The History and Political Economy of the Peoples Republic of China (1949-2014) Lecturer, Douglas Lee, PhD, JD Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Dominican University of California Spring, 2018
Flag of The Republic of China, 1927-1949 on Chinese Mainland 1949-2018 on the Island of Taiwan
Flag of the Peoples Republic of China, 1949-present
Flags of ROC & PRC distinguished Republic of China Peoples Republic of China Name Use
8 Week Lecture Schedule 1. Origins & Early History of the PRC: 1921-1959 2. The Enigma of Maoist leadership & Ideology 3. The Later Maoist Era: 1960-1978 4. Deng Xiaoping and China s Modernization 1978-97 5. The Mechanics of Deng s Reforms and China s Modernization 6. The Chinese Political Economy, Part I: Political Change via a series of new leaders and new agendas 7. The Chinese Political Economy, Part II: Economic Reform and China s modernization 8. The Chinese Political Economy, Part III: Some prospects about the Future of China
Lecture 1: The Origins & Early History of the PRC, 1949-1959 1. Origins of the PRC, 1921-1949 2. Liberation and the New Order, 1949-1951 3. The Korean War 1950-1952 4. Socialist Transformation, 1951-1959 5. Foreign Policy and Foreign Relations, 1949-1959 6. Moderate Retrenchment, 1959- early 1960 s 7. Chinese Society & Culture, 1949-1959
Estimated Population of China 1900 400 million 1980 981 million 1910 423 million 1990 1.13 billion 1920 472 million 2000 1.26 billion 1930 489 million 2010 1.34 billion 1940 520 million 2020 1.44 billion 1950 556 million 1960 682 million 1970 825 million
1. Origins of the PRC 1. 1911 Double Ten Revolution Dr. Sun Yat sen s 3 Principles 2. 1912-1927 Dictatorship & Warlords 3. May Fourth 1919 Movement 4. 1923-1949 Titan struggled between the New Right of the Nationalists and the New Left of the Communists, 2 alliances and 2 civil wars, & War with Japan (WW II)
Emergent Nationalist (GMD) Leadership, 1912-1926
Warlord Era, 1916-1926
May 4, 1919 Incident & Movement
1923-1949 CCP-KMT/GMD Years of Struggle
KMT/GMD Nationalist Era 1927-1949, Camelot and the Dark Side of the Force
Life & Death Struggle of the New Right (KMT/GMD) and the New Left (CCP/CPC) 1. The 1 st GMD/CCP United Front, 1923-1926 (Anti- Warlords) 2. The 1 st CMD/CCP Civil War, 1927-1936 3. The 2 nd GMD/CCP United Front,1936-1945 (Anti- Japan) 4. The 2 nd GND/CCP Civil War, 1945-1949
2. Liberation and the New Order, 1949-1951 1. Military victory over the Nationalists 2. 10-1-49 Peiping now called Beijing, PRC proclaimed 3. Huge Challenges facing the new leadership 4. Attention to Immediate Basics first 5. Mao calls for an All China Peoples Political Consultative Conference (ACPPC) 9-12-49 6. Organic Law of Central People s Government 7. Mao s New Democracy (1949-1953) 8. Democratic Dictatorship CCP leads w/4 classes 9. Democratic Centralism elected bodies of reps, approved by and responsible to higher authority
Building the New Order
Challenges Facing the New PRC 1. Plight of the Peasant-Farmer Class 2. Divorced Realities of Urban & Rural China 3. Foreign Economic Control of Treaty Ports 4. Financial Burden of Foreign Debt 5. Nascent Industry-Technology Development 6. Embryonic State of Economic Infrastructure Communications, Transportation, & Finance 7. Failures of Nationalist (KMT/GMD)Reform Policies 8. Distraction-Destruction of 25 years of constant warfare 9. Foreign relations, challenges in early Cold War
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Party Membership 1921 12 1922 195 1923 450 1925 994 1927 57,968 1928 40,000 1945 1,210,000 1956 10,730,000 2000 60,000,000 CCP Party Congresses 1 st party congress 1921 (Shanghai) 2 nd party congress 1922 (Shanghai) 3 rd party congress 1923 (Guangzhou) (Canton) 4 th party congress 1925 (Shanghai) 5 th party congress 1927 (Wuhan) 6 th party congress 1928 (Moscow) 7 th party congress 1945 (Yan an) (Yenan) 8 th party congress 1956 (Beijing) 9 th party congress 1969 (Beijing) 10 th party congress 1973 (Beijing) 11 th party congress 1977 (Beijing) 12 th party congress 1982 (Beijing) 13 th party congress 1987 (Beijing) 14 th party congress 1992 (Beijing) 15 th party congress 1997 (Beijing) 16 th party congress 2002 (Beijing) 17 th party congress 2007 (Beijing) 18 th party congress 2012 (Beijing) 19 th party congress 2017 (Beijing)
Organization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) (1956 CCP Constitution) (Representative, Executive, Administrative, & Control) 1. Chairman of the CCP (1) (executive) 2. Politburo Standing Committee (7) 3. Politburo (10+) (executive) 4. Standing Committee of Central Committee (30-50) 5. Central Committee of CCP (100-120) (Executive) dozens of Central Committee committees e.g. foreign affairs, defense, education, energy, space 6. Party Congress of the CCP (representive) CCP Secretariat, headed by Party Secretary General (administrative) Central Control Commission, with a Chairman (Control/Military) Peoples Liberation Army (PLA)
Organization of the new Chinese Unitary Party- State System 1949-1979 Chinese Communist Party Chairman of CCP Politburo Standing Committee (7) Politburo (10-15) Standing Committee of the central The Central Committee (30-50) Central Committee of CCP (100+) Committees of Central Committee Peoples Republic of China Central People s Govt. Council (Ex, Leg, Jud,) Chairman of the PRC & 6 vice chairs State Administrative Council Premier & several vice premiers 4 State Ad Council Committees legal/pol; Finance/Econ; Cult/Ed; & peoples supervision Foreign Affairs, Education, State Ministries & Commissions 6 regional bureaus Identical party organization Each province & autonomous at local level in each province and in each autonomous region Region has its own administrative apparatus similar to national one *Both sides linked by common personnel & legislative process
1949-1997, Tripod of Power in the PRC PRC Chairman of PRC (formal title, no power) (Peoples Republic of China) Premier & State Council CCP (Chinese Communist Party) Chairman of CCP Commission Chairman of Politburo PLA (Peoples Liberation Army) Chairman Military Affairs Chairman of Central Committee
The Characteristics of the New Order 1. PRC is not a classic Communist state (e.g. the USSR) 2. No dictatorship of the Proletariat 3. Mao s New Democracy Democratic Dictatorship CCP leads w/4 classes Democratic Centralism elected bodies of reps, approved by and responsible to higher authority 4. CCP co-exists with other political parties 5. A Chinese (Maoist) brand of Communism 6. The Chinese Unitary Party State System 7. Socialism and Communism working together 8. Focus on Women and ethnic minority groups 9. Continuity of the Centralized Bureaucratic Model of Imperial China (Spokes of a wheel formula)
3. The Korean War, 1950-1952 1. How Korea Became Divided after WW II 2. The narrative of the war 3. The significance of the war for China 4. Consequences for China s Foreign Relations 5. Consequences for China s Domestic Front 6. The Korean War, as Opening Salvo of the Cold War in Asia 7. The Korean War s Impact on China s Future independence, chauvinistic, brinkmanship
4. Socialist Transformation, 1951-1957 1. Mao s ultimate goal, versus strategies 2. The Revolution is not just a political change 3. CCP goal of Socialist Transformation 4. Root out all that is feudal, imperialist, capitalist, and put into place a new society 5. The Mass Mobilization Campaign 6. The 3 Anti and 5 Anti Campaigns 1951-53 Anti-Old Officials, Anti-Businessmen, Industrialists 7. Land Reform 1950-1952 (1953-54 1 st Nat. Peoples Congress and 1954 Constitution of PRC) New Agenda 8. Hukou System established, Rural Collectivization, Urban Danwei (Neighborhood reporting/monitoring syst) 9. Anti-Rightest & The Hundred Flowers Campaign 1956-57 10. The Great Leap Forward 1958-1960 (Communes)
The Great Leap Forward, 1958-1959 1. Origins in CCP Intra-Party competition & Conflict 2. Overlay of USSR-PRC Rivalry, 1954-1964 3. Mao s Intent and Vision 4. The Agenda and its ultimate Failure(s) 5. Consequences of the Great Leap Mao, The Moderates, and China, 6. Legacy of the Great Leap Forward
Photos During the Great Leap Forward Era
Photos from the Great Leap Forward Era
5. Chinese Foreign Policy and Foreign Relations, 1949-1965 1. The small window of opportunity 1949-1951 2. The Deep freeze of the Korean War 1950-1978 3. Zhou Enlai, Premier of the PRC & Foreign minister 4. Alliance with USSR & Warsaw Pact 1950-1960 5. 1954 Geneva Conference on Indochina 6. 1955 Bandung Conference of Non-Aligned States 7. 1959-1960 s start of Sino-Soviet Schism 8. 1950-1958 The Taiwan Dilemma 9. 1962 Sino-Indian border clashes 10. Mao s Support of Wars of National Liberation
6. Era of Moderate Retrenchment 1959-1964 1. The Mao-Zhou Partnership, The Odd Couple 2. The Honeymoon period, 1949-1958 3. The Great Leap & The Great Rupture, 1958-1960 4. Take Over of China by the Moderates, 1960-1964 5. Mao is kicked upstairs into heavenly retirement 6. Achievements of the new Moderate Leadership
7. Chinese Society & Culture, 1949-1959 1. The New Institutional Framework 2. The New Ideological Constructs 3. Socialist Transformation of Chinese Society 4. An Evolving Command Economy 5. Urban versus Rural China (2 worlds apart) 6. Elites in a non-elite society; Non-Elites as Elites 7. The New Popular Culture (Red versus Expert) 8. Education, Science, Arts, Humanities 9. Population control: A Missed Opportunity 10. Discrepancies between the Ideal and Reality Chinese daily life, gender, class, age, ethnicity