Discussion of China
Thinking about China
The Basics
 The world’s most populous country
 Relative ethnic homogeneity
 Great linguistic differences within one
language
 Poverty deep and widespread
 Great growth of middle class
Thinking about China
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Key Questions
Can the Chinese leadership realistically hope to limit the
impact of the outside world to the economy?
As the Chinese people learn more about other cultures
and have more money to spend, won’t they begin to
demand political freedoms as well?
Will the state continue to be able to put down protests
like the one in Tiananmen Square in 1989, especially if
they become larger or more violent?
What will happen if the CCP continues to have trouble
recruiting talented and dedicated members who could
become its future leaders?
Hu Jintao and his colleagues are popularly referred to as
the “fourth generation” of leaders. How might they
change Chinese political life?
And how will the fifth generation, slated to take over by
2013, accelerate or slow down the pace or change?
The Evolution of the Chinese
State
The broad sweep of Chinese history
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Nearly 3,000 years of political history
The world’s oldest large, centralized,
bureaucratic state
Near isolation for most of its history
Europeans “crashed in” in the 19th century
Chinese humiliated by European dominance
Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)
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Capitalism was a natural stage in the development of society.
Change comes about because of inequalities and exploitation within
the political-economic system.
Marx predicted that communism would come first in highly
industrialized societies.
Coercive government would be unnecessary in the final state of
development.
Lenin felt that revolution in Russia required the leadership of an
enlightened, activist group of revolutionaries.
Lenin felt that structures of the state could be used to create
socialism.
Democratic centralism, according to Lenin, meant that policies
would be made by the central leadership based on what they
perceived as the will of the people.
Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)
Mao based his communist Chinese
revolution on the peasants, not an idea of
global revolution, as Marx preached.
 The Chinese cultural revolution was part
of a struggle against what Marx called the
oppression of the state.
 China did not emphasize solidarity with
other communist nations (as evidenced by
their split with the USSR in the 1950’s)
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Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test)
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Gorbachev’s reforms were intended to preserve the
Communist system in the Soviet Union.
Gorbachev’s reformed Communist economies allowed
private ownership of business.
Gorbachev’s reforms were intended to decentralize both
economic and political decision-making.
Deng Xiaoping’s reformed in China have allowed greater
economic freedom while strengthening the political
power of the Communist party.
Deng’s reforms were not intended to insist that the
peasants benefit as much as urban workers.
What do the 5th and 14th
Amendments mean by due
process?
ANSWER: the government is forbidden to
take “life, liberty, or property” from
anyone without “due process of law.”
i.e. the government and all its agents must
follow all legal rules and processes and
those rules and process must be
fundamentally fair.
Is due process in the U.S. a
process or a policy?
ANSWER: it is BOTH.
What is democratic centralism?
ANSWER: The Leninist and Maoist idea that
Communist Party members are free to
discuss and debate issues until the
leadership-after listening to members’
debates- take a position on an issue. At
this point, debate ceases and all party
members take action to implement the
party’s position.
democratic centralism
Democracy is mainly to consult, not to
give sovereignty to popular opinion.
 Requires unified discipline throughout the
party: top-level official party decisions are
binding on party organizations and
members.
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Progressive Labor Party’s view of
democratic centralism
Excerpt from the Chinese People’s
Daily on democratic centralism
Big Idea
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CENTRALISM IS NEVER SACRIFICED TO
DEMOCRACY!
Is democratic centralism a process
or a policy?
ANSWER: process
What is Mass Line?
ANSWER: The basic principle of Communism
which states that government leaders
learn best from the experiences of nonparty workers. The party then takes the
best aspects of the workers’ view, distills
them, and forms a new and better
version. This version is then returned to
the masses in a form that will help them
advance in the struggle of the revolution.
Quote by Mao on “mass line”
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In all practical work of our party, all correct leadership is
necessary “from the masses, to the masses.” This
means take the ideas of the masses (scattered and
unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them, then go to
the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until
the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to
them and translate them into action, and test the
correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once
again concentrate ideas from the masses and once again
go to the masses so that the ideas are preserved and
carried through. And so on, over and over again in an
endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct,
more vital, and richer each time.
Mass line-Role of Local Party
Leaders
In this system, the party leads, but its leadership
is not isolated from the opinions and preferences
of the mass public.
 Leaders at the local level are expected to
maintain a close relationship with ordinary
citizens so the party organization can change
their ideas to “correct ideas.”
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– After hearing the public’s ideas, local leaders then
propagate citizens until “the masses embrace them as
their own.” In this way, policy flows “from the
masses to the masses.”
Is mass line a process or a policy?
ANSWER: both, like due process.
DISCUSSION: To what degree is mass line
and democratic centralism democratic?
1. Identify goals of the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution in
China.
Cleansing of Western values/ anti capitalism.
 Revising education
 Purging political enemies
 Reinforcing political legitimacy
 Purging educational institutions.
 Affirming revolutionary ideas/values.
 Promoting ideological conformity
 Repressing dissent
 Attacking intelligentsia/middle class.
 Discrediting the past/old order
 Elevating the status of the leader/cult of personality
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2. Explain what it means to say that a
government has transparency. How has the
Chinese government limited transparency since
1997.
What it means…..
 A government has transparency when it
disseminates accurate political and economic
information to the public.
 A government has transparency when it allows
information about government and policy to
circulate openly.
 A government has transparency when it allows
citizens several points of access for obtaining
information about governmental actions.
China has limited since 1997 by……
 Closed government proceedings (e.g, courts).
 Censorship of information relating to the public
policy or events of public relevance.
 Government control of the media, linked to
transparency.
 Not publishing budgetary information or
information on salaries of government officials.
 Suppressing any information that could be
construed as damaging to the government.
 Secrecy in selection of leaders.
3. Describe the status of private property in China
under Mao. Identify and explain one policy
undertaken by the Chinese government within the
past 30 years that contradicts that policy.
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Private property was not allowed (in most periods)
The constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)
prohibited private ownership of property; property was
“owned by the people.”
Private property was redistributed to the
landless/peasants-land reform.
Private property was confiscated.
Private property was collectivized.
After collectivization of private lands, communes were
formed.
The state was the primary owner of property and means
of production.
People often had the right of use but no ownership.
Recently….
 Decollectivazation of land
 Disbanding of communes
 Private production allowed
 Privately owned enterprises
 Extended leases for land use
 Household responsibility system
 Constitutional reform
– new rights of ownership
– Enforcing the rule of law.
4. Discuss various forms of political
participation used by Chinese
citizens in the last ten years.
Economic Reforms: for some this means that
citizens have the opportunity to start their own
business or make investments.
 Freedom to travel away from countryside to
cities in search of employment.
 Political Reforms: voting at the village level and
ability to complain about corrupt officials.
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– They can be voiced through letters to the editor of
newspapers, calling special hotlines, or by calling
public officials.
5. What are some consequences of
increased opportunities for
participation in China?
Legitimacy of Communist Party is called
into question, which leads to more
instability for the government.
 No longer a safety net for citizens. They
may get rich or poor, but no one there to
take care of them. “iron rice bowl”
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6. Explain some of China’s
population growth policies and why
they have been persued?
One-child policy to ensure only one child per
family, in most instances.
2. Fines for noncompliance incurred for having
more than one child without state permission.
3. Preferential housing/educational opportunities
for compliance.
4. Exemptions for ethnic minorities an rural areas
to reduce opposition to one-child policy.
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Why?
 Economic development
 Fear of unrest resulting from
overpopulation.
 Relief of pressure on government budget.
 Strain on natural resources.
7. What are some social or economic
consequences of manipulating
population growth rates?
Social Consequences:
 Popular resistance to
the policy of
restriction.
 Female infanticide:
“missing girls”
 Selective abortion
 Sex-ratio imbalance
Economic Consequence:
 Need for a security
system to replace the
traditional safety net
provided by children
for parents in large
families.
 Reduction of poverty.
 Economic growth
possibility.