Students in Beijing held protests in 1989 against a Chinese repressive government which at Tiananmen Square led to violence some students were even killed. The Bush administration did not intervene because they wanted to keep good ties with the Chinese leaders, so the response to the Chinese leaders was muted and cautious.
April 18, 1989 - Thousands of mourning students march through the capital to Tiananmen Square, calling for a more democratic government. In the weeks that follow, thousands of people join the students in the square to protest against China's Communist rulers.
May 13, 1989 - More than 100 students begin a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square. The number increases to several thousand over the next few days.
May 19, 1989 - A rally at Tiananmen Square draws an estimated 1.2 million people. General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, Zhao Ziyang, appears at the rally and pleads for an end to the demonstrations.
May 19, 1989 - Premier Li Peng imposes martial law.
June 1, 1989 - China halts live American news telecasts in Beijing, including CNN. Also reporters are prohibited from photographing or videotaping any of the demonstrations or Chinese troops.
June 2, 1989 - A reported 100,000 people attend a concert in Tiananmen Square by singer Hou Dejian, in support of the demonstrators.
June 4, 1989 - At about 1 a.m. Chinese troops reach Tiananmen Square. Throughout the day, Chinese troops fire on civilians and students, ending the demonstrations. An official death toll has never been released.
June 5, 1989 - An unidentified man stands alone in the street, blocking a column of Chinese tanks. He remains there for several minutes before being pulled away by onlookers. General Secretary -- Xi Jinping, head of party and state
National Party Congress -- More than 2000 delegates, meets 5 years to accept party leaders' decisions, elects central committee
Central Committee -- 340 members, 5 year term by national party congress, meets annually and carries out business of national party congress
Politburo -- Chosen by central committee, dictates government policies, meets in secret, about 25 members
Standing Committee -- 7 members, chosen by Politburo, mirror of faction influence
General Secretary -- Head of CCP, chosen from Standing Committee, technocrat National People's Congress -- "Formal" authority of government to rule on people's behalf
Meets once a year for two weeks
3,000 members, 5 year terms, chosen from lower people's congresses, theoretically chooses president and VP
Head of state -- President, 5 year terms, no limits, senior party leader, essentially dictator
Head of government --Le Keqiang, like a PM, appointed from president but from standing committee, directs the state council like a cabinet
State Council: (like a cabinet, direct bureaucracy)
Composed of Premier, cabinet of vice-premiers, state councilors, ministers, auditor general, and secretary general
Vice-premiers are nominated by the Premier and appointed by the President and the NPC approval.
CCP Influence:
General secretary is head of state
Party congress chooses actions of people's congress
NPC chooses state council members Joining CCP --
Largest political party in the world, 8% citizens members, youth league has 75 million members. Also allows eight democratic parties tightly controlled by CCP with advisory role, drawn from special group.
Voting --
Direct elections are held at local levels for villages and county, although party controls commissions that run elections and approves list of candidates
Interest groups --
Mass organizations under state corporatism allow people to express views within strict limits and form around occupations/social categories -- these danwei let party maintain social control (All-China trade union federation, All-China women's federation,...)
NGOs such as ping pong clubs and environmentalist clubs
Protests --
Falun Gong, Labor unrest, Tibet riots in 2008 olympics, Xinjiang riots with Uyghur dissatisfaction
In UK, a lot more people are allowed to participate in political matters. There are a lot more free elections, and less government control of everything. However, the interest groups do deal with the environment still.
In Russia, political participation is very similar to China. Everything is heavily controlled, and they are more subjects than participants. Protests are looked down upon and often punished. Both have Youth Groups (Nashi and Youth League). All have elections on the local level. China thinks Tibetans are a threat because the CCP believes they are against the government because Tibetans are not han-Chinese. For this reason Tibetans are treated poorly, to the point where their Dali lama had to flee to India so he wasn't kidnapped. China used the "vice-dalilama" as a way to keep the Tibetans under control until the "vice-dalilama" was thrown in prison for speaking out against the CCP.
Taiwan is another country. It one of the "two-Chinas". They are the democratic version of china who lost two the CCP and had to flee to Taiwan for safety.
One-Child policy was enacted to control overpopulation, but amid issues such as infanticide and gender imbalance, it has since been removed
China has liberalized economically and is trading significantly with US and West, although debt/surplus issues and "trade wars/imbalances" still remain issues
With high use of death penalty, high conviction rate, and low freedoms, human rights and detention is questionable, with many citizens (especially Uyghurs) being arbitrarily punished
The persecution of Falun Gong refers to the antireligious campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China, which maintains a doctrine of state atheism.[1] It is characterized by a multifaceted propaganda campaign, a program of enforced ideological conversion and re-education and a variety of extralegal coercive measures such as reportedly arbitrary arrests, forced labor and physical torture, sometimes resulting in death.[