China Test

Why do we study China?

• Unique history greatly shapes political culture

• One of the few remaining communist nations

• Successful move towards capitalism BUT remains highly authoritarian

Geography Basics

• Officially, the People’s Republic of China (PRC)

• 4th largest country 

  • 9,596,961 sq mi

  • Less than 15% of land good for agriculture

• 2nd largest population

  • 1.416 billion

  • 23 provinces (including Taiwan)

  • 5 autonomous regions

  • 4 centrally administered municipalities

  • 2 Special Administrative Regions (SAR)

Confucius

• Imperial China (2000 years) & Confucianism

• Harmony, order, and peace

• Five duties of universal obligation or basic human relations

  • Ruler to ruled

  • Father to son

  • Husband to wife

  • Elder brother to younger brother

  • Friend to friend

• Obedience to authority, hierarchy, meritocracy

• Civil service was created

• Had to pass exams based on Confucian ethics

Century of Humiliation

• Economic stagnation/poverty

• Increased pressure from the outside/imperialism

• Dynastic rule ends with Qing Dynasty

• Nationalism rises

The Republic of China

• Revolution (1911-12) Establishes Republic of China

  • Sun Yat-sen became President

  • Believed in nationalism, democracy, & social welfare

  • Could not hold power

  • Warlords rule

• 1911 – 1949 Two political forces vying for power:

• The Nationalist Party (KMT)

  • Led by Sun Yat-Sen

  • Focused on resisting foreign influence

  • Favored modernization and reform

  • Eventually led by Chiang Kai-Shek

• Chinese Communist Party (CCP, founded 1921)

  • Led by Mao Zedong

  • By 1928, the CCP was forced West out of the cities and into the countryside

The People’s Republic of China

• 1934-1935: The Long March

• 1941-1945: World War II

  • Communists more successful against Japan; engaged in more guerilla warfare than direct warfare

• 1949: The People’s Liberation Army marches into Beijing unopposed, establishing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 

  • The Nationalists fled to Taiwan, where they established the Republic of China (ROC)

    • International community does not recognize PRC until 1970s

Maoism

• Form of communism that believed in the strength of the peasant

• Key Values:

  • Collectivism 

  • Struggle and Activism

  • Egalitarianism

  • Self-Reliance 

  • Mass Line: leaders would communicate their will/direction to people, but people would communicate through mass line their wisdoms to leaders

The Soviet Model (1949-1957)

• Land Reform

  • Redistributed property from rich to poor and increased productivity in countryside

• Civil Reform

  • Free people from Opium addiction

  • Enhanced women’s legal rights

• Five-Year Plans

  • Nationalized industry

  • Collectivized agriculture

  • Private property eliminated

  • Used funding from USSR

Hundred Flowers Campaign (1956-57)

• Intellectuals given freedom of expression; lifted restrictions against them

• Mao became worried about revolutionaries 

• Crushed those that spoke out

The Great Leap Forward (1958-1966)

• Wanted to free China from Soviet domination (Sino-Soviet split)

• Utopian effort to transform China into a radical egalitarian society 

• Reorganizes China into communes that would serve all basic social and economic functions

• Backyard furnaces

• Mass Mobilization 

• Red vs. Expert

• Failure - Famine

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)

• Goal – remove all vestiges of “old” China and its inequality

• Scholars sent to fields to work

• Universities/libraries destroyed

• Emphasis on elementary education only

• Purge religion 

• Student radicals (Red Guard) lead a purging of “class enemies”

• Everything attributed to Mao

• 1976: Mao dies leaving followers divided into factions

  • Radicals – led by Mao’s wife

    • One of the “Gang of Four” who supported radical goals of cultural revolution

  • Military

  • Moderates – moderates who emphasized economic modernization and some contact with other other countries

• Moderates win and arrest Gang of Four

Deng Xiaoping

• 1979: Deng Xiaoping takes control of the Communist Party

  • Open Door Trade policy

  • Reforms in Education

  • Restored legal system/bureaucracy of Old China

  • Four Modernizations

    • Agriculture

    • Industry

    • Science

    • Military

• New Social Contract: In exchange for accepting the CCP’s monopoly on political power citizens may pursue economic prosperity

Economy Under Deng Xiaoping

• Socialist Market Economy

• Household Responsibility System

  • Replaced communes

  • After paying taxes/contract fees to govt, families may consume/sell what they produce

• More Economic Liberalization

  • Special Economic Zones (SEZs) 

    • Promote foreign investment

  • Township and Village Enterprises (TVEs)

• Economic Success:

  • Fastest-growing major economy in the world for more than two decades

  • GDP per capita grew at avg rate of a little over 9% per year from 1990-2009

  • Economic Problems:

  • No more “iron rice bowl” – cradle to grave benefits

  • Unemployment

  • Inequality

  • Floating Population – urban migration & issues with hukou (household registration)

• China embraced market reforms, gradually moving away from a command economy, but did NOT embrace political or democratic reform

Tiananmen Square Protests

• Large scale demonstrations, esp among students and intellectuals for more political freedoms

• Used army to crack down protests

• Death toll not revealed

Technocrats

• After Deng dies, rise of technocrats

• Career-minded bureaucrats who administer public policy according to technical expertise rather than a political rationale

• Professional competence & political loyalty

  • Jiang Zemin (1993-2003)

  • Hu Jintao (2003-2013)

  • Xi Jinping (2013-Present)

    • All had university training in engineering

    • All were “groomed” by top leaders to move up in ranks

    • All were head of CMC (chairman of the military)

The Basics

• Authoritarian/ Single Party Communist Rule

• Officially “A socialist state under the people’s democratic dictatorship”

• Unitary

• Electoral System: N/A -Controlled by CCP

• Constitution: Established in 1982

• Current Head of Party and State: President Xi Jinping

• Head of Government: Premier Li Qiang

• Legislature: Unicameral (Rubber Stamp)- National People’s Congress

• Judiciary: Not independent, no judicial review

Parallel Hierarchies

• The political structure of the People’s Republic of China can best be seen as 3 parallel hierarchies:

  • The Communist Party

  • The state or government

  • The People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

• Separate but interact

• The CCP dominates

The Chinese Communist Party - CCP

• Democratic Centralism 

  • Society is best led by an elite vanguard party with a superior understanding of the Chinese people and their needs

• Hierarchical structure

  • Village/township

  • County

  • Province

  • Nation 

• National Party Congress

• Central Committee

• Politburo

• Politburo Standing Committee

• Head of the party is General Secretary 

National Party Congress

• More than 2000 delegates

• Rubber-stamps decisions made by party leaders

• Elects members of Central Committee

Central Committee

• About 340 members

  • Elected for 5 year term by National Party Congress

  • Secret ballot/candidates limited

• Meets annually (plenums) for about a week

• Carries out business of National Party Congress between sessions

Politburo

• Chosen by Central Committee

• Dictates government policies

• Meets in secret

• About 25 members

Politburo Standing Committee

• Most powerful political organization in China

• Elite of the elite (7 members), chosen by Politburo

• Membership is mirror of faction influence

• General Secretary is chosen from the Standing Committee

  • Head of the CCP

  • Recent Secretaries have been educated (technocrats)

Factionalism

• Guanxi (“connections”)

  • Chinese term that means “connections” or “relationships”

  • Describes personal ties between individuals based on such things as common birthplace or mutual acquaintances

  • Key to getting things done (cut red tape), but can feed corruption

• Factions

  • Conservatives (hard-liners)

  • Reformers/open door

  • Liberals (out of power since 1989)

The State/Government

• 3 branches BUT all branches controlled by party

  • Not independent

  • No checks/balances

Head of State

• President Xi Jinping

• Used to be 2 term limit of 5 years

  • This limit is gone now (2018)

• At least 45 years old (same for VP)

• Senior Party Leaders

  • Recently General Secretary and President are the SAME

Head of Government

• Premier (like a PM) Le Qiang - nominated by President

• Formally appointed by NP[eoples]C, but always from Politburo Standing Committee of the CPC

• Directs the State Council (like a cabinet)

  • Made up of ministers who direct bureaucracy

  • Oversees the civil service

The Bureaucracy

• Exists on all levels

  • Immense in size and scope

• Made up of cadres – 30 million!

  • Person who exercises a position of authority in communist govt

  • May or may not be Party members

  • Most must now retire between ages of 60-70

• China recruits leaders through Cadre List (nomenklatura) 

  • System of choosing cadres from lower levels of party hierarchy for advancement based on their loyalty/contributions to party

The Legislature

• National People’s Congress

  • Unicameral

  • “Formal” authority of government to rule on people’s behalf

  • Meets once a year in March for two weeks

    • NPCSC (standing committee) meets more frequently; essentially acts more as the legislature

    • Can make laws but not amend constitution

  • Nearly 3,000 members – “deputies”, 5 year terms

  • Chosen from lower people’s congresses

  • Has little power, but announces Politburo’s policies

• “Constitutional Powers” to:

  • Enact/amend laws

  • Approve state budget

  • Declare/end war

  • Elect/recall president, VP, chair of CMC, head of Supreme Court

The Judiciary

• People’s Court System (Supreme People’s Court)

• People’s Procuratorate – supplies lawyers, supervises legal proceedings, prosecutes in some criminal cases 

  • No rule of law under Mao, but acknowledged today

    • (No criminal code before 1978)

• Business liberalization has demanded it

• Party uses system as a weapon

• Criminal Justice system works quickly and harshly – 99% conviction rate

• World leader in use of death penalty

• “Rule by law” rather than “rule of law”

• “Strike hard” campaigns- during one period, China executed 1,781 prisoners in 3 months

People’s Liberation Army

• World’s largest military force – 2.3 million active personnel

  • Includes all ground, air and naval armed forces

• Key organization is Central Military Commission (CMC)

  • 7 members: President (chairman), two vice chairs, and four members (high-ranking officers of the military)

Cleavages - Ethnic

• Ethnic population is primarily Han Chinese (90%+)

• Minority ethnic groups = 9% of pop (abt 125 million citizens)

  • Most live in autonomous regions on/near borders with other countries

  • Govt policy: encourage economic development/suppress dissent

• Uyghurs

  • Muslims of Turkish descent living in Xinjiang

  • Militants want separate Islamic state

    • Terrorism used to promote separation

Riots in Xinjiang 2009

• Largest ethnic clash in China since the Tibetan uprising of March 2008

• Highlighted ethnic minorities’ frustrations 

• At least 1,000 rioters took to the streets, making Chinese soldiers come to the streets 

• China sought to promote an image of a "harmonious society" for the Olympics

• Detained hundreds of protesters 

• Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces in their capital, Lhasa

• China has blamed a “Dalai clique” for orchestrating protests in Tibet and neighboring provinces

Cleavages – Urban/Rural

• Economic growth has led to “Two Chinas”

• Urban (52.6% of pop, higher incomes, education, social class)

  • 2011 – 1^st time urban population was great than rural population

• Increasing inequality

• Huge influx of people to urban areas

• Rural people are poorer

• China’s poverty among ethnic minorities is two to three times higher than among the Han Chinese

• China currently has about 297 million migrant workers

Hukou System

• Millions of rural-born migrant workers work in urban areas but are denied benefits enjoyed by city dwellers, which has resulted in “a metastasizing underclass of rural migrants living as second-class citizens in China’s cities…the divide has sparked anger among the rural poor.”

How China deals with cleavages?

• Migration, Money & Military

• Different rules in different regions

• “Reserves seats” for ethnic minorities in the NP(eoples)C

  • about 14.5% of seats, 150-seat quota

• Use “Patriotic Education”

Great Western Development Plan

• Goals:

  • Reduce regional disparities

  • Promote economic growth

  • Improve living standards

• Infrastructure development

• Investment attraction

• Resource development

• Education and healthcare

• Political considerations (ethnic minorities)

• Impact:

  • Increased economic output

  • Improved infrastructure

Political Culture

• Long history of centrally imposed authoritarian politics

• Mao Zedong: political culture shaped through propaganda, mobilization, repression

• Dedication to communist ideology waned under Deng Xiaoping’s reforms 

• Xi Jinping has launched propaganda and indoctrination campaigns to strengthen dedication to communist ideology

  • Unlike Mao, Xi and other current leaders have embraced traditional Confucian cultural norms

  • Rather than push for mass mobilization like Mao, the current administration seems content with a public that does not question the CCP’s monopoly on political power

Political Participation

• Joining political parties, standing for office

• Voting 

• Protests/demonstrations

• Civil disobedience

• Coup d’etat, revolutions, political violence

• Joining interest groups, NGOs, Citizens policy meetings (mass line)

Political Participation – Political Parties

• CCP and Participation

  • Largest political party in world

  • Only 8% of citizens age 18+ are members

  • 2001 – capitalists allowed to become members

• CCP’s Youth League

  • More than 75 million members

• CCP allows existence of eight “democratic” parties

  • Each party has special group it draws from (intellectuals, etc)

  • Tightly controlled by CCP

  • Advisory role only 

Political Participation – Elections

• PRC holds elections to legitimize govt and CCP

  • Party controls the commissions that run elections and approves lists of candidates 

  • Direct elections held at the local level only

  • Voters choose deputies to serve on county people’s congresses

  • Since 1980s, CCP has allowed more than one candidate to run for county positions

• Move toward democracy at village level

  • Local officials are no longer appointed from above, but are chosen in direct, secret ballot elections

Political Participation – Interest Groups & Social Control

• Organized interest groups/social movements are not permitted unless under party-state authority

• Party-state forms mass organizations

  • People express view within strict limits

  • Form around occupations and social categories

  • Ex: Most factory workers belong to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions; Women’s interests represented in All-China’s Women’s Federation

• Urban areas party maintains social control through danwei (place of work)

Political Participation – Civil Society

• Non-existent under Mao

• Private organizations growing in recent years

  • Focus on social issues that do not directly challenge authority of state 

• 1990s NGOs could register with govt

  • China has thousands (ping pong clubs, environmentalist groups)

  • Christianity and Buddhism rebounding

  • Govt keeps close control on these groups

    • Esp Falun Gong

Political Participation – Dissenters

• Wei Jingshang

  • Human rights activist

  • “Democracy Wall” - Nov 78- Dec 79

  • “Fifth Modernization”

• Fang Lizhi

  • Leader of student movement of the 80s for human rights and democracy

  • Al Weiwei

• Fulan Gong

Media

• Most are state-run and controlled

• Some independent media today

  • Investigative reporting has had the most growth –but in limited scope – ex. Corruption

• Xinhua is the official state press agency

• All are subject to censorship by the state

• Internet is strictly controlled

Economic Liberalization and the Environment

• Rapid industrialization over the past 30 years has taken a profound toll on the environment

• Causes:

  • Expansion of heavy industry

  • Lack of regulation

  • Increased use of automobiles

  • Increased consumption

  • Poor infrastructure

Effects of Liberalization

• Air pollution

• Habitat loss

• Land contamination

• Urban sprawl

• Water pollution

• Policies to correct include:

  • Shutting factories temporarily

  • Moving factories

  • Reduced use of automobiles

  • Implementation of green technologies