Chinese Politics and Culture - Essay Example

 Chinese Politics and Culture The cultural heritage of China is really fascinating because it possesses the lineage of a rich and vivid culture. The Chinese culture is complex because it can be divided and sub-divided into a number of sub-cultures originated from a single culture. Within Chinese culture, one can see difference in religious belief, rituals, traditional way of life, customs etc. At the same time, the development of Chinese politics is closely related to the foretold cultural aspects. For instance, the growth and development of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is deeply related to the cultural aspects of China. Besides, the CCP possesses ultimate control over Chinese society, especially on politics and culture. The organizational structure of CCP limits the scope of inculcating innovation to the spheres of culture and politics in China. Thesis statement: The Chinese politics under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hinders cultural development of China. Chinese culture China, the most populous nation, is diverse in cultural heritage. The most important and prominent ethnic group in China is Han Chinese. There exist a number of other ethnic groups in China, linguistic and regional difference can be seen among the same. One can see that diversity is the cultural identity of ethnic groups in China. The social structure within Chinese culture is hierarchical. For instance, the central authority is vested upon the government and the military. The most important religions in China, Confucianism and Taoism deeply influence the social values. The language system in China is an integral part of its cultural heritage, which includes Mandarin and different dialects. As an ancient culture, China possesses a unique form of mythology and spirituality which is based on belief in good, evil and folklore. Chinese Politics 3 Chinese culture possesses the rich tradition of literature. For instance, one can see that there exist preserved manuscripts of literary works at the time of Zhon Dynasty. The foretold dynasty deeply influenced the cultural development of China. Besides, one can see the influence of Confucianism and Taoism in Chinese literature. The Zhon Dynasty deeply influenced the growth and development of musical culture in China. The scenario of art in China includes fine art, folk form of art and a variety of performance art. Other aspects of Chinese culture are martial arts, architecture and cuisine. Kung Fu, the most important and popular among Chinese martial arts is performed for survival and warfare. In the field of architecture, the people of China gave importance to width, not height. This is evident in almost all the ancient buildings in China. The Chinese cuisine is closely connected and deeply rooted in royal cuisine. So, one can see that China is rich cultural heritage. Politics in China The Chinese politics adopted some ideas from Leninism, communism and socialism and tries to implement it in Chinese context. In the initial stages, the policies adopted by the political leaders in China were in favor of the people. But gradually, corruption and autocratic/ despotic attitude of the political leaders forced the people to turn against political leaders. The Chinese politics is strictly limited to the sphere of single party system or single party dictatorship. In the modern world, especially in the age of democracy and individual liberty, the scope of single party system is limited. For instance, the CCP enjoys some constitutional rights and ultimate control over the people. The CCP is the overall authority of the People’s Republic of China. The control of CCP is not limited to the central level, but is extends to provincial and local levels. For Chinese Politics 4 instance, selection of appropriate candidates for election in provincial and local levels is vested upon the CCP. As the CCP follows institutional form of politics, the candidates are less responsible to the voters, but highly responsible to the central authority. Viewing from a different angle, one can see that the middle class (say, urban population) dominates Chinese politics because the role of rural population is less significant. The Communist party in China shows less importance to the pressure from the people for political change. The influence of globalization is exerting much pressure upon the CCP. So, one can see a number of people and organizations (national and international) possess active in decision making, but beyond the formal structure of CCP. All the government institutions are under the direct control of CCP and it helps the same to be an active participant in decision making process. The CCP is more influential among the urban population, but less influential among the rural population. The structure of CCP under the central committee is helpful to avoid political opposition in China. So, the political scenario in China is strictly based upon single party system, the ultimate authoritarian rule of CCP. Influence of politics over culture The cultural history of the world proves that less influence from politics was helpful for cultural development. When politics exerts much pressure upon culture, the scope of innovation is limited. One can see that cultural growth and development will not occur in a stagnant society. For instance, the cultural heritage of Iraq in ancient times, especially the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations flourished in a society without interference from the rulers. But now, Iraq is a failed state. The influence of political Islam, religious fundamentalism and greedy despotic rulers Chinese Politics 5 limited the scope of Iraq’s cultural heritage. This proves that modern form of politics deeply influences the growth and development of culture. But in China, the traditional Chinese culture is deeply influenced by politics. Paul Clark opines that communist leaders in China believed that their aim to establish a communist government in China does not end with the victory of 1949 (Clark, 1987, p. 1). At the same time, it extends to the scope of a reshaped culture within a restructured society. The central government is capable to intrude into every nook and corner of the Chinese society. All the elements of cultural development are re-directed to the development of socialist model of society. In China, people are so loyal to the existing political structure. From a different angle of view, people are responsible to prove their loyalty towards Communist party. The development of culture in China at the time of great dynasties, especially the Zhon Dynasty is remarkable. The Chinese rulers were interested in cultural development, for instance, the development of music and literature during Zhon Dynasty. In every society, youngsters are considered as the torchbearers of innovation, modernity and eventually, cultural development. But in China, the government does not consider the younger generation as influential. For instance, the confrontation at the Tiananmen Square in China was innovative mode of protest against the omnipresent Communist government. But the government suppressed the protest with force. This proves that the presence of government or the Communist party in China limits the scope of a civil society. One can see that cultural development occurs within a healthy civil society. Chinese Politics 6 The political system of China limits the scope of individual development and it leads to cultural stagnation. Earlier, in China, there existed cordial relation between urban and rural societies. But the present political system in China does not allow the villagers to enter the metropolitan cities. The neo-liberal policies of the Chinese government allow much liberty to the rich middle class (closely connected to the ruling party in China). But the condition of people who live in remote villages in China is still pathetic. The soul of Chinese culture is in villages, not in the metropolitan cities. When these remote villages face the problem of less social development originating from economic problems, the scope of cultural development is limited. As pointed out earlier, there exists high scope for a strong civil society in China. A strong civil society can solve almost all problems originating from less cultural development. But the overall control or influence of existing political system of China limits the scope of cultural development. The role of Chinese communist Party As pointed out earlier, the Chinese society is totally under the control of CCP. In China, the CCP is the government, opposition party, the military forces, judiciary and the bureaucracy. When all the powers are vested upon a single authority, there exists high possibility for despotism and autocracy. The CCP symbolizes the influence of politics over culture and plays the most important role in limiting the scope of Chinese culture. The CCP misused the resources of China to destroy its rich tradition and development in the field of culture. The CCP very well knew that Chinese culture hinders the spread of communist ideology. So, the CCP planned to destroy cultural diversity of China. The secret agenda of CCP is evident in the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976), a fake upheaval to destroy civil society in China. The after effects of Chinese Politics 7 Cultural Revolution weakened the civil society in China and eventually to economic problems and stagnation. The ‘class struggle’ envisioned by the CCP was misguided and ended in mass violence against the Chinese citizens. For instance, the formation of Red Guard was to control the influence of capitalism in China. But, after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, internal problems within the CCP limited the scope of Cultural Revolution. One can see that the Cultural Revolution kept the Chinese society stagnant for a decade. Later, the Central Committee of CCP blamed Mao on his role in Cultural Revolution, a dark decade in the cultural history of China. As pointed out earlier, the CCP very well knew that its responsibility to create a society based on communism is strictly based on inculcating communist ideology among youngsters. So, the CCP gave importance to reconstruct the Chinese society. Jeanne Boden states that the earlier actions of Chinese communists to establish a society based on communist ideology totally destroyed cultural diversity of china (Boden, 2008, p. 44). But now, the communist government in China is trying hard to reconstruct its past glory of cultural diversity. The CCP decided to end the ‘Four Olds’ that dominated the Chinese society. These ‘Four Olds’ included the unique customs, traditional culture, habits, and ideas that were prevalent in Chinese society. In 1966, the government decided to destroy the existing social structure and to inculcate communist ideology in China. The definition given to ‘Old’ by the CCP was vague and it destroyed almost all the ancient cultural characteristics of China. For instance, the traditional mode of Chinese art, especially the art works that symbolize the royal dynasties of China faced destruction. At this time, the Red Guards acted the role of moral police in China. So, one can see that the Cultural Revolution envisioned by Mao destroyed the cultural lineage of China. For instance, a number of works by eminent writers were burned, paintings were destroyed. One can see that paintings and Chinese Politics 8 manuscripts that are destroyed cannot be reproduced. The genealogy books kept by families in China faced destruction. This mass destruction and marginalization helped the CCP to educate the younger generations on the benefits of communism. But it limited the free flow of cultural characteristics from generation to generation. So, one can see that the CCP played the most important role in political influence over culture. Negative effects of politics over cultural development in China The Chinese culture is deeply influenced by its political system based on Communism. There exist a number of negative effects exerted by Chinese politics over cultural development in China. Thomas M. Leonard makes clear that the political condition in China helped the ethnic groups to acquire limited cultural autonomy (Leonard, 2006, p. 602). To be specific, China is rich in ethnic diversity, but the government shows less interest to protect the same. For instance, the Uighur Muslims are continuously protesting against the influence of communism. They consider the Communist regime as imperialism. The Cultural Revolution exerted drastic effect on ethnic groups in China and its protectorates. For instance, the Tibetan Buddhists are an important ethnic group within the control of Chinese government. But the Chinese government decided to destroy the homogeneity of the Tibetan region and helped the Han Chinese to migrate to Tibet. Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans was forced to flee to India in 1959. The basic element of Chinese society (social structure) is family. The influence of Communist ideology deteriorated family structure in China. For instance, division between believers and non-believers (influenced by communist ideology) limited the scope of peaceful co-existence within group family structure in China. But Shao Chuan Leng opines that the Chinese Politics 9 Cultural Revolution did not affect the family structure in China because the people of china give utmost importance to their families (Leng, 1989, p. 226). At the time of Cultural Revolution, the social and moral values originated from family values were considered as outdated. So, the people of China were forced to accept social and moral values based on communist ideology. When the communist government gave utmost importance to restructure the society, a number of dialects within the language Mandarin became out of focus. Now, utmost importance is given to English education. This limits the scope of Mandarin and its dialects within Chinese society. During the time of Cultural Revolution, a number of books which contained the rich tradition of Chinese literature were burned. Moreover, the Communist government’s aim to mold a new generation based on communist ideology was fully satisfied. The communist government does not give much priority to religious belief. For instance, Buddhism and Taoism are major religions in China but are not encouraged by the government. But, the Chinese government does not exert much pressure upon religious belief because it is considered as one’s personal affair. C. K. Yang makes clear that the communist government in china does not restrict the spread of theistic religion because it will be helpful for the gradual transformation of the traditional Chinese society to Communism (Yang, 1970, p. 387). Besides, all the personal affairs are under the strict surveillance of the government. In China, the writers undergo strict censoring and are forced to write according to the needs of the Communist government. In the field of traditional Chinese architecture based on width rather than height, there exists less scope for innovation. The government gives much priority modern form of architecture because a number of multinational- corporations/ companies had invested in Chinese economy. Chinese Politics 10 The liberal attitude of the Chinese government towards globalization, privatization, and mechanization helped the whole nation to move towards progress. But economic development of China was not so helpful for the rural population. The political leaders in China consider economic development as important but the urban population is still facing problems related to economic inequality. So, one can see that the ultimate authority of CCP over the society affected the cultural development of China. Summing, the cultural characteristics of China proves its rich lineage of a fully developed culture. But the present political condition within Chinese society is exerting much pressure upon its unique culture. Within Chinese society, especially upon cultural scenario, the role of CCP in exerting influence is more evident. But the policies adopted by CCP were helpful for economical development in China. Now, China shows rapid progress in economic development, but it negatively influenced or weakened the progress of the civil society. The new group of urban middle- class/ middle upper class in Chinese society enjoys all the rights. The rural population faces the problem of cultural alienation and economic disparity. So, one can see that the Chinese politics under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hinders cultural development of China. Chinese Politics 11 References Boden, J. (2008). The Wall Behind China's Open Door: Towards Efficient Intercultural Management in China. Belgium: Asp / Vubpress / Upa. Clark, P. (1987). Chinese cinema: culture and politics since 1949. New York, NY: CUP Archive. Leonard, T. M. (2006). Encyclopedia of the developing world, Volume 1. USA: Taylor & Francis. Leng, S. C. (1989). Changes in China: party, state, and society. USA: University Press of America. Yang, C. K. (1970). Religion in Chinese society: a study of contemporary social functions of religion and some of their historical factors. USA: University of California Press. Read More