Tiananmen Protests: Social Disillusionment in China

• In the Mao era, university graduates were guaranteed jobs, along with free education, housing, and food.

Social Dilusion: The Tiananmen Protests, 1976

• People began questioning Chairman Mao's rule.
• Successors were appointed to continue their rule after their death.
• Mao's successor defected to the Soviet Union, raising questions.

Factions and Competition

• Factions competed, led by Mao's wife and Premier Zhou Enlai.
• Zhou Enlai, China's chief diplomat in the 50s and 60s, was a founding figure of the CCP, who may have been more important than Mao.
• Zhou Enlai's death triggered massive protests in Beijing, showing support and distaste for Cultural Revolution leaders.
• Protests occurred especially after Lin Biao's downfall

Mourning Zhou Enlai

• Crowds mourned Zhou Enlai's death on the traditional mourning day, April 5, 1976, in Beijing.
• The event wasn't spontaneous but supported by factions, resulting in a crackdown.
• Factions planned the internal elite post-Mao's death.

Death of Mao

• Mao died months later on September 9, 1976, triggering mass mourning in China.
• Everyone had to cry for at least seven days, even 20 days later, pupils still asked to cry in Beijing.
• Some cried due to the death of their 'god/supreme leader' and uncertainty, while others feared being labeled as reactionary.
• People were asked to sing, write poems, etc., about Mao.

The Fall of 'Gang of Four'

• The trial of the Gang of Four, including Mao's wife Jiang Qing, was broadcast in 1980 on television, radio, and newspapers.
• People in power used the trial as evidence of moving forward from China's past with laws and customs.
• The gang tried to consolidate power after Mao's death, but Mao's lieutenants collaborated to arrest them.
• Gang of Four members suffered during the Cultural Revolution, an example being Deng Xiaoping being sent to work on a tractor farm and humiliated.
• Mao selectively supported factions to keep them under control.
• After Mao, Hua Guofeng became the new "Great Leader”.

Deng Xiaoping's Comeback

• Deng Xiaoping was one of the chiefs of China's comeback.
• He tried to bring market elements back into China and was a key figure for post-Mao Chinese politics.
• Hua Guofeng was peacefully sidelined two years after Mao's death but treated well by the party.
• Deng was more market-oriented because he went to France as a work-study student at 16, in a city with lots of goldmines.
• Many leaders were educated in France and then went to the Soviet Union.

Deng as Paramount Leader

• Ideological differences arose between Hua and Deng, with Deng advocating "practice as the sole criterion of truth" vs. Hua's "two whatevers."
• Hua stated, "we will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Mao made, and unwaveringly follow whatever instructions Mao gave”.
• Hua secretly tried to institute market reforms without being too radical.
• Rehabilitations occurred for purged old-revolutionaries and "class enemies."
• Many suffered during the Mao era, and were now reinstated to power, becoming central to Chinese governance again.

Resuming College Admission

• College nomination required party secretary approval based on radicalism/obedience, not merit.
• The purpose was to learn and propagate Mao's ideology.
• In Mao's China, one could hold any academic position with only a bachelor's degree, which began improving in the 90s.

Emphasis on Science

• Special attention was given to science, technology, and intellectuals, as many professors were sent to clean farm stables under Mao.
• Deng emphasized bringing intellectuals back for technological advancement.

Foreign Relations

• Deng undertook an eight-day US tour in January 1979 as a vice premier.
• China needed to normalize diplomatic relations with western nations, especially the US.
• China's war with Vietnam, allied with the Soviet Union, was used as a pledge of allegiance to the US.
• Vietnam and Cambodia were communist, while the US was anti-Khmer Rouge.
• China informed Jimmy Carter of their intention to attack Vietnam.

Deng as Paramount Leader - Review

• "Two whatevers" vs. "practice as the sole criterion of testing truth” was an ideological difference between Hua and Deng.
• "We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unwaveringly follow whatever instructions Mao gave”.
• Rehabilitations occurred for the purged old-revolutionaries and "class enemies," along with resuming college admission exams.
• Special attention was given to science, technology, and intellectuals.
• Deng's eight-day US tour occurred in January 1979 as a vice premier.
• China had limited foreign exposure after the Korean War due to self-imposed isolation

Post-Mao China

• Post-Mao China operated as an Authoritarian Regime, like Spain in 1964, with Juan Linz.

Features of Authoritarianism

• Limited political pluralism, unlike totalitarian regimes.
• Small alternative groups exist like sole party-control vs. sub-party level organizations, and foreign business associations may have a say in party decision making.
• The CCP weakened to a degree, because it could not control all aspects of citizens' lives like during the Mao era.
• Power exercises are formally ill-defined but predictable, limited by a leader or small group.
• Mass mobilization campaigns were unlikely because party power was weaker than in the Mao era, therefore predictable.
• Distinctive 'mentalities' replaced elaborate ideologies.
• Appeals to emotion and recognizable societal problems occurred, like underdevelopment, with no effort to remake society or mobilize masses.

Issues with Term

• It was defined in opposition to totalitarianism.
• The concept was derived from observing social phenomena, not the Chinese society.

Post-Mao Reforms in Two Directions

• The state initiated reforms.
• The 3rd plenary of the 11th central committee of the CCP occurred in December 1978.
• there was an emphasis shift from "class struggles" to "economic constructions”.
• Four modernizations: agriculture, industry, science and technology, defense

Societal Initiatives

• Peasants spontaneously aimed to improve agricultural production.
• Urban intellectuals demanded “political modernization”.
• Cadres were exposed to influences from the West.

China's Economic Transition

• Maoism focused on class struggles where ideology and revolution overwhelmed economic affairs.
• Mass campaigns promoted industrialization while denying economic stimuli.
• Egalitarian distribution included regional evenness, and "the poorer the more revolutionary" mindset prevailed.
• Post-Mao reformism emphasized economic development as the priority
• Bureaucratic management of economic activities grew, with material incentives for improving production.
• "To allow a portion of the people to first get rich" allowed uneven regional development and that "to get rich is to get glorious".

China's Economic Transition - Institutional Changes

• Maoism involved public ownership of industries/services and state planning.
• Self-reliance, autarky, and minimum international economic connections defined Maoism.
• "Iron bowl": no laying-off, no self-employment
• Post-Mao reform had diverse ownerships, a market economy with strong state roles, opening up, promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) and foreign trade, and engagement in internationalization/globalization.
• The introduction of market mechanisms into labor relations, gave freedom of mobility to leave danwei.

Strategies of China's Economic Transition

• Strategies involved pragmaticism, incrementalism, and decentralization.
• "White or black, the cat that catches mice is a good cat": pragmatic criterion
• There was allowing private and foreign ownership.
• “Touching stones to cross the river": the error-test strategy
• "Go fast with the green light, go through with the yellow light, go a detour with the red light” was a way to practice local experiments ignoring central policies.
• Localities were allowed to see how they would mix different aspects of capitalism with the Chinese economy.
• Special experiment zones were established in the 1980s with Shenzhen as an example.
• The first batch were Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Xiamen in 1980, and Hainan island in 1984.
• The new zones all had a coastal location near the South China sea.
• Shenzhen was chosen because it was close to Hong Kong, transforming it from a rural area to a hub of international commercial relationships through Chinese overseas diaspora connections.

Side Effects of Economic Openness

• Increased contact with the West and capitalist societies became evident on university campuses in the 1980s.
• A college student playing guitar in the dormitory in the 1980s existed.
• There were international students from Switzerland in China in 1983 compared to little to no international students in Mao China.
• Cafes came about on campus, in addition to college students holding dolls, with posters of the USA, university students learning ballroom dance were all signs.

Societal Pressure

• Societal pressure calling for democracy gradually built up.
• The Xidan wall of democracy in Beijing in 1979 had a poster asking if it should be muzzled.
• University students campaigned during the 1980 elections of local people's representatives, with banners asking, "why am I coming out to run for the election?”.

Deng Xiaoping's Attitude

• Deng Xiaoping had an ambivalent and cautious attitude towards political reform
• The early 1980s were a tug of war: “the liberalization impulse in the year of an even number, and the conservative backlash in the year of an odd number”.
• Deng Xiaoping emphasized political reform in 1980 which meant bringing back experienced people into government, enterprise, and welfare.
• He emphasized the "four cardinal principles" of "insisting on" the CCP's leadership, the proletarian dictatorship, socialism, and Mao Zedong thought.
• There was also the political campaign of "opposing spiritual pollutions” in 1983.

Post-Mao Political Reform

• Deng Xiaoping was being held in the book, where the man and woman were smoking cigarettes, drinking wine, short skirts, music, dollar bills, etc. – all things that would have been outlawed and seen as corrupt.
• The government needed to make certain political reforms to increase productivity.

Two Waves of Post-Mao Political Reform

• The late 1970s and early 1980s was under the leadership of Hu Yaobang.
• The late 1980s was under the leadership of Zhao Ziyang.
• Hu Yaobang's Reforms emphasized "practice as the sole criterion of truth” in 1978 and “emancipation of thought" by getting rid of the political/ideological legacies of the cultural revolution.
• His reforms involved criticizing Mao's personality cult, debates among elites around “de-mao-ization”, and the small consensus for defending Mao
• Hu advocated for less political control over speech, media, and his popularity among intellectuals, while tolerating small-scale social protests.
• Hu's Reforms also consisted of retirement after a limited time, and new standards for elite recruitment: from Mao's “red” formula to “being revolutionary, knowledgeable, professional, and young”, with him leading to the rise of technocrats and basic legal reform through restorations of the court system, and advocacy of "rule by law.”

Zhang Ziyang's Political Reforms

• Deng Xiaoping emphasized these in 1986 and the the political reform for "matching economic reform”.
• Zhao Ziyang proposed a policy to reconfigure the communist party and to promote the administrator-responsibility system in economic and social cells particularly in enterprises (reduction of party supremacy in danwei) by handing technical and professional decision making roles to the most qualified.
• Party secretaries were moved to different roles, like community building and social activities (instead of being the main decision-making body).

Intiatives

• Removing the parties from the center
• There was huge resistance from the underqualified party secretaries and the introduction of the civil service system into the state.
• A competitive election was brought forth, from deng-e xuanju (single candidate election) to cha-e xuanju (competitive election).
• Intitiating "social deliberative dialogues” between governments and citizens
• CCPs power was reduced in personnel management of non-CCP organizations eg. trade unions, womens associations, youth league, student associations.
• Decrees to increase the “satellite” parties' autonomy and their participation in state governance
• Cultural Revolution (CR) occurred and both revolutionaries and Chinese society suffered from Mao's dictatorship.

Hu's Reform

• It estabilished norms for leadership in post-Mao politics, reducing dictatorship and estabilishing rights to citizens such as rule by law.
• It also rationalized politics from Mao's focus on mass campaign to management as well as class struggles.
• Zhao reshaped state-society relations which caused tension between the previously totalitarian state and emerging forces, but still liberalized the law.

Comparison of Deng Xiaoping

• Deng Xiaopings political reform aimed to promote economic efficiency and enhance national power instead of political transparency.

Historical Comparison

• The Chinese political system had areas of political reform that had not been touched. This includes succession and the military. There was also resistance to reform from bureaucrats and the old revolutionaries.

Aspects of Post-Mao China

• China had an authoritarian regime that was not weak, as it adopted limited political pluralism. A leader exercised formally ill-defined limits by a leader or small group.

Reforms

• Peasants sought to improve agriculture while cadres adapted exposure from the west, but the structure contained problems from disagreements with local conditions and equal distribution.

Social Change

• There were processes from 1979-84, which were accomplished in five years. Household responsibility resulted in officials tolerating changes.
• A series of collective action lead to collapse of the commune system

Comparison of Collectivization

• Marriages and contact with the outside world shifted from parents to cadres, which restricted social mobility. Post collectivization saw higher mobility on the market.

Hukou

• Many post Mao systems looked at restrictions from the period. Hukou status, linked to your birthplace tied citizens to resources, but this resulted in a gap between rural citizens and the urban danwei system. There was not transferability without a job to move or get a hukou, which can still be a way to get a better life.

Liberty & Law

• Chinese citizens used slogans to call for liberty, democracy, and rule of law, leading to a variety of citizens to protest.

Crackdown and Aftermath

• Deng Xiaoping and others crackdown on protestors by declaring matial law and Zhao Ziyang was deprived of power.
• The Tiananmen Crackdown, and Western embagos occurred.

Impact

• Reform-minded leaders, cadres, and intellectuals were sidelined, and the suspension of political reform.

Economic Expansion

• There has been mass GDP Growth in China, leading to the growth of economic structure beyond agriculture.

Economic Globalization

• The integration in 2001 allowed China to gain the economic scale it has today. They accomplished it via cross border trade and labor. This contributed to wealth as well as exploitation.