AP Comparative Politics - China

China - KMT vs. CCP

1927: KMT attacked CCP and killed 1,000s --> led to a civil war 1931: Japan invaded China and KMT and CCP joined to fight Japan - CCP led fight and gained legitimacy - CCP also gained legitimacy by pushing anti-imperialism and nationalism - CCP army grew - Mao and Lin Biao defeated KMT in 1950 - CCP broke up land, gave out clothes and food, recruited women into politics

China - The Long March

- 1934-1936 - Mao led a group on a 6000 mile march through rural China to wage guerilla war against the KMT - Mao recruited peasants, beginning the cult of Mao - Mao elected chairman of Politburo in 1936

China - The Cultural Revolution

- 1950s - 1970s - crackdown against both Western and traditional influences - meant to purity the party - scholars were made to work in fields - many libraries were destroyed - elementary education was important but upper education was seen as unimportant because it created class differences (why Chinese elites sent their kids to study in America) - propaganda such as Mao's Little Red Book - secret police - youth were encouraged to join a paramilitary organization instead of going to high school

China - The First Five Year Plan

- 1953 - 1958 - large estates broken up and land given to peasants - collectivized agriculture - nationalized industries - many people were relocated

China - The Hundred Flowers Campaign

- 1956 - based in the Mass Line idea - campaign for public to tell government their complaints/ideas - more complaints than Mao expected, which led to the crackdown of the cultural revolution

China - The Great Leap Forward

- 1958-1963 - Mao's Second Five Year Plan - most likely a result of Mao's disdain for Khrushchev denouncing Stalin in 1957 - feared he, too, could be denounced and China was being left behind technologically after Sputnik - wanted to assert China as the leading communist nation - farmers were forced into overambitious quotas on collective farms - party cadres replaced local bureaucrats - local officials lied to meet quotes and these lies were the basis of what should be brought to urban populations --> farmers had nothing to eat or plant next season - farmers tried to make steel from iron ore in backyard furnaces and had to melt down steal equipment when that didn't work - farmers couldn't farm and millions starved to death

China - Hu Jintao

- 2002-2012 - one of the smoothest transitions of power in any communist country - democratic centralism - we thought he was reform-minded but he put no further political reforms out during his second term - rampant corruption in his administration but this wasn't him directly, did put anti-corruption campaigns in place

China - National People's Congress

- 3,000 seats - given authority by the constitution, but is a rubber-stamp legislature - meet two weeks per year to approve policy formed by the Politburo - every 5 years they choose amongst themselves the Central Committee as well as nominate the President and VP from a list of one candidate given to them by the Politburo

China - Opium Wars

- British imported opium from India to fund tea trade, which led to social problems in China - 1839-1842 - Britain won and forced China to open to merchants and missionaries who took over some areas - defeated again after resistance in 1860

China - Cultural Influence on Politics

- Confucianism stresses Chinese culture as superior - ethnocentrism - referred to themselves as the Middle Kingdom and Europeans as Ocean People - ethnocentrism led to isolationism in China but exploration in Europe - geography enabled isolationism

China - Jiang Zemin

- Deng's handpicked leader - took over in 1997 - President and General Secretary from 1997-2002 - recruited technocrats - allowed capitalists to join the party - did not try to keep power after his two terms - retired rather than ruling behind the scenes like Deng

China - Peoples Liberation Army (PLA)

- Mao still controlled the PLA even after being voted out of party leadership - commanded by Li Biao - Mao threatened to raise another peasant revolutionary army

China - Mass Line

- Mao's philosophy for the organization of the communist state - Mao's justification for being democratic - involved direct interest articulation and rational interest aggregation as well as clear policy articulation to the people

China - Chinese Communist Party

- Marxism - formed in 1921 - initially allied with KMT - most Marxists wanted to industrialize and then turn to communism but Mao wanted to mobilize countryside peasants and have immediate communism

China - The Premier

- Prime Minister - HOG according to the Constitution - in charge of NPC - currently: Li Qiang - member of the PBSC - in charge of the Secretariat, so Premier runs the bureaucracies that implement domestic policy

China - Dynasties

- Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) - marvel of bureaucracy - meritocracy - government jobs were coveted and only given to scholars who mastered an examination system

China - Economic Reform

- Special Economic Zones (SEZs) *allowed for free trade, foreign trade, and tourism in some areas - eventually, the entire country allowed limited capitalism - connected party members profited from insider privatization - restoring higher education - restoring bureaucracy to meritocracy

China - Sun Yat-sen

- Western educated revolutionary - formed the KMT - never won power as he had to face tribal warlords - died in 1925 and replaced by Chiang Kai-shek

China - Confucianism

- accept your place in the social hierarchy - respect ancestors - honor superiors - obey government (heaven will remove abusive governments) - political culture was easily shaped by the acceptance of authority - values group loyalty and social hierarchy acceptance

China - Maoism

- collectivism > individualism - egalitarian goal - emphasis on role of peasants - acceptance of struggle as well as activism were emphasized - Mass Line - supported women's rights

China - Interest Group System

- controlled or state corporatist - state approves one single group for any given profession or activity - not free to form interest groups or lobby the government

China - Central Committee

- top 350 party members - meetings called Party Plenums are one week per year - in meetings they debate party goals and discuss issues facing China - select Politburo and Standing Committee (heavily influenced by the General Secretary)

China - Xi Jinping

- current leader of China (President, head of CMAC, General Secretary) - used nationalism and "return to glory" for legitimacy - hardline approach to Western relations - expanded military - USA thought he would liberalize the country like his father (a moderate reformer) but the opposite happened - less democratic centralism - statist who desires CCP relevancy - accuses other governments of putting out negative media to humiliate China - claims Western humanitarian efforts are neo-colonialism - abuses anti-corruption campaigns to get rid of enemies - erased presidential term limits - had his own ideology enshrined in the constitution - most powerful Chinese leader since Mao

China - Local/Village Congresses

- elected and not guarded positions - only democratic aspect of the Chinese political system - oversee rural areas - members need to avoid unrest or scandals to get promoted in the party - congresses decide who should be promoted, nominate them, and nominations are approved by politburo to become members of the NPC

China - Politburo

- government of China - democratic centralism

China - Boxer Rebellion

- grassroots revolt against foreign influence - Qing dynasty used European and American armies to put down the rebellion - lost legitimacy for Qing Dynasty --> fell in 1911

China - Gang of Four

- group of four radical communists arrested while Deng was in power - one included Mao's wife

China - Central Military Affairs Commission (CMAC)

- group of top military advisors to the General Secretary - head of CMAC is in the Politburo - current head: Xi Jinping

China - Standing Committee

- handles day-to-day work of the politburo - 7 members

China - Judiciary

- justice is hard to predict - those who are arrested are usually convicted unless they have connections - no jury system - country with death penalty used most often - code law - no judicial review

China - CCP Rule Under Mao

- less Soviet than one may think, SU even cut advisors and aid by 1960 - factionalism - democratic centralism - specialization/intellectualism were considered threats to society - encouraged self-reliance - help stop opium addiction as well as give women more autonomy - Mao willingly allowed millions of his own people to die

China - Mao Zedong

- member of the CCP that wanted immediate communism - mobilized a massive peasant army to rise up in favor of his view of Marxism

China - British Imperialism

- merchants were banned from many activities because they had access to wealth - government needed to approve innovation - peaceful and isolationist society as opposed to the always-warring Europe - war in Europe caused them to promote innovation while China did not

China - Basics

- mixed-market economy - one-party system (CCP) - developing country (though its economy was the fastest growing until 7 years ago) - "zero covid policy" halted the economy - rising life expectancy (76) - rising literacy rate (96%)

China - Liu Shaoqi

- moderate who challenged Mao - helped Mao be voted out of party leadership

China - Zhou Enlai

- moderate who convinced Mao to normalize relations with the USA - Mao was already having to slow down policy because he was losing friends/support in the party

China - Deng Xiaoping

- moderate who had challenged Mao - Zhou brought him pack into party leadership after Mao's death - quickly rose to power - de facto leader in the politburo - ruled behind the scenes of Hua Guofeng and Hu Yaobang - helped moderates get an upper-hand above radicals - ended the Cultural Revolution - tried to stabilize the economy

China - Nomenklatura

- more emphasis on merit in modern-day than simply loyalty - still the way to climb the party ladder

China - Ethnicity

- mostly homogenous population of Han Chinese people - 8% of population is a minority - 55 official minority groups - most minority groups live along the border, such as Koreans, Mongols, and Kazakhs - Muslim Uighur live in Xinjiang/Northwest - Tibetans and Uighurs are oppressed - 1950s-60s: government created 5 autonomous regions to give some limited autonomy to minority groups

China - President

- must be 45 years old - 5 year terms, 2 term limit was abolished - formally HOS (ceremonial role) - title doesn't technically give any political power but the current president (Xi Jinping) is also General Secretary so he is powerful

China - General Secretary

- party leader - most powerful person in China - recently also been President and head of CMAC - currently: Xi Jinping

China - Democratic Movement

- party lost a lot of legitimacy during Cultural Revolution - many people in and out of China expected liberal political reform - death of Hu Yaobang - democratic movement has largely died out recently

China - Kuomintang (KMT)

- political party created by Sun Yat-sen - weakened resisting regime but never won power - closest authority to a regime in China in 40 years

China - Death of Hu Yaobang

- reformist leader - died in 1989, prompting 1,000s of people to demonstrate in his honor by asking for democratic reform - protests expanded into the working class - government sent in soldiers, who massacred people with live amunition

China - Mao's Legacy

- science/tech development put on hold - entire generation uneducated - ruined meritocracy - bureaucracy based on nomenklatura - no civil society - heavy government control - bad economy with no foreign loans/aid allowed

China - Factionalism

- the existence of groups forming based on different ideological views - kept secret due to democratic centralism

China - Era of Humiliation

- time of chaotic rule and civil strife following the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 - blamed on the foreign devils

China - Qing Dynasty

- took over in 1644 - ignored Western industrial and technological advancements - did not expand bureaucracy to account for growing population - fell in 1911 after losing legitimacy from Opium Wars, colonialism, and the Boxer Rebellion, putting China into the era of humiliation

China - Population

- urban migration - policies have limited freedom of movement - migratory trend has strained city government/hurt their ability to provide for the people - 1.3 billion people (1st or 2nd largest worldwide) - large population strains resources - land and water resources are harmed by increased development

China - Ethnocentrism

believing one's way of life is superior to all others

China - Quanxi

name for wealthy people in China

China - Red Guards

paramilitary organizations that youths were encouraged to join instead of high school during The Cultural Revolution