China’s Government, the Communist Party and Politics Eric Hyer Department of Political Science Brigham Young University

Introduction Communist Party National Government Political Leadership Contemporary Policy Debates Contemporary Social Challenges Contemporary Legal Challenges Hot Political Issues Future Trends

Tiananmen is a Place Central to Chinese Politics

“Tiananmen” Is not an Event

CCP Organization Leninist Vanguard Party Democratic Centralism Party Congress and Party Plenum “Four Cardinal Principles” Uphold the Socialist Path Uphold the Dictatorship of the Proletariat Uphold the leadership of the Communist Party Uphold Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought

Government Organization

Political Leadership Mao Zedong—1930s-1976 (1st Generation) -Liu Shaoqi—purged in 1966 -Lin Biao—failed coup in 1971 Hua Guofeng— 1976-1980 Weak transition leader of “Whatever faction” Purged the “Gang of Four” Deng Xiaoping—1978-1997 (2nd Generation) Led the “Second Revolution”—Opening Up and Reform -Hu Yaobang—purged in 1987 -Zhao Ziyang—purged in 1989

Jiang Zemin— 3rd Generation (1989-2002) Continued economic development with “great power” diplomacy Hu Jintao— 4th Generation (2002-2012) Cautious conservative stressing “Social Harmony” supported by Xi Jinping – 5th Generation Took power starting November 2012 emerging as the “core leader”

Contemporary Policy Debates Consensus on “Where we have been” but debate over “Direction are we going” Hu Jintao’s “Harmonious Society” Debate -- Development brings “harmony” with political/legal restraints -- Rapid marketization exacerbates social inequality/instability Xi Jinping’s “China Dream” -- Fundamental economic reform necessary --Strong anti-corruption efforts, but reject “westernization”

Contemporary Social Challenges: Income Distribution Income inequality--wealth gap--gaping urban-rural divide

Growing Inequality Growing Urban-Rural Gap Average urban income 3X rural income Wealthiest 10% income 13X rural income Wealthiest 3% income 220X rural income Wealthiest 1% income 440X rural income Wealthiest 10% Poorest 10% Share: 40% 2% Rural violence on the rise—180,000 “mass incidents” in 2010 involving millions of people (a 10 fold increase over the past decade)

Demographic Challenges

Contemporary Legal Challenges: Corruption and Crime Four Kinds of Official Corruption Gray = Graft Yellow = Prostitution/Pornography White = Drugs Black = Organized Crime (1,900 middle rank officials jailed 2005 Crime Statistics 689,000 criminal cases, 844,717 convicted = 98% conviction rate 10% rise in crime rate over 2004 Approx. 3,000 documented executions (some estimate 6-12,000)

Hot International Issues Taiwan --US Policy to Support the Status Quo -- China’s “One China Policy” and Reunification -- Taiwan Improving Cross-Strait relations --Growing Economic Cooperation and Integration Tibet --Popular Images in America --China’s Perceptions and Policy --Continuing Source of Conflict Terrorism --Isolated and infrequent

Nationalities Profile Chinese (Han) 91 Nationalities Profile Chinese (Han) 91.9% Zhuang, Uygur, Hui, Tibetan, Manchu, Mongol, and 50 other Minority Nationalities

Future Challenges Slower Economic Growth—loosen controls over financial system, promote private business, rein in SOEs, more flexible Capital Account. Slow Political Reform Growing Social Instability—improve social benefits/social safety net