The Textual History database contains the various draft versions of the provisions of the Basic Law together with official commentary where available. The database will be of particular interest to constitutional lawyers, legal academics and students studying the meaning and interpretation of Basic Law provisions. Both Chinese and English drafts are included where available. The BLDHO project has managed to find seven distinct draft versions of the Basic Law. The database uses the following short forms to refer to each version. The origins of the seven versions are described below. The full version of each document can be accessed by clicking the document number hyperlink.

1986: The Structure of the Basic Law (Draft) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, approved by the Basic Law Drafting Committee (BLDC) in its second plenary meeting, 22 April 1986. Language: Chinese only [BL0007].

1987-ver1: Collection of Draft Provisions of the Various Chapters Prepared by the Subgroup of the Drafting Committee, compiled by the secretariat of BLDC for the sixth plenary meeting of the BLDC, 12 December 1987. Language: Chinese [BL0068] and English [BL0078].

1987-ver2: The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Draft) (Consolidated Texts), prepared by the secretariat of BLDC, December 1987. Language: English only [BL0062].

1988-pre-public: The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Draft), prepared by the secretariat of BLDC for the seventh plenary meeting of the BLDC, April 1988. Language: Chinese only [BL0083].

1988-public: The Draft Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (For Solicitation of Opinions), prepared by the BLDC, April 1988, and circulated to the public for consultation. Language: Chinese [BL0086] and English [BL0084].

1989-public: The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Draft), prepared by the BLDC, agreed to be published by the NPCSC of the 7th NPC in its 6th meeting, 21 Feb 1989, and circulated to the public for consultation. Language: Chinese [BL0103] and English [BL0102].

1990-NPC: The Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (Draft), prepared by the BLDC, submitted to NPCSC and the 3rd plenary meeting of the 7th NPC, 16 Feb 1990. Language: Chinese only [BL0133].

Textual History

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