The Legislative _Yüan_ brought forth on May 5, 1936 (in Chinese chronology, 5/5/XXV, or double-five twenty-five), the celebrated _Hsien-fa Ts'ao-an_ (Draft Permanent Constitution), which was promptly dubbed the Double Five Constitution. Ever since its first promulgation, this document has formed the center of all Chinese constitutional debate, and--with very minor modifications--still stands as the official proposal for a permanent constitution, awaiting ratification by the _Kuo-min Ta-hui_ (National [Constituent] Congress), when and if that long-postponed body ever convenes.[6] The Draft Constitution is the joint work of many outstanding legal scholars. A product of collective research and study, it thereby resembles collective private codification of municipal and international law in the West more than it does the creation of a deliberative assembly. The celebrated Chinese jurist, Dr. John C. H. Wu, prepared the first informal draft,[7] and the 5/5/XXV version represents the fourth draft of the Legislative _Yüan_. The preparation of the various drafts has not, from the scholastic point of view, been secretive or private; but broad popular participation has neither been offered nor solicited. [Footnote 6: The Double Five Draft Constitution is to be found in Chinese in Wang Shih-chieh, work cited, and in English in Council of International Affairs, _Information Bulletin_, Vol. III, No. 10 (April 11, 1937), Nanking; Hsia, C. L., "Background and Features of the Draft Constitution of China"; in Legislative _Yüan_, "Draft of the Constitution of the Republic of China," Nanking, 1937; in _The China Year Book_, Shanghai, and _The Chinese Year Book_, Shanghai and Hong Kong, _v.i._ and _v.d._ The latest version of the Draft Constitution is reprinted below. Appendix I (A), p. 283; the latest Chinese annotated version of this is the Legislative _Yüan_, _Chung-hua Min-kuo Hsien-fa Ts'ao-an Shuo-ming-shu_ (An Elucidation of the Draft Permanent Constitution of the Chinese Republic), [Chungking], XXIX (1940).]