>
China:
Section 1
The Making of the Modern Chinese State
00et China
sleep. For when China wakes, it will shake the world.00nbsp;
-Napoleon Bonaparte
Ludi
& Tina
Politics
in Action
2008
Summer Olympics
Negative
Amnesty
International felt that it awarded one of the world00 most oppressive
governments
Compared
to Olympics in Berlin, Germany of 1936
Positive
PRC as a
major global power
Recognizing
the modernization of China00 economy
Continued00/b>
Communist-party state:
the ruling party claims an exclusive monopoly on political power and
proclaims allegiance to the ideology of Marxism-Leninsism
Has experienced dramatic
economic and social liberalization and political relaxation
The Chinese Communist Party
(CCP) against democracy
Communist Flag
Geographic
Setting
Bounded
on all sides by physical barriers:
The Sea
(to the east)
Mountains
(to the north, south, and west)
Deserts
Grasslands
Dense Forests
In the past,
these barriers have isolated China from extensive contact with other
peoples.
Contributed
to the theory of the 00iddle Kingdom00(Zhongguo)
The idea
that China lay not only at the physical, but at the political and cultural
center of the world.
[insert picture
of the middle kingdom map]
Geography
Continued00/b>
The PRC
is made of:
22 provinces
5 autonomous
regions
4 centrally
administrated cities
Including
Beijing
2 Special
Administrative Regions
Hong Kong
Macao
Because
of China00 astounding economic growth in recent decades has created
high demand for energy resources so they must look abroad for raw materials
China and
U.S. have roughly equivalent geographic size
China has
largest world pop. (1.3 billion) 0020% of world pop.
Imbalance
people
and resources needed to feed them
China has
more than 140 cities with a population of a million or more
Beijing
Population
China00
population is highly concentrated along the eastern seaboard and in
the most agriculturally fertile areas
92% of China00
citizens are ethnically Chinese (Han)
The remaining
8% is made up of more than fifty ethnic minorities who differ in several
ways including:
Race
Language
Culture
Religion
Most of
these minority peoples live in the country00 geopolitically sensitive
border regions (such as Tibet)
This creates
an uneasy and sometimes hostile relationship between the minority peoples
and the central government which has become a crucial issue in Chinese
politics
Critical
Junctures
PRC founded
in 1949
Imperial
period (221 B.C-1911 AD)
China
was ruled by a series of dynasties and emperors
Republican
period (1912-1949)
When the
country was plagued by civil war and foreign invasion
Communist
period (1949-present)
From the
founding of the PRC
From
Empire to Republic
(221 B.C.- 1911 A.D.)
Chinese
empire first took place when many small kingdoms came together (221
B.C.)
China00
first emperor started imperial system that lasted until 1911 (very successful)
Losing to
Britain in the Opium War (1839-1842) lead to problems
Unequal
treaties
Lost control
of major pieces of its territory to foreigners
Important
sectors of the Chinese economy fell into foreign hands
Change came
leading to a revolution in 1911 that brought an end to the 2,000-year-old
imperial system
Kow Tow 00/font>
Warlords,
Nationalists, and Communists (1912-1949)
Republic
of China (Jan. 1, 1912)
Dr. Sun
Yat-Sen
1921 00
Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Inspired
by Russian Revolution in 1917
By the anti-imperialism
of the newly founded Soviet Union
To look
for more radical solutions to China00 problems
Japan00
invasion of China in 1937 started WWII in Asia
Pushed the
nationalist government to the far southwest part of the country, eliminating
it as an active combatant against Japan
The CCP
(on the front line) had peasants use guerrilla warfare to fight Japanese
invaders
1945 (end
of WWII) the CCP expanded and controlled much of the countryside in
north China
Nationalists,
in contrast, were isolated and unpopular with many Chinese
After the
Japanese surrender, the Chinese Civil War resumed
Communists
won a decisive victory over the US-backed-Nationalists
Mao
in Power (1949-1976)
1953-1957
00nbsp; The PRC implemented a Soviet-style five-year economic
plan
1956
00Chairman Mao used media to issue a call to the Chinese people come
forward to offer their opinions about how the Communist Party was governing
China (Hundred Flowers Movement)
Goal
was to shake up bureaucrats and encourage broader participation in making
public policy
1957
00Anti-Rightist Campaign
Hundreds
of thousands of people were accused of being enemies of the revolution
and were punished
1958-1960
00Great Leap Forward
A utopian
effort to accelerate the country00 economic development by relying
on the labor power and revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses while
also leading China into an era of communism
1966-1976
00nbsp; The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
An ideological
crusade designed to jolt China back toward Mao00 vision of socialism
Deng Xiaoping and
the Transformation of Chinese Communism (1977-1997)
In efforts to repair damage
caused by the cultural revolution, China00 new leaders put many of
the veteran officials and radicals (including Deng Xiaoping)
back into office
By 1978, Deng had become
the most powerful member of the CCP
State control of the economy
was significantly reduced, and marked forces played an increasingly
important role in all aspects of production.
Deng took major steps to
revitalize China00 government by bringing in younger, better-educated
officials.
The results were extraordinary,
after decades of stagnation, China00 economy experienced significant
growth throughout the 1980s
1989 00Tiananmen Square
Massacre
Discontent over inflation,
official corruption, as well as a desire, especially among students
and intellectuals, for more political freedom 00inspiring large-scale
demonstrations across China.
The CCP, not knowing how
to handle the demonstrations, ordered the arm to clear Tiananmen Square
during a demonstration. The exact death toll has still not been revealed
Following the massacre,
China went through years of political repression
From
Revolutionary Leaders to Technocrats (1997 00Present)
After Tiananmen
square, the formal head of the CCP, Zhao
Ziyang, was replaced by Jiang
Zemin.
Zhao
was ousted because he was considered too sympathetic to the student
demonstrators, and Jiang was promoted due to his firm but relatively
bloodless handling of similar protests.
Under Jiang00
leadership, China continued its economic growth.
The PRC
became even more integrated into the global economy, especially after
admitting to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, enhancing both
its regional and international stature as a rising power
Overall,
China was politically stable during the Jiang era.
However
the CCP still repressed any individual or group perceived as challenging
its authority
The country
faced serious problems, including mounting unemployment, pervasive corruption,
and widening gaps between the rich and the poor.
1997
00Present
Continued00/b>
Upon his
retirement, Jiang was succeeded by Hu Jintao , who had previously served
as China00 vice president
Both Jiang
Hu were technocrats 00officials with academic training (in
their cases, as an engineers) who worked their way up the party ladder
by a combination of professional competence and political loyalty.
The coming
of power to Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao marked a critical juncture in
China00 political history, in that it reflected the passing of power
from the revolutionary to the technocratic generation of Chinese Communist
leaders.
However,
there is little reason to expect that Chinese politicls will change
much under Hu Jintao, or that he will deviate from the economic reform
and political repression that has been part of the CCP00 formula for
retaining power throughout history.
Implications
for Comparative Politics
Although
the PRC is part of the developing nations, its record of growth in the
past several decades has been far better than almost all other developing
countries
The educational
and health levels are good when compared to other similar countries
China remains
a one-party dictatorship
In response
to Napoleon00 quote, China has awakened, and deserves attention from
the rest of the world
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