This Is China!

Civil Society and Cleavages in China

Ethnic Regions of China

Physical geography map

Ethnic cleavages and religious cleavages in China Han—91% of Chinese population (100% of the power) 55 other RECOGNIZED ethnic groups Main religious groups Tibetan Buddhists—6 million (18% of country Buddhist) Uyghur Muslims—15 million (1.8% of whole population) Christian—5%

Falun Gong Chinese meditative and spiritual practice 1999—About 70 million practices, until the crackdown Labeled “heretical organization,” and made illegal

Autonomous regions—Tibet and Xinjiang Both officially conquered in 1949-50, but long time “colonies” of China Granted some political freedoms Guaranteed spot in National Party Congress Some curriculum control Some religious freedom (Buddhism, Islam) Called “autonomous regions” Exceptions to 1 child policy All done to prevent conflict, increase legitimacy

What’s really happening Chinese approach to autonomous regions Try to increase development and infrastructure Lessen regional cleavages “Han-ify” the curriculum and education Encourage migration to Western regions Marrying minorities and cultural genocide

Urban/rural divide The US: 9 cities over 1 million people. China: ___________ Rural areas falling behind development Hukou system—Limited migration 200 million INTERNAL illegal immigrants (no housing, education, health care) Hukou reform—2016 Aging population in countryside (and less revenue)

Gender Breaking the Iron Rice Bowl—Less opportunities for women One child policy— Gender imbalance Vice—One Child Policy

Social class Communist China has one of the world’s highest levels of income inequality, with the richest 1 per cent of households owning a third of the country’s wealth, a report from Peking University has found. The poorest 25 per cent of Chinese households own just 1 per cent of the country’s total wealth, the study found. China’s Gini coefficient for income, a widely used measure of inequality, was 0.49 in 2012, according to the report. The World Bank considers a coefficient above 0.40 to represent severe income inequality. Among the world’s 25 largest countries by population for which the World Bank tracks Gini data, only South Africa and Brazil are higher at 0.63 and 0.53, respectively. The figure for the US is 0.41, while Germany is 0.3. The study from the university’s Institute of Social Science Survey is likely to bolster calls for more progressive taxation and increased social welfare spending in the nominally communist country. The Gini coefficient has risen from roughly 0.3 in the 1980s. Rampant corruption and unreported income presents challenges for estimating income and wealth levels in China.

BIG QUESTION: How does a developing country industrialize in a safe, environmentally friendly way?

Pollution You don’t ________ of the world’s 20 most polluted cities are in China Ban gas cars? Bikes! Hydroelectric energy: 3 Gorges Dam Displacement of 20 million people

Whatever this is!

Democratization Economic liberalization without political liberalization Tiananmen Square— 1989 Hong Kong—2016- 2017 Tank Man

Civil society Corporatist Censorship Necessary? Huge government led organizations Independent NGO’s— Let 100 Flowers Bloom Censorship Internet sites blocked (all google, American social media) Necessary?