Chinese
Government and Politics
In the
People's Republic of China, Communism is still the main system of governing.
The national policy and law is determined by a 20-member Politburo of the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and, more importantly, its 7-member Standing
Committee. The president (currently Hu Jintao) is chief of state, chosen by the
2,987 members of the National People's Congress. Hu is also the general
secretary of the CCP, considered the government's most powerful position. The
premier (currently Wen Jiabao) is head of government and is nominated by the
president and confirmed by Congress. Members of Congress are indirectly elected
at local levels. In about half of all villages, local leaders are elected
rather than appointed. China's legislature, the National People's Congress, has
nearly 3,000 members. The voting age is 18.
The
central government emphasizes respect for and obedience to authority. Over
time, people have lost respect for some local and national leaders. The change
is slowly forcing local officials to be more accountable.
As more
urban Chinese are becoming wealthy in an expanding economy, the gap between
rich and poor is growing. This causes a problem due to the middle class often
supporting the rest of the economy (the affluent prospers from the middle class
and the poor depend on the middle class to pay for the needs they cannot afford
through taxes). Some areas are experiencing unrest because people are losing
their jobs and the traditional cradle-to-grave benefits of the danwei (work
group) system. This is a similar situation to the Cultural Revolution; people
were angry at the rich for “exploiting” the “innocent” and demanded that the
government make everyone equal. The idea of communism is to have all land,
businesses, and essentially the economy become government owned for the benefit
of The People. For the average person, having food, shelter, and clothing was
more desirable and understandable than the relatively abstract concept of
political freedom, and it is the same today.
Today, the people have more
say and knowledge of government action than in the Revolution.
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