The Developing Chinese Democracy
Name: Xia Xi-yuan Student ID：s07323
Research paper supervisor:Dr.Seku Conde
Minzu University of China
2007-2008 Academic Year
Abstract
This essay mainly reviews the history of the course of democratic construction in China, which contains Sun Yat-sen’s Three People Principles, Mao Ze-dong’s thought in democracy, and the democratic system in new China created by Chinese Communist Party. Besides, it introduces the practice of this system in rural and urban areas in China. In addition, there are some data and statistics concerned follow the introduction in every part. These effort and achievement made by Chinese people show the resolution and will of them to build a democratic, strong, and civilized country. And all above may present an image of a developing Chinese democracy.
Introduction
We know that the China’s democracy is a sensitive topic, though the history of construction of democracy in this country has lasted more than one century. And we should ask: why? The possible answers may be: some people in other countries see the situation of democracy in China with a conventional understanding to democracy and comment it in a western style. Such as the argument that China’s political system is dictatorial and people in this country do not own right and freedom. Or, they think that the Chinese government does not have any interest on the development of democracy. Even, a few people believe that socialism can not run with democracy and China is just like that. In brief, Chinese democracy is often misunderstood！So, I want to introduce the course of democratic construction in China and how that China’s democracy is developing. Because trough the review of the history of democratic construction in China, I can present the effort made by Chinese to the aim of a democratic country, and an image of a great political dream on democracy. Well, how can we start to look the story concerned this great dream? We should go back to 100 years ago when the idea of democracy began, and it can not divide from Doctor. Sun Yat-sen.
1, Three People Principles: the first try
Sun Yat-sen, who was born in Guangdong and educated in Hawaii and Japan, can be seen as “the father of the revolution of democracy in China”, and even in the west he is also considered the most important figure in modern Chinese history; All because he leads Chinese people to the success of struggling against the feudalism which last for more than 2000 years in China, and to the triumph of establishing the Chinese republic through democratic revolution in 1911.What extremely known by all is his idea of Three People Principles, created by himself.
The Three People Principles contains three parts just as its title tells us. Sun Yat-sen once said, “The French Revolution was ‘liberty, equality, and fraternity’. Like what the French Revolution proclaimed, ours is ‘Min-ts’n, Min-ch’uan, Min-sheng’ (People’s Nationalism, People’s Sovereignty, People’s Livelihood).”[1] So, we can understand the three principles as three principles: nationalism, democracy, and equalization. Or, we can say, these three principles were elevated to the status of basic principles: the Three People's Principles. The first article means that Chinese government should be in the hands of the Chinese people rather than any foreign imperial power. And secondly this government should be republican and democratically elected. Finally, the land ownership should be equalized among the people, wealth more evenly distributed, and the social effects of unbridled capitalism and commerce should be mitigated by government. The latter principle involved the nationalization of land, because Sun believed that land ownership allows too much power to accrue to the hands of landlords, which affect the latter Maoism deeply. In his nationalization theory, people would be deprived of the right to own land, but they could still retain other rights over the land by permission of the state.
Now let’s focus on Sun’s theory of democracy. Sun holds that the government should be divided into five branches: the executive, legislative, judicial, the censorate, and the civil service system. The latter two branches primarily functioned as a check on the first three, which are the more familiar with the branches of government in West. And then, let’s see the theory of democracy in itself, that is, “rule by the people”. This idea was based on four powers to be thought should be held by people. They are the right to vote, the right to recall, the power to initiate legislation, and the power to amend an old law. It is really a significant thought, from that Sun Yat-sen found the basis of Chinese democracy and China stamped her first footstep to construct a democratic society.
However, some scholars in the west criticize that Sun and other Chinese revolution pioneers may not get a good understanding of the concept of revolution in Europe, not least the word “liberty”, which is quite an important concept in western history though is looks very simple. The movement for liberty has played a large part in the history of Europe in the past two or three hundred years, so many Western scholars look upon liberty as a most significant thing, and have engaged in a rewarding study of its meaning. But since the word has been brought to China, only a few of the intelligentsia have had time to study and to understand it. If someone talk to the common people of China in the villages or on the streets about “liberty”, they may would have no idea of what we meant. For that, those who hold the critical opinion argue that the Chinese revolution may have fatal problem when it start.
But the fact possible is that it’s not our Chinese forerunners couldn’t understand the west well, but the Europeans don’t know China exactly. Europeans rebelled and fought for liberty because they had had too little liberty. But the Chinese that time have had too much liberty without any unity and resisting power, because they have become a sheet of loose sand and have been invaded by foreign imperialism so easily, without being able to resist. The historic require that time in China is just to break down the individual liberty and go together into “an unyielding body like the firm rock”[2], only by which this nation can avoid her unfortunate situation and become strong from a “weak man in East Asia”.
So, confronted with the historic situation that the Chinese people were not ready to exercise their right in voting, Sun argues that the people of China would require a period of time, in which they were trained to exercise democracy. By divide this period to the “Three Stages of Revolution”, and Sun want to the Chinese accept democracy gradually. In the first stage, a military rule would be established in order to dismantle completely the old form of imperial government. This early stage would be nothing less than a dictatorship. And then the revolution would enter its second stage, the “political tutelage” stage after the end of the old system. The state would still be a military autocracy, but the people would be trained to practice democracy by allowing them a certain amount of regional autonomy. The third stage would see the abandonment of the military autocracy and realize the total democracy.
The most aspects of Sun's thoughts were finally adopted by the Kuomintang after they hold the national power in 1928. However, unfortunately the Kuomintang was divided to different factions and this political idea was never really instituted in its government for some reasons itself and outside. The Chinese people had still not shaken off oppression, slavery and exploitation. What was the way out for China? To realize the dream of saving China and triumphing over imperialism and feudalism, the Chinese people needed new thought and new theories to find a new road for the Chinese revolution and establish a totally new political system. And here we should turn to discuss the democratic thought created by Mao Ze-dong and his comrades in Chinese Communism Party.
2, Mao and his “New Democracy”
Mao Ze-dong was born of a peasant family that was more or less prosperous. He was accepted basic education in local school and then converted to Marxism in 1918 when he served as a librarian in Beijing University. By joining the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), He then actively set about his revolutionary career. So, he was one of the 12 members who attended the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921 under the guidance of the Communist International, which in turn was directed by Soviet Russia. In 1925, he had grown to be a leader of the Red Army and began to consider the potential of organizing the peasantry and concentrated all his efforts on rural China. Following the Long March, he studied the texts of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin, and his writings on communism for the most part don't depart from the main idea of Marxism and Leninism. After the Long March, the Chinese Communism party and her army had commonly accepted and started to practice the political philosophy of Mao. In particular, Mao Ze-dong [...]
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