Peoples Republic of China

 

China’s Politics: Part 1

 

I.                  Basic themes found in discussions of Chinese politics

a.      Long tradition of existence as a civilization

b.     Strong centralized rule

c.     Pivotal spot in East Asia

d.     Abundant human and natural resources

e.      Population concentrated along coasts and major rivers

f.       Irrigated agriculture required centralized control

II.               Identity

a.     Periods

                                                              i.      Imperial 221 B.C. – 1911

                                                            ii.      Republic  1912-1949

                                                          iii.      Communist  1949-

b.     Imperial

                                                             i.      Dynastic rule based on

1.     Mandarins – early meritocratic civil service

2.     Confucian ideology – group over the individual, harmony over conflict

3.     Early penetration - centralized rule – tax collection

4.     Absorption of invaders, who were unable to change structures/culture

                                                           ii.      Fall of imperial rule

1.     Societal changes 18-19th centuries

a.      Population growth

b.     Economic problems

c.     Mounting social unrest

2.     International changes

a.      Western imperialism proves too strong

                                                                                                                                      i.      Opens China to trade

                                                                                                                                    ii.      Introduces opium (Opium war 1832-42)

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Repeated failure of emperor to modernize, learn from west 

 

                                                        iii.      Revolutionary change to Republic     

1.     Sun Yat-sen – western exposure, introduces western political ideas to China, founds “Republic of China” in 1912

2.     Disintegration of centralized rule follows, warlords take over

3.     Nationalist Party (KMT) -  emerges, attempts to rule through fragile coalition with warlords

4.     Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forms in 1921 of student radicals, inspired by anti-imperialist ideology of Russia, common hostility to west

5.     Chiang Kai-shek takes over Nationalist party, forms temporary alliance with CCP, then crushes it in Shanghai massacre of 1927

6.     CCP takes to the hills

7.     KMT attempts to rule through alliance of big business, foreign powers and landlord class

8.     KMT – falters when facing Japanese imperialism, fails to ally itself with CCP against Japanese

9.     CCP organized peasant resistance to Japanese imperialism, used guerilla war tactics

10. CCP defeats weakened KMT after WWII; KMT retreats to Taiwan

11. People’s Republic of China declared October 1, 1949

                                                         iv.      Role of the State, penetration, industrialization under Communism

1.     Under leadership of Mao tse-tung, develops alternative view of communist revolution than that of Russia

a.      Russia – urban revolution based mostly on workers

b.     China – rural revolution based mostly on poor peasants

2.     China’s economy under communism

a.      1949-1953 - Early “NEP” period – mixed economy, State controls commanding heights, some planning, some markets

                                                                                                                                      i.      Land reform

                                                                                                                                    ii.      Cultural purification – ends  opium/prostitution

                                                                                                                                  iii.      Women’s rights enhanced

b.     1953-1957 – First Five Year Plan

                        i.      End of NEP policies

 

Mao's opponents were popularly called 'Rightists'. Within the Party and the state administrative bureaucracy, there were factions who held that Mao's ideas had been good for conducting an agrarian revolution but were inapplicable to the operation of a modern state. To them, it was undesirable to let politics and ideology decide everything, and much more necessary to create social stability (in turn allowing industrialization and planned economic development) through building a professional class of managers and civil servants. During the Cultural Revolution itself, the definition of 'Rightist' changed so often it quickly became meaningless, but was generally taken to mean someone who behaved in an authoritarian manner, made decisions without consulting 'the Mass Line', used their station in the Party or the workplace to get special privileges or to protect like-minded colleagues, or promoted the idea of granting financial incentives based on performance or production. The individuals leading Rightist factions would prove to be Mao's main adversaries during the Cultural Revolution and included such major political and bureaucratic figures as his apparent successor Liu Shaoqi (Head of State), Deng Xiaoping (First Party Secretary), Chen Yi (Foreign Minister), Peng Dehuai (Defence Minister) and Peng Chen (Mayor of Beijing).
 

1.     Nationalization of all means of production

2.     Comprehensive, involuntary planning

c.     Great Leap Forward – 1958-60

                                                                                                                                      i.      Mao argues that industry/urban emphasis had violated spirit of Chinese communism

1.     Wants dissemination of modernity to countryside (e.g., backyard “steel ovens”

2.     Uses ideological exhortation (rather than monetary rewards) to inspire worker output

3.     Starts agricultural communes

4.     Flops economically

a.      Famine

b.     Decrease in production

                                                                                                                                    ii.      1960-1965  Return to Soviet model

                                                                                                                                iii.      1966-1976  Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

1.     Return to heavy political emphasis – ultra-egalitarianism

2.     Attack on party “capitalist roaders”

3.     Attack on “all forms of bureaucratic domination”

4.     Attack on “all bourgeois forms of culture” (i.e., traditional Chinese culture coupled with Western individualism by “Red Guards”

5.     Attack on “experts” and “intellectuals” – reliance on “the masses”

                                                                                                                                 iv.      Mao’s death in 1976 seals end of this experiment, seems to confirm that at least some inequality necessary to run a modern economy…

                                                                                                                                   v.      Back to the capitalist road: Rule of Deng Xaio-ping (starts in 1976, continues)

1.     Does more than advocate a return to Soviet style planning

2.     Resurrects NEP-like policies (socialist market system)

"During the primary stage of socialism, the State adheres to the basic economic system with the public ownership remaining dominant and diverse sectors of the economy developing side by side, and to the distribution system with the distribution according to work remaining dominant and the coexistence of a variety of modes of distribution." (Amendment 3)

"Individual, private and other non-public economies that exist within the limits prescribed by law are major components of the socialist market economy." "The State protects the lawful rights and interests of individual and private economies, and guides, supervises and administers individual and private economies." (Ibid)

a.      Decollectivizes agriculture (see amendment 1 article 2 of constitution)

b.     Allows major role for private industry, allows emergence of stock market (see amendment 1  article 1 of constitution)

   1. Market's "regulatory" role acknowledged (Amendment 2, arts.7, 9)

c.     State retains (however reluctantly) commanding heights (Amendment 2, art. 5)

                                                                                                                                                                                                              i.      100,000 state owned firms

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ii.      100 mn workers

                                                                                                                                                                                                          iii.      Drains state budget, but fear of social dislocations keep them on life-support


d.     Central planning increasingly superceded by markets, decentralized decision-making

                                                                                                                                                                                                              i.      Agr. Communes replaced by “household responsibility system” (amendment 2, art. 6)

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ii.      Rural industries develop run by local govt and private sector (prevents overly rapid urbanization

e.      Economic incentives supersede ideological ones

3.     Adds foreign investment and trade (export led industrialization based on cheap labor)

a.      Strong ties to Greater Chinese community

                                                                                                                                                                                                              i.      Taiwan

                                                                                                                                                                                                            ii.      Overseas Chinese

b.     South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, US

c.     Special economic zones

4.     Modernizes civil service – professionalizes

Graphs about PRC's Economy

 

 

 

                                                           v.      Contradictions of Deng’s policies

1.     Social

a.      Fewer social services, especially in rural areas

b.     Greater inequality among regions, social strata (dual labor market)

c.     Gender inequality – women kept out of better jobs, lose rights  in rural areas (see article 48)

Rural/Urban differences: Gallup Poll April 2007

d.     Rise in unemployment, “floating population” potential for social explosion

e.      Environmental – excessive coal use, bad air and water, erosion, deforestation, dumping of waste, toxins

f.       Corruption – Bureaucrats and party leaders still have a lot of power, bribery, nepotism persist

g.  Aging of the population


2.     Political

a.      Some leftists decry capitalist road

b.     Rise of middle sectors drives call for democracy (see article 35 of Constitution)

c.     Some small movement to democracy in villages with local elections (see article 111)

d.     Human rights abuses – violations aren’t punished because US believes that trade sanctions only strengthen radicals

e.     Arms sales issues

f.       Position in the UN – which way to turn?

 

Go to China Part II – Governing Institutions