Chinese political history harkening back to dynastic rule recalls notions of a highly centralized government, a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy, and the limited power of commoners to significantly change their circumstances, much less how they are governed. With the introduction of political reforms in recent years meant to fortify local governance by allowing the Chinese people to elect officials, scholars have paid increased attention to the effectiveness of these local governments. In the readings I selected from Perry and Goldman (2007), this effectiveness of village-level local governments in relation to the central government, as well as the extent to which longstanding bureaucratic and cultural norms from earlier times are still present in the existing system, are both prominent themes in each of the articles. Looking specifically at village elections, substantial evidence points to the continued problems of corruption among elected officials and how this obviously compromises the legitimacy and effectiveness of local governance as democratic institutions. In Levy's (2007) analysis of the election of village committees in Henan and Guangdong provinces, he looks at recent developments in village self-government, the rise of economically-based rural elites in the village power structure, the degree that local governance and elections have been able to combat corruption vis-à-vis vote-buying, and how corruption and vote-buying are related to the new rural elite's growing significance.1 In discussing the recent developments in local governance, Levy (2007) addresses the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the competitiveness of the village elections, the presence of women in government positions, corruption, and the... ... middle of paper ... ...tural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square movement pointing to how the government blamed the unfortunate outcomes of those events on “black hands” or “bad elements” in society, which led to unfortunate consequences for the scapegoats. Therefore, contemporary activists have much reason to be wary of any negative labels imposed upon them by the Chinese government. From only a handful of chapters on grassroots political reform in contemporary China, two themes were made abundantly clear. First, elements of pre-Communist China still pervade the present day Chinese society, and continue to affect their politics and culture. Second, the problems of corruption and accountability that are seen at all levels of Chinese government are especially salient when appraised at the village level. Taken together, these two points help elaborate the complexities of Chinese governance.
The Political Turmoil of China From 1911 to 1927 There were many reasons why China slipped into political instability or turmoil between 1911 and 19287. There reasons include the questionable leadership of Yuan Shih Kai, the presence of the warlords, the One of the reasons was that questionable leadership of Yuan Shih Kai. When Yuan took over control from Sun Yat Sen as the President, he tried to revert to the monarchical system of rule. From 1912 until 1915, he ruled as a military dictator with the support of the army. His rule was already blemished with resistance and that demonstrated that the people did not quite accept him as the leader of China.
Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the International Herald Tribune, a prestigious scholar claimed that all of China’s tragedies are ‘sustained by a mistaken belief in the correctness of the 1949 revolution’ and that the future progress of China depends on the recognition that the revolution was a failure. However, the CCP government was certainly not perfect and its most significant failures were its political failures such as the Anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution and also economic failures such as the great leap forward. Millions of peoples were falsely accused and persecuted during the political movements of the Mao period as the CCP focused on class struggle instead of economic development during the period and tens of Millions of peoples died due to starvation as there were widespread food shortages during the great leap forward movement.
Fairbank, John King, and Merle Goldman. "The Nationalist Revolution and the Nanjing Government." China: a new history. 2nd enl. ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006. 279. Print.
Anita Chan, Richard Madsen and Jonathon Unger, Chen Village: The Recent History of a Peasant Community in Mao’s China (Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984)
Programs such as collectivization and land reformation were essentially a microcosm of Mao's impact on China. Under the policy of collectivization, the government promoted cooperative farming and redistributed the land on the principle that the product of labor could be better distributed if the la...
...ering the recent changes in China’s politics. Many are wondering what the future holds for Chinese politics and the idea of a democracy with Confucian characteristics is something many have been looking at since Confucianism holds an important place in Chinese traditions. We have witnessed on many occasions the failure of trying to implement a democratic system in a country that either wasn’t “ready” for democracy or a country where the political culture wasn’t compatible with the democracy models we are used to. This idea is very relevant when you talk about China since it’s easy to see how democracy might not fit right with the Chinese political culture. In such a case, the best solution would be a democracy with Confucian characteristics. So we can see here how the relationship between Confucianism and democracy is something worth reflecting on in current times.
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.
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.
The spread of Communism and its ideals significantly increased during the final stages of the Chinese Civil War which intensified after the Second World War and resulted in a victory to the Communists in October 1949. At this time, the majority of the provinces in China were led by either the GMD or the CCP. However, the civilians in the GMD-ruled cities were suffering rapid inflation, strikes, violence and riots which led to a collapse of public order. Adding to this instability, corruption was rife within the Nationalist party’s lead...
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).
As it’s known around the world, Chinese political system is Communism. Some may say that communism is good and bad. Well it all began when Mao Zedong came into power, his ideas influenced Chinese people and how the true way of living is. The introduction of communism into China changed how people perceived each other. One of his first ideas was “The Great Leap Forward,” which a lot of historians considered as a failure because its initial goals were never met. The Chinese society was losing faith in Mao, and not loyal to him. In desperate needs, Mao came up with the “Cultural Revolution” or also known was “The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”. Mao main goal was to turn all people to follow the idea of communism, but not in the way like Russia did. Even though a huge amount of people died and harmed the future image of China. Mao did whatever it took to make people to follow his ideas, he didn’t matter what the consequences were, and he was willing to kill anybody who was a “counter revolutionary.” Well, was his idea successful? it mostly depends on your point of view. According to Dictionary.com, successful mean achieving or having success. This revolution has impacted everybody, with witnessed accounts during the Mao’s rule. At last, did it work? In the following essay, Mao’s ideas how people view communism as a form of a government than the abuse of power.
people on to the side of the CCP. The CCP’s victory was also down to
Zheng, Y., (1999), ‘Political Incrementalism: Political lessons from China’s 20 years of reform’ Third World Quarterly, 20(6): 1157-1177.
The 1911 Revolution kicked out the Qing Dynasty and broke the barriers to different developments in China. However, the 1911 Revolution has only provided a framework of a republic and made changes in some particular aspects related to immediate problems and difficulties in society. Hence, the relationship between the revolution and the subsequent development of China was very weak. On one hand, I do not agree with the latter part of the statement that the 1911 Revolution brought new problems to China. The conflicts and problems that China suffered in the early/ mid 1910s were mainly due to the weakness of the military force, conflicting political organizations and disorder in society. On the other hand, I agree with the first part of the statement that the 1911 Revolution did not bring peace to China afterwards. In the following paragraphs, I am going to focus on explaining the reasons of emerging new problems in China and also illustrate my points on the factors of the 1911 Revolution which could not bring in peace to China related to the conditions of the country.
History of China under Mao Zedong The Great Leap Forward programme was introduced in 1958 when Mao saw that a new middle class of "experts" growing up, calling the shots in high places of society. He also wanted to increase the country's production and catalyse industrialisation. Seeing an urgent need to lead China back to "true" Communism, he announced the "Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap Forward programme is said to be an economic failure, as it did not meet its initial aims.