Why does the Chinese government at the start of the 21st c. refuse to give its people democratic rights despite encouraging private enterprise in industry, commerce and agriculture and how do you see China developing in the future?

Authors Avatar
RUSHI PATEL 11M

WHY DOES THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT AT THE START OF THE 21st CENTURY REFUSE TO GIVE ITS PEOPLE DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS DESPITE ENCOURAGING PRIVATE ENTERPRISE IN INDUSTRY, COMMERCE AND AGRICULTURE AND HOW DO YOU SEE CHINA DEVELOPING IN THE FUTURE?

Chinas history is plagued with foreign intervention, invasion and natural disaster, but it is also booned with great, world leading technological advances and years of perfected heritage. The plain to see pattern that has formed over Chinas history is that during their failures there has been a lack of strong political leadership, and during prosperous years there has always been a single strong political rule.

'Among large countries, China has the worlds oldest continuous civilisation. It can point to 4,000 years of experience, plus gigantic size and accomplishments.' CHINA IN TRANSITION

Modern China holds a strong one party rule, but it holds one, which has a political aim. The economy in China is steadily growing and has a projected growth rate of 8% increase in G.D.P per annum. Huge amounts of foreign investment are fuelling rapid growth, especially in the southern boom areas.

China also has a huge population of 1,221,462,000 with a growth rate of around 1.2% (1991 - 2000 figure).

Many changes have taken place in China such as social change, industrialisation, environmental impacts and the development of two economies: the rural economy

& The city economy.

China under authoritarian communist rule has created three paradoxes, through a combination of these changes and the traditional political system.

They are:

- That freedom in industry, commerce and agriculture can exist in a society with strong authoritarian government.

2- That a free market economy exists alongside a communist government.

3- That in a communist state there is such a large rich / poor divide.

This leads to the questions of exactly how these paradoxes have occurred and stabilised in China? And to what extent is it due to the continuation of authoritarian rule in a society where there is increased freedom in all areas except politics? And how it accounts for authoritarian rule remaining in a modern China?

China's ancient and detailed past may account partly for the acceptance of strong authoritarian rule among many Chinese people. For over 4,000 years China has been ruled by a succession of strong leaders. During these periods of Empirical rule China has prospered in technology resulting in many good inventions originating from China. However, during short periods between dynasties or in times of weak leadership China has been subjected to civil war, foreign invasion, outside intervention and warlordism. Over a succession of generations the Chinese people have become aware of the need for a strong leader and therefore an acceptance of authoritarian rule has evolved.

The Chinese philosophy of yin and yang and the belief in the views of Confucius about a social hierarchy also mean that the Chinese do not question the lack of political freedom. The two major religions in China of Buddhism and Taoism both tell of the need to conform to the social norm by harmonising with the natural order. This can be seen on a family level where in China's past, life revolved around the order of leader, man, son, etc. where women had no property rights. This is now changed by the Marriage reform law of 1950 and is a basis for some of the communist's early support.

The Chinese people have had no need for political freedom over the last 4,000 years and many see no need for it now as living standards are rising for many people.

During the 19th century there was a decline in the strength of the emperors leading to problems with colonial powers forcing the Chinese into agreements that had bad consequences for the Chinese society. An example of this is the opium wars where the Chinese were forced to buy opium from the British and allow use of Chinese ports. During this time the Japanese launched raids into China causing discontent amongst the Chinese people. As part of one of these raids the Japanese took control of Korea, Taiwan and the Lushan province. People in these areas were treated very harshly. The word spread throughout China and people lost confidence in their weak emperors. A mistrust of foreigners came about from these events.

Also in the 19th century there were periods of warlordism leading to mistreatment of many people and corruption became widespread. The Chinese people recognise this as a result of weakness and have a definite reason for wanting strong rule in modern day China.

More recently, in the 1900s, the Chinese have suffered even more troubles as a result of no clear and powerful leader. The decline of emperors and their hold on the country as a result of European forced influence was all too obvious.

The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 showed how discontented with their rulers the Chinese were and how much hatred they felt towards foreigners because of their influence in Chinese affairs. It resulted in Europeans being captured and killed. The European response was just as brutal. They sent in armies to loot Beijing and the Boxers were executed in the streets.

In 1911 there was another rebellion. The focus of this rebellion was to overthrow the weak Manchu dynasty. The revolt started with a small part of the army in Wu-ch'ang (Located in the Hupeh province). As it grew it gained support from all over China. It marked the end of the 2,000-year-old imperial system.

On the 1 January 1912, the leader of the revolutionary alliance, Sun Yatsen was proclaimed Provisional President of the Chinese Republic. It marked the first attempt at democracy in China's recent history, although there was still a period of unrest in China. In 1915 the Japanese made their 21 demands. Sun Yatsen's successor, Emperor Shikai, gave in. Chinese people lost confidence in their new democratic government and saw them as weak.
Join now!


The period of time between 1916 and 1927 was marred by civil war, warlordism, further revolution, protest and local dictatorships. The time after the end of the First World War in China was full of discontent with foreigners. The Paris Peace Talks enforced the Japanese occupation of Shantung. In some cases warlords tried to make life easier for the peasants but many took advantage of the chaos to hold onto their power or take control. Villagers were treated extremely poorly and the warlords stole from them. Heavy and unfair taxes were introduced and enforced ruthlessly.

There was ...

This is a preview of the whole essay