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OVERVIEW OF CHINA'S POLITICAL SYSTEM

• History

  The People's Republic of China
  The Great Leap Forward and the Sino-Soviet Split
  The Cultural Revolution
  The Post-Mao Era
  1989 Student Movement and Tiananmen Square
  Third Generation of Leaders

• Government

  Chinese Communist Party
  State Structure
  Legal System

CHRONOLOGY OF CHINA UNDER MAO

Overview of China's Political System

History

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China in Beijing. The new government assumed control of a people exhausted by two generations of war and social conflict, and an economy devastated by high inflation and the disruption of the transportation and communications systems. Chinese communist leaders quickly installed a new political and economic order modeled on the Soviet example.

In the early 1950s, China achieved impressive economic and social rehabilitation. The government gained popular support by curbing inflation, restoring the economy, and rebuilding many war-damaged industrial plants. The CCP's authority reached into almost every phase of Chinese life. Party control was assured by strong, politically loyal security and military forces, a government apparatus responsive to party direction, and ranks of party members in labor, women's, and other mass organizations.

The Great Leap Forward and the Sino-Soviet Split

In 1958, Mao broke with the Soviet model and announced a new economic program, the "Great Leap Forward," aimed at rapidly raising industrial and agricultural production. Giant cooperatives (communes) were formed, and "backyard factories" dotted the Chinese landscape. The results were disastrous. Normal market mechanisms were disrupted, agricultural production fell behind, and China's people exhausted themselves producing what turned out to be shoddy, unsaleable goods. Within a year, starvation appeared even in fertile agricultural areas. From 1960 to 1961, the combination of poor planning during the Great Leap Forward and bad weather resulted in famine.

The already strained Sino-Soviet relationship deteriorated sharply in 1959, when the Soviets started to restrict the flow of scientific and technological information to China. The dispute escalated, and the Soviets withdrew all of their personnel from China in August 1960. In 1960, the Soviets and the Chinese began to have disputes openly in international forums.

The Cultural Revolution

In the early 1960s, State President Liu Shaoqi and his protege, Party General Secretary Deng Xiaoping, took over direction of the party and adopted pragmatic economic policies at odds with Mao's revolutionary vision. Dissatisfied with China's new direction and his own reduced authority, Party Chairman Mao launched a massive political attack on Liu, Deng, and other pragmatists in the spring of 1966. The new movement, the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," was unprecedented in communist history. For the first time, a section of the Chinese communist leadership sought to rally popular opposition against another leadership group. China was set on a course of political and social anarchy which lasted the better part of a decade.

In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Mao and his "closest comrade in arms," National Defense Minister Lin Biao, charged Liu, Deng, and other top party leaders with dragging China back toward capitalism. Radical youth organizations, called Red Guards, attacked party and state organizations at all levels, seeking out leaders who would not bend to the radical wind. In reaction to this turmoil, some local People's Liberation Army (PLA) commanders and other officials maneuvered to outwardly back Mao and the radicals while actually taking steps to rein in local radical activity.

Gradually, Red Guard and other radical activity subsided, and the Chinese political situation stabilized along complex factional lines. The leadership conflict came to a head in September 1971, when Party Vice Chairman and Defense Minister Lin Biao reportedly tried to stage a coup against Mao; Lin Biao allegedly later died in a plane crash in Mongolia.

In the aftermath of the Lin Biao incident, many officials criticized and dismissed during 1966-69 were reinstated. Chief among these was Deng Xiaoping, who reemerged in 1973 and was confirmed in 1975 in the concurrent posts of Politburo Standing Committee member, PLA Chief of Staff, and Vice Premier.

The ideological struggle between more pragmatic, veteran party officials and the radicals re-emerged with a vengeance in late 1975. Mao's wife, Jiang Qing, and three close Cultural Revolution associates (later dubbed the "Gang of Four") launched a media campaign against Deng. In January of 1976, Premier Zhou Enlai, a popular political figure, died of cancer. On April 5, Beijing citizens staged a spontaneous demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Zhou's memory, with strong political overtones in support of Deng. The authorities forcibly suppressed the demonstration. Deng was blamed for the disorder and stripped of all official positions, although he retained his party membership.

The Post Mao Era

Mao's death in September 1976 removed a towering figure from Chinese politics and set off a scramble for succession. Former Minister of Pubic Security Hua Guofeng was quickly confirmed as Party Chairman and Premier. A month after Mao's death, Hua, backed by the PLA, arrested Jiang Qing and other members of the "Gang of Four." After extensive deliberations, the Chinese Communist Party leadership reinstated Deng Xiaoping to all of his previous posts at the 11th Party Congress in August 1977. Deng then led the effort to place government control in the hands of veteran party officials opposed to the radical excesses of the previous two decades.

The new, pragmatic leadership emphasized economic development and renounced mass political movements. At the pivotal December 1978 Third Plenum (of the 11th Party Congress Central Committee), the leadership adopted economic reform policies aimed at expanding rural income and incentives, encouraging experiments in enterprise autonomy, reducing central planning, and establishing direct foreign investment in China. The plenum also decided to accelerate the pace of legal reform, culminating in the passage of several new legal codes by the National People's Congress in June 1979.

After 1979, the Chinese leadership moved toward more pragmatic positions in almost all fields. The party encouraged artists, writers, and journalists to adopt more critical approaches, although open attacks on party authority were not permitted. In late 1980, Mao's Cultural Revolution was officially proclaimed a catastrophe. Hua Guofeng, a protege of Mao, was replaced as Premier in 1980 by reformist Sichuan party chief Zhao Ziyang and as party General Secretary in 1981 by the even more reformist Communist Youth League chairman Hu Yaobang.

Reform policies brought great improvements in the standard of living, especially for urban workers and for farmers who took advantage of opportunities to diversify crops and establish village industries. Literature and the arts blossomed, and Chinese intellectuals established extensive links with scholars in other countries.

At the same time, however, political dissent as well as social problems such as inflation, urban migration, and prostitution emerged. Although students and intellectuals urged greater reforms, some party elders increasingly questioned the pace and the ultimate goals of the reform program. In December of 1986, student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, staged protests against the slow pace of reform, confirming party elders' fear that the current reform program was leading to social instability. Hu Yaobang, a protege of Deng and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for the protests and forced to resign as CCP General Secretary in January 1987. Premier Zhao Ziyang was made General Secretary and Li Peng, former Vice Premier and Minister of Electric Power and Water Conservancy, was made Premier.

1989 Student Movement and Tiananmen Square

After Zhao became the party General Secretary, the economic and political reforms he had championed came under increasing attack. His proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate which grew more heated through the winter of 1988-89.

The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, provided the backdrop for a large scale protest movement by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. University students and other citizens in Beijing camped out at Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform. Their protests, which grew despite government efforts to contain them, called for an end to official corruption and for defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution. Protests also spread through many other cities, including Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Martial law was declared on May 20, 1989. Late on July 3 and early on the morning of June 4, military units were brought into Beijing. They used armed force to clear demonstrators from the streets. There are no official estimates of deaths in Beijing, but most observers believe that casualties numbered in the hundreds.

After June 4, while foreign governments expressed horror at the brutal suppression of the demonstrators, the central government eliminated remaining sources of organized opposition, detained large numbers of protesters, and required political reeducation not only for students but also for large numbers of party cadre and government officials.

Following the resurgence of conservatives in the aftermath of June 4, economic reform slowed until given new impetus by Deng Xiaoping's dramatic visit to southern China in early 1992. Deng's renewed push for a market-oriented economy received official sanction at the 14th Party Congress later in the year as a number of younger, reform-minded leaders began their rise to top positions. Deng and his supporters argued that managing the economy in a way that increased living standards should be China's primary policy objective, even if "capitalist" measures were adopted. Subsequent to the visit, the Communist Party Politburo publicly issued an endorsement of Deng's policies of economic openness. Though not completely eschewing political reform, China has consistently
placed overwhelming priority on the opening of its economy.

Third Generation of Leaders

Deng's health deteriorated in the years prior to his death in 1997. During that time, President Jiang Zemin and other members of his generation gradually assumed control of the day-to-day functions of government. This "third generation" leadership governs collectively with President Jiang at the center.

In March 1998, Jiang was re-elected President during the 9th National People's Congress. Premier Li Peng was constitutionally required to step down from that post. He was elected to the chairmanship of the National People's Congress. Zhu Rongji was selected to replace Li as Premier.

China is firmly committed to economic reform and opening to the outside world. The Chinese leadership has identified reform of state industries as a government priority. Government strategies for achieving that goal include large-scale privatization of unprofitable state-owned enterprises. The leadership has also downsized the government bureaucracy.

Government

Chinese Communist Party

The 58 million member CCP, authoritarian in structure and ideology, continues to dominate government and society. Nevertheless, China's population, geographical vastness, and social diversity frustrate attempts to rule by fiat from Beijing. Central leaders must increasingly build consensus for new policies among party members, local and regional leaders, influential non-party members, and the population at large.

In periods of relative liberalization, the influence of people and organizations outside the formal party structure has tended to increase, particularly in the economic realm. This phenomenon is apparent today in the rapidly developing coastal region. Nevertheless, in all important government, economic, and cultural institutions in China, party committees work to see that party and state policy guidance is followed and that non-party members do not create autonomous organizations that could challenge party rule. Party control is tightest in government offices and in urban economic, industrial, and cultural settings; it is considerably looser in the rural areas, where the majority of the people live.

Theoretically, the party's highest body is the Party Congress, which is supposed to meet at least once every 5 years. The primary organs of power in the Communist Party include:

-- The seven-member Politburo Standing Committee; 

-- The Politburo, consisting of 22 full members (including the members of the Politburo Standing Committee);

-- The Secretariat, the principal administrative mechanism of the CCP, headed by the General Secretary;

-- The Military Commission;

-- The Discipline Inspection Commission, which is charged with rooting out corruption and malfeasance among party cadres.

State Structure

The Chinese Government has always been subordinate to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP); its role is to implement party policies. The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the President, and the State Council. Members of the State Council include Premier Zhu Rongji, a variable number of vice premiers (now four), five state councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State Council commissions.

Under the Chinese Constitution, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China. It meets annually for about 2 weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. These initiatives are presented to the NPC for consideration by the State Council after previous endorsement by the Communist Party's Central Committee. Although the NPC generally approves State Council policy and personnel recommendations, various NPC committees hold active debate in closed sessions, and changes may be made to accommodate alternate views.

When the NPC is not in session, its permanent organ, the Standing Committee, exercises state power.

Legal System

The government's efforts to promote rule of law are significant and ongoing. After the Cultural Revolution, China's leaders aimed to develop a legal system to restrain abuses of official authority and revolutionary excesses. In 1982, the National People's Congress adopted a new state constitution that emphasized the rule of law under which even party leaders are theoretically held accountable.

Since 1979, when the drive to establish a functioning legal system began, more than 300 laws and regulations, most of them in the economic area, have been promulgated. The use of mediation committees--informed groups of citizens who resolve about 90% of China's civil disputes and some minor criminal cases at no cost to the parties--is one innovative device. There are more than 800,000 such committees in both rural and urban areas.

Legal reform became a government priority in the 1990s. Legislation designed to modernize and professionalize the nation's lawyers, judges, and prisons was enacted. The 1994 Administrative Procedure Law allows citizens to sue officials for abuse of authority or malfeasance. In addition, the criminal law and the criminal procedures laws were amended to introduce significant reforms. The criminal law amendments abolished the crime of "counter-revolutionary" activity, while criminal procedures reforms encouraged establishment of a more transparent, adversarial trial process. The Chinese Constitution and laws provide for fundamental human rights, including due process, but theses are often ignored in practice.

Chronology of China Under Mao

1949
The Communist Red Army defeats the Nationalists in a civil war. The People's Republic of China (P.R.C.) is established on October 1. Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists retreat to the island of Taiwan.

1950
Signing of Sino-Soviet Treaty. China enters the Korean War; Marriage Law promulgated, providing freedom of marriage and divorce.

1952
Basic land reform completed after a five-year campaign. All land deeds destroyed and land redistributed (roughly two million landlords executed).

1953
Korean War armistice. Inauguration of P.R.C.'s First Five-Year Plan, relying on Soviet model of industrial development.

1954-55
Zhou Enlai plays a major role at the Geneva Convention and the Bandung Conference, establishing a new diplomatic prominence for the P.R.C. First constitution of the P.R.C. is promulgated. Collectivization of agriculture is stepped up.

1956-57
In the wake of Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalin and political explosions in Poland and Hungary, Mao calls for a "Hundred Flowers Movement" to improve the relationship between the CCP and the people. Critics soon attack the legitimacy of CCP rule. The Party responds with an "anti-rightist campaign," suppressing the opposition.

1958-9
Mao promotes a "Great Leap Forward" in economic development, relying on mass mobilization, the commune system, and indigenous methods. The effort fails for the most part because of administrative weakness aggravated by bad weather. P.R.C. attacks offshore islands under Nationalist control (September, 1958). In August, 1959, Defense Minister Peng Dehuai ousted after he criticizes Mao's sponsorship of the Great Leap Forward; replaced by Lin Biao.

1960
Withdrawal of the Soviet technical advisors, widening the Sino-Soviet rift. Return to more conventional economic development policies to deal with the post-Great Leap Forward depression.

1961-65
The polity and economy recover, but the CCP becomes increasingly divided over how to pursue economic development, with Mao and his more radical associates pitted against Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and other moderate leaders. Lin Biao, defense minister and one of Mao's allies, leads campaigns to increase political consciousness in the military by stressing the study of Mao's thought. China detonates its first nuclear device (1964).

1966-69
Mao leads the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution," to attack the Party bureaucracy that was frustrating his initiatives and to revive revolutionary commitment. Millions of youths (the Red Guards) are mobilized, the Party-state machinery is crippled and a host of Party veterans - most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping - are purged. Mao is forced to call the army in to end the resultant disorder.

1969
The Ninth National Congress of the CCP issues a new Party Constitution that names Lin Biao as "Comrade Mao Zedong's close comrade-in-arms and successor."

1971
The beginning of Sino-American rapprochement. Death of Lin Biao after alleged coup attempt (September). P.R.C succeeds to China's seat in the United Nations (October).

1972
Nixon visits the P.R.C. Shanghai Communiqué signed.

1973
Deng Xiaoping reappears in public for the first time since the Cultural Revolution (April). In August, the CCP's Tenth Congress issues a new Party Constitution, eliminating a clause naming Lin Biao as Mao's successor.

1974
Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and other moderate leaders chip away at policies introduced during the Cultural Revolution. Radical forces mount a campaign to "criticize Confucius," ostensibly to eliminate feudal ways of thought but actually to defend the Cultural Revolution and indirectly attack Zhou.

1975
Fourth National People's Congress is convened. Zhou Enlai outlines an economic modernization plan for the P.R.C, but radical opposition is apparent. Deng Xiaoping is elected to Politburo Standing Committee. However, his approach to economic development, education, and science comes under increasing attack by Mao's more radical followers.

1976
Zhou Enlai dies (January 8). Hua Guofeng is named acting premier (February 7) amid expectations that Deng Xiaoping would succeed Zhou. A mass demonstration occurs in Beijing's Tiananmen Square over the removal of wreaths honoring Zhou Enlai (April 5). The Politburo strips Deng of all his posts and names Hua Guofeng full premier and first vice chairman of the CCP (April 7). Zhu De dies (July 6). The northern city of Tangshan is struck by a massive earthquake (July 28) that kills close to a million people. Mao Zedong dies (September 9). Four weeks later (October 6), Hua Guofeng leads the arrest of influential radicals, including Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen and Yao Wenyuan (soon labeled the "gang of four"). Hua, already Premier, now becomes chairman of the CCP and chairman of its Military Affairs Commission, thus officially succeeding Mao.

From Focus on Asian Studies, Vol. IV, No. 1, Fall 1984 (New York: The Asia Society)