BEIJING, March 14: China's parliament amended the constitution on Sunday to protect private property, a landmark move in the Communist ideology of the world's most populous nation.

But Premier Wen Jiabao, a populist and cautious reformer, has not forgotten the roots of the party, which was once the vanguard of the proletariat but now tries to be everything to everyone.

More than 99 per cent of 2,896 delegates to the National People's Congress approved Wen's work report - his first since taking office last March - in which he championed workers and peasants. "The Communist Party wants to represent everybody," Chinese political commentator Wu Jiaxiang said.

Five decades after sweeping to power, a period during which private property has been nationalized and campaigns have been waged against landlords, China's parliament amended the constitution to add the clause: "Private property obtained legally is inviolable."