According to the Constitute, the president of the People's Republic of China exercises both domestic functions and powers and those in foreign affairs. And both the president and vice president are elected by the National People's Congress (NPC).

Chinese President's Functions and powers in domestic and foreign affairs:

In domestic affairs, Chinese president has the power to promulgate laws, to appoint and remove the premier, vice premiers, state councilors, ministers of ministries and state commissions, auditor-general, and secretary-general, to confer state medals and honorary titles, to issue order of special amnesty, to proclaim martial law and a state of war as well as to issue order of mobilization, according to decisions of the National People's Congress (NPC) and its Standing Committee.

While in foreign affairs, Chinese president shares the power of receiving foreign diplomatic representatives on behalf of the People's Republic of China , appointing or recalling China 's plenipotentiary representatives abroad, and ratifying or abrogating treaties and important agreements concluded with foreign countries in pursuance of the decisions of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC). The Constitution adopted in 1982 also stipulates that the vice president assists the president in his work and may exercise certain functions and powers entrusted by the president.

In general, the functions and powers of the president can be summarized as in the following:

1. The power of promulgating laws. Laws adopted by National People's Congress (NPC) or its Standing Committee shall go into effect only after being promulgated by the president, which is the last act in the legislative processes in the People's Republic of China.

2. The power of issuing orders. The appointment and removal of the premier of the State Council, the issue of the order of special amnesty, the proclamation of martial law, a state of war and general mobilization can only be made or announced by the president. Since 1959, the president has issued the order of special amnesty on six occasions.

3. The power of making appointment or removals, i.e., the power to appoint or remove officials constituting the State Council.

4. The power of conferring titles, i.e., the power to confer state honors.

The Election of Chinese President

According to the Constitution, candidates for the president and vice president must have two basic qualifications. First, the candidates should be citizens of the People's Republic of China . Anyone will not have the power to vote and to be voted in the president election if he doesn't have this first qualification according Chinese Constitution. Second, the candidates must be older than 45. This qualification is one of the factors to guarantee political maturity, rich work experiences and high reputation.

Candidates for the president and vice president are named by the NPC standing committee after deliberation by all the members. Then the standing committee officially elects two from all candidates, one for the position of president and the other for the position of vice president through voting by all NPC members.