Garret Dillon

Col. Sanborn

IS 336X

4/29/15

Help Received: Sources Cited G.D.

Word Count:1199 G.D.

Politics of China Reflective Essay

Before taking Politics in China, my exposure to the subject was embarrassingly limited.  To me the Chinese Communist Party was just a popular political movement in China and I had only vague knowledge of who Xi Jinping was.  As the semester progressed I gained an appreciation for the depth of the Chinese political system through class discussion, readings, documentaries, research papers and the virtual exchange with Hong Kong University students.   Now, as the class draws to a close, I can safely say I have a well-grounded understanding of China’s relationship with Hong Kong, the CCP’s authoritarian control over the government and the role of government accountability.

As my personal interest in Chinese politics grew over the semester, writing papers for IS 336X became less of an arduous task and more of an opportunity for investigation.  Unfortunately, it cost me a rocky start with the first paper to wake up and get onboard with this concept.  I resonated most strongly with my second paper which addressed how the Chinese government clashes with its citizens.  This paper focused mainly on media censorship and the recent unrest in Hong Kong, and I found that both issues had considerable depth the further I researched.  Censorship through the Chinese Communist Party Propaganda Department reaches through most (if not all)  news outlets, art galleries, publishing firms, and centers of education to manipulate the public’s perception of the ruling party and its activities.  Censorship uses diabolical and cunning methods to restrict the public’s access to information and methods of organization.  Next, my paper addressed the unrest in Hong Kong, following Beijing’s interference with the election process.  The CCP allows Hong Kong to have democratic elections, but only of pre approved candidates.  This tactic prevents Hong Kong from having their cake (democracy) and eating it too.  Finally, I predicted that Xi Jinping’s strict anti-corruption policies may cause a collapse of the Chinese Communist Party.  Jinping’s aggressive stance against corruption has made him unfavorable among senior party members,  many of which still view him as a newcomer in regards to the the rise of communist China.  The combination of a weakened ruling party and unrest in Hong Kong has potential to spark independence movements in the special administrative region.  Writing this paper pushed me to draw conclusions regarding the CCP’s relationship with Hong Kong, reaching beyond surface-level comprehension of China’s political system.

The virtual exchange regarding government accountability with Hong Kong University students was potentially the highlight of the course in my opinion.  I had expected the language barrier to be a greater obstacle, but to our benefit the majority of the students had a firm grasp of English.  I was surprised that the students suggested that the most effective method of holding the government accountable was by voting power.  Despite the CCP’s influence of elections.  they seemed optimistic about democracy in an authoritarian regime.  Nevertheless, the opportunity to discuss politics with students in Hong Kong was unique and invaluable enrichment for the course.

Out of all the speakers, my favorite was Dr. Xu’s presentation on Chinese opera.  Prior to this lecture, Chinese opera admittedly was not a subject I was chomping at the bit to dig into, however Dr. Xu’s enthusiasm, experience and knowledge showed how complex and fascinating this ancient artform is. As with the virtual exchange, this was a rare opportunity gain valuable insight into Chinese culture from a primary source.

My blog entries regarding government accountability in the United States focused on the role of them media in orchestrating collective action.  I suggested that voting power does not hold enough political efficacy and that student protests alone do not have enough momentum to create significant change in the government.  The media plays a key role in this by publicizing crucial political events and essentially advertising for an interest group or organization to take action and create change.  A prime example of this was the NAACP’s involvement with the Little Rock Nine following publicity of the National Guard-enforced high school integration in 1957.  If media attention did not escalate the significance of this event, the NAACP and Thurgood Marshall might not have intervened to such an extent.  An organization with political clout and money is crucial for government accountability and change, and the media is a catalyst for action.  I still agree with what I wrote, and am grateful that in the United States our options for holding our government accountable are more effective than in the PRC because of our First Amendment rights.

In my blog post regarding the PRC, media involvement is severely limited in promoting political action or government accountability due to censorship.  Collective action is very difficult to organize due to the CCP’s efforts to censor organization attempts.  Therefore in order to create change in the government, protest falls on upon university students more often than not.  Students provide an insular, politically volatile population that is easily organized through word of mouth and gossip while not having to worry about jobs or families.  The highest likelihood of collective action holding the government accountable lies with student bodies, which is interesting because it was mostly students who attacked and sometimes killed their professors during the Cultural Revolution in a Maoist frenzy.  Of the limited options Chinese citizens have, student-led protest is the most realistic choice.

Following the virtual exchange, I personally disagreed with the Hong Kong University students, failing to see that voting power was the most effective form of holding your government accountable.   However, upon further consideration, I realized my point of view is heavily influenced by American culture.  In the United States, the media feeds off government scandal and controversy, influencing public opinion and occasionally spurring change.   As students in Hong Kong, their view of accountability is tailored to the culture around them and in all likelihood it is vastly different from the American view of government and accountability.  I realized that perhaps they see voting power as the most democratic or feasible way of holding their government accountable given the political environment they are immersed in, which may be difficult to understand from the outside looking in (literally through a webcam in this case).

The virtual exchange helped me to see the relationship between Hong Kong and China.  Hong Kong is a special administrative region, free from a significant amount of the CCP’s control.  While not entirely uninfluenced by Beijing, Hong Kong enjoys greater freedom than the mainland, as we saw during the Umbrella Revolution.   This contributed to my overall understanding of China; that it has a broad range of political environments ranging from the rural and  troubled northwest to the industrious east.  The main observation came to realize was that the Chinese government has an immense administrative challenge internally, facing its issues with authoritarian control.

In conclusion, Politics in China has proved to be one of the most in depth studies to a foreign political system.  From the CCP’s complex relationship with Hong Kong, the authoritarian measures of control it utilizes, and the diverse approaches to government accountability, China remains at the forefront of Asian politics.  China’s role in the international community continues to gain momentum, therefore the necessity to understand its political climate is greater than ever.

PoliticsofChinaReflectiveEssay (word download w/footnotes)