Residents' committees are grass-roots organizations of selfgovernance by residents in urban areas on the basis of residence. In December 1954 the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress promulgated the Organic Regulations on the Urban Residents' Committees, which established this form of selfgovernance by urban residents, and after that urban residents' committees were set up in all cities in the country. The Constitution promulgated in 1982 provides the nature, tasks and roles of urban residents' committees. In December 1989 the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress enacted the Organic Law on the Urban Residents' Committees, which has promoted the building of urban residents' committees.

In accordance with the Constitution and the Organic Law on the Urban Residents' Committees, a residents' committee is a grassroots organization of self-governance by residents in cities. It is not an organ of state power, nor an agency of such an organ, but a mass organization voluntarily formed by the residents of a certain area to handle their own affairs under the grass-roots administrative division. The self-management of a residents' committee covers all citizens within its area, disregarding their occupation, gender, age, ethnicity, religion, faith and inclination. Residents' committees are usually established on the basis of household distribution in urban areas. A committee has a chairman, a vice chairman (or two vice-chairmen) and five to eleven other members, who are directly elected by the residents for a term of three years. Based on the requirements of work, a residents' committee may establish committees of people's mediation, public security, culture and education, social and labor service, public health, and civil affairs and public welfare. The residents' committee follows the principles of democratic centralism and voluntariness, the committee members should decide on major issues collectively, and affairs concerning the direct interests of residents should be referred to the residents for deliberation and consultation.

The basic tasks of a residents' committee include: (1) handling the public affairs and public welfare services of the residents in the local residential area; (2) conveying the residents' opinions and demands to the local government; (3) publicizing the principles, policies and statutes of the Party and the government; (4) assisting in the maintenance of public security; (5) mediating disputes among the residents. In addition, the resident's committee also assists the government in handling civil affairs, public health and sanitation,family planning, and social service, and gives full play to its role of self-education, self-management and self-service by the masses. As the residents' committee is not an agency of the government, the government provides guidance for the residents' committee rather than direct leadership over it. However, in China's cities residents' committees are essential in direct grass-roots democracy, indispensable pillars of grass-roots organs of state power, and bonds between the government and residents. They are playing an outstanding role in mediating civil disputes, assisting in the maintenance of public security, improving the environment and comprehensive management of cities, and organizing social activities for residents. With deepening political and economic reforms in China, the residents' committees are playing an ever more important role and their links with the residents are becoming closer and closer.