<P> There have been four major revisions by the National People's Congress (NPC) to the 1982 Constitution . </P> <P> Much of the PRC Constitution is modeled after the 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union, but there are some significant differences . For example, while the Soviet constitution contains an explicit right of secession, the Chinese constitution explicitly forbids secession . While the Soviet constitution formally creates a federal system, the Chinese constitution formally creates a unitary multi-national state . </P> <P> The 1982 State Constitution is a lengthy, hybrid document with 138 articles . Large sections were adapted directly from the 1978 constitution, but many of its changes derive from the 1954 constitution . Specifically, the new Constitution de-emphasizes class struggle and places top priority on development and on incorporating the contributions and interests of non-party groups that can play a central role in modernization . </P> <P> Article 1 of the State Constitution describes China as "a socialist state under the people's democratic dictatorship" meaning that the system is based on an alliance of the working classes--in communist terminology, the workers and peasants--and is led by the Communist Party, the vanguard of the working class . Elsewhere, the Constitution provides for a renewed and vital role for the groups that make up that basic alliance--the CPPCC, democratic parties, and mass organizations . The 1982 Constitution expunges almost all of the rhetoric associated with the Cultural Revolution incorporated in the 1978 version . In fact, the Constitution omits all references to the Cultural Revolution and restates Mao Zedong's contributions in accordance with a major historical reassessment produced in June 1981 at the Sixth Plenum of the Eleventh Central Committee, the "Resolution on Some Historical Issues of the Party since the Founding of the People's Republic ." </P>

How many articles are there in chinese constitution