Chronology

BC495 Confucius begins work on his philosophy

BC 214 Chin Dynasty begins construction of Great Wall of China

618-907 Tang Dynasty

1380s Ming Dynasty rules China

1644 Manchu Dynasty established

1840-42 Opium War

1900-1901 Boxer Rebellion

1911 Sun Yat-sen becomes president of China after Collapse of manchu dynasty

1925 Sun Yat-sen dies; Chiang Kai shek takes over nationalist party/army

1931 Japan occupies Manchuria; Nationalists/Communists clash

1934 Long March led by Mao Zedeong

1937 Full-scale Japanese invasion of China

1945 Japanes forces surrender to Chiang Kai Shek

1949 Communists win civil war, drive nationalists to Taiwan

1957 Great Leap Forward

196- Cultural revolution

1972 Nixon visits

1976 Mao dies/ Gang of Four imprisoned

1977 Deng xiaping rehabilitated

1989 Tianamen Square; Jiang Zemin as Party Chairman

1997 Death of Deng

1998 Zhu Rongji as Premier
 
 

Historical Background

• Traditional society—hierarchical, authoritarian in many respects
• Education was valued
• Foreign Influence an important event in China of 1800s
• Fall of Manchu dynasty caused by a variety of influences: nationalism, economics and social disunity.
• Overthrow of Manchu did not bring stability
• Warlords through the 1930s
• Conflict between nationalists and Communists
• Japanese invasion
• Resumption of Civil war until Communist victory in 1949

• First priority was security due to history of instability and the Cold War
• Implemented Industrialization and land reform
• Great Leap Forward (1958) ___________________________________
• Cultural Revolution ______________________________________
• Economic Modernization under Deng
• Tiananmen

1. Why do some writers believe that the Chinese are distrustful of the West? What historic events are evidence of this distrust? What historic events are the basis of the distrust?
2. In your opinion, what factors precluded China from becoming a democratic country early in this century? Which of the factors were related to China's domestic environment and which to its external environment?
3. Evaluate Mao's leadership of China. What were his strengths and weaknesses? To what extent is China's position today a result of the personalities of Mao and Deng?

The Chinese State

• National people’s Congress (Constitutionally important but mostly ceremonial)
• Central Military Commission (Standing Committee of NPC, most politically powerful state organ)
• State Council (akin to a Cabinet in the US; administratively the center of power)
• 1982 Constitution claims state is more important than Party
• Jiang Zemin remains President; Premier Li Peng was replaced by Zhu Rongji in March of 1998

The Chinese Communist Party

• Parallels state structures--i.e. Provincial People's Congress (state) and Provincial communist party Congress
• --allows party to be informed of state activities
• --party officials more authoritative in the past than state officials

• National party Congress's are important (one held in 1998); establishes Central Committee
• Central committee designates the Politburo, military commission and top party leaders

PLA important role in many policy issues due to:

• Revolutionary victory
• Salience of security issues
• PLA's role in ending cultural revolution
• Cultural desire for stability represented by PLA

Rule of Law
Increasingly the notion of the rule of law has gained importance. Some political crimes have been abolished; governmental corruption is severely punished (although there are questions over fairness). Still, China is far from a society where the rule of law prevails in many instances.
 

Political socialization

• Family
• Government policies to try to alter traditional practices
• Government policy to limit family size
• Family remains basic unit of society
• Ethnicity and religion
• Small ethnic minorities: Tibet and Muslim groups most important
• Education
• Modernization has improved education
• University educated becoming apolitical, cynical and materialistic in aftermath of reforms and Tianamen

(student presentation)
 
 

Interest Articulation

• Only recognized through the party.
• Articulation by citizens limited but allowed: tends to focus on ways of improving implementation of established policies.
• Establishment of networks
• How was Tiananmen an attempt to expand interest articulation?

1. How did the Chinese government attempt to encourage "participation"? Would you label such participation as part of a primarily parochial, subject or participant political culture?
2. What are the dangers of democratic centralism related to interest articulation and aggregation?

Policymaking

• Chinese Communist party is Chief decision-maker
• Authoritarian, democratic-centralism, but not dictatorial (fragmented authoritarian)
• Collegial
• Willing to experiment with different policies (models)
• Problems with being seen as an advocate of discarded policy: limits rational evaluation of policy
• Efforts at control of bureaucracy by party
• Efforts at decentralization

Policy performance
 
 

Differing goals during different eras

• --Extraction and regulation in post-revolutionary period
• --distribution and symbolic values in the 1960s
• --economic development during the 80s/90s

Impressive economic growth in the 80s/90s: Note the Three Gorges dam Project

Open door has improved economic performance but has had unintended consequences

Family Planning

1. Is it possible for China to pursue more free market economic activity in an authoritarian political context?
2. Evaluate the US policy of trade with China as a way of democratizing Chinese politics.
3. How do democratic centralism principles and the use of "models" impact on policy evaluation and formulation.