PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA• Official name: Zhonghua Renmin Gonghe Guo (People's Republic of China)
During the 1920s and '30s China slid into warlordism and civil war, aggravated from 1931 onwards by Japanese interference and eventually full-scale invasion. The two parties contending for control of China, the Guomindang (Nationalists) and the Communists, were equally authoritarian. In 1928 Chiang Kai-shek's Guomindang regime established a Legislative Yuan or Parliament, but this was not directly elected. 
After the defeat of Japan the Nationalist government regained control of
most of the country, and a new constitution was promulgated. Elections were
held in November 1947, again using a system of indirect election. The
Legislative Yuan elected in 1947 moved to Taiwan
in 1949 and was not dissolved until 1992.
By 1947 the Communists had launched a new civil war, which was to result in 1949 in the conquest of the whole country except Taiwan and the establishment of the People's Republic, led by Mao Zedong. The Communists established a People's Republic on the Soviet model, in which the Communist Party held all power and no opposition was tolerated. The Communists have retained power ever since. Since Mao's death in 1976 there has been a profound change in economic policy, amounting to an almost complete restoration of capitalism. This has greatly increased living standards, although it has created many other problems. There has also been a relaxation of everyday life, with the Communist Party no longer seeking to control the social, economic, religious or sexual lives of the population. But Mao's successors - Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao - have remained adamant that there will be no move to multi-party politics or free elections. There was a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing in 1989, and repression of overt opposition to the regime remains severe, if unpredictable. Freedom House's 2011 report on China says: "China is not an electoral democracy. The CCP has a monopoly on political power, and its nine-member Politburo Standing Committee sets government policy. Party members hold almost all top posts in the government, military, and internal security services, as well as in many economic entities and social organizations. The 3,000-member National People's Congress (NPC), which is elected for five-year terms by subnational congresses, formally elects the state president for up to two five-year terms, and confirms the premier after he is nominated by the president. However, the NPC is a largely symbolic body, meeting for just two weeks a year to approve proposed legislation... Opposition groups like the China Democracy Party (CDP) are suppressed, and members are imprisoned... In October, the U.S. Congressional- Executive Commission on China published a partial list of over 1,400 political prisoners, while the San Francisco–based Dui Hua Foundation estimated that 985 new arrests for "endangering state security" were made in 2010... Corruption remains endemic despite increased government antigraft efforts, generating growing public resentment... Despite relative freedom in private discussion and journalists' efforts to push the limits of permissible speech, China's media environment remains extremely restrictive... The government maintains an elaborate apparatus for censoring and monitoring internet use and personal communications, including via mobile telephones... The number of religious believers, including Christians, has expanded in recent years. Nevertheless, religious freedom is sharply curtailed... Freedoms of assembly and association are severely restricted... The CCP controls the judiciary and directs verdicts and sentences, particularly in politically sensitive cases... In 2010, the government continued its crackdown on civil rights lawyers, law firms, and NGOs offering legal services." Updated November 2011 |
