1. Citizens, Society & State in China Jonah Chazan Pd. 3 Jonah Chazan Pd. 3

2. Cleavages Urban/Rural East/West Ethnicity Language Religion

3. Urban/Rural Hukou system requires registration of all individuals Originally separated urban and rural dwellers by law Now relaxed somewhat Law still applies very differently between country and city Urban dwellers get pensions, health insurance, and better education Rural dwellers are shareholders of village assets

4. Urban/Rural Hukou was created to enforce order in the system during the change to a command economy More privileges were granted to urban workers because they were more likely to rebel Urban workers make on average triple what rural farmers do The balance has shifted to more urban

5. Geography

6. Special Administrative Regions Hong Kong Ruled by British until 1997 (except during Japanese occupation in WWII) Run as a sort-of democracy 1,200 person Election Committee elects Chief Executive and half of the Legislative Council Other half of Legislative Council is elected as usual Center for global trade Capitalist economy with very low taxes

7. Special Administrative Regions (cont.) Macau Portuguese colony until 1999 Similar government with Election Committee Tourism-based economy

8. Ethnicity Fifty-six officially recognized Most have their own language and autonomous region Han Majority: 92% of mainland China Next largest: Zhuang, Manchu, Hui

10. Ethnicity (cont.) Uyghurs Most live in Xinjiang Speak Uyghur, a Turkic language Muslim Have repeatedly protested for independence (and had it in 1933-34 and 1944-49)

11. Xinjiang Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Majority Muslim Formerly known as Chinese Turkestan Largest region, with lots of oil and natural gas Recently lots of ethnic tension

12. Ethnicity (cont.) Tibetans Speak a variety of Tibetan languages Mostly Tibetan Buddhist Has a “government in exile,” the Central Tibetan Administration, founded by the 14th Dalai Lama and based in India

13. Tibet Tibet Autonomous Region 92.8% ethnic Tibetan Second largest division, least densely populated (2 people per square kilometer) Also known for a separatist movement, although not violent

14. Religion 45% are “convinced atheists” The government tends to strongly underreport religious believers

15. Religions (cont.) Lots of Buddhists (100 million) Hard to define borders between superstition, Daoism, and Buddhism Lots of Daoists (“over 100 million”) Many Muslims (28 million) Many Christians, (23 million Protestant, 5 million Catholics) Government appoints priests for official churches This doesn’t count “house-church” Christians - 50 million according to China Daily

16. Gender The gender ratio in China is skewed towards male, especially for the age group that is 10-14 now This is due to the One Child Policy There traditionally was a preference for male children - females became members of the husband’s family and thus can’t care for the elderly This is often written about, but exaggerated

17. Civil Society Low social capital Peasants tend to be very disconnected from politics China has fairly extreme censorship laws “The Great Firewall” On the Internet, TV, and other media

18. Censorship Political information 1989 protests Cultural artifacts Movies depicting China in a bad light Foreign animations during certain hours to help Chinese animators Delay of Beijing Olympics on TV Social media To suppress “cyber-dissidents” as well as to help local Web companies

19. NGOs China now has nearly 500,000 NGOs, mostly for environmental and social issues Some are GONGOS (Government-operated NGOs) In order to register with the government, an NGO needs a supervising government office Others register as a corporation, but face higher taxes Still have little power Laws against public fundraising Lack of public awareness and expertise

20. Political Participation Citizens rate the government an average of 8.0 on a 10-point scale Censorship of opponents? Civil rights can come after the rights to a healthy life and a good standard of living (claims the gov’t)