One country, two systems
constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China
"One country, two systems" (1C2S) is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems concept. This constitutional principle was formulated in the early 1980s during negotiations over Hong Kong between China and the United Kingdom. It provided that there would be only one China, but that each region would retain its own economic and administrative system. Under the principle, each of the two regions could continue to have its own governmental system, legal, economic and financial affairs, including trade relations with foreign countries, all of which are independent from those of the mainland. The PRC has also proposed to apply the principle toward unification with Taiwan; however, Taiwan has consistently rejected the proposal.
Background
Deng Xiaoping developed the principle of one country, two systems in relation to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. Hong Kong and Macau had been colonised by European powers and Taiwan remained under Kuomintang control at the end of the Chinese Civil War. According to Radio Free Asia, the theoretical framework for the "one country, two systems" principle for Hong Kong was first developed by Wang Huning and Wang Bangzuo in an unpublished article in the early 1980s.
In the context of Hong Kong
Hong Kong was a colony of the United Kingdom, ruled by a governor appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, for 156 years from 1841 (except for four years of Japanese occupation during WWII) until 1997, when it was handed over to the Chinese government.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “One country, two systems” is constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through country, systems and constitutional, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q723713. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1841 and 1997.
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