A Modern World Study - Modern China.

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GCSE Coursework: A Modern World Study - Modern China

Why does the Chinese government at the start of the twenty-first century reuse to give its people democratic rights despite encouraging private enterprise in industry, commerce and agriculture and how do you see this situation developing in the next few years?

Jason Torquato 10L

China has experienced many wars and revolutions in its very long history, and even though it has had this rough past, China have still become one of the main world powers and have an extraordinarily large economy. China is now a major developing country in the world, and it still hasn't given its people democracy. It is now the only world power not to have a democratic government and the question that has baffled many people for years is "Why isn't China giving its people democracy?" Especially since it is increasingly a capitalist country, and capitalism is strongly linked with democracy.

The early authoritarian rulers of China believed in the Mandate of Heaven which is based on three principles, these are; the right to rule is granted by heaven, there is only one heaven therefore there can only be one ruler, the right to rule is based on the virtue of the ruler. The beliefs are still the same now and this is why the Chinese government refuses to give its people democratic rights. If they gave people democratic rights it would be going against the second principle and this mandate is considered to be holy and it would be going against their ancestor's wishes to have a democratic state. This idea was expanded to explain the dynastic cycle: When rulers became weak of corrupt, the Chinese believed that heaven withdrew its support and gave it to another ruler. China's own philosophy is that an authoritarian ruler backs private enterprise but keeps a tight rein on political expression. This philosophy backs up the current situation in China; they are becoming a major world power with large exports while still managing to be a communist state. The Chinese government believes that to have a successful economy China should only be run by only one person. This belief that China shouldn't be democratic has been around since 200BC. The fact that one person is leader gives them more power and gives the ruler prestige and due to the Mandate of Heaven it also gives them religious importance.

Confucius, a mid-ranking official born around 551BC was very influential until 1949, when the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) were elected. Under Mao, the leader of the CCP, Confucius was denounced as a backward looking influence on China and during the cultural revolution of 1966-76 every trace of Confucius' writing, and even the house he was said to have been born in were destroyed. The whole idea of not having a democratic government was down to Confucius, he was the person who taught the Chinese people that a bad ruler "heaven's mandate" and forfeits his right to rule. His contempt for unworthy leaders proved useful for toppling ailing dynasties. He was one of the creators of the Mandate of Heaven and that was the beginning of China being ruled by only one person and everyone else had no say. In the last 20 years Confucius has come back into favour under the reformist Chinese government led by Deng Xiaoping. He was also to blame for the tyranny in each dynasty.
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The Chinese government are refusing to give its people democratic rights because of what happened in the first half of the 20th century as well as the other reasons. In the 19th century Britain opened up ports to Chinese traders in Hong Kong and China was feeling threatened by Western forces. In 1894 the Japanese defeated the Chinese fleet even though the Japanese were considered as the inferior nation. The Chinese refuse to give people democratic rights because they fear that this could happen again because everyone would have their own say and the government wouldn't have as ...

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