Topic: How do social protests emerge in China and what are their implications on the autocratic rule of the Chinese Communist Party? 1. Introduction Social protest has been increasingly prevalent in China since the early 1980s despite the restrictions on the freedom of speech and association. Groups of Chinese citizens, from unsophisticated villagers to state-owned enterprise workers and students, have been staging protests across the country to air their grievances and seek redress. The routinization of social protests has attracted international media coverage as China has a storied history of mass movements. This essay attempts to discuss the trend and the underlying causes of social protests in China. Furthermore, examples of recent protests would be analysed to illustrate the implication of the upsurge in social protests in China. 2. Definition of social protest “Social protest is one form of social movement” (Tong & Lei, 2014). It can be defined as a form of political expression that seeks to bring about social or political change by influencing the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of the public or the policies of an organization or institution (Mcleod, 2011). It may take various forms, be it in covert or overt manner, for instance, demonstrations, civil disobedience and lobbying. Social protest provides the avenue for political participation and expression, and stirs up social changes and the democratization of some authoritarian regimes, especially in places with strong and vibrant civil society. Many of the protests that take place in the contemporary world tend to challenge the existing political regime or mainstream institutions in the pursuit of collective interests and fundamental human rights. ... ... middle of paper ... ...books?id=EQEVAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19&dq=constructive+social+protest+factors&source=bl&ots=UCqzeWNQJl&sig=5gmojXw4eM_MAciFti2FexfeSJ0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=1eZIU7nNDuKn0QXQ_4GoCw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=constructive%20social%20protest%20factors146&f=false Wines,M. (2009). Civic-Minded Chinese Find a Voice Online. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/world/asia/17china.html?hp&_r=0 Wright, T. (2013). Protest as participation: China's local protest movements. World Politics Review. Retrieved from http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/12877/protest-as-participation-chinas-local-protest-movements Qin , S. (2008). Bridge Under Water: The Dilemma of the Chinese Petition System. China Research Center China Currents, 7(1), Retrieved from http://www.chinacenter.net/bridge-under-water-the-dilemma-of-the-chinese-petition-system/
Rae Yang’s Memoir “Spider Eaters” is a poignant personal story of a girl growing up amidst the political upheaval during the establishment of People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong’s Communist leadership. Yang describes the fascinating journey of her life from her early years as the daughter of Chinese diplomats in Switzerland to a student in an elite middle school then a fanatic Red-guard and eventually a laborer in a pig farm. Her experiences through the revolution serve as an eye-opener and lead to her eventual disillusionment of the Communist revolution in China. There are many factors that contributed to her growing discontent with communism such as the anti-rightist movement which was an effort to rule out any criticism against the government, corruption and violence of the party leaders who abused their power and continued to exploit the peasants, the false claim of proletariat dictatorship used merely to eradicate bourgeoisie and further the interests of party members.
Throughout, 1900- 1950 there were a number of changes and continuities in China. From the fall of the dynasties to the rise of the Communist Party, these changes shaped China’s government and society. Although, many political changes were made multiple continuities were held constant such as, consistent rebellions and the lack of democracy.
The root of protest came into existence since the early of 1980s after the death of Mao ZeDong – the first chairman of the Communist party of China – in 1976. Since the communist party came to power, it had conducted many social and economic campaigns that had tremendous influence on the nation. The total domination of the socialist government towards the society caused many mistakes that made China face many disasters, for example, the severe famine caused the death of 30 million people from 1959 to 1961 (Zhao 42), or the Cultural Revolution which annihilated traditional culture and murdered a lot of intellectuals. In 1978, the new leaders decided to reform to rescue the Chinese economy which was on the verge of collapse. They corrected the past mistakes with an open-door policy on all areas from economy to culture, thus loo...
Nobody went unaffected by this movement millions of Chinese citizens were alienated that were attributed with old capitalistic traditions, and aggressively united those who strictly adhered to the communist party’s policies for achieving a solidified country of socialists.
and Political Culture in Modern China, eds. Jeffrey Wasserstrom and Perry, Elizabeth, Oxford: Westview Press, 1994.
Blecher, Marc. China Against The Tides: Restructuring through Revolution, Radicalism, and Reform. 3rd ed. New York: Continuum, 2010. Print.
In 1966 a socio-political movement known as the Cultural Revolution swept across the People’s Republic of China and resulted in astounding changes whose effects are still being felt by the nation today. The Cultural Revolution changed nearly every aspect of traditional Chinese culture, politics, and psychology, and replaced it with Maoist ideology. To change the paradigm of a nation with deep historical roots, immense size, and a greatly distributed population, such as China, in a course of ten years is a feat most commendable. Responsible for this mind boggling change is, at the heart of it, a single man, Mao Zedong. Mao Zedong was born in 1893 to humble beginnings in the countryside, the world itself oblivious to the future of this man (Spence). Mao’s rebellious nature came from events in his youth such as the destruction of the Quing dynasty, the political wars he played with his father, and the exposure to literature, especially that of Marx and Lenin (Clements).
“Barriers were built around most of the protest sites; in Beijing, subway service was reportedly cut in the student dominated area of the city to prevent anyone from traveling to the location at all.” (Swartz 2)
This series of protesting is called the Tibetan Independent Movement. They would do this in ways such as flying Tibetan flags in place of Chinese flags. This had very minimal effect but led to the Chinese Government cutting off essential supplies to the Tibetans to the point of riot and revolt. The Chinese Government accused the exiled Dalai Lama of organizing these riots as a part of a separatist plot.
In America, protest has been used throughout history as a vehicle to change. Protests bring attention to issues that would or could be overlooked or ignored. A current protest receiving national attention in our media is the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protest. The Occupy Wall Street protest, along with other Occupy branch protests are essentially ineffective protests. When compared to successful protests in the past, they are not having as much success gaining public support. There are many reasons this could be the case. There is no clearly defined goal or a specified outcome resulting from the protests. They are managing their funds inefficiently and in many cities they are creating more problems than they are solving.
Around the world many people wonder why people choose to protest topics they disagree with. Protesting can change political views, help society, stop government actions, and most importantly save lives. Protests are normally started by a person or people wanting to make a change and stand up for what they believe in. People have been protesting for years because it is effective.
The protest that occurred in Central Beijing had effects in China as well as many other countries, and it reflected the discontent of the Chinese people toward their government. The Tiananmen Square Massacre was a tragic event, nevertheless it must be remembered in order to prevent similar events from arising in the future.
Whyte, M. K., (2010) ‘Do Chinese citizens want the government to do more to promote equality?’ In Gries, P. H., and Rosen, S., eds. 2010. Chinese Politics - State, society and the market. (Routledge, London and New York).
The concept of activism is rarely understood by any “normal” citizen. The donation of one’s time towards a certain cause or belief has always been envied by the working class citizen who feels it is important to give back, but is pushed away when those good intentions go bad such as when “non-violent” protests or speeches turn reckless. With an intuition of activists having to be heard through harsh acts, for example the demolition of bridges, billboards or aqueducts, their cause is usually overlooked; their actions are looked down upon as people with internal rage. We must ask ourselves if they are using activism as an excuse to vent out their personal anger. Rather than activists causes being the center of the attention they receive, the ill-mannered way they go about trying to solve problems have become the subjects focus.
Even though almost all literature can be called protest literature in a sense that they all portray a point of theme or view, protest literature has to be specifically written for change. In other words, the writer needs to have specific goals for change in society or individuals from the very start. Therefore, the effects of protest literature cannot simply be spontaneous or by accident. Furthermore, protest literature cannot be judged by how effective it is. This shows that protest literature fails to persuade or "convert" even one individual, the literature is still consider a success because a point has been made which results in acknowledgement...