China

Question 1

19th century opium wars

Answer 1

 Century of humiliation
 1839-1842 first opium war (Nanking denk ik)
 1856-1860 second opium war (secessions)
IV. First Opium war - defeat to UK that forced trade opening
and cession of Hong Kong (1839-1842);
V. Second Opium war - defeat to UK, France and US that
forced trade opening (1856-1860);

Question 2

Boxers, revolutions and Sun Yat-sen

Answer 2

 1899-1901 Boxer rebellion
* Got taken down by western forces -> destroyed legitimacy of emperor among Chinese population
 1911 Xinhai revolution, end of empire and start of China as a republic
 1911-1925 Kuomintang(KMT) rule under Sun Yat-sen

Question 3

Great leap forward 1958-1960

Answer 3

• Mass industrialization
• Small communes
• Was actually a failure because of wrong landbouw practices and small communes didn’t know what they were doing

Question 4

Cultural revolution 1970s

Answer 4

• Anti intellectual
• Anti institutional(?)
• Anti authority
• Purify regime
• Get rid of opponents

Question 5

1980s reforms and Tiananmen square protests

Answer 5

 Deng Xiaoping 1979 – 1992 (reform and opening)
* Open economic policies
* Created capitalist system
 1989 Tiananmen square protests
* People wanted political liberalization
* Mass demonstration
* Regime send in the army

Question 6

Confucianism and democracy

Answer 6

• Political Vs. Personal confucian values;
• Hierarchy and respect for seniors;
• Conformism, aversion of conflict;
• Collective instead of individual identities;
• Support for authorities;
• Increase of liberal democratic values after generational shift;

Question 7

One party state

Answer 7

 Only one legitimate ruling party
 Ideology: vanguard party, party takes leading role in developing revolution (communism; Leninism)(Marx believed masses would spontaneously revolt)
 Pyramid structure: hierarchical organization
 No direct elections or internal party democracy
 Fusion of party and state
 Party is present in all segments of society
 Power vested in party or person?

Question 8

Communist party (CCP)

Answer 8

 Founded in 1921
 Leninist, the party believes that it has a guiding role in communism and guiding the Chinese people to communism
 Ideological transformation to capitalism, but only in economic aspect
 90 million members
 Nomenklatura system
 Non-transparent structure
 Reformers vs conservatives
 Corruption problems

Question 9

State council

Answer 9

 Headed by premier and vice premiers(4) (high ranking PSC members)
 Serves in tandem with president
 Oversees approximately 25 ministries
 Ministers can also have important functions in party
- similar to gov

Question 10

National peoples congress (parliament)

Answer 10

• Highest organ of the state;
• Delegation of 3000 people;
• The 3000 elect a standing committee of 150 people and a chair;
• The delegates are elected indirectly by provincial people’s congress;
• Elected for five years;
• Elected indirectly by local assemblies;
• Seats once a year for two weeks;
• Main work done by Standing Committee;
• Top leader of NPC has to be a member of the CCP’S Politburo Standing Committee (Li
  Zhanshu);
• Ratifies policy done by central leaders;

Question 11

End of 1970s, post cultural revolution

Answer 11

• Ideological exhaustion and disillusionment
• Economic stagnation
• Destruction of leadership norms
• A lost decade intellectually and educationally

Question 12

1980s reforms of Deng Xiaoping

Answer 12

• Purge radical elements in party (such as gang of four)
• Declare basic end to class struggle
• Rehabilitate educational system
• Gradual liberalization of the economy

Question 13

Hong kong protests

Answer 13

 2014-2020
 1847-1997 UK colony/territory
 Since 1997 special administrative region
 One country, two systems principle
 Since 2014 protests against increasing centralization
 2020 hong kong national security law

Question 14

Civil war

Answer 14

VIII.Civil war (1927-1937);
|—> KMT leads —> “Long March” of CCP (1934-1935);
|
IX. Sino-Japanese war (1937-1945);
|
X. Continuation of the civil war (1945-1949);
|—> CCP leads —> KMT retreats to Taiwan;

Question 15

Cleavages

Answer 15

• Difficult to politicise in the absence of fair and free elections;
• Religious cleavage: atheism and confucianism;
• Class cleavage (growing following increasing inequalities - state centralisation instead of
  democratisation for working class);
• Ethnic cleavage: suppressed (overlapping with centre-periphery cleavage);

Question 16

President - head of state

Answer 16

President - Head of state
- Titular office;
- 1992-2012: Unofficial 10-year terms (Jiang Zemin, Hu Jintao);
- 2018: Xi Jinping removes term limits;

Question 17

Politburo standing committee

Answer 17

• Executive branch of the PCC;
• Bureau has 25 members;
• People that choose the relevant political positions;
• Weekly meetings headed by the secretary general of the party (Xi
  Jinping);
• Elect a senior group to take the most important decisions;
• The main center of power is the standing committee of the
  politburo (6 members + general secretary - Xi Jinping);

Question 18

National party congress

Answer 18

• The 20th National Congress (2022) had 2296 delegates;
• Parliament structure of the CCP;
• Seats once every five years;
• Delegates come together and vote for a central committee;
• Main work done by Central Committee;
• The official announcements of the changes in the politics is done
  on this congress;

Question 19

Regional government

Answer 19

• Different entities (provinces, autonomous regions and special
  administrative regions);
• Asymetrical decentralisation: different powers;

Question 20

Regime legitimation

Answer 20

Regime legitimation
* 1949-1970s: communist ideology; authoritarian control;
* 1980s-now: Economic growth; authoritarian control; patriotic nationalist appeals (Chinese
Dream);

Question 21

Transformation and stability

Answer 21

• End of 1970s (post cultural revolution):
• Ideological exhaustion and disillusionment;
• Economic stagnation;
• Destruction of leadership norms;
• A lost decade intellectual and educationally;
• 1980s - reforms by Deng Xiaoping:
• Purge radical elements in party;
• Declare basic end to class struggle;
• Rehabilitate educational system;
• Gradual liberalisation of the economy;

Question 22

Corruption challenge

Answer 22

• Formal vs. informal sources of power:
  |
  |—> 1980s - liberalisation produces corruption;
  |—> 2000s - decentralisation produces corruption;
  |—> 2011 - Wukan protests again corruption;
  |—> 2012 - Bo Xilai (Xi’s main rival) arrested and convicted;
• Xi’s anti-corruption campaign - 1.4M punishments;
• Anti-corruption campaign or political purge;

Question 23

Xi for life

Answer 23

• Reform under Deng Xiaoping after Mao experience (1992-2012);
  |
  |—>Fixed terms;
  |—>Term limits;
  |—>Retirement age;
  |—>Delegation of power to Politburo and State council;
• “Authoritarian resilience”: Xiaoping, Zemin, Jintao retired before death or coup;
• March 2018 - NPC abolishes term limits (back to personalistic rule);
• Why?
• Rules are unwritten.
• Ambiguity of authority and patron-client networks.
• Tiananmen legacy: fear of instability.
• No institutional or personal checks and balances.
• Failures of collective leadership under Jintao.

Question 24

Xinjang concentration camps

Answer 24

• Following independence aspirations by Uighur population;
• Official narrative: “resocialisation”;
• Testimonies of tortures and forced sterilisation;
• since 2017