The repression of Charter 08 reflects the modern CCP’s attitude toward any kind of organized opposition. I can’t really analyze the document or the relevance of the censorship attempted by the CCP until I understand more about both the specific situation and the government structure in general, but Saich notes that the CCP allocated “significant resources… to preventing its spread on the internet.” (Saich, 100).

Naturally, posting it here for later review comes as a matter of course.

Below is a summary of the document and the surrounding controversy from the Congressional Commission on China, as well as a link to Charter 08 itself:

Charter 08 Summary

The Univeral Declaration of Human Rights

This post will be updated as I understand more about the subject.

This post, meant to provide a quick overview of important players in PRC history, will be updated continually.

Mao Zedong

Zhou Enlai

Zhao Ziyang

Xi Jinping

Hua Goufeng

Hu Jintao

Deng Xiaoping

Zhu Rongji

Jiang Zemin

The first two assigned chapters to the Saich book, Governance and Politics of China (GPC), cover China’s political history from the birth of the People’s Republic in 1949 to essentially the modern day in 2010. The background the book provides is dense but necessary to understand how (and why) the Chinese government exists as it does today.

I personally lack a solid historical background of Chinese history, so the chapters, while dry, were especially useful in establishing a basis of a kind. The timeline of the tumultuous path the PRC has taken since 1949 is still a little unclear, however.

The BBC’s profile on China has been useful to simplify the main events. The link below leads to a timeline of key events in Chinese history, including the important political actions and programmes Saich describes. The timeline includes landmarks not included in the book, this helps to separate political events from each other.

BBC China Profile – Timeline

The BBC’s profile in general is a useful overview of the state.