Xu Chongde

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Xu Chongde (January 15, 1929 – March 3, 2014) was a Chinese legal expert, professor and political scientist. He was born in Qingpu, Shanghai, and studied law at Fudan University, graduating in 1951. He taught at Renmin University of China after finishing his studies. From 1971 to 1978 he taught the history of the Chinese Communist Party at Beijing Normal University. He later returned to Renmin University, where he led the constitutional teaching and research as well as the graduate program. He became a full professor and doctoral advisor in 1986 and retired in February 2000, becoming an honorary professor.

Xu helped draft the 1954 Constitution and its amendments (1980–1982). He served on the Constitution Amendments Committee. He was named to the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee in 1985 and the Macau Basic Law Drafting Committee in 1988, helping draft the Hong Kong and Macau Basic Laws. He was also a member of the Preparatory Committees for the Hong Kong SAR (1995) and the Macau SAR (1998), witnessing their establishment. In 1998 he gave a lecture on legal studies to the NPC Standing Committee, and in 2002 he gave the first constitution lecture to the CCP Politburo. He died in Beijing on March 3, 2014, at age 85.