Maoism
Idealistic and egalitarian.
Endorsed centralized power exercised through the top leaders of the party.
Stressed the importance of staying connected to the peasants (mass line)
Right thinking
-democratic centralism, ideal society, self reliance, egalitarian, mass line, loyalty to state
1. Collectivism-valuing the good of community, contrasts scholars
2. Struggle and activism-pursue socialism
3. Mass line
4. Egalitarian-opposition to hierarchy
5. Self reliance-rely on own talents
Mandate of Heaven
Right to rule as seen by the collective ancestral wisdom that guided the empire from the heavens above. How power was determined. Established legitimacy.
Mass line
Came from Maoism. Required leaders to listen to and communicate with ordinary folks. Without it, legitimacy is questionable.
-line of communication btw party leaders, members, and peasants that would allow all to struggle toward realization of the goals of a communist state
Confucianism
- shaped since 6th century
- order and harmony
- submit to emperors power (fulfill duties conscientiously)
- contradicts egalitarian of communism bc it’s central belief in unequal relationships
- mandate of heaven
- ideal society based on harmony and obedience
- hierarchical social and political organizations
- loyalty to family
Authoritarian power
- subjects
- ruling family subject to attack from regional warlords
- tendency towards decentralization
Bureaucratic hierarchy based on scholarship
- emperor has highly organized bur
- they form elite based on Confucian scholarship
- divide between elite and large peasant population
Middle Kingdom
- zhongguo
- center of civilization
- what han referred to
Deng xiaoping theory
(Communist ideologies)
- practical mic of authoritarian political control and economic privatization
- didn’t care about soc/com, wanted to improve economy
- communist tradition: party should supervise all, and no allowances should be made for individual freedoms and or democracy
1. Open door
2. Reforms in education
3. Institutionalizations of revolution
The soviet model
- had supported mao’s efforts since the 1920s, and with his victory in 1949, it began pouring money and expertise
- attention to land reform, civil reform (opium and women), and the five year plans (nationalize industry and collectivize agriculture)
The Great Leap Forward
-Mao and nationalism
-utopian effort to transform china into a radical egalitarian society
-eocnomic
Principles
1. All around development: agriculture and heavy industry
2. Mass mobilization: better motivization, work, less unemployed
3. Political unanimity and zeal: party workers (cadres) running government
4. Decentralization: gov on local level
The cultural revolution
- 1966 and 1976
- Mao allowed liu shaoqi and deng xiaoping to implement market oriented policies for economy
- purify the party and the country through radical transformation
1. The ethic of struggle
2. mass lone
3. Collectivism
4. Egalitarian
5. Unstinting service to society - remove all vestiges of the old china (bur and inequality)
3 factions after Mao died in 1976
- Radicals: led by mao’s wife jiang qing, supported radical goals of cultural revolution
- Military: Lin biao, died in plane crash in 1971
- Moderates: Zhou enlai, emphasized econo,oc modernization and limited contact
Order of leadership
1 Mao 2 deng 3 jiang zemin 4 hu jintao 5 xi jinping
Ethnic cleavage
- minority groups now comprise only about 8% of the PRcs population
- autonomous areas (Tibet and xinjiang) make up more than 60% territory
- 55 minority groups
- 5 autonomous regions: guangxi, Inner Mongolia, ningxia, Tibet, and xinjian
Urban rural cleavages
- redefined meaning of two China’s
- 80% countryside in 80s to 47% today
- economic and social lifestyle differences
Civil society
: the appearance of private organizations that do not directly challenge the authority of stage but focus on social problems, such as the environment
- gov sponsored dam projects
- hu jintao: harmonious development
- lack transparency (train tracks)
- NGO
Hukou
:China’s traditional household registration systems that makes it difficult to move from one place to another
Political institution
- decentralization
- move towards market economy
- head of central military commission most powerful
- unlike Russia integrate military
Chinese communist party
- legitimacy from rep of the historical best interests of all the ppl
- organized hierarchically on levels: village/township, county, province, nation
- top is supreme leader (general secretary)
- central bodies:
1. National party congress
2. Central committee
3. Non politburo/standing committee
National party congress
- 2000 delegates chosen primarily for congresses on lower levels
- meets every 5 years
- rubber stamps decides made by party leaders
- power to elect members of the central committee
Central committee
- 350 members
- annually for a week
- meetings are called plenums
- from their midst, people for the politburo and standing committee are chosen
Politburo/standing committee
- most powerful
- chosen by central committee
- decisions dictate gov policies
- p has 25 members
- standing committee chosen from p has 7
- meet in secret
Guanxi and patron client system
Personal connections
Hold Chinese politics together
-patron client network
-personal Career toes among individuals as they rise in bur or political structures
-Guanxi is based on ideological differences and similarities and is pervasive at the local level
Nomenklatura
- how china recruits it’s leaders
- choosing cadres from lower levels of the party hierarchy for advancement based on their loyalty and contributions to the well being of the party
