During the drafting of the
PRC constitution, there were debates on which title to use for the head of the NPC Standing Committee. On 23 March 1954, at the first meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee, the
Central Committee of the CCP put forward a draft that used the title "speaker" (). During the draft discussion, there were various discussions on whether to use "speaker" or "chairman" () for the title of the post. Those who used the "chairman" title argued that it would be unpopular as
Chiang Kai-shek also used that title, while those supporting it saw no issue. There were also ones proposing the use of "chairman" (), similar to the chairman of the
Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, but others argued against this by saying the title was the same as the
chairman of the People's Republic of China, meaning that the masses could easily confuse them. During the discussion
Tian Jiaying, the deputy secretary-general of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said that the NPC is an organ of power rather than just a deliberative organ, and that the "speaker" title is not commensurate with its nature. Eventually, the word "chairman" () was adopted. On 16 March 1998,
Li Peng was elected the chairman of the NPCSC, replacing Qiao Shi. However, he was elected with less than 90% of the vote, with around three hundred delegates not backing him, despite the fact that he was the only candidate. Under Li, the NPCSC chair was the second-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee just after the CCP General Secretary, which continued under
Wu Bangguo, who held the office from 2003 to 2013. In 2013, the political importance of the office decreased when
Zhang Dejiang became the officeholder; Zhang was the third-ranking member behind the CCP General Secretary and the Premier. In 2018,
Li Zhanshu was elected as the chairman. In 2023,
Zhao Leji was elected as the chairman. == List of chairpersons ==