China Histroy since 1900

Following the steady decline of power of the last dynasty (Qing), a conflict concerning the ownership of newly built railway lines resulted in a revolution overthrowing the last Chinese dynasty. A provisional republican government under the control of Kuomintang (KMT) leader Sun Yatsen was set up in 1911. The new government tried to control the country from their base in Southern China but proved not strong enough - local leaders remained to control their sphere of influence.

In 1921, the Communist party (CCP) was founded in Shanghai. A short Union with the Kuomintang was ended after the death of Sun Yatsen, when the right wing powers in the KMT (favoring a capitalistic state model under a militaristic dictatorship) got more and more power. With the support of the farmers and workers, the CCP set out to gain power over all of China. By the end of World War II, China was in a state of confusion.

The struggle of KMT and CCP for power resulted in the proclamation of the foundation of the PR China in 1949. The KMT leaders and two million refugees and soldiers fled to Formosa, nowadays known as Taiwan. In mainland China, the communist party reorganized the living and working conditions of the people and divided the country in 21 provinces. The first five year plan had produced satisfactory results on the industrial front (emphasized was the development of the heavy industry), but the agricultural development remained disappointing. "The great leap forward" was introduced to develop small local industry and agricultural output. The result was a massive breakdown of agricultural output. Furthermore, two flood and drought disasters ruined the harvest in '59 and '60 and the soviet aid was withdrawn in 1960.

In the early 60's, Mao Zedong started to introduce a massive personality cult based on his scripts. The idea of a cultural revolution was born, attacking former chinese cultural items, philosophies, private wealth and also western knowledge as right wing tendencies which were to he destroyed and replaced by the ideas of Mao himself. To follow the idea, Mao organized students into "Red Guards" quickly reknown für their brutal attacks on their farmer neighbours, teachers and also family members. Countless people were killed or tortured, even more sent to remote places for re-education.

The cultural revolution was ended by 1970, and in the following years, China saw a return to some measure of political stability. After the death of Mao in 1976, Deng Xiaoping returned into power and in 1978 started the economic reform which was meant to introduce a "capitalist system wit socialistic traits".

China Today

Social aspects
China has a population of more than 1.2 billion people, among which only 20% are classified as urban residents. The majority of the Chinese is of the Han nationality (93%), the rest is composed of China's minority nationalities (approx. 55). The Chinese population has to be fed with food grown on only 15-20% of the total land. Due to the steady growth ot population and the shrinking of the arable land due to industrialization processes, the chinese government introduced a birth-control program limiting the number of babies per family to one. The harsh implementation of these measures bas often been critized.

The control of every member of the society has been made possible by the introduction of the work unit. Every citizen is assigned a unit, which is responsible for housing, salaries, social insurances, private mail, marriages and births. The control of the unit is supposed to extend into every part of the individual's life and is considered by some as a perfect organ of social control.

However, with the opening up of the economy and a growing number of people working in private businesses, there is a certain amount of "unit-less" people to be found in China. Unfortunately, the system of social insurance aside the working unit has not fully developed yet, so that these people are independent but also without any form of social insurance in case of health problems or after retirement.

Economic aspects
Since the start of the modernization process in 1978, there has been a move away from central planning. The so-called "four modernizations" (of industry, agriculture, defence and science & technology) have the aim to transform China into a modern state Private entrepreneurship has been allowed for several years, and resulted in the rise of a wealthy middle class in the cities or adjacent rural regions. Western consumer goods can be found in all supermarkets, the famous European shopping malls have opened branches in China, and brand name products can be bought by anybody who has the financial ability to afford them. However, the partly privatization of stare owned companies has also resulted in unemployment and poverty of a many Chinese people and upheaval in some cities. The economic instability and the great gap between the rich and the poor present the biggest dangers for the stability of the country. 13

Political aspects
All political aspects in Chinese life are controlled by the Communist party. Although the illusion of democracy is maintained by various means, the party controls the government through the appointment of thousands of official posts and offices.

The highest authority is the Standing Committee of the CCP Politburo, below it the 210 member central committee and at grassroot level a parallel system to the administrations in army, university, government etc. The hierarchical structures ensure central control.

The running of the country lies with the state council (headed by the premier), which is directly under control of the CCP. The state council implies the decisions made by the Politbureau. Beneath the premier are four vice premiers, 10 state councillors, a secretary-general, 45 ministers (among them also the ministry for tourism), etc..

All decisions made by the CCP are confirmed by the National People's Congress which includes party members and also non-party members. In theory, the NPC has the power to amend the constitution, choose the premier and members of the state council However, the candidates for every election have to be recommended by the Central Committee, so that the NPC can be considered as an approving body only.