Democracy in China

Democracy (Chinese: "minzhu", meaning "people as masters") forms the basis of ongoing debate concerning governance in China. Many pro-democracy supporters within the People's Republic of China assert that the nation has successfully overcome much of the anticipated challenges faced during the transition from a communist to a capitalist economy, thus there is no longer a need for prolonged political repression. Historically, the ruling Communist Party of China has viewed pro-democracy movements as tools of foreign powers. Conversely, the Republic of China (Taiwan) has enjoyed a democratic system of government since its formation in 1911, while the Special Administrative Regions of the PRC, Hong Kong and Macau, operate under partial democratic systems, both being former British and Portuguese colonies respectively.

Background

The last days of the Qing Dynasty were marked by civil unrests and foreign invasions. Various internal rebellions caused millions of war dead and conflicts with foreign powers almost always resulted in humiliating unequal treaties that forced huge sums of reparation and compromised territorial integrity. In addition, there were feelings that political power should return to the majority Han Chinese from the minority Manchus. Responding to these civil failures and discontent, the Qing Imperial Court did attempt to reform the government in various ways, such as the decision to draft a constitution in 1906, the establishment of provincial legislatures in 1909, and the preparation for a national parliament in 1910. However, many of these measures were opposed by the conservatives of the Qing Court, and many reformers were either imprisoned or executed outright. The failures of the Imperial Court to enact such reforming measures of political liberalization and modernization caused the reformists to steer toward the road of revolution.

There were many revolutionary groups, but the most organized one was founded by Sun Yat-sen, a republican and anti-Qing activist who became increasingly popular among the overseas Chinese and Chinese students abroad, especially in Japan. In 1905 Sun founded the Tongmenghui in Tokyo with Huang Xing, a popular leader of the Chinese revolutionary movement in Japan, as his deputy. This movement, generously supported by overseas Chinese funds, also gained political support with regional military officers and some of the reformers who had fled China after the Hundred Days' Reform. Sun's political philosophy was conceptualized in 1897, first enunciated in Tokyo in 1905, and modified through the early 1920s. It centered on the Three Principles of the People: "nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood". The principle of nationalism called for overthrowing the Manchus and ending foreign hegemony over China. The second principle, democracy, was used to describe Sun's goal of a popularly elected republican form of government. People's livelihood, often referred to as socialism, was aimed at helping the common people through regulation of the ownership of the means of production and land.

The Republican Era of China began with the outbreak of revolution on October 10, 1911, in Wuchang, the capital of Hubei Province, among discontented modernized army units whose anti-Qing plot had been uncovered. This would be known as the Wuchang Uprising which is celebrated as Double Tenth Day in Taiwan. It had been preceded by numerous abortive uprisings and organized protests inside China. The revolt quickly spread to neighboring cities, and Tongmenghui members throughout the country rose in immediate support of the Wuchang revolutionary forces. On October 12, the Revolutionaries succeeded in capturing Hankou and Hanyang.

However, this euphoria over the revolution was short-lived. On October 27, Yuan Shikai was appointed by the Qing Court to lead his New Armies, including the First Army led by Feng Guozhang and the Second Army led by Duan Qirui, to retake the city of Wuhan, which was taken by the Revolutionary Army on October 11. The Revolutionary Army had some six thousand troops to fend off nearly fifteen thousand of Yuan's New Army. On November 11, the Revolutionaries retreated from Wuhan to Hanyang. By November 27, Hanyang was also lost and the Revolutionaries had to return to their starting point, Wuchang. However, during some fifty days of warfare against Yuan's army, fifteen of the twenty-four provinces had declared their independence of the Qing empire. A month later, Sun Yat-sen returned to China from the United States, where he had been raising funds among overseas Chinese and American sympathizers. On January 1, 1912, delegates from the independent provinces elected Sun Yat-sen as the first Provisional President of the Republic of China.

Because of the short period and fervor in which the provinces declared independence from the Qing Court, Yuan Shikai felt that it was in his best interest to negotiate with the Revolutionaries. Yuan agreed to accept the Republic of China, and as such most of the rest of the New Armies were now turned against the Qing Dynasty. The chain of events forced the last emperor of China, Puyi, to abdicate, on February 12 upon Yuan Shikai's suggestion to Empress Dowager Longyu, who signed the abdication papers. Puyi was allowed to continue living in the Forbidden City, however. The Republic of China officially succeeded the Qing Dynasty.

The first national government of the Chinese Republic was established on January 1, 1912, in Nanjing, with Sun Yat-sen as the president. The original founding of the Republic centered on the Three Principles of the People (san min zhuyi): nationalism, democracy, and people's livelihood. Delegates from China's many provinces were sent to publicly legitimize the authority of the national government, and they later also formed the first parliament. The limited acts passed by this government included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty and some economic initiatives. From then until 1949 China was a republican state.

In reality however, Republican China was politically unstable during that time period. China during that time was marked by local battles between warlords, foreign invasion, and civil war. Although there were elected legislators, from its inception, it was actually a largely one-party dictatorship apart from some minor parties, including the Chinese Youth Party, the National Socialist Party and the Rural Construction Party, with suppression of dissent within the KMT of the Communists. As the central government was quite weak, little could be done in terms of land reform or redistribution of wealth either. Politics of this era consisted primarily of the political and military struggle between the KMT and the CPC in between bouts of active military resistance against Japanese invasion.

Criticism

While economic and social controls have been greatly relaxed in China since the 1960s, political freedom is still tightly controlled by both central and local governments. The Constitution of the People's Republic of China states that the "fundamental rights" of citizens include freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a fair trial, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and property rights. However, these provisions do not afford significant protection against criminal prosecution by the State.

Censorship of political speech and information is openly and routinely used to silence criticism of government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party. In particular, press control is notoriously tight: Reporters Without Borders considers the People's Republic of China one of the least free countries in the world for the press. The government has a policy of limiting some protests and organizations that it considers a threat to social stability and national unity, as was the case with the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. The Communist Party has had mixed success at controlling information: a very strong media control system faces very strong market forces, an increasingly educated citizenry and cultural change that are making China more open. In some cases, especially on environmental issues, China's leaders see expressions of public dissatisfaction as a catalyst for positive change.

A number of foreign governments and NGOs routinely criticize the People's Republic of China, alleging widespread human rights violations including systematic use of lengthy detention without trial, forced confessions, torture, mistreatment of prisoners, restrictions of freedom of speech, assembly, association, religion, the press, and labor rights. China leads the world in capital punishment, accounting for roughly 90% of total executions in 2004. Human rights issues are one of the factors driving independence movements in Tibet and Xinjiang. In the Reporters Without Borders' Annual World Press Freedom Index of 2005, the People's Republic of China ranked 159 out of 167 places. Chinese journalist He Qinglian in her 2004 book Media Control in China documents government controls on the Internet and other media in China.

The People's Republic of China government has responded by arguing that the notion of human rights should take into account a country's present level of economic development, and focus more on the people's rights to subsistence and development in poorer countries. The rise in the standard of living, literacy and life expectancy for the average Chinese in the last three decades is seen by the government as tangible progress made in human rights. Efforts in the past decade to combat deadly natural disasters, such as the perennial Yangtze River floods, and work-related accidents are also portrayed in China as progress in human rights.

Devolution

Main article: Politics of Hong Kong

Main article: Politics of Macao

Although China is currently far away from a full fledge civil democracy, Hong Kong and Macao as Self Administrative Regions do have some essences of liberal democracy. Both Hong Kong and Macao have legislatures; 30 of Hong Kong's 60 legislators are directly elected, as are 12 of Macao's 29. Also, like grassroots elections in China, Hong Kong does hold elections for the district counsel, which act as consultants to the government.