Nick FakhouryLisa Smith

Corey Kimbrough

CHINA

PRC = People’s Republic of China

CCP/CPC = Chinese Communist Party / Communist Party of China

NPC = National People’s Congress

NIC = Newly Industrializing Countries

PLA = People’s Liberation Army

CMC = Central Military Commission

Nomenklatura = System of personnel selection under which Com. Party maintains control over the appointment of important officials

Guanxi = Chinese term that means “connections” or “relationships

Terminology Cheat Sheet

Chinese National Anthemhttps://youtu.be/IeMFXiEq_ow

The Communist Party of China (CPC, CCP)Guiding Ideology: Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought

• The Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded on July 1, 1921 in Shanghai, China. After 28 years of struggle, the CPC finally won victory of "new-democratic revolution" and founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. The CPC is the ruling party of mainland China (P.R. China).

• Any Chinese who has reached the age of 18, accepts the Party's Program and Constitution and is willing to join and work actively in one of the Party organizations, carry out the Party's decisions and pay membership dues regularly, may apply for membership of the CPC. Its membership increased from 70 in 1921 to over 66 million in 2002.

• The highest leading body of the Party is the National Congress and the Central Committee elected by it. The National Congress of the Party is held once every five years and convened by the Central Committee.

China’s Political Parties

Major Parties:

● Communist Party of China (CPC) – Views itself as a “vanguard” party. The CPC is the sole governing party of China, although it coexists alongside 8 other legal parties.

● Institutional minor parties:

● Revolutionary Committee of Kuomintang - The Revolutionary Committee is seen as "second" in status to the Communist Party of China.

● China Democratic League - Main goals - to support China's war effort during the Second Sino-Japanese War & provide a "Third Way" from the Nationalists & Communists.

● China Democratic National Construction Association – Members are chiefly entrepreneurs from the manufacturing, financial, or commercial industries.

● China Association for Promoting Democracy Party - Follow the direction of the Communist Party of China / Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (members).

● Chinese Peasants and Workers Democratic Party - Follow the direction of the Communist Party of China / Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (members).

● Zhigongdang of China - Derives from the overseas "Hung Society Zhigong Hall", based in San Francisco. Follow the direction of the Communist Party of China.

● Jiusan Society - The party's mission statement is to "lead the nation to power and the people to prosperity. Follow the direction of the Communist Party of China.

● Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League - most of whom are prominent people that are from Taiwan or are of Taiwanese heritage, but now reside on the Mainland.

Elections• Elections in the PRC are mechanisms to give the

communist party-state greater by allowing citizens to participate in the political process under controlled circumstances.

• Most elections are indirect elections. This means the high-level officials are already placed in the power structure.

• In direct elections all voters in the relevant areas cast ballots for candidates for particular positions.

• There are also a significant number of independent candidates that are part of the election process. However, the CCP has to approve these candidates.

• Only 1 percent of the village leaders are women.

Political Culture: Communism to Consumerism

• The CCP keeps communist ideology viable and visible by efforts to influence public opinion and values through its control of the media, the arts, and education.

• Education is highly promoted and scoring well on standardized test are required to attend college. Chinese schools can be pressure-cookers for those who want to move up the educational and economic ladder of success.

• Internet access is exploding, but the government monitors access to foreign websites that may negatively influence government and political beliefs.

• Religious beliefs are tolerated as long as they don’t defy the authority of the CCP. Violators are still imprisoned.

Citizenship and National Identity (Nationalism)

• Due to increasing skepticism, the CCP has turned increasingly to patriotic themes to rally the country behind it’s leadership.

• It’s China’s cultural ties of being Chinese that is the most powerful identity that connects the people of the nation. The Chinese are intensely proud of their ancient culture and long history. The 2008 Olympics in Beijing reflected the cultural pride.

• There is such officially promoted growth in nationalism that scholars and others are concerned it could lead to a more aggressive foreign and military policy.

• China’s minority population is relatively small and geographically isolated. The PRC has not had the kind of intense identity-based conflicts experienced by other countries.

Interest Group: All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU)

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) is a mass organization of the working class formed voluntarily by the Chinese workers and staff members. Founded on May 1, 1925, it now has a membership of 134 million in more than 1.713 million primary trade union organizations.

The supreme power organ of the Chinese trade unions is the National Congress of Trade Unions. It is convened once every five years.

Interest Group: All-China Women's Federation (ACWF)

• The All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) was founded on April 3, 1949. It is a mass organization that unites Chinese women of all ethnic groups and from all walks of life, and strives for their liberation and development.

• The mission of ACWF is to represent and uphold women's rights and interests, and to promote equality between women and men.

• The mission of ACWF is to represent and uphold women's rights and interests, and to promote equality between women and men.

• To unite and mobilize women to endeavor to advance China's reform, opening-up, and all-around economic, political, cultural, social and ecological progress, and play a positive role in the great practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Shen Yueyue

Shen Yueyue was elected president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF) at the 6th Session of the 10th Executive Committee Meeting of the ACWF in Beijing on May 7, 2013.

Song Xiuyan

The former governor of Qinghai Province, was elected vice-president and first member of the Secretariat of ACWF on January 13, 2010.Song Xiuyan became the first woman governor of Qinghai in January 2005 at the age of 50, and second woman governor in China since 1949, the first being Gu Xiulian, who was governor of Jiangsu Province in the 1980s.

Protest: Tiananmen Square Massacre known as the June Fourth Incident

● Students protest for democracy in Beijing, China, in June of 1989.

● Chinese government sends troops and tanks to Tiananmen Square. Deng Xiaoping and other party elders resolved to use force.

● Student protesters are brutally massacred.

Falun Gong or Falun Dafa ( "Law Wheel Practice“) Protest

• Falun Gong is a form of exercise and meditation with movements similar to those seen in t'ai chi and qigong. The exercise is associated with Falun Dafa, a modern spiritual movement originating in China in the 1990s.

• The Chinese government branded the movement an "evil cult" in 1999 and banned the practice. Falun Gong followers have faced persecution and there are reports, which the Chinese government vehemently and repeatedly denies, that authorities have arrested and executed tens of thousands of followers and have used their organs for transplants.

● Under Mao, the People’s Republic of China became much healthier and better educated due to the social welfare system. The Maoist economy was plagued by political interference, poor management and ill-conceived projects.

Overall, China’s economic growth rates, especially in agriculture, barely kept pace with population increases.

Government planning and commands drove economic activity.

During the Maoist era less than 10% of GDP was foreign trade.

Political Economy

Mao comes into power and sets up a socialist planned economy 1949 .

● When Deng came into office there were spearheaded sweeping economic reforms that greatly reduced government control and increased market forces.

● In most sectors of China’s economy today, the state no longer dictates what to produce and how to produce it.

Deng Xiaoping emerged as China’s foremost leader in 1978

● Individuals were encouraged to work harder and more efficiently to make money rather than to “serve the people”

● Rising incomes have caused a “consumer revolution”● China’s move from a planned economy to a market

economy has seen phenomenal results.

Gender inequalities

● The social status, legal rights, employment opportunities and education of women have improved greatly, but the benefit of the market economy has not been equal between men and women

● Population policy has caused an unusual gender balance● Harsh consequences set to those opposing this policy

International Economy

● In the early 1980’s trade was used as a driver of economic development.

● China is a major importer of raw materials and oil, raising international concern for reducing non-renewable commodities.

● Foreign investments has skyrocketed, topping at $100 billion in 2010

Mao ZedongBorn: December 26, 1983

Died: September 9, 1976

Led China from 1949 - 1976

General of the PLA and adept politican

Credited with creating a modern China

Blamed with causing death of an estimated 70 million people

Established People’s Republic of China (PRC)

Cultural Revolution

Known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and began in 1966

Caused by The Great Leap Forward, The Great Chinese Famine and The Four Clean-Ups movement

Revolution was the struggle for control of the CCP

Mao empowered his youth militia called The Red Guards to overthrow his perceived enemies and directed them to replace local governments with revolutionary committees

Supposedly ended in 1969 when Mao signed a treaty, but many believe it to have truly ended upon his death in 1976

Deng Xiaoping

Born: August 22, 1904

Died: February 19, 1997

Major supporter of Mao in 1950s

Inherited country heavily burdened with social and institutional woes which remained from the Mao era

Credited for developing China into one of the fastest growing economies in the last 35 years and raising the standard of living for millions of Chinese citizens

Considered paramount leader of the PRC from 1978 - 1992

Chinese Modern Political Development

1937 - Japan invades China, marking the start of WW II in Asia

1949 - Chinese Communists win the civil war and est. People’s Republic of China

1958-60 -Great Leap

Forward

1966-1976 - Great

Proletarian Cultural

Revolution

1976 - Mao Zedong

Dies

1978 - Deng Xiaopeng becomes China’s most powerful leader and launches the nation on the path towards rapid economic growth

1989 - Tiananmen Massacre

1997 - Xioping dies; Jiang Zemin becomes China’s top leader

2002-03 - Hu Jintao succeeds Jiang as head of the CCP and president of the People’s Republic of China; re-elected to those positions in 2007-08

2008 - China hosts

Beijing Olympics

Analysis of Politics in Transition

Scenes from the Chinese Countryside

●Huaxi, Jiangsu Province - Richest town in China

●Changwu, Shaanxi Province - Average income < $100.00 per year

●Nanhu, Shandong Province - Typical Chinese village

●Zhaiqiao, Zhejiang Province - Quian Yunhui crushed to death for trying to expose government corruption

●Beiwang, Hebei Province - Among first Chinese villages to establish representative assembly and hold democratic elections

Economic Management, Social Tensions, and Political Legitimacy

Some economic experts believe that China’s growth is unsustainable

PRC needs to determine way of restructuring its workforce so that they’re less dependant on export-oriented industries

Social instability which is bred from the class, regional and urban/rural inequalities that have been the product of modernizing China could become widespread if the party-state fails to provide opportunities to the less fortunate

Corruption affects the lives of most people much more directly than actual political repression

Public Health System is in shambles with AIDS and other infectious diseases spreading at an increasingly rapid rate

China and the Democratic Idea

The PRC has recently evolved into what has been called “Market-Leninism”

As the Chinese become more secure economically and better educated, they will also become more politically active

What does the future hold for democratizing China?

Taiwan’s democratization serves as example that the democratic idea is not totally incompatible with confucian culture

Recent political changes could be signs of the political landscape shifting towards democracy

The spread of the democratic idea worldwide has made it hard for China’s leaders to resist.

Resurgence of Civil Society

A area of public life and citizen association which is the culmination of all the “non-governmental organizations” that produces the interests and will of the citizens. It’s known as the “Third Sector” of society, distinct from government and business

If this is allowed to thrive and expand, it could provide increasing opportunities for future democratization

Example: The development of civil society among workers in Poland and academic intellectuals in Czechoslovakia played a major role in the collapse of Communism in East-Central Europe in the late 1980s

Chinese Communist Party-State

Chinese Communists independent* victory during civil war sets China apart from unsuccessful East-Central European communist parties

CCP has deeply rooted and historical legitimacy throughout large portion of population

PRC vs. Soviet Union

China shares commonalities of other party-states including the totalitarian political system

Chinese Totalitarianism

System where the ruling party prohibits all forms of substantial political opposition or dissent (ex: Nazi Germany)

China has been significantly less totalitarian after the Maoist era

In order to promote economic development, the CCP has relaxed its control on citizens lives & interests as long as they avoid sensitive political issues

The PRC is now considered an “consultative authoritarian regime”

The regime’s adaptability has allowed it to make major economic reform and sustain the dictatorial political system

China as a Third World State

Predatory States - A state which those with political power prey on the people and nation’s resources to enrich themselves versus promoting national development

Developmental State - A nation-state where the government carries out policies that effectively promote national economic growth

The PRC’s recent rulers have successfully made China a developmental state

“Riddle of China”

CCP leaders believe that they’re correctly following the model of development made by NICs like South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

China likely to become an NIC in 2-3 decades

Pressures for political reform will continue to increase as the country continues to modernize

China Today - Xi Jinping

Assumed office on November 15, 2012

Since assuming leadership he has significantly centralized institutional power by taking on a wide range of leadership positions himself

Initiated unprecedented and far-reaching campaign against corruption

Xi has called for further market economic reforms, governing according to the law and strengthening legal institutions, and an emphasis on individual and national aspirations under what’s now known as the “Chinese Dream”