China
The World’s Leading Manufacturer of
Chinese People
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Legitimacy
– Dynastic Rule (ancient history – 1911)
 Power passed through hereditary connections
 “Mandate of Heaven” – collective ancestral wisdom
guiding the empire from the heavens
 When a family dynasty was perceived as weak, a
rival family would challenge, claiming the emperor
had lost the mandate
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Legitimacy
– Revolution of 1911 and Chinese Republic
 Dynastic cycles toppled due to European intrusion
 Supposed to be democratic, but government was
regularly challenged by regional warlords
– Mao and the People’s Republic (1949-1976)
 Mao Zedong and ideology of egalitarian Marxism
 Mao himself served as the unifying source of
legitimacy
 Maoism insisted on “mass line” – leaders must
listen to and stay connected to peasants
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Legitimacy
– Modern China (1976-Present)
 Legitimacy centers in the Politburo of the CCP
 Central Military Commission within the CCP
controls the military (another important source of
legitimacy)
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Historical Traditions
– Authoritarian Power – has always been ruled
by a single emperor or a small group
– Confucianism – emphasizes the importance of
order and harmony, encourages Chinese
people to submit to and obey authority
 Also places responsibility on rulers to exercise
power conscientiously (democratic centralism?)
 Contradicts egalitarian Marxism
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Historical Traditions
– Bureaucratic hierarchy based on scholarship –
ruling elite are organized and selected based
on academic exams
 Government jobs have always been highly coveted
 Created social separation between peasants and
bureaucratic elite
– The “Middle Kingdom” – belief that China is
the center of civilization, and foreigners are
perceived as inferiors with nothing to offer
Sovereignty, Authority, and Power

Historical Traditions
– Communist ideologies – Maoism integrated
ethics of Confucianism with egalitarianism,
later revised by Deng Xiaoping to allow for
privatization
Political Culture

Geography
– Access to oceans and warm water ports
– Many large navigable rivers
– Major geographic divides between north and
south
– Geographic isolation of the western part
– Separated from other countries by mountain
ranges, deserts, and oceans
Political Culture

Historical Eras
– Dynastic Rule (Confucianism, ethnocentrism)
– Resistance to Imperialism 19th Century
(nationalism)
 “foreign devils” – Europeans and Japanese who
attempted to exploit China’s natural resources
 Evidence of caution and suspicion of capitalist
countries remains
Political Culture

Historical Eras
– Maoism (linked to Marxism/Leninism, but
distinctly Chinese)
 Collectivism – good of the community above the
individual
 Struggle and activism
 Mass Line
 Egalitarianism
 Self-Reliance – don’t rely on elites, use your own
talents to contribute to your community
Mao Zedong
Chairman of the CCP
1943-1976
Chairman of the
Central Military
Commission
1954-1976
Political Culture

Historical Eras
– Deng Xiaoping Theory
 “Black cat, white cat, who cares as long as it
catches mice?”
 Communist and capitalist ideologies were not
important
 What matters is improving the economy
 Still emphasizes party supervision and control of all
activity in the country
Deng Xiaoping
Chairman of the
Central Military
Commission
1981-1989
Political Culture

Importance of Informal Relationships
– Power and respect is not necessarily tied to
official position in the party, but who has
connections to whom
– Early connections established during the Long
March built later ruling cliques
– Patron-client system exists amongst
competing party factions
– Policy changes can be predicted with
knowledge of relationships to past leaders
Political and Economic Change
Long history of stability until 20th century mirrors
Russia
 Differs from Russia in having a much longer
history of regional hegemony
 Dynastic cycles dictated change until Mongols
conquer China in 13th century

– Mandate of heaven recaptured by Ming dynasty
– Last dynasty was Qing (“pure”) from 17th century
until it was toppled by European pressure in 20th
Political and Economic Change

Control by Imperialistic Nations
– Qing dynasty weakened and China was carved into
“spheres of influence” by England, Germany, France,
and Japan (foreign devils)

Revolutionary Upheaval (1911-1949)
– Nationalism – Sun Yat-sen leads a nationalist
revolution reestablishing independent China in 1911
– Establishment of a new political community
 Chiang Kai-shek founds the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang or
KMT)
 Mao Zedong founds the CCP
– Socioeconomic Development – modeled after Soviets,
then Chiang becomes president and breaks with
them, outlawing the CCP
Chiang Kai-Shek
Chairman of the
Nationalist
Government of
China, 1928-1931,
1943-1948
Director General of
Kuomintang,
1938-1975
Political and Economic Change

The Long March (1934-1936)
– Chiang’s Nationalist army pursued Mao’s army
across China to depose and exile communists
– Mao eluded him and used the time traveling
to spread his message to Chinese peasants
– Mao becomes a national hero, people involved
in the Long March become prominent in
government of the People’s Republic
Political and Economic Change

Founding of the People’s Republic of China
(1949-1966)
– Occupied by Japan until end of WWII
– Civil War between Kuomintang and CCP
– Chiang flees to Taiwan, Mao establishes
People’s Republic on mainland, both claim to
be the true government of China (“Two
Chinas”)
Political and Economic Change

Founding of the People’s Republic of China
(1949-1966)
– Soviet model of political/economic
development (1949-1957)
 Land reform – redistribution of property
 Civil reform – attempted to end opium addiction
and expand women’s rights (like the right to leave
an unhappy arranged marriage)
 Five-Year Plans – nationalization of industry and
collectivization of agriculture
Political and Economic Change

Founding of the People’s Republic of China
(1949-1966)
– Great Leap Forward (1958-1966)
 Attempt to end Soviet domination of China
 All-around development of agriculture and industry
 Mass mobilization – turn the Chinese population
into an asset through motivation and harder work
 Political unanimity and zeal – party workers began
running government, not bureaucrats
– Cadres – low level party workers expected to
demonstrate Party devotion by motivating hard work
 Decentralization – more local, less central control
Political and Economic Change

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
– From 1960-1966, Mao allowed Liu Shaoqi and Deng
Xiaoping to institute market reforms
– Dissatisfied with results, decided to radically
transform China and remove all vestiges of hierarchy
and inequality
– Principles

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Ethic of struggle
Mass line
Collectivism
Egalitarianism
Unstinting service to society
– Destroyed universities and libraries, scholars were
sent to the fields to work and “learn” from peasants
– Elementary education designed to create equality and
loyalty to Mao
Signs from the Cultural Revolution

“Destroy the Old
World, Build a New
World”
Signs from the Cultural Revolution
“Let new socialistic
culture conquer
every stage”
 Features Jiang
Qing, who led the
Cultural Revolution
Group of the
Politburo

Signs from the Cultural Revolution

“We will crash the
dog heads of those
who oppose
Chairman Mao!”
Political and Economic Change

Death of Mao (1976)
– Followers in CCP divided into 3 factions
 Radicals – led by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing, continued supporting
goals of Cultural Revolution
– “Gang of Four” – group of radicals who controlled CCP policy
toward the end of Mao’s life
 Military – had been led by Lin Biao, Mao’s designated
successor, but he died in a mysterious plane crash in 1971
– Rumors of an attempted coup around same time
 Moderates – led by Zhou Enlai, emphasized economic
modernization and limited contact with the West
– Factions were built on ideology and personal
connection (guanxi)

Jiang Qing
– First Lady of the PRC,
1939-1976
– Leader of the Radical
faction of the CCP

Lin Biao
– Vice-Premier of the
PRC, 1965-1971

Zhou Enlai
– Premier of the PRC,
1949-1976
– Leader of the
moderate faction of
the CCP
Political and Economic Change

Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modernizations (19781997)
– CCP leader Hua Guofeng arrests the “Gang of Four”
radicals, opening the door for moderates to take
control
– Deng takes power in 1978 (without official title of
Chairman of CCP), modernizing:



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Industry
Agriculture
Science
The Military
Political and Economic Change

Deng Xiaoping’s Four Modernizations
(1978-1997)
– “Open Door” trade policy – trade with
everyone, including capitalist U.S. if it will
benefit Chinese economy
– Expansion of higher education, raised
academic standards
– Institutionalization of the Revolution –
reconciled revolutionary goals with legal
system and bureaucracy of Old China,
decentralized government
Deng Xiaoping,
later in life
Cryptkeeper,
1989-1997
(Just kidding)
Summary of “Four Generations” of
Chinese Leadership
1st Generation – Mao Zedong (1949 - 1976)
 2nd Generation – Deng Xiaoping (1978 – 1997)
 3rd Generation – Jiang Zemin (1997-2005)
 4th Generation – Hu Jintao (2005 – Present)


Jiang Zemin
– President of the PRC,
1993-2003
– General Secretary of
the CCP, 1989-2002
– Chairman of the
Central Military
Commission, 19902004

Hu Jintao
– President of the PRC,
2003-Present
– General Secretary of
the CCP, 2002–Present
– Chairman of the Central
Military Commission,
2004-Present
– Orderly, struggle free
succession indicated
stability in CCP
practices
Citizens, Society, and the State

Cleavages
– Ethnicity
 Population is over 90% Han Chinese
 Minorities live primarily in autonomous areas (like
Tibet and Xinjiang)
– These areas are 60% of Chinese territory
– Long history of resistance to Chinese government
 Tibetans – government never recognized Chinese
government authority after conquest
 Uighurs – Muslim separatists in Xingjiang near
Afghanistan
 Government usually encourages economic
development, while suppressing expression of
dissent
Han Chinese
Uighur
Tibetan
Citizens, Society, and the State

Cleavages
– Urban vs. Rural
 Redefinition of “Two Chinas” – differences in
economic prosperity and lifestyle
 Declaration of Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of a “new
socialist countryside” – program to lift rural economy
Citizens, Society, and the State

Political Participation
– The Chinese Communist Party
 Largest Party in the world, 58 million members (8%
of people over 18)
 CCP Youth League has 70 million members
 Cadres of Mao have been replaced by technocrats
under Deng’s reforms
– Technocrat – people with appropriate technical skills and
training to work in bureaucracy
 Jiang opened party membership to capitalists to
“better represent all of China” (2001)
 Party is not ideological, but an instrument through
which people can advance their personal situation
Citizens, Society, and the State

Political Participation
– Civil Society
 Control of party has loosened with new technology
(cell phones, internet, satellite dishes, etc.)
 Many new associational groups dedicated to
individual issues springing up
– Ex. Environmental groups protesting dam construction
 Won’t “win”, but still demonstrate ability to organize
without government
 Beijing allowed NGOs to register with government in
1990s
 Still closely watched by government (especially
religious and human rights movements)
– Ex. Falun Gong, banned in China
Citizens, Society, and the State

Political Participation
– Protests
 Allowed to an extent, but met with severe crackdown
if the party’s authority is called into question
 Tiananmen Square (1989)
– Protest by students for democratic reform, eventually
attracted many other civil society groups
– Spread to many other areas of China than Beijing
– Deng ordered People’s Liberation Army (PLA) expel the
protesters from the Square, resulting in massacre
Political Institutions

CCP Organization
– Hierarchical
 National
 Province
 County
 Village/Township
– Power concentrated at top in Politburo and
General Secretary
Politburo Standing
Committee
7 members
Politburo
24 members
Central Committee
-340 members
-Meet once a year
National Party Congress
-More than 2000 members
-Chosen from lower level
Congresses
-Meets once every 5 years
General
Secretary
Political Institutions

Other political parties
– Eight “democratic” parties are allowed to exist
 Each based on a special group, like intellectuals,
businessmen, etc.
 Total membership of half a million people
 Serve an advisory role to CCP, non-oppositional
– Other attempts at independent party formation result
in harsh prison sentences

Elections (yes, elections)
– CCP runs elections to help legitimacy
– Party reviews candidate list to eliminate objectionable
ones
– Only held at local level of government, deputies for
county People’s Congresses, town and village officials
(since 1980’s)
Political Institutions

The Political Elite
– Personal connection, “guanxi,” holds politics
together
– Elite recruitment occurs through
nomenklatura – higher party leaders choose
leaders at lower levels to move up
– Patron-client network throughout government
Political Institutions

Factions within CCP
– Conservatives – believe power of government has
eroded too much, support crackdowns on
independent thinkers
– Reformers/Open Door – support capitalist infusion,
pushing for WTO membership and expansion of trade
with U.S.
 Jiang, Hu, and Wen all come from this faction
– Liberals – support political liberalization, out of power
since Tiananmen in 1989
 Premier Zhao Ziyang ousted for sympathizing with protesters
– Fang-shou – cyclical tendency of factions to grow and
fade in power, similar to dynastic cycles