History EE on Chinese constitutions

I want to study law in university and I want to do something related to constitutional law for my EE. I've read a whole lot of secondary sources discussing the 1954 Constitution but I can't identify something contentious enough to phrase into a "To what extent" research question.

Any ideas? Potential directions:
- Establishment of a totalitarian state / consolidation of power
- Affect gender inequality / political dissenters

Alternatively, can someone suggest a topic on other constitutions in Chinese history, or another question word eg. causation? I've worked on my EE for LITERALLY MONTHS and I regret not picking a simple and obvious research question and going for it. Now, I'm just stuck here trying to find something to argue, since I can't find historians who disagree!

Reply 1

Sailin

(I'm not writing a history EE so I'm not an expert on picking history EE RQs)

Maybe you don't have to find an argument that completely disagrees. Probably there are historians that consider things (effects, causes) from another aspect and you can develop on that, which can also be useful in answering a 'to what extent' question.

Also, if you work it out in the end, you definitely won't regret picking a hard RQ!

I have done a mock IA on China's policies 1949~1956 and scored 23/25. There are sometimes huge contrasts between the intention and the result of these policies. Have you read The Rise of Modern China by Immanuel Hsu? And the primary sources (e.g. from the government or head of state)? Also if you read Chinese, there will certainly be interesting views on the policies that may provide a counterargument.