The First Session of the Third National People’s Congress

It was held in Beijing from December 21, 1964, to January 4, 1965, with 3,040 delegates present. The main agenda of the Session was to consider the Report on the Work of the Government and the National Economic Plan for 1965, and to elect and decide on the new national leaders.

The Session heard Premier Zhou Enlai delivering the "Report on the Work of the Government". The report proposed for the first time that "within a not too long historical period, China will be built into a strong socialist country with modern agriculture, modern industry, modern national defense and modern science and technology." The Session also heard the work reports made by Xie Juezai, President of the Supreme People's Court, and Zhang Dingcheng, Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, respectively, to the Session.

The Session adopted a resolution on the report on the work of the government, considered and approved the resolution on the main indicators of the national economic plan for 1965 and the preliminary arrangement of the state budget, specifying that the task for 1965 was to continue to complete certain unfinished tasks in the national economic adjustment work and to prepare for the Third Five-Year Plan starting in 1966.

The Session also elected Liu Shaoqi as the State President, Soong Ching Ling and Dong Biwu as the Vice Presidents; Zhu De as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Based on the nomination of President Liu Shaoqi, the Session decided that Zhou Enlai would be the Premier of the State Council. The Session also elected the Vice Chairman, Secretary General and members of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the President of the Supreme People's Court and the Procurator-General of the Supreme People's Procuratorate. It adopted the nominations of the Vice Premier and Secretary-General of the State Council, ministers, the heads of committees and other members of the State Council proposed by the Premier Zhou Enlai; the nominations of the Vice Chairman and the members of the National Defense Commission proposed by the Chairman Liu Shaoqi; and the nominations of the Chairman and the members of the Nationalities Committee and the Chairman and members of the Bills Committee of the National People's Congress.