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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. Key Questions
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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 • 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 • 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) • 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)
Marxist Ideals (review of pre-test) • 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 popularopinion. • Requires unified discipline throughout the party: top-level official party decisions are binding on party organizations and members.
Excerpt from the Chinese People’s Daily on democratic centralism
Big Idea • 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 non-partyworkers. 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” • 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.” • 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
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 circulateopenly. • A government has transparency when it allows citizens several points of access for obtaining information about governmentalactions.
China has limited since 1997 by…… • Closed government proceedings (e.g, courts). • Censorship of information relating to the public policy or events of publicrelevance. • Government control of the media, linked to transparency. • Not publishing budgetaryinformation 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. • 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. • 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”
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. • Fines for noncompliance incurred for having more than one child without state permission. • Preferential housing/educational opportunities for compliance. • Exemptions for ethnicminorities an rural areas to reduce opposition to one-child policy.
Why? • Economicdevelopment • Fear of unrest resulting from overpopulation. • Relief of pressure on government budget. • Strain on naturalresources.
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 traditionalsafetynet provided by children for parents in large families. Reduction of poverty. Economic growth possibility. 7. What are some social or economic consequences of manipulating population growth rates?
