Chinese Society in Transition Essay

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Introduction

The civil society has come along way in China mainly as result of the failure of political opposition to establish transformation in the state. The Chinese evolution begun after Mao’s death that saw his follower Deng Xioping bring about reforms that strived for secularization bringing along with them the freedom of expression of public opinions. He used the support from the intelligentsia to legitimize his policy. Those who were opposed to Mao’s reign were summoned by Hu Yaobang, then acting as Deng’s representative, for thought liberalization which allowed criticisms. Feudalism was denounced in a conference launched by Deng. This was after he defeated the neo-Maoists during the rehabilitation of the Tiananmen incident that occurred on 5th April 1976 and after the third party plenum. Ye Jianying stated at the time, “Xidan democracy wall is a model of people’s democracy” (Hu Jiwei, pg 49).

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Discussions take place in the Great Hall of the People as well as in the streets. Matters took a different turn in March 1979, when Deng formalized the limitations imposed on political debate repressing the Democracy Wall movement and sentencing those involved to long jail terms without sparking any reaction from the intelligentsia. This in turn opened a way for the start of the struggle for a civil society by the citizens.

Social change and conflicts

In 1979, Deng successfully effected a new policy which saw people’s communes dismantled and opened China to the global market. This policy benefited the farmers who occupied a vast part of China and represented the majority of the population as they were able to sell their produce on the free market. The standards of living in the rural areas increased considerably during this time until after 1985 that thing begun to change. On the urban side the state received massive support from workers in the city. The pressure felt in the city by city dwellers was reduced as workers experienced an increase in their salaries as well as opening of more job opportunities mainly through self-employment also referred to as the geti hu. Workers also enjoyed rewards for hard work by getting bonuses. The state made firms responsible for their profits and losses. With the state restructuring the SOEs to be either jointly owned, semi-privatized, on contract and/or having shareholders, dissatisfaction among the workers rose especially as the income gap increased between the rich and poor. The workers were also exploited by private entrepreneurs who were out to maximize profits with less regard to their plights. Other social issues included involvement of corruption of officials, businessmen in illegal activities and the extravagant spending and wasting of the wealthy while the poor had nothing. (Sang Ye, pg10-60).

Division in the party remained on the Communist ideology with conservatives fighting for minimum reforms on one hand and reformers who were ready to adapt modernization at all costs. They settled on collaboration between reformers, intellectuals within and outside the establishment. “Communist Party reformers and intellectuals were very close, for the party was very tolerant during the 1980s. It was absolutely necessary for them to work together” (Bao Zunxin, quoted in Beja, pg 110).

A form of civil society emerged in the late eighties which comprised of semi-independent organizations as it had proved difficult to form a political opposition thereby pushing the radical reformers for pluralism without making any contact with workers/peasants. Stability began to be questioned both in the rural and urban areas as the people became discontented especially when the state lacked funds to pay for produces and increased disparities between the rich and poor. The height of discontent increased especially after the 1988 price reforms that led to increased inflation at a high of 14%. This was further enhanced by Hu Yaobang’s dismissal as party general secretary in 1987 which meant reforms from inside had been made difficult. As a result, students took to the streets in protest in 1989 and got massive support from intellectuals and the urban population demanding democracy and freedom as well as denouncing corruption and authoritarianism. This resulted in the fall of Zhao Ziyang as general secretary and demands for dialogue between the state and the civil society which was by now autonomous. The leaders rejected the call for dialogue and thus left no option for the civil society for defeat. (Xiuyin, pg 124-157).

As a result of using force, the people lost interest in socialism. Deng in his bid to promote secularization decided to put an end to struggles between the neo-Maoists and reformers by emphasizing on the fact that any policy that supported economic development was good, a strategy that won him collaboration in both economic development and authoritarian rule. The political system therefore had to remain the same in order to achieve its goals of development. The intellectuals got improved standards of living and were allowed to increase their academic levels on condition that they do not revive any organization that will push for transformation and do not link with the disgruntled population in escalating their dissatisfaction to political demands. (Xiuyin, pg 124-157).

The intellectuals saw collaboration as the only way for prosperity and the fact that they are consulted makers them feel recognized even though at the end of the day the decision lies with the state. A number of committees have been formed enhancing governance in China. Here the intellectuals use them to help adapt policies that are required by the society.

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The Chinese government has also been considerable by allowing international non-governmental organization in their regime , a thing they had resisted for long. These NGOs include organizations such as Medecins sans frontieres, Oxfam, the Ford Foundation and many others. The development of Chinese NGOs has also increased though with restrictions from the state. The government controls the activities of these NGOs by deciding on which categories should exist and forming them itself. It provides charity to help out instead of helping the weak categories organize to enable them defend their interests.

China Today

The government still controls political freedom though the constitution provides for fundamental rights of its citizens. These include the freedom of religion, speech, press, right to fair trial, universal suffrage and property rights. on the contrary these provision cannot protect one from state prosecution. The state also controls political speech and information that is vital for social stability. Changes that have taken place with an increase of educated citizens and cultural changes have made the Chinese people more open to their surroundings a thing that has made it hard for the government to control the media as regards provision of information. ( Gerard and Krishan, pg 390).

There is widespread violation of human rights that is experienced in China that has resulted in the government’s control over media including the internet and formation of independence movements in Tibet and Xinjiang. Some of these violations are detention without trial, forced confession, torture and mistreatment of prisoners, labor rights and restriction of speech, press, assembly and religion. This can be seen in the case of Tibet on 10th March where monks marched peacefully to protest against being forced to denounce Dalai Lama, their spiritual leader that later led to violence against non-Tibetians. The state dealt with the issue in cruel manner by use of force and even ended foreign media access and permitted only guided media tours. The real struggle has been between a nationalist majority and an ethnic and religious minority looking to secure its rights. Negotiations have since began between the two.

The government argues that economic development should be used as a measure of human rights and that the same should be focused on subsistence and development of poorer countries. To them progress in human rights can be elevated by the rise in living standards, literacy and life expectancy for the average Chinese as well as efforts in combating work-related accidents and deadly natural disasters as was the case of the Sichuan earthquake. The Sichuan earthquake of 12th May struck leaving more than 87,000 dead or missing millions homeless and an estimated 14,000people buried under the rubble. the entire nation participated in a bid to rescue survivors, bury those that had died and assist the injured. People were airlifted to safety and more than 100 NGOs collaborated and coordinated to provide relief services. The state and society worked in unison and the flag raised half way for three days to commemorate the victims. Funds were raised from firms and individuals and a through audit kept in place for accountability and transparency to prevent misuse and corruption. (Yang, pg 246).

Theoretically, the family is the bedrock of the Chinese people. Many children are seen to be leaving their hometowns in search of jobs leaving the elderly alone. The one child policy of 1979 has brought about a generation of spoilt and individualistic children who lack the inclination to support their parents. These policy is seen to be failing as more parents prefer to have more children through illegal ways with some ready to pay the fines, others marrying and then divorcing, while the rest go abroad. Most of the population consists of old couples living alone a thing that has made many rethink about the whole meaning of family. The children, especially street children are often at risk of exploitation, slavery and other forms of abuse and therefore measures to protect them have been put in place by the collaborations from Ministry of Civil Affairs and NGOs like Save the Children.

The Chinese government has embraced a great deal of traditional culture as an integral part of the Chinese society lauding it as an important achievement of the Chinese people and emphasizing it as vital to a.(<http/:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/china> ). The traditional Chinese culture including art, literature, music etc has attracted a lot of interest worldwide. Their culture also emphasizes fitness and this can be seen from their oldest sporting activities i.e. badminton, soccer, martial arts, basketball just but to name a few. The recent 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing as a host city was able to show the world their seriousness in sports and recreational activities by striving for excellence and developing world class sports venues, subways and airport expansions designed by world’s leading architectures. (Yang, pg 243).

Work Cited

Bao Zunxin, quoted in Beja, 2004: 110. Web.

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Delanty, Gerard and Kumar, Krishan. The SAGE Handbook of Nations and Nationalism. SAGE, 2006. 577 pages

Hu Jiwei, 2004: 49. Web.

Sang, Ye. China Candid: The People on the People’s Republic. University of California Press. 2006.

Whiting, M. L Dominic.China’s New Empty Nest. NewsweekChina. 2008.

Xiuyin, Shin. The Development Course of Chinese Social Psychology,”Opening Age”, Guangzhou. 1997. pp 124-157.

Yang, Dali. Forced Harmony:China’s Olympic Roller coaster. 2008.

Zakaria, Fareed. Don’t feed China Nationalism. Web.

Zhenglai, Deng and Yuejin, Jing. Constructing Civil Society in China. Chinese social sciences journal ( Hong Kong Edition). 1992.

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Whiting, M. L Dominic.China’s New Empty Nest. NewsweekChina. 2008.

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IvyPanda. (2021) 'Chinese Society in Transition'. 23 October.

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IvyPanda. 2021. "Chinese Society in Transition." October 23, 2021. https://ivypanda.com/essays/chinese-society-in-transition/.

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