Basic History:
Mao and the Communist Party came to power in 1949. They went through the "Great Leap Forward" which industrialized China, but killed somewhere around thirty million people in the process between 1958 and 1961. A cultural revolution began in the 1970s, coming with the death of Mao, which changed the political and economic landscape greatly. Upset with the harsh rule of communism, in 1989 a large number of student protestors stood against the Party in Tiananmen Square, resulting in the military stepping in and slaughtering hundreds. That's the basics. Their history since Mao is bloody, corrupt, and nowadays just really hard to breath over there.
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| Say what you want about the communists, but they've got a heck of a symbol. |
The Leaders:
The heads of the Party, no longer having anyone as important as Mao, are as close to nameless and faceless as you can get. The public rarely sees them, and they deliberately feel distanced from the general populace. They're essentially devoid of character; their past is hidden, or pretty well rebuilt as to make it seem like they've been all about the party since they were born - shot out of the womb carrying a hammer and sickle or something.
So... are they actually the government? Well, it gets incredibly murky. The government is typically made up of Party members, but Party members are not necessarily a part of the government. The Party is a separate entity, but largely controls the government moves, as well as economic, military, and political choices, but they don't directly represent the government. It's actually so confusing that many Chinese don't entirely understand it either, and many of the backdoor deals and decision making tends to happen not entirely by the book. Keep in mind, "the book" is basically what the Party chooses to do in the moment.
But believe me - you want to be in the Party. It comes with power, prestige, and a good social standing, and these advantages are so strong that there's a black market for buying and selling positions in the Party. Basically, you bribe a Party member that's able to get you in, pay a massive lump sum, and hope the guy isn't scamming you. We'll dive more into corruption later, however - that's a section all on it's own.
Military:
The military here, in the U.S., and pretty well all democratic countries fights for the whole of the country rather than a specific party. Not so in China - the military is the Party's military, fighting on their behalf. It helps to keep the Party in power, and maintaining that power is of critical importance to the Communist Party.
The role of the military has changed, however. Currently, the military is largely used to help protect the importing and control of oil reserves, and extra funding is helping to transform it into something considered world class. The payment for members of the military is a decent, livable wage, and their accommodations are fair. It's really not very exciting - but it hasn't always been this way.
In the 1950s China struck oil, allowing them to be self-sufficient in terms of their energy needs, so the military wasn't really needed to oversee things quite as much back then as it was within their own borders. The military was paid incredibly poorly, so they stuck their nose in big business. They would actually control a number of enterprises, and in turn, many of the top military men found tremendous wealth, driving around in fancy cars and living in extravagance - as far as nice cars and extravagance in 1950s China goes. Eventually they reformed it and they were sent "back to the barracks". Now it seems at least somewhat less corrupt, so... they have a leg up on pretty much everything else.
Don't forget that military forces also help to crush dissent. The media, the economy, the government, it's all controlled by the Party. The military helps to keep it that way.
So what you should have learned by now is the Communist Party of China is intensely powerful. They have control of everything, either directly or indirectly. But what about the economy? How's the whole central planning thing working out? If Putin had a fight with China over who is more corrupt, who wins? (The answer is they are both winning, and winning plenty.) All this and more in part two.
The heads of the Party, no longer having anyone as important as Mao, are as close to nameless and faceless as you can get. The public rarely sees them, and they deliberately feel distanced from the general populace. They're essentially devoid of character; their past is hidden, or pretty well rebuilt as to make it seem like they've been all about the party since they were born - shot out of the womb carrying a hammer and sickle or something.
So... are they actually the government? Well, it gets incredibly murky. The government is typically made up of Party members, but Party members are not necessarily a part of the government. The Party is a separate entity, but largely controls the government moves, as well as economic, military, and political choices, but they don't directly represent the government. It's actually so confusing that many Chinese don't entirely understand it either, and many of the backdoor deals and decision making tends to happen not entirely by the book. Keep in mind, "the book" is basically what the Party chooses to do in the moment.
But believe me - you want to be in the Party. It comes with power, prestige, and a good social standing, and these advantages are so strong that there's a black market for buying and selling positions in the Party. Basically, you bribe a Party member that's able to get you in, pay a massive lump sum, and hope the guy isn't scamming you. We'll dive more into corruption later, however - that's a section all on it's own.
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| Mao Zedong; voted "Best Dressed" in the Politburo. |
Military:
The military here, in the U.S., and pretty well all democratic countries fights for the whole of the country rather than a specific party. Not so in China - the military is the Party's military, fighting on their behalf. It helps to keep the Party in power, and maintaining that power is of critical importance to the Communist Party.
The role of the military has changed, however. Currently, the military is largely used to help protect the importing and control of oil reserves, and extra funding is helping to transform it into something considered world class. The payment for members of the military is a decent, livable wage, and their accommodations are fair. It's really not very exciting - but it hasn't always been this way.
In the 1950s China struck oil, allowing them to be self-sufficient in terms of their energy needs, so the military wasn't really needed to oversee things quite as much back then as it was within their own borders. The military was paid incredibly poorly, so they stuck their nose in big business. They would actually control a number of enterprises, and in turn, many of the top military men found tremendous wealth, driving around in fancy cars and living in extravagance - as far as nice cars and extravagance in 1950s China goes. Eventually they reformed it and they were sent "back to the barracks". Now it seems at least somewhat less corrupt, so... they have a leg up on pretty much everything else.
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| Chinese citizens celebrating Stalin's birthday. Mao and Stalin; the original odd couple! |
So what you should have learned by now is the Communist Party of China is intensely powerful. They have control of everything, either directly or indirectly. But what about the economy? How's the whole central planning thing working out? If Putin had a fight with China over who is more corrupt, who wins? (The answer is they are both winning, and winning plenty.) All this and more in part two.
