NPC) on December 4, 1982. This was a new constitution for a new era. Mao Zedong, the leader of Communist China, had died in 1976. His successors in the NPC and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) wanted to rebuild China as a Socialist and economic powerhouse. Thus, a modern constitution that rallied the people, addressed economic policies, and announced China’s place in world politics was needed. The constitution would also take on legal significance. Like its predecessors, the 1982 constitution emphasized the role of Socialism in the creation of the modern Chinese state and placed the power of the country in the hands of its people. Unlike its predecessors, however, it detailed fundamental changes in law that affected the previously untouchable CCP. It also addressed the role China would play in the world and the place of Socialism in the new money economy, where communal farms were becoming multimillion-dollar enterprises.