China Rises
Inside the New China
A four-part television series and interactive Web site by The Times, The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the ZDF network of Germany.
In this section, political science Professor Ming Xia offers a scholarly perspective on the major political issues facing China today. It is divided into the following areas:
• Social Engineers for China's Transformation and the Visible Hand
• The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the "Party-State"
• Cadres: From Ideologues to "Technologues"
• Rights "Crusaders" and the Legal Profession: the Emerging Civil Society
• Corruption and Organized Crime
• The Governance Crisis and Democratization in China
• "China Threat" or a "Peaceful Rise of China"?
OVERVIEW
China is still a communist country. It is therefore quite logical for outside observers to simply label it as a "monolithic communist authoritarian state," "a totalitarian state," and a "Leninist
hierarchy." However, looking deeply, the matrix of power in China is far more complex than the essentialized description found in mass media and even in some standard textbooks. As Kenneth Lieberthal points out, the
political system in China consists of many vertical lines ("tiao") and horizontal pieces ("kuai"). To mesh and integrate the vertical command lines and the horizontal blocks is very demanding, so the
Chinese Communist Party has insisted on the principle of democratic centralism— which often is the case of centralism without democracy.
However, the gigantic size and underdeveloped economy have long left China in a cellular structure in which factionalism, localism and departmentalism could thrive. After reforms were introduced with an emphasis on decentralization and the retreat of the state from the economy, the traditional system was further fragmented. Some scholars have deemed the Chinese system a "fragmented authoritarianism"(Lieberthal), a "negotiated state" or a "consultative authoritarian regime." In other words, the current Chinese system has created space for autonomy, loopholes for bargaining, and hopes for democratization. Looking inside what was once known as the "party-state," today the Party and the state have been differentiated (for example, the people's congresses at all levels have started asserting their power to provide some checks upon the government and the judicial agencies). Local governments often pursue their own initiatives in defiance of the central directive, and tensions are often created between the center and the localities. In fact, Hong Kong today, as a Special Administrative Region, enjoys the highest degree of autonomy of all other provincial units, but its residents are demanding more. Looking at the state and its environment, the state has to manage a new relationship with the economy, the society, and the global community. The market forces in the economy, the civil society and dissident forces in the society, and international standards (for example, the WTO laws, international human rights values, etc) are pressuring and inducing the Chinese government to make more changes.
The fact that a Leninist Party has engineered China's rise is puzzling as well as adding uncertainty to this rise. It is against conventional wisdom that a communist party would have altered its core ideology and embraced a market economy. For a quarter century, that the marriage of "market Leninism" has lasted and is still going on begs for explanation. As China's rise continues, people have to ask two questions: First, can the current regime with a communist party continue to provide political foundation and institutional support to the soaring economy? Second, if the Chinese economy keeps going on like the past quarter century and expanding the size of a prosperous middle class, will China find a smooth pathway to democracy? At this moment, the CPC continues to insist that it is a valuable asset for China, the Chinese people, and their future. But it has also become evident, that the CPC is fighting against the mega-trend of history along with a few struggling junior partners such as North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba; by insisting that "without the CPC, there is no new China"—namely, the collateral damage resulting from the collapse of the CPC would be the downfall of the entire Chinese nation.
Continue to 'Social Engineers for China's Transformation and the Visible Hand' »
FURTHER READING
Kenneth Lieberthal, Governing China: From Revolution through Reform (New York: W.W. Norton, 2004).
Tony Saich, Governance and Politics of China (New York: Palgrave, 2001).
Yang Zhong, Local Government and Politics in China (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2003).
This Companion was written by
The College of Staten Island's Modern China Studies Group, an interdisciplinary program involving several departments, including Business, English, History, Modern Languages, Media Culture, Political Science, Sociology,
Anthropology and Social Work.