Human rights with Chinese characteristics Socialist democratic politics –Under construction –“promoting democracy and strengthening the legal system” –“transparency” –Party leadership –People being masters of the country –Rule of law –10 year plan?

Human rights with Chinese characteristics Report: –Rights to subsistence and development –Civil and political rights –“Special rights” for minorities

Human rights with Chinese characteristics Reality: –“inconvenient timing” of 2004 OECD workers’ rights meeting in Beijing –300 prisons, 300,000 prisoners in labor re- education camps outside legal system (NY Times, 5/9/05) –Labor unrest: workers in wildcat walkouts, protests –Rural unrest: 80,000 protests in 2005 –Rise of NGO’s, civic consciousness

Ethnicity in China Han are the largest group: 91% 55 official “minority nationalities” Gladney: “a multicultural and ethnically diverse nation state” (6) –Not usually understood that way –but even Han identity “multicultural” Politics of diversity on the rise in 21 st century China

Official nationalities (minzu) Promises made during Long March “special rights” for recognized minorities –Seats set aside in NPC and Standing Committee of NPC –Autonomous regions: self-government in local affairs –Cultural programs, education, tourism, Western Development Groups still clamoring for recognition

Nationality criteria Based on Stalin’s concept of “nationality” The “four commons”: –Language –Territory –Economic life –Culture In principle, rights include secession

Han A unifying concept, often associated with “Chinese” But Gladney clearly sees the identity as a social construct, especially in its political sense as a “nationality” (Han minzu) Sun Yat-sen a major promoter of this –need for nationalism for Republic –“Five Peoples”: Han, Manchu, Mongolian, Tibetan, and Hui (included all Moslems)

Tibet China claims rule over Tibet since Yuan Dynasty of Mongols (about 700 years) Some Tibetans claim long history of independence CPC claims to have freed Tibetans from feudal theocracy, serfdom Dalai Lama associated with 1959 uprising Panchen Lama cooperates with Beijing

Hui “Chinese Muslims” Descendants of Moslem traders Found throughout China Autonomous region in Ningxia No specific language; identity based mostly on lineage, increasingly on religion

Uyghur Far west, Xinjiang –Tarim Basin –Taklimakan desert: “if you go in, you won’t come out” Turkish peoples inhabiting oases “Uyghur” a relatively new unified identity –Nine nomadic tribes united against Turkish Khanate in 742 CE –That sense of unity apparently lost for 500 years, disintegrated to oasis groups –Current use of Uyghur re-constructed through interaction with Chinese state (Gladney) Separatist movement influenced by Al Qaeda type extremism, Afghanistan wars

“Disuniting China” (Gladney) “deep-seated fears” of ancient divisions, return of warlord days (Gladney: 27) Postmodernism sees world no longer unified by the “narrative” of modernity All the more reason for central control of CPC and “harmonious society”

“Disincentives for Democratic Change” (Wright) Contrary to Western expectations, liberal democracy has not followed capitalist development Rising protests, but diminished challenge to CPC or interest in liberal democracy Both winners and losers of economic reform have a stake in the political status quo