1. Comparative Politics: Domestic Responses to Global Challenges, Seventh Edition by Charles Hauss
Chapter 10: China

4. Learning Objectives
After studying this chapter, students should be able to:
Describe the distinguishing features of China, its population, and its economy
Assess the ability of the Communist Party leaders in their attempts to promote economic development while maintaining unrivaled political power
Describe the effects of globalization on the economy and political culture of China
Identify examples of protests to government policies and practices
Outline the basic political history of 20th-century China
Identify the themes that characterized the Maoist Party line
Describe examples of top-down policy and bottom-up policy
Describe the structure of the Maoist Party state
Outline changes made to the Maoist Party state since his death
Explain the role of private enterprise in China today
Identify the paths open to party leaders today
Chapter Learning Objectives

7. Crisis at Full Speed
China’s economic growth was 10% in 2009, but China initiated a $500 billion stimulus plan in response to economic crisis
The CCP has adopted a pragmatic economic stance since Deng Xiaoping came to power in the late 1970’s
CCP has kept political reform to a minimum
Many leading companies still state owned; a few are controlled by the military

8. Thinking about China The Basics
The world’s most populous country—huge population stretching the country’s limited natural resources
Relative ethnic homogeneity
Great linguistic differences within one language
The Middle Kingdom as a sign of cultural ethnocentrism
Poverty deep and widespread
Great growth of middle class, migration to urban center

9. 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?
How will the fifth generation, slated to take over by 2014, accelerate or slow down the pace or change?

10. 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
25 dynastic changes until the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in 1911
Population growing faster than agricultural production
Peasant rebellions

11. The Evolution of the Chinese State
The Broad Sweep of Chinese History
Europeans “crashed in” during the 19th century
First Opium War (1839–1842)
Extraterritoriality
Missionaries
Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895
Chinese humiliated by European dominance

12. Table 10.1

13. The Evolution of the Chinese State
Failed Revolution
Reform efforts too little too late
Sun Yat-sen and founding of Kuomintang (1905)
Rule of Yuan Shikai and other warlords after 1911 revolution
May Fourth Movement poorly organized and lost momentum

14. The Evolution of the Chinese State
China Stands Up
Marxism spoke to the oppressed peasants
1921 founding of CCP fell under Moscow’s control
Like KMT, it drew inspiration from Bolshevik revolution
Comintern ordered CCP/KMT merger
Tensions between KMT and CCP as communist popularity grew

15. The Evolution of the Chinese State
China Stands Up
KMT attacked CCP in Shanghai (1927)
Mao Zedong argued that CCP must mobilize peasants and conduct a guerrilla war (1927)
Long March: CCP retreat and success
1936 Mao elected chairman of CCP
China even more “backwards” than Russia was in 1917
Mass line
KMT-CCP united front (1937–1945)
Communist army and popularity grew during WWII
CCP routed KMT in civil war that resumed after WWII
October 1949: People’s Republic of China

16. The Evolution of the Chinese State
Factionalism
After WWII, rivalries between leaders and ideas led to organized factions within CCP
Led to personalization of power
Five Year Plan 1953—failure
Mao did not support Soviet model, leading to the Sino-Soviet Split

17. The Evolution of the Chinese State
Factionalism
Importance of mass campaigns
Hundred Flowers Campaign 1956—intellectuals given freedom to express themselves, brought to an end
Great Leap Forward—collective farms, intellectuals engage in manual labor, resulted in mass starvation
Mao’s leadership questioned
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
Death of Mao (1976) gave power to new faction, but did not change politics within CCP

18. Table 10.2

19. The Evolution of the Chinese State
Since Mao’s Death
Power in hands of moderates
Deng Xiaoping set tone of party control and economic reform
Introduction of private ownership and free markets
Less personalized leadership since Deng’s death

20. Political Culture and Participation
A Blank Slate? Cultural Revolution?
Mao thought people were “poor and blank” and could easily be taught a new political and economic culture
Cultural change the primary priority for Maoists
Collectivism
Struggle and activism
Egalitarianism and populism
Self-reliance

21. Political Culture and Participation
A Blank Slate? Cultural Revolution?
State domination of all agents of socialization
Mass campaigns
Large trained bureaucracy absent from society
Political study sessions
Status of women made some progress during Mao, but conditions may be worsening
Foreign music, films, and news can be found in China today
No way of knowing how much dissatisfaction there is with the party elite

22. Political Culture and Participation
Participation From the Top Down
CCP determines what people should do and organizes their participation
Action routinely involves carrying out policies adopted by leaders
More than 70 million party members engage in implementation of policy decided by leadership
Less top-down activity as more people are involved in enterprises not directly controlled by the party and government

23. Political Culture and Participation
From the Bottom Up?
CCP is the only organization that can nominate candidates, but voters have choices
Nearly a third of people report some form of voluntary political activity
Modernizing regions have active chambers of commerce

24. Table 10.3

25. Political Culture and Participation
Organized Dissent
Democracy Wall (1978) and Wei Jingsheng—government prohibited all posters and publications that criticized socialism
The Democracy Movement (1989), Fang Lizhi, and Tiananmen Square
Two million people protested in Tiananmen Square, PLA stormed the square
Falun Gong: Founded 1992; 50 million practitioners

26. The Party State: Democratic Centralism
The Leninist State: Chinese Style
Party state the same since 1949—domination by the CCP, use of democratic centralism
National’s People Congress, rubber stamp
Larger role given to provincial and local authorities
Real power lies within the party
More than 70 million members
President can serve a maximum of two five-year terms

27. The Party State: Democratic Centralism
A New Kind of Party?
Recruiting university graduates, engineers, and technical experts
Capitalists invited to join party
Party membership required for political career
The road to power
CCP Nomenklatura controls party and government appointments
Central committee only meets a few times a year, large turnover
Power remains concentrated in politburo and its standing committee

28. The Party State: Democratic Centralism
Variations on a Theme
Under Deng, Central Advisory Commission ran the party
Succession regularized since Deng
Power pressures for decentralization are often successful (especially in economic development)
Growing signs of nepotism and corruption among elite
PLA is still an important factor with an independent power base and commercial interests; passive since 1989

29. FIGURE 10.1 Decision Making in China

30. Public Policy: Perestroika Without Glasnost
Economic Reform
CCP held onto political power, but loosened economic controls—opposite of CPSU reforms
One of most dramatic periods of economic growth in history
Sweeping reforms since ’76
Private property useful
Market forces should allocate goods and services and determine prices
Material incentives can boost productivity
Party has been pragmatic
Reluctant to go too far, too fast
Avoided reforms likely to threaten its power

31. Table 10.4

32. Public Policy: Perestroika Without Glasnost
Agriculture
1980’s communes were dismantled and replaced with the household responsibility system
Initial reforms successful
Most peasants still very poor
People leave countryside for urban opportunities at every chance

33. Public Policy: Perestroika Without Glasnost
Private Enterprise
Legal category of “private business” created in 1988; today earnings greater than state owned enterprises
Special Economic Zones created in 1979
Joint ventures allowed and encouraged
State-owned enterprises (SOEs) lagging behind
Looming ecological crises in wake of economic growth
Goods cheaper than other countries but quality sometimes is not better
How are the motorcycle companies an example?
Standard of living has improved but working conditions poor
China remains desperately poor, class disparities, regional inequalities

34. Public Policy: Perestroika Without Glasnost
Foreign Policy: More Change
China/U.S. rhetorical conflict in the past, relations started to improve under Nixon
U.S. critical of China’s human rights record
Olympics of 2008 created pressure for change
Negotiated return of Hong Kong rewarded Chinese efforts to join community of nations
Refusal to endorse U.S.-British invasion of Iraq in 2003
Major player in North Korean decision to abandon nuclear technology
Refusal to agree on Iranian nuclear threat

35. Feedback Regime continues to control mass media
Government mostly successful at controlling access to Internet
Millions find ways around Internet controls
China is world’s leader in pirated films, music, and software

36. Kadan and Karaoke or Communism?
Pressures from ever more sophisticated population
Increasing inclusion in global economic and cultural life
Repression keeps CCP in power