China
By: Sarah Taylor, Rebecca Payne,
Alex Karp, Zach Dehart, Pierce Taylor
Historical Background
Sarah Taylor
• The last dynasty and Beijing was the capital.
• During the 19th century, Qing control weakened, and
affluence diminished. China suffered massive social
discord, economic stagnation, explosive population
growth, and Western penetration and influence.
• The Taiping and Nian rebellions were the start of the
Qing dynasty weakening (almost toppled the dynasty).
• First Opium war erupted in 1840, China lost.
• A revolutionary military uprising on October 10, 1911,
led to the resignation of the last Qing monarch.
Historical Background cont’d.
Sarah Taylor
• 1920s: Sun Yat-sen established a base in South
China to reunite the fragmented nation.
-Kuomintang (KMT or "Chinese Nationalist
People's Party“)
• During the "Long March," the communists
reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong
(Mao Tse-tung).
• 14-year long Japanese Invasion (1931-1945)
• 1949: CCP occupies most of China
Historical Background cont’d.
Sarah Taylor
• October 1, 1949: Mao Zedong
proclaimed the founding of
the People’s republic of China
(P.R.C)
• 1958: “The Great Leap
Forward” to break the soviet
control.
• 1960-1961: combination of
poor planning and horrible
weather conditions resulted
in one of the deadliest
famines of history
http://newspaper.li/static/9fd1ae5b69a2db0abf64bf4ecab235dd.jpeg
• 1959: Sino-Soviet deteriorates
Historical Background cont’d.
Sarah Taylor
• Spring of 1966: Party Chairman Mao launched
a massive political attack on Liu, Deng, and
other pragmatists
• 1989: Student Movement and Tiananmen
Square
• 18th party congress is told to meet in the fall of
2012.
Geography
Sarah Taylor
• Total area: 9,596,961 sq. km.
(about 3.7 million sq. mi.).
• Cities: Capital--Beijing. Other
major cities--Shanghai,
Tianjin, Shenyang, Shenzhen,
Wuhan, Guangzhou,
Chongqing, Harbin, Chengdu,
and Dalian.
• Terrain: Plains, deltas, and
hills in east; mountains, high
plateaus, deserts in west.
• Climate: Tropical in south to
subarctic in north.
http://www.theodora.com/maps/new2/china3.jpg
Economic Conditions
Sarah Taylor
• 2011: Economy grew by only 9.2%, down from 10.3% growth in 2010.
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-Grew 9-9.5% in 2011-2012, down from 10.5% from 2000-2007
because of a combination of weak international demand for “made in
china” goods and domestic policies
2011: Central Government planned to slow growth to 7%
Free market economy
2011: Share of consumption in China’s GDP rose, after 10 years in a row
December 2011: housing boom slowed, price for new homes fell in 52/70
cities.
Foreign-exchange reserves fell in 4th quarter for first time since the Asian
Financial Crisis in 1998
Developers: finding it impossible to get loans
Homeowners: struggling to obtain mortgages
About 6.5 Yuan to one U.S. dollar
http://epapermanager.com/news/wpcontent/uploads/2010/08/680c57288f91817f4918dffc05e062e0.jpg
Social Conditions
Sarah Taylor
• 2011: unemployment
rate of 4.1%
-Averaged 4.15%
from 2002-2010
-Never got higher
than 4.3% or less than
http://beyondbounds.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/poor-china-living3.9%
space2.jpg
• Standard of living for
majority of population
is very low.
• Chinese cities are some
of the most expensive
in the world to live in. http://www.fukubonsai.com/images3/2b.htm1.jp
g
http://econintersect.com/wordpress/wpcontent/uploads/2011/10/Chinese-homedesign-1.jpg
Ethnic Groups
Rebecca
• Made up of 56 nationalities; Han is the
majority nationality
• Developed from the ideas of Han and the
Marxist ideas of progress.
Gladney, Dru. “China’s Ethnic Tinderbox.” http://news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.uk/2/8141867.stm
(accessed March 1, 2012)
Caste Systems
Rebecca
• China is the most populated country in the
world
• It is ruled by a single political party, the
Communist Party
• The 4 small stars on the country’s flag stand
for the social classes; peasants, workers, petty
bourgeoisie, and patriotic capitalists
• These classes make up 8 democratic parties.
Religious Groups
Rebecca
• Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism, and
Protestantism are the main religions in China.
• The government supports religion in hopes it will
unite the people to actively participate in the
construction of the country.
• All religions have equal status and peacefully
cooperate.
• In 1949, the policy of freedom of religious belief
was created.
Chinese culture. (1997, October). Retrieved from
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/china/whitepaper/blsreligion.htm
Ideologies
Rebecca
• Chinese Communist Party
• CPC represent the advancement of social productive
forces, the advancement of culture, and the interests
of the overwhelming majority
• Under the CCP, there are 8 small parties:
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Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang
China Democratic League
China Democratic National Construction Association
Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party
Zhigongdang of China
Jiusan Society
Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League
How are rulers chosen?
Alex
• The Communist Parties elect the President and vicePresident at the national level. The National People’s
Congress the body that chooses those leaders. The state
and local level leaders are still chosen by the Communist
party. Also, no candidates can get on the ballot without the
support of the Communist party. The national government
elections are set up in the classic parliamentary election
style. The people choose their representative who then
chooses the national leaders. Also, only the communist
party is recognized at the national level and thus all
representatives have been endorsed by the communist
party.
Wikipedia (n.d.). Government of the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
Political Parties & Interest Groups
Alex
• The only official party that exists in China is
the Chinese Communist party and its
satellites. The other parties are not officially
recognized and thus do not appear on the
election ballots. Thus all elections are directly
supervised by the communist party, which in
turn, maintains its power over all aspects of
the election.
Wikipedia (n.d.). Elections in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
How Individual Citizens
Participate in Politics?
Alex
• The local people can vote for any candidate
they want to be elected however at any
election above the local level the candidates
must be approved by the communist party.
Therefore, an individual can vote for any party
he or she wants to, if they want to participate
in the state level they must hold communist
party membership.
Wikipedia (n.d.). Elections in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 24, 2011, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China
The Main Institutions
• The State Council
• The National Peoples Congress
• The Peoples Liberation Army
• Combined Military Strength of China
• The Supreme Courts
• The Standing Committee of the NPC
Zach
Exercise of Power
Zach
• Military Action
– Crushing Revolts
• Tiananmen Square
• Censorship
– (Internet Regulations, Media Restriction)
• Restrictions:
– Placed on Childbirth, Immigration, and Trade
Relationships Between Institutions
Zach
• Multiple Office Holding
– Usually high ranking officials
• Ex: Hu Jin-Tao as head of Party, State, and Military.
• Bargaining
• Coordination and discussion between Bureaucratic
Units over benefits. This was brought about because of
reform era policies and of State inability to order the
bureaucracies to cooperate. (Martin, 2010)
Limits on Political Institutions
Zach
• The State Council
– Within the limits of its power and functions, it has
the power to adopt necessary administrative
measures and regulations, and issue orders.
("China today," 2011)
• National Peoples Congress
• Meets 15 days every year to discuss policy and elect
officials
• Little Political Influence
Functions Performed by
Political Institutions
Pierce
•
Two vertically integrated but interlocking institutions
– Chinese communist party
» Headed by party politburo and its standing committee
» Nominal Leader of the CCP is the general secretary, but control of the party is held
collectively by its standing committee.
– state government apparatus headed by the premier, who presides over state council
• two other key institutions
– national peoples Congress
» NPC is the highest national organ.
» In its 60 years, history has shown that they are subordinate to the state council
and to the party standing committee
– People Liberation Army
» Although it is believing that the PLA has authority, Partied controlled Central
Military Committee has authority of the PLA, and the CMC has full command
» The mix between political power between the party and government, can make it
difficult and complex propositions to determine who has authority to set and/or
implement specific power.dominance of economic player
» administrative processes and diffused power.
Establishment of Internal Order
• The functions of the Speaker in china is to
supervise and preside over staff during
sessions within the chamber.
Pierce
External Security
Pierce
• The military in china is the main protection for
external security. Chinas Peoples Liberation
Army is the main large military.
• The PLA is the worlds largest military with 3
million military members
• The PLA presides under the Central Military
Commission.
Resolving Conflicts between Groups
Pierce
• When solving disputes between groups, they
tend to use three methods
– Negotiation- in fact most contracts between
companies and people have room for negotion.
– Arbitration– Litigation-
Raising Money for Services
Alex
• Taxation forms the backbone of all revenue for
the Chinese government. However, a small
portion also comes from import duties and
other government services.
• Income taxes and business taxes represent a
large majority of the money that is generated
through all kinds of taxes.
Wikipedia (n.d.). Taxation in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_system_in_China
Government Services
Rebecca
• Ministry of Civil Affairs
• Ministry of Commerce
• Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of
China
• Ministry of Labor and Social Security
• Ministry of Public Security
• National Bureau of Statistics of China
• State Administration of Cultural Heritage of the
People’s Republic of China
China: Government offices & political leadership. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://bulldog2.redlands.edu/dept/AsianStudiesDept/china-gov.html
Regulating Citizens’ Behavior
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Sarah Taylor
http://youtu.be/IkY9K3emAa8
http://youtu.be/IkY9K3emAa8
Strong police force
Citizens outnumber police force
Communist country: almost everything is
regulated (starting to move away from this)
Works Cited
Chinese culture. (1997, October). Retrieved from
http://chineseculture.about.com/library/china/whitepaper/blsreligion.htm
Gladney, Dru. “China’s Ethnic Tinderbox.” http://news.bbc.co.uk. http://news.bbc.uk/2/8141867.stm (accessed
March 1, 2012)
Martin, M. F. (2010, April 14).
www.fas.org
China today. (2011).
www.chinatoday.com/cn
Background note: China. (September 6, 2011). http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/18902.htm#econ
China’s economic conditons.(January 12, 2006). http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IB98014.pdf
Youtube. Chinese Authorities Lose Control as Village Revolts. December 15, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkY9K3emAa8&feature=youtu.be&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_
mode=1&safe=active
Youtube. Proposed Secret Detention Law Angers Chinese Lawyers and Activists. September 1, 2011.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3djqKbZrtM&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=activ
e
Wikipedia (n.d.). Taxation in the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia. Retrieved March 25, 2012, from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_system_in_China