1. China’s Government, the Communist Party and Politics
Eric Hyer
Department of Political Science
Brigham Young University

2. Introduction Communist Party National Government Political Leadership
Contemporary Policy Debates
Contemporary Social Challenges
Contemporary Legal Challenges
Hot Political Issues
Future Trends

3. Tiananmen is a Place Central to Chinese Politics

4. “Tiananmen” Is not an Event

5. CCP Organization Leninist Vanguard Party Democratic Centralism
Party Congress and Party Plenum
“Four Cardinal Principles”
Uphold the Socialist Path
Uphold the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Uphold the leadership of the Communist Party
Uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought

7. Government Organization

8. Political Leadership Mao Zedong—1930s-1976 (1st Generation)
-Liu Shaoqi—purged in 1966
-Lin Biao—failed coup in 1971
Hua Guofeng—
Weak transition leader of “Whatever faction”
Purged the “Gang of Four”
Deng Xiaoping— (2nd Generation)
Led the “Second Revolution”—Opening Up and Reform
-Hu Yaobang—purged in 1987
-Zhao Ziyang—purged in 1989

9. Jiang Zemin— 3rd Generation (1989-2002)
Continued economic development with “great power” diplomacy
Hu Jintao— 4th Generation ( )
Cautious conservative stressing
“Social Harmony” supported by
Xi Jinping – 5th Generation
Took power starting November 2012
emerging as the “core leader”

11. Contemporary Policy Debates
Consensus on “Where we have been” but debate over “Direction are we going”
Hu Jintao’s “Harmonious Society” Debate
-- Development brings “harmony” with political/legal restraints
-- Rapid marketization exacerbates social inequality/instability
Xi Jinping’s “China Dream”
-- Fundamental economic reform necessary
--Strong anti-corruption efforts, but reject “westernization”

12. Contemporary Social Challenges: Income Distribution Income inequality--wealth gap--gaping urban-rural divide

13. Growing Inequality Growing Urban-Rural Gap
Average urban income 3X rural income
Wealthiest 10% income 13X rural income
Wealthiest 3% income 220X rural income
Wealthiest 1% income 440X rural income
Wealthiest 10% Poorest 10%
Share: 40% 2%
Rural violence on the rise—180,000 “mass incidents” in 2010 involving millions of people (a 10 fold increase over the past decade)

14. Demographic Challenges

15. Contemporary Legal Challenges: Corruption and Crime
Four Kinds of Official Corruption
Gray = Graft
Yellow = Prostitution/Pornography
White = Drugs
Black = Organized Crime (1,900 middle rank officials jailed
2005 Crime Statistics
689,000 criminal cases, 844,717 convicted = 98% conviction rate
10% rise in crime rate over 2004
Approx. 3,000 documented executions (some estimate 6-12,000)

16. Hot International Issues
Taiwan
--US Policy to Support the Status Quo
-- China’s “One China Policy” and Reunification
-- Taiwan Improving Cross-Strait relations
--Growing Economic Cooperation and Integration
Tibet
--Popular Images in America
--China’s Perceptions and Policy
--Continuing Source of Conflict
Terrorism
--Isolated and infrequent

17. Nationalities Profile Chinese (Han) 91
Nationalities Profile Chinese (Han) 91.9% Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Tibetan, Manchu, Mongol, and 50 other Minority Nationalities

18. Future Challenges
Slower Economic Growth—loosen controls over financial system, promote private business, rein in SOEs, more flexible Capital Account.
Slow Political Reform
Growing Social Instability—improve social benefits/social safety net