 As you probably know, the People's Republic of China is an enormous country with 1.4 billion people, and just like its population, the government is also massive. Controlled by the Communist Party of China, there are several different components that make up the government by law, but these branches essentially have no checks and balances. The most major, or populist, branch is the National People's Congress. Consisting of 2,980 members, it is the largest parliamentary body in the world, making the nation's legislative branch unicameral. The entirety of the NPC does not meet in full session except for two weeks every year, where the most important legislative matters are settled. For most of the year, the standing committee of the National People's Congress, forming just 170 members, stays in session, and these members are the most important out of all of the NPC. These 170 members do not have the opportunity to hold other government positions, as they are full-time legislators, unlike most of the NPC. As I said earlier, China's government does not have the concept of checks and balances, and the NPC gives a perfect example of this. By many accounts, it acts as a rubber stamping body for the State Council, the main executive branch, and the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party, which contains the highest officials of China. I'll get to both soon. Anyways, how are people exactly involved in the People's Republic? Well, not very involved. Citizens do vote for a local People's Congress, who in turn vote a member to the NPC. Also, these candidates must be part of the Communist Party, or be associated perhaps with an Allied Party. Moving to the executive branch now, the State Council consists of 35 members, with a Premier, an Executive Vice Premier, and at this current date three other Vice Premieres, five State Councilors, and 25 other Executive Officials who are each in charge of different bureaucracies. The Premier, who was chosen by the President, is the main Executive Leader, and serves as the head of the government. Still, the Premier is not the highest ranking official in the country. Instead, that position is given to the President. However, the President, by the law of China, is a ceremonial position. Then why does the President of China, Xi Jinping, have most the power in the country? This is due to him simultaneously holding the Office of General Secretary of the Communist Party. The General Secretary is by Chinese law the paramount leader of China, being the head of the Communist Party, and therefore having supreme political authority. In recent transfers of power, the First Secretary of the Secretariat, another high-ranking official in the Communist Party, succeeds the General Secretary after his resignation. This transfer of power is informal but has become the norm in recent years. Additionally, Xi Jinping holds the Office of Military Chairman, putting him in charge of all military sectors of the government. Now, hold on. Did you just say that the military forms a branch of the government? I sure did, and this branch is called the Central Military Commission. By law, they hold command over the People's Liberation Army, the main military forces for China, the People's Armed Police, a special paramilitary force involved in homeland defense and riot control, and the militia. In practice, however, the armed forces of China increasingly answer mainly to the Communist Party, rather than the Central Military Commission. I should note that the People's Armed Police are separate from the People's Police, the main police force commanded by the Ministry of Public Security, a bureaucracy managed by an officer in the State Council. The final pieces of the government I'll discuss have to do with the judicial system. There is the Supreme People's Court headed by the Chief Justice, which manages most judicial manners in the country, and serves as a last resort court. Additionally, a prosecuting branch of the judicial system exists, the Supreme People's Procuratorate. However, the laws upheld by the judiciary is not enforced in full in the special territories of Hong Kong and Macau, at least for now, as they have their own courts. But no discussion on the Chinese government is complete without an explanation on these special administrative regions, special economic zones, and the autonomous regions of China. I'll go into depth on all three of these in future videos, but the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau have the greatest autonomy from the central government of China. They can, by law, manage their own economics, courts, legislators, and languages, among other things. Despite this, the National People's Congress can still unilaterally write laws into place in these regions, especially economic zones exist in several parts of mainland China, most notably in an area of Shanghai, several areas in Guangdong province, and the entire province of Hainan. Finally, autonomous regions, including Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Guangxi, were made to give sizable minorities in certain regions of the country more autonomy. However, like Russia, the amount of autonomy these places have is a lot less in practice. The only region to have an absolute majority of the native ethnic group is Tibet, with over 90% of the region being Tibetan. However, Uighurs make 46% in Xinjiang, and are the largest ethnicity there. The other three, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Guangxi, have sizable minorities of Mongol, Hui, or Muslim Chinese, and Zhuang, respectively, living in their borders, while Han Chinese maintain the majority in all three. And if you are part of the hopeful majority of people that made it to the end, please consider liking, subscribing, and hitting the bell so you will never miss another video on politics, government, or history. I'll be making more specific videos about Chinese and Russian politics in the coming weeks, as well as a mystery country's government, so stay tuned for those. Thanks for all your support and the growth of my channel, and have yourself a good day or night.