China's State and Society in 20th Century - Assignment Example

and the society in 20th century of China Describe the main features of Deng-era political reform. What were some of the most important changes introduced and how successful have these changes been? The death of Mao Zedong, the father of China’s Cultural Revolution gave momentum to the political reformation process in China. Lieberthal (2003) has pointed out that the political considerations in Beijing dictated the pace and thrust of the reform process throughout the 1980’s. Moreover, Deng pushed China more towards openness, greater political stability and economic progress Lieberthal, p.123-134).The administration, especially the Deng administration followed by Mao, shifted their attention from the ideological warfare and class struggles to the economical development. Deng has realized that the economic reforms would be ineffective unless the party could also be reformed (Gittings p.173). Political structure was dominating the Chinese economy before the Deng era. So before implementing the economic reform Deng decided to implement political reforms in China. Mao was more adamant about the implementation of the tight communist principles whereas Deng has given the communist principles more liberal look and a human face. Deng separated the president ship and the party leadership. He has realised that if both the posts were assumed by a single power, dictatorship might happen in China just like the Mao era. The post of president was only a figurehead of the state with most of the power rests on the party head. Deng encouraged the criticism of the Cultural Revolution, in order to silence the critics of his political reformation process. Most of the Chinese people were suppressed because of the Cultural Revolution and the liberal attitude of Deng has given the public more faith and acceptance in his reformation process. Deng has realized the importance of international relations for the progress of China and under his leadership China’s relationships with the West improved a lot. He has visited United States in 1979 and met President Carter as part of his effort to improve the ties with the westerners. China’s ties with Japan and UK also improved a lot during the Deng era. The treaties signed by China with UK and Portugal for the handing over of Hong Kong and Macau are examples of Deng’s achievements as a political leader. Even though Deng tried to improve the ties with the westerners, he did nothing to improve the ties with the communist Soviet Union, since he was afraid that the influence of Soviet Union may derail the political and economical reformation process in China. What are the basic elements and goals in Deng’s economic reform agenda? What are the major obstacles to successfully completing the economic reform process? Till the era of Mao Zedong, China followed an economic policy strictly in accordance with the Marxist’s views of economics. Like most of the other socialistic countries, China was reluctant in opening their economies to capitalist countries till the Deng era. Most of the trade activities of China were with Soviet Union and other socialist countries before Deng assumed power. Deng has realised the importance of western market in China’s economic development and deliberately made every effort to please the westerners and to improve the economic interactions with the westerners. Now America is one of the biggest markets in the world for Chinese products. Deng has implemented many changes in the Chinese agricultural and industrial sectors. Gao (2005) has pointed out that the agriculture transformed from collectivization to a system of household responsibility whereas the industry sector relieved from the complete dominance of the government and lot of small scale industries under private ownership has been developed as part of the reformation process (Gao). Deng has realised the practical limitations of communist theories and made lot of changes in it in order to make it more acceptable to the public. Thus the concept of collective agriculture methods was given way for individual agriculture method. Deng has realized that China, the most heavily populated country in the world cannot develop properly, if they stay away from the global economic activities. He has realized that the Chinese market was not sufficient enough for selling their products and the western markets are essential for selling their products. Deng has opened the Chinese economy and made it is currently more transparent than the Japanese economy. Pexin (2003) mentioned that China opened the economy more cautiously than any other country. They never opened the economy blindly and adopted a self conscious approach (Peixin). China never opened their critical sectors for the private participation. At the same time they have encouraged privatization in most of the non-critical industrial sector. Investment climate in China was not so good before the Deng era because of the tight rules and regulations. Deng liberalized most of the tight rules to attract FDI. The major challenges faced by Deng in implementing the economic reform were from the party itself. Most of the party leaders were against the economic reforms, since they afraid that privatization, and liberalization policies may harm the party’s interest. Moreover, the domination of party in industrial and agricultural sector was reduced by Deng which was not acceptable to the party leaders. The even distributions of the economic resources across China were another major obstacle faced by Deng. What were the main causes and dynamics of the Tiananmen (June4) incident? Were China’s conservatives correct to blame Deng’s reform policies for the mass protests of May-June 1989? Tiananmen (June4) incident occurred at a time when most of the other communist regimes across the world began to collapse. Students, free market reformers, teachers, university professors, journalists, lawyers and Christians and the anticommunist people assembled near Tiananmen Square protesting against the autocratic approaches of the communist government. The immediate provocation of this agitation was the death of prodemocracy and anticorruption leader Hu Yaobang. The major cause of this incident was people’s thirst for democracy rather than their protests against any of the Deng’s reform policies. The public, especially the student community got inspiration from the collapses of the communist regimes across the world and tried to dethrone the communist regime in China. They though it was the right time for the Chinese public to enjoy the taste of democracy. Chinese public remain suppressed in most parts of their social life because of the intrusion of politics in every aspect of their life. Lack of freedom and censorship of information prevented them from leading a normal life just like others in the world. Freedom, equality and democracy were perceived as the destructive foreign products by the communist regime which forced them to believe in only one way of ruling; autocratic rule. Deng was believed to be a liberal leader who brought many reforms in the politics and economic activities. Public thought the liberal approach of Deng may help them in bringing democracy in China just like some other communist countries in the world. Deng’s political and economic reforms were perceived as the Glasnost and Perestroika policies adopted by Michael Gobachov in Soviet Union. Glasnost and Perestroika brought freedom in Soviet Union. Same way people thought the reformation policies of Deng might bring democracy in China also. People visualized a Gorbachov in Deng, but they were seriously wrong. Deng’s intention was just to make a prosperous China without sacrificing the communist principles. He had no intention to bring democracy in China. Thus we can conclude that Deng’s economic and political reforms indirectly caused the Tiananmen (June4) incident. People misunderstood that the reformation policies of Deng as the beginning of democracy in China. Why has it been so difficult for China’s leaders to successfully arrange for a stable leadership succession? Draw on the rise and fall of two of the following: Hua Guofeng. Hu Yaobang. Zhao Ziyang or Jiang Zemin to answer this question. Zhao Ziyang was the president of the Peoples Republic of China from 1980 to 1987, and General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1987 to 1989.He was a strong supporter of Mao and implemented the free market reforms in China. He has got immense support from Deng for his reformation policies like privatization and free market. He fought against political and bureaucratic corruption which boosted his image immensely. Zhao Ziyang has adopted a soft approach towards the student protestors which brought displeasure from communist leaders like Deng. In fact his liberal approach towards the agitations forced him step down and to spent next 15 years under house arrest. Jiang Zemin, an engineer by profession, came to power in during the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, replacing Zhao Ziyang. Zhao Ziyang was accused of keeping a soft approach towards the Tiananmen Square protestors as General Secretary of the Communist party in China. Jiang tried to follow the path of Deng and succeeded in sustaining the economic development of China. Even though Deng was instrumental in negotiations with the westerners, under Jiang’s leadership Hong Kong and Macau retuned to Chinese authority. At the same time Jiang was particular about boosting his personal image through frequent appearance on television like media and tried to take soft approaches towards Russia and United States. Deng was not much interested in improving the ties with Russia whereas he encouraged the US – China relationships. The distance between the rich and poor widened during the Jiang regime which created many protests against him in the party. Many communist leaders thought that Jiang was trying to implement revisionist principles in China which may bring capitalism in China. The growing displeasure and diminishing health forced Jiang to step down in 2002 for the fourth generation of leadership in china lead by Hu Jintao. In China, the power is vested on individuals rather than in any institutions. Even though in paper, China is ruled by the communist party, most of the power rested on the party chairman or supreme leader. In China, president-ship has only limited powers and the president works as per the directions of the party chairman. Bachman (1992) mentioned that the Chinese political system is institutionalised and it is governed by certain norms even though individual factors and personalities are also considered while deciding the future leader (Bachman, p.1046). The decentralization of power to provinces and municipalities appears to have made it difficult for China’s central government to formulate coherent policies and implement them successfully. In what ways have the institutional reforms of the Deng era made effective policy-making difficult? How have the leaders sought to overcome these problems? Support your answers with concrete illustrations as far as possible. Deng preferred to rule through formal Party institutions and Leninist norms. Deng trusted in the entrepreneurial spirit in Chinese culture and did much to remove state strictures from public lives (Ranganathan). Deng has realised the potential of Chinese people in doing business and made every effort to reduce the influence of party upon business. Institutional reforms implemented by Deng have misdirected some of the Chinese population in thinking that the China is paving way for democracy. Tiananmen Square massacre was the result of this institutional reform. Moreover, individual political entrepreneurs took advantage of the new rules, laws and institutions to push for their rights and defend their interests, which in turn could change the nature of the political game and lead to democratization. Moreover, the Chinese politics became more rule based as a result of the institutional reforms (Gore). People became more aware of their rights because of the institutional reforms. The sense or feeling of democracy among the public was not good for the economic progress of the country according to Deng. Deng thought democracy may damage all the efforts so far taken for the economic development. At the same time, China is a big country and the biggest as far as the population is concerned. The decentralization of power to provinces and municipalities appears to have made it difficult for China’s central government to formulate coherent policies and implement them successfully across China. In most of the democratic countries, there will be local administrative setups in order to implement the central government policies more effectively in rural and urban areas. It is difficult for China like a big country to ensure the even dispersion of governmental policies and efforts across China without assistance from some kind of local administration. Thus most of the reformation processes implemented in China has not reached everywhere. Deng believed that in a country as poor and populous as China, democracy or capitalism would lead to polarization between the rich and the poor (Gore). But it is a fact that the distance between the rich and poor is still too large even under the communist administration. Corruption is one of the top antisocial elements in China. Neither the institutional reforms, nor the economic or political reforms helped China in bringing down corruption. Deng believed that stability was the most important requirement for the economic progress. He believed that any form of agitations either internally or externally may cause damages to the economic progress of the country and suppression of the Tiananmen Square protests underlines the above policy. In what ways have state-society relations changed in the three-plus decades since Mao’s death? In what ways have they remained the same? What are the prospects of a society-led political transition in China? It is a fact that the state-society relations in China changed a lot after the Mao administration. Deng implemented many economic and political reforms in China which reduced the gap between the state and the society. Huang & Yang (2008) have mentioned that through a mix of mass mobilization and institutional building, the Chinese state remains puissant in extending social control over its people. Equally important, bureaucratic capacity is a major predictor of state coerciveness (Huang & Yang) State-society relationships can be assessed mainly based on the economic dependency and degree of social autonomy according to Pei Minxin (Director of Programa Asia Senior Associate Carnegie Endowment for International Peace). In his opinion, the regime types such as democracy or autocracy, economic development and social structure also control the state-society relationships (Pei). China is rapidly becoming a superpower and many people believe that China may dethrone the supremacy of United States in world maters within another 20 years time. So, Chinese people have no complaints about the economic stability or progress of the country. At the same time, even after Mao’s death, the supremacy of the CCP over the social life of the people has not changed much. Of course China has changed a lot and the tight totalitarian and Leninist principles were liberalized by Deng. Even then, Deng was reluctant in granting more freedom to the public as he was afraid that more freedom may bring more damage to the Chinese public. Chinese social structure has become more diverse and plural as well, thanks to the massive migration from the rural sector into modern sectors and to the emergence of new industries and growth of various professions (Pei). Many foreigners are now staying in China and it is impossible for China to continue with tight policies further because of the globalization and liberalization. China is one of the most beneficial states in the world as far as globalization is concerned. They cannot think of a closed western market since most of the Chinese products are selling in western countries. It is impossible to think of a society-led political transition in China in the near future. But, the state’s control over the social life is diminishing and many people believe that China may implement more liberalized rules for social life in near future itself. Works Cited 1. Bachman, David (1992). “The Limits on Leadership in China”. 31 March 2010. 2. Gao,Tao "Globalization and China: Impacts on the Economy and Peoples Quality of Life" Hofstra Universty. 31 March 2010. 3. Gittings, John. 2005. “The Changing Face of China: From Mao to Market”. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; illustrated edition (September 23, 2005) 4. Gore, Lance LP. Does China Need Another Deng?. 31 March 2010. 5. Lieberthal, Kenneth. 2003. “Governing China: From Revolution to Reform”. Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; Second Edition (December 15, 2003) 6. Overholt, William H. "China and Globaization." Rand Testimonies. 31 March 2010 7. Peixin, Zha. 2003. “China and Globalization”. 31 March 2010. 8. Pei, Minxin. “CHANGING STATE-SOCIETY RELATIONS IN CHINA”. 31 March 2010.   9. Ranganathan CV. “HOW TO UNDERSAND DENG XIAPINGS CHINA”. 31 March 2010 10. Huang Yanzhong  and Yang Dali L. 2008. “Bureaucratic Capacity and State-society Relations in China”. 31 March 2010. Read More