Trivia Time• People in China enjoy the same level

of Internet freedom as North Americans. True or False?

Trivia Time• False!– China’s Government carefully monitors

internet usage– Techniques such as DNS blocking

prevents users from accessing certain sites

– E.g. Google.cn results re-directed to Baidu

– Government determines which sites are deemed “prohibited”

Trivia Time• The Chinese Communist Party is the

sole political party in China. True or False?

Trivia Time• False (But also true)

• 8 Registered minor parties– Revolutionary Committee of the Kuomintang– China Democratic League– China Democratic National Construction League– China Association for Promoting Democracy– Chinese Peasants’ and Workers’ Democratic Party– China Zhi Gong Party– September 3 Society– Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League

• Serve as a formality, essentially run by the CCP

The Setting: PoliticalCommunist State- Chinese Communist Party

- Founded in 1921- Marxist-Leninist foundation

- Centralization- Conformity of ministries- Eliminating opposition

- Ruling political party- Ultimate control over state affairs and legislation

The Chinese Communist Party

The Chinese Communist Party

• The National Party Congress– Supreme legislative power– Meets every 5 years– Major issues e.g. constitutional revisions

• The Central Committee– 5 year turn-over intervals– Elected by NPC to carry out its mandate

• The Politburo Standing Committee– Decision and law-making body– Highest ranking officials of government ministries

The Government• 3 Major bodies– President– State Council– National People’s Congress

• Communist Party is the ruling party and essentially controls at every level

The Government

The Government- Hu Jintao

- President – Head of State- Figurehead, elected by the National People’s

Congress- General Secretary of the Communist Party

- Highest ranking official- Head of the Politburo

- Chairman of the Central Military Commission

The Government- State Council

- Wen Jiabao (premier) appointed by the president- Administrative body- Consists of the heads of each ministry and

department

The Government• National People’s Congress–Wu Bangguo (Chairman)– Legislative body• Rubber Stamp?

– Communist party is the majority, other parties make up the minority• However minor parties are all “registered”

parties with the CCP

ReferencesNational People’s congress: http://www.china.org.cn/english/archiveen/27750.htmhttp://www.china.org.cn/english/features/state_structure/64735.htmThe Atlantic (Mar 2010) : http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/-ldquo-the-connection-has-been-reset-rdquo/6650/Greenwood Publishing: http://www.greenwood.com/catalog/Q589.aspxCouncil on Foreign Relations: http://www.cfr.org/publication/14482/Index-China: http://www.index-china.com/index-english/Politics-gov-s.htmlEconomic Expert: http://www.economicexpert.com/a/General:Secretary:of:the:Communist:Party:of:China.htmChinese Business World: http://www.cbw.com/govern/index.htmlChina Business Review: http://chinabusinessreview.net/public/0803/prc_government_chart.pdf