DOCSLIB.ORG

Master's Thesis

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Master's Thesis Faculty of Arts Department of China Studies Master’s Thesis 2020 Bc. Daria Ishchuk Faculty of Arts Department of China Studies Contemporary Communist Youth League at Zhejiang University: A Case Study Master’s Thesis Bc. Daria Ishchuk Supervisor: Mgr. Bc. Denisa Hilbertová, M.A. Brno 2020 I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work and it contains no other materials written or published by any other person except where due ref- erence is made in the text of the thesis. ………..………………………….. The author Brno, January 2020 The thesis was completed within the cooperation framework between the Department of Chinese Studies (Masaryk University) and the Institute of China Studies (Zhejiang University). During my two-semester stay in China, the thesis was supervised by Prof. Zhang Xingkui 张兴奎, Associate Professor at School of International Studies and Assistant Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Humanities and Social Sciences at Zhejiang University in China. Acknowledgments This research was conducted during my double degree master’s program at Zhejiang University. The study program is a result of the cooperation with Masaryk University in the Czech Republic where I graduated in the field of Culture Chinese Studies and continued in the same field for the master studies. I would like to warmly thank my home university supervisors Mgr. et Mgr. Dušan Vávra, Ph. D. and Mgr. Bc. Denisa Hilbertová, M.A. for the opportunity of conducting this research during my one- year master studies program at the Zhejiang University and my host university super- visor Prof. Zhang Xingkui for his supervision, guidance, priceless advice and support during the research. I would also like to thank Mr. Wu Hang, the Secretary of Youth League Committee, Tutor for ZJUI for his time, willingness and help during the re- search proceedings. I would like to thank my family and friends for their patience and support whenever it was needed. Abstract This thesis aims to research the regular activities organized by university students who are members of the contemporary Chinese Communist Youth League. The thesis also deals with the members´ interpretations of the activities and provides possible explana- tions. Following the guidance of the Communist Party of China, the Communist Youth League is a mass organization that associates Chinese youth. The contemporary Com- munist Youth League of China follows the leadership of the Communist Party of China. The organization’s setting is to educate Chinese youth and lead them to practice social- ism with Chinese characteristics and political narratives according to the ideology of the CPC. The methods of qualitative field research and thematic analysis are used to research the activities and analyze them. The qualitative field research is used to collect the data about the regular activities organized by the CYL members and their interpretations. Then, the data collected during the interviews, along with analytically selected texts from The Constitution of the Communist Youth League are thematically analyzed and provided with the possible explanations. The research showed that each of the departments of the CYL was regularly hold- ing different types of activities based on their individual agenda. In the analysis, the four patterns were identified: Study, Ideology, Publicity, Competitions. However, signs of competitions were present in most of the researched activities. Thus, the pattern Competitions was evaluated as superior to the rest of the patterns. The research proved that the purpose of the activities is interconnected with the idea of supporting the policy of CPC and that competitions are used as a means to fulfill the purpose. The research showed that supporting the regime was the central purpose of the researched activities. Contents 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Structure of the Thesis 13 2 Methodology and Literature Review 15 2.1 Research Questions 15 2.2 Methods 16 2.2.1 Qualitative Field Research 17 2.2.2 Thematic Analysis 18 2.3 Primary Sources 21 2.3.1 Interviews 21 2.3.2 The Constitution of CYL 24 2.4 Addressing the Context of the Research 26 2.4.1 From the Historical Perspective 27 2.4.2 From the Perspective of Contemporary China 28 2.4.3 Justification of the Research Purposes 29 2.5 Limitations of the Research 29 3 Communist Youth League 32 3.1 Historical Background 32 3.1.1 Milestones in the History of the CYL 34 3.2 Contemporary CYL 41 3.2.1 About the Relationship Between the CPC and CYL 41 3.3 Zhejiang University and its Student Organizations 42 3.4 Key Terms 43 4 Findings 47 4.1 Pattern 1: Study 48 4.2 Pattern 2: Ideology 51 4.3 Pattern 3: Publicity 59 4.4 Pattern 4: Competitions 78 5 Conclusion 81 6 Personal Reflections 86 Appendix 88 References 96 Primary sources 96 Secondary sources 97 Notes on Translation and Mandarin Chinese All translations from Mandarin Chinese in this thesis are the author’s translations with the exception of the specified terms whose official translations exist and are generally used. The unofficial translations are based on the personal translation skills of the au- thor. The Mandarin Chinese used in this diploma thesis is in simplified characters. The phonetic transcription Pinyin is used in this thesis for the Romanization purpose of the terms that are originally in Chinese. Besides the specific names, the terms are trans- lated into English, accompanied by Pinyin and the original Chinese character. The terms are indicated in this format at each occurrence in the text. List of Acronyms CPC: Communist Party of China (Zhongguo Gongchandang, 中国共产党) CCYL: Chinese Communist Youth League (Zhongguo Gongchanzhuyi Qingniantuan, 中国共产主义青年团)1 CYL: Communist Youth League (Gongqingtuan, 共青团) HIC ZJU: Haining International Campus of Zhejiang University (Zhejiang Daxue Haining Guoji Xiaoqu 浙江大学海宁国际校区) KMT: National Party Kuomintang (Guomindang, 国民党) PLA: People’s Liberation Army (Zhongguo Renmin Jiefangjun, 国人民解放军) PRC: People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo, 中华人民共和国) SYL: Socialist Youth League (Shehui Zhuyi Qingniantuan, 社会主义青年团) ZJU: Zhejiang University (Zhejiang Daxue 浙江大学) CMC: Central Military Commission (Zhongguo Gongchandang Zhongyang Junshi Weiyuanhui 中国共产党中央军事委员会) 1 Chinese Communist Youth League (CCYL) is also known as the Communist Youth League (CYL). For the clarity purposes and unity of the thesis, the text below uses the latter naming and abbreviation. 1 Introduction The aim of this thesis is to research the regular activities of the contemporary Communist Youth League (Gongqingtuan, 共青团), analyze them, and find ex- planations. During the data collection, the research focused on the information about the regular activities of the contemporary Communist Youth League and the CYL members' reflection/interpretation of them. Communist Youth League is one of the most prominent mass organizations in the People’s Republic of China (Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo, 中华人民共和国). Some of its members (e.g., Hu Yaobang 胡耀邦, Hu Jintao 胡锦涛, or Li Keqiang 李克强) became high-level cadres of the Communist Party of China. These politi- cians were or have been involved in the leading governmental positions of the Peo- ple’s Republic of China. From this perspective, CYL can be considered as an or- ganization that plays a crucial role in the Chinese political environment. However, relevant secondary sources focused on their regular activities are rare in circles of domestic and international politics.2 The thesis addresses the lack of research and hopes to contribute to the mosaic of knowledge regarding the activities of CYL. Since its early beginnings, the Communist Youth League has always played an essential role in social and political life together with the Communist Party of China (Zhongguo Gongchandang, 中国共产党). The purpose and functions of the CYL followed the needs of the CPC. According to Zhang Hua: Functions usually refer to the roles that organizations, institutions, and departments should have and are key to their differences. Overall, despite the great diversity 2 Yunzhe Chen, "Questions on the Study of “The Communist Youth League and China Elite Politics” in Western Circles of Politics," Journal of Politics and Law 11, n.3 (2018): 112-118. 11 among organizations, the functions of the organization must be fully reflected, ac- curately covered and fully supported in the development of the organization. 3 The role of the CYL, as a mass organization, has been changing according to the changing functions of the organization. The thesis shares the perception of the func- tions, as described in the paragraph above. Based on this, the chapter titled Histori- cal Background depicts the development and change of roles of the CYL in the context of the modern history of the PRC. Such theoretical basis contributes to the understanding of the functions of the contemporary CYL. Regardless of any political context, in each country, young people act as a part of society. Scholars Checkoway and Gutierrez characterize the youth´s participation this way: Youth participation is a process of involving young people in the institutions and decisions that affect their lives. It includes initiatives that emphasize educational reform, juvenile justice, environmental quality, and other issues; that involve pop- ulations distinguished by class, race, gender, and other characteristics; and that op- erate in rural areas, small towns, suburbs, and neighborhoods of large cities in de- veloping areas and industrial nations worldwide. Youth participation includes ef- forts by young people to plan programs of their own choosing; by adults to involve young people in their agencies, and by youth to work together in intergenerational partnerships. However, the issue is not whether the effort is youth-led, adult-led, or intergenerational, but rather whether young people have an actual effect.4 The youth plays an important and contributive role in society because they are a part of the social structure.5 According to the Chinese regulations, there are several ways how to become an active member of the Communist Party.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download (2595Kb)
    A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/131594 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Learning to Teach Moral Education through Drama in a Chinese Primary School By Mengyu Feng A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor Philosophy Centre for Education Studies March 2019 Abstract This thesis explores the possibilities of introducing drama to facilitate primary children’s moral learning in the Chinese educational context. As she is an inexperienced teacher, the author also focuses on her own self-improvement in learning to teach through educational drama as well as examining drama’s potential to complement the moral education curriculum for primary aged children in China. The thesis begins with a literature review that explores the authority-oriented nature of the moral education curriculum in mainland China and points out that basic challenges still exist in the current course despite reforms that have been implemented since 1999 on a national scale. It then argues for the potential of story-based drama as an innovative pedagogy that may help students develop their autonomous moral thinking as a way to address some of the shortcomings that exist in the present moral curriculum.
    [Show full text]
  • Asia Focus #3
    PROGRAMME ASIE QUELLE COMPOSITION DU POLITBURO ET DU COMITÉ CENTRAL CHINOIS APRÈS 2017 ? Par Alex PAYETTE STAGIAIRE POSTDOCTORAL CRSH UNIVERSITÉ DE MONTREAL OCTOBRE 2016 Septembre 2016 ASIA FOCUS #3 l’IRIS ASIA FOCUS #3 - PROGRAMME ASIE / Octobre 2016 lors que 2016 se termine et que la campagne anticorruption agressivement menée par la tristement célèbre « jiwei » [纪委] a pris fin, il ne reste que A quelques mois pour finaliser la sélection interne des cadres qui seront appelés à être élus en novembre au Politburo ainsi qu’au Comité central. Cela dit, depuis la fin de 2015, nous avons pu remarquer un certain durcissement, voire même un « repli » de la part de Xi, tant dans son attitude face au pouvoir (p. ex. retour aux idiomes/symboles maoïstes, méfiance ouverte de l’Occident, attitude de plus en plus inflexible en matière de structures internationales, etc.), que dans son attitude envers certains patriarches du Parti, notamment Jiang Zemin (président de la République populaire entre 1993 et 2003) et Hu Jintao (président de 2003 à 2013), ainsi qu’envers les autres forces en présence sur la scène politique chinoise (par exemple la Ligue des jeunesses communistes [共青团]1, la « faction du pétrole » [石油帮]2, la bande Shanghai [ 上海帮], la bande du Jiangxi [江派], etc.). Ce dernier a également resserré son emprise non seulement sur Beijing – par le biais de son proche collaborateur Wang Xiaohong [王 小洪]3-, mais bien aussi sur le pays en entier. Tandis que le temps d’« abattre les tigres » [打虎] et que les déraillements de la jiwei sont encore perceptibles, en particulier dans la province du Hebei4, fort est de constater que l’impact n’est pas celui escompté, sauf dans les cas de Su Shulin [苏树林]5 et Jiang Jiemin [蒋洁敏]6, et qu’il ne sera pas vraiment possible d’évaluer les dégâts de cette campagne avant la formation du Comité central de 2022.
    [Show full text]
  • Chinese Politics in the Xi Jingping Era: Reassessing Collective Leadership
    CHAPTER 1 Governance Collective Leadership Revisited Th ings don’t have to be or look identical in order to be balanced or equal. ⃺ڄ Maya Lin — his book examines how the structure and dynamics of the leadership of Tthe Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have evolved in response to the chal- lenges the party has confronted since the late 1990s. Th is study pays special attention to the issue of leadership se lection and composition, which is a per- petual concern in Chinese politics. Using both quantitative and qualitative analyses, this volume assesses the changing nature of elite recruitment, the generational attributes of the leadership, the checks and balances between competing po liti cal co ali tions or factions, the behavioral patterns and insti- tutional constraints of heavyweight politicians in the collective leadership, and the interplay between elite politics and broad changes in Chinese society. Th is study also links new trends in elite politics to emerging currents within the Chinese intellectual discourse on the tension between strongman politics and collective leadership and its implications for po liti cal reforms. A systematic analy sis of these developments— and some seeming contradictions— will help shed valuable light on how the world’s most populous country will be governed in the remaining years of the Xi Jinping era and beyond. Th is study argues that the survival of the CCP regime in the wake of major po liti cal crises such as the Bo Xilai episode and rampant offi cial cor- ruption is not due to “authoritarian resilience”— the capacity of the Chinese communist system to resist po liti cal and institutional changes—as some foreign China analysts have theorized.
    [Show full text]
  • BETWEEN TAIZIDANG and TUANPAI: What's Next for China's Succession
    CIDOB • Barcelona Centre for International for Affairs Centre CIDOB • Barcelona E-ISSN 2014-0843 opiniónASIA BETWEEN TAIZIDANG AND TUANPAI: 148 What’s next for China’s succession MAY crisis? 2012 Seán Golden, Senior Research Fellow associate, CIDOB oth the United States and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) are facing succession crises in the autumn of 2012. One will be resolved by democrat- ic elections, the other by democratic centralism. In both cases short-term Band long-term strategies are at stake. In the short term, jockeying for power pro- motes radical rhetoric for immediate domestic consumption and political gain, even though this rhetoric could be counterproductive for any effective long-term strategy in a globalised economy. Beyond the short-term, radically different ideo- logical models are in conflict in both cases. In the US, a right-wing coalition of Christian fundamentalists and wealthy people who see no danger in restricting scientific research, social entitlement and civil empowerment, nor in eliminating the middle class, are seeking to dismantle the limited amount of social guarantees that were begun by the New Deal in the 1930’s, while an incumbent President whose re-election is uncertain is trying to defend them. In the PRC, a reform pro- gramme based on liberalising the economy in order to generate wealth efficiently faces resistance from forces, inside and outside of the Party, that defend the redis- tribution of wealth in order to guarantee social equity and State-centred control of the economy and the country. The power struggle taking place within the Party-State in the run-up to the reno- vation of its leadership in the 18th Chinese Communist Party National Congress next October, when the “fifth generation” of leaders (Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang) will replace the current generation (Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao), has become visible as a re- sult of the purging of Bo Xilai.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chinese Communist Party and Its Emerging Next-Generation Leaders
    U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission Staff Research Report March 23, 2012 The China Rising Leaders Project, Part 1: The Chinese Communist Party and Its Emerging Next-Generation Leaders by John Dotson USCC Research Coordinator With Supporting Research and Contributions By: Shelly Zhao, USCC Research Fellow Andrew Taffer, USCC Research Fellow 1 The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission China Rising Leaders Project Research Report Series: Part 1: The Chinese Communist Party and Its Emerging Next-Generation Leaders (March 2012) Part 2: China’s Emerging Leaders in the People’s Liberation Army (forthcoming June 2012) Part 3: China’s Emerging Leaders in State-Controlled Industry (forthcoming August 2012) Disclaimer: This report is the product of professional research performed by staff of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and was prepared at the request of the Commission to support its deliberations. Posting of the report to the Commission's website is intended to promote greater public understanding of the issues addressed by the Commission in its ongoing assessment of U.S.-China economic relations and their implications for U.S. security, as mandated by Public Law 106-398 and Public Law 108-7. However, the public release of this document does not necessarily imply an endorsement by the Commission, any individual Commissioner, or the Commission’s other professional staff, of the views or conclusions expressed in this staff research report. Cover Photo: CCP Politburo Standing Committee Member Xi Jinping acknowledges applause in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People following his election as Vice-President of the People’s Republic of China during the 5th plenary session of the National People's Congress (March 15, 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Information to Users
    / INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms International A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 Order Number 9105811 An analysis of American perspectives of social studies education in China (1975-1988) Luo, Tao, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1990 UMI 300 N.
    [Show full text]
  • China - Peoples Republic of China
    INTERNATIONAL TREASURES ™ A NATIONAL TREASURE China - Peoples Republic of China Mao Zedong shown here in front of the Chinese Communist Party ZFC1267 The flag of the Communist Party of China, which dates Flag sometime during the Long March of 1934 to 1935. The use of from the 1930s and was formally adopted in 1942; is the symbol of red flags has been ubiquitous in China since the 1949 Communist the founding and ruling party of China, its red background has victory. It infiltrates is all aspects of national symbols. become the basis for almost all Chinese flags. This flag dates Image Source: Kalipedia.com from 1976. ZFC1266 The national flag of the People’s Republic of China, ZFC1326 China - People’s Liberation Army Flag. The flag of the Adopted in 1949. The red background symbolizes the revolution, People’s Liberation Army flag was adopted in 1949. It adds to the the larger star represents the Communist Party of China, the star representing the Communist Party of China the Chinese smaller stars signify the four classes of the revolution as defined numerals “8” & “1” symbolizing its founding date of August 1, by Mao Zedong, “the workers, the peasants, the urban petite 1928. This flag dates from the 1980s. bourgeoisie, and the national bourgeoisie (owners of large-scale businesses and industrial facilities who remained in China).” This flag was acquired in 1976. ZFC2015 Communist Youth League (CYL) Flag. This CYL flag ZFC1265 Detachment of the Young Pioneers of China Flag. This is dates from the 1950s when all of the Communist Party of China’s a large detachment flag of the Communist Chinese youth organiza - (CPC) youth organizations were merged.
    [Show full text]
  • The Jade Emperor's Last Taste of Water an Ethnography On
    The Jade Emperor’s Last Taste of Water An ethnography on the making of a village in China Suvi Rautio Cover photo: Meili villager standing beside a bayberry tree along the mountains that border the village. Photo taken by Suvi Rautio. The Jade Emperor’s Last Taste of Water: An ethnography on the making of a village in China PhD thesis © Suvi Rautio Research Series in Anthropology University of Helsinki, Finland Distributed by: Unigrafia https://shop.unigrafia.fi/ ISSN: 1458-3186 ISBN 978-951-51-4960-2 (paperback) ISBN 978-951-51-4961-9 (PDF) The Jade Emperor’s Last Taste of Water An ethnography on the making of a village in China Suvi Rautio PHD DISSERTATION Doctoral dissertation, to be presented for public examination with the permission of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Helsinki, in Auditorium XV, University Main Building, on the 30th of March, 2019 at 10 o’clock. Akateeminen väitöskirja, joka Helsingin yliopiston Valtiotieteellinen tiedekunnan suostumuksella esitetään julkisesti tarkastettavaksi, Auditorium XV, yliopiston päärakennus, perjantaina 30. maaliskuuta 2019 klo 10. Helsinki 2019 Opponent Assistant Professor Hans Steinmüller London School of Economics ~ Pre-examiners Professor Harriet Evans; University of Westminster Associate Fellow Sam Geall; University of Sussex ~ Dissertation supervisors Professor Sarah Green; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki Research Fellow Katja Uusihakala; Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki ~ External expert advisor Emeritus Professor Stephan Feuchtwang; London School of Economics ~ The Faculty of Social Sciences uses the Urkund system (plagiarism recognition) to examine all doctoral dissertations. Abstract What constitutes and defines a village in China today? This study seeks to answer this question within the space of an ethnic minority Dong village in southwest China acknowledged for its natural and architectural beauty in national and international official heritage programmes.
    [Show full text]
  • BETWEEN TAIZIDANG and TUANPAI: 148 What’S Next for China’S Succession MAY Crisis? 2012
    CIDOB • Barcelona Centre for International for Affairs Centre CIDOB • Barcelona E-ISSN 2014-0843 opiniónASIA BETWEEN TAIZIDANG AND TUANPAI: 148 What’s next for China’s succession MAY crisis? 2012 Seán Golden, Senior Research Fellow associate, CIDOB oth the United States and the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) are facing succession crises in the autumn of 2012. One will be resolved by democrat- ic elections, the other by democratic centralism. In both cases short-term Band long-term strategies are at stake. In the short term, jockeying for power pro- motes radical rhetoric for immediate domestic consumption and political gain, even though this rhetoric could be counterproductive for any effective long-term strategy in a globalised economy. Beyond the short-term, radically different ideo- logical models are in conflict in both cases. In the US, a right-wing coalition of Christian fundamentalists and wealthy people who see no danger in restricting scientific research, social entitlement and civil empowerment, nor in eliminating the middle class, are seeking to dismantle the limited amount of social guarantees that were begun by the New Deal in the 1930’s, while an incumbent President whose re-election is uncertain is trying to defend them. In the PRC, a reform pro- gramme based on liberalising the economy in order to generate wealth efficiently faces resistance from forces, inside and outside of the Party, that defend the redis- tribution of wealth in order to guarantee social equity and State-centred control of the economy and the country. The power struggle taking place within the Party-State in the run-up to the reno- vation of its leadership in the 18th Chinese Communist Party National Congress next October, when the “fifth generation” of leaders (Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang) will replace the current generation (Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao), has become visible as a re- sult of the purging of Bo Xilai.
    [Show full text]
  • SUMMARY Rejuvenating Communism the Communist Youth
    SUMMARY Rejuvenating Communism The Communist Youth League as a Political Promotion Channel in Post-Mao China Jérôme Doyon Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2017 © 2017 Jérôme Doyon All rights reserved ABSTRACT Rejuvenating Communism : The Communist Youth League as a Political Promotion Channel in Post- Mao China Jérôme Doyon How does the Chinese Party-State renew its political elite and maintain its cohesion in the post-Mao era? This is a key question to understand the evolution of China’s political system and still the explanations one can find in the literature are far from satisfactory. Overall, the literature on transformation of the Chinese political elite focuses on the broad outcomes, the fact that since the 1980s officials tend to be younger and more educated, but it falls short in unveiling the mechanisms at play. It gives a limited answer to the elite renewal issue as it leaves politics aside. By focusing on educational levels and technical skills it forgets about the importance of political commitment. I approach these questions through a unique account of the role played by the Chinese Communist Youth League (CYL) in terms of cadres’ recruitment and promotion since the 1980s. Using biographical data and a snowball sample of 92 interviewees I reconstructed the trajectories of CYL cadres. Beyond my focus on the central organization of the CYL in Beijing, I compared the situation of the CYL in the capital cities of two very different provinces and in four universities.
    [Show full text]
  • China's Political Trajectory: Internal Contradictions and Inner-Party
    China’s Political Trajectory: Internal Contradictions and Inner-Party Democracy Cheng Li Brookings Institution and Hamilton College Draft paper prepared for the conference “The Rise of China” Mount Holyoke College March 7-8, 2008 1 Introduction This year marks the 30th anniversary of China’s policy of “reform and opening,” which was initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. During the past 30 years, China’s meteoric economic growth, profound societal transformations, and multi-faceted integration with the outside world have been widely recognized by both policymakers and the general public in the United States. Yet, the American China studies community seems to have been struck by a prolonged and peculiar sort of political blindness. The early signs of Chinese political experiments, such as genuine local elections and regional representations at the national leadership, have largely been overlooked.1 Some important socio-political forces unleashed by the country’s transition toward a market economy, including the emergence of an entrepreneurial class and a middle class, are commonly perceived as factors that are more likely to consolidate the existing authoritarian political system than to challenge it.2 The prevailing view in the United States is that, despite the economic dynamism exhibited by present-day China, the Chinese regime is still essentially a Communist system resistant to significant political change.3 Of course, China’s political development in the reform era, though intriguing and potentially consequential, has been far less fundamental or systemic than changes in the economic realm. Yet, it is too simplistic to think that the earthshaking socio-economic changes that have transformed China over the past three decades have taken place within a political vacuum, with no corresponding changes in the Chinese political system.
    [Show full text]
  • Rule of the Princelings
    Rule of the Princelings With his decisive Mandate, new Party Leader Xi Jinping Can Transform China. but Will he? By Cheng Li he much-anticipated 18th Party Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November unfolded according to that classic rhythm in the study Tof Chinese elite politics: predictability giving way to ambiguity, and optimism alternating with cynicism. Prior to the announcement of the composition of the new guard, led by new party General Secretary Xi Jinping, many analysts both in China and abroad had believed that the new leadership would continue to maintain the roughly equal balance of power that existed between the Jiang Zemin camp and the Hu Jintao camp. Yet in the end, the results were a huge surprise: the Jiang camp won a landslide victory by obtaining six out of the seven seats on the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) while only one leader in the Hu camp—Li Keqiang, now designated to become premier in March— was able to keep a seat on this supreme decision-making body. In the wake of the recent Bo Xilai scandal and the resulting crisis of CPC rule, many had anticipated that party leaders would adopt certain election mechanisms—what the Chinese authorities call “intra-party democracy”—to restore the party’s much-damaged legitimacy and to generate a sense that the new top leaders do indeed have an election-based new mandate to rule. For example, some analysts had anticipated that the CPC Central Committee might use competitive (though limited) multiple-candidate elections to select members of its leadership bodies, such as the twenty-five-member politburo or even the PSC.
    [Show full text]