1.
Government of the Republic of China
–
This government moved to Beijing in the same year with Yuan Shikai as President, and continued under his successors as the internationally recognized government of China until 1928. In the Republican period, there were a series of governments, the Nationalist government, led by the Kuomintang, was originally formed as a rival military government under Sun Yat-sen in Guangzhou in 1917. After Suns death in 1925, Chiang Kai-shek led the Northern Expedition to unify the country and this government gained diplomatic recognition but did not control all the territory of the Qing dynasty. The Tutelage Constitution of 1931 was replaced by the Constitution of the Republic of China in 1947 and this new constitutional government moved to Taipei, Taiwan, in 1949 because of its military losses in the Chinese Civil War. It remains in Taiwan and exercises control over other islands including Penghu, Quemoy, Matsu, Itu Aba, Control of the government had historically been dominated by the Kuomintang, but the situation has changed as the Republic of China evolved into a multi-party democracy. The first Chinese national government was established on January 1,1912, in Nanjing, provincial delegates were sent to confirm the authority of the national government, and they later also formed the first parliament. The power of national government was limited and short-lived, with generals controlling both central and northern provinces of China. The limited acts passed by this government included the formal abdication of the Qing dynasty, Yuan maintained power locally by sending military generals to be provincial governors or by obtaining the allegiance of those already in power. When Yuan died, the parliament of 1913 was reconvened to give legitimacy to a new government, however, the real power of the time passed to military leaders, forming the warlord period. The impotent government still had its use, when World War I began, several Western powers and Japan wanted China to declare war on Germany, there were also several warlord governments and puppet states sharing the same name. See also, Wang Jingwei Government, Warlord era, known as the Nanjing Decade, the government ruled as a one-party state, as laid out by Sun Yat-sens Three Stages of Revolution and his policy of Dang Guo. The first stage was military unification, which was carried out with the Northern Expedition, the second was political tutelage which was a provisional government led by the KMT to educate people about their political and civil rights, and the third stage was constitutional government. The KMT considered themselves to be at the stage in 1928. With the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the invading Imperial Japanese Army managed to capture Nanjing on December 13,1937, the Japanese then proceeded to sack the city, and massacred hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians. With the fall of Nanjing, the government was forced to move first to Wuhan and it retreated further inland to Chongqing, which was the wartime capital until 1945. Although Chongqing was located in the western province of Sichuan. With the end of the war, the National Government moved back to Nanjing, the Kuomintang then proceeded with the drafting of a new constitution for China, which were boycotted by the communists. The Constitution of the Republic of China was adopted by the National Assembly on December 25,1946, the constitution was seen as the third and final step in Sun Yat-sens Three Stages of Revolution - constitutional government
Government of the Republic of China
–
Cabinet meeting of the Nanjing Provisional Government led by Sun Yat-sen
Government of the Republic of China
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In 1927, National Government of the Republic of China at Nanjing
Government of the Republic of China
–
Legislative Yuan
Government of the Republic of China
–
Judicial Yuan
2.
Mainland China
–
Mainland China, also known as the Chinese mainland, is the geopolitical area under the direct jurisdiction of the Peoples Republic of China. It generally includes Hainan island and excludes the special regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The term mainland China was coined by the Kuomintang after receiving control of Taiwan from Japan after World War II. By 1949, the KMT-led Republic of China government was defeated in the Chinese Civil War, there are two terms in Chinese for mainland, Dàlù, which means continent, and Nèidì, literally inland or inner land. In the PRC, the usage of the two terms are interchangeable and there is no prescribed method of reference in any jurisdiction. To emphasize equal footing in Cross-Strait relations, the term is used in official contexts with reference to Taiwan, but in its relations with Hong Kong and Macau, the PRC government refers to itself as the Central Peoples Government. Mainland area is the term to free area of the Republic of China used in the ROC Constitution. It treats the mainland as part of ROCs territory despite the lack of effective control, by 1949, the Communist Party of Chinas Peoples Liberation Army had largely defeated the Kuomintang s National Revolutionary Army in the Chinese Civil War on the mainland. This has resulted in a situation in which two co-existing governments compete for legitimacy and recognition as the government of China. The phrase mainland China emerged as a neutral term to refer to the area under control of the Communist Party of China. Until the late 1970s, both the PRC and ROC envisioned a military takeover of the other, during this time the ROC referred to the PRC government as Communist Bandits while the PRC referred to the ROC as Chiang Bandits. Later, as a military solution became less feasible, the ROC referred to the PRC as Communist China, due to their status as colonies of foreign states during the establishment of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the phrase mainland China excludes Hong Kong and Macau. Since the return of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 and 1999, respectively, the territories also have their distinct identities. Therefore, mainland China generally continues to exclude these territories, because of the One country, the term is also used in economic indicators, such as the IMD Competitiveness Report. International news media often use China to refer only to mainland China or the Peoples Republic of China, in the PRC, the term 内地 is often contrasted with the term 境外 for things outside of the mainland region. Examples include Administration of Foreign-funded Banks or the Measures on Administration of Representative Offices of Foreign Insurance Institutions, Hainan is an offshore island, therefore geographically not part of the continental mainland. Nonetheless, Hainanese people still refer to the mainland as the mainland. In some coastal provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangsu, in contrast, the pro-Taiwan independence Democratic Progressive Party prefer to use the term China instead, referring to the PRC, to imply that Taiwan is separate from China
Mainland China
–
The highlighted orange area in the map is what is commonly known as "mainland China".
3.
Hong Kong
–
Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
Hong Kong
–
The Cenotaph in Hong Kong commemorates those who died in service in WWI and WWII.
Hong Kong
–
Flag
Hong Kong
–
Stamp with portrait of
Queen Elizabeth II, 1953
Hong Kong
–
Development of
Hong Kong Island in 1986
4.
Macau
–
Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km2, Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s, in 1557, Macau was leased to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and Macau Basic Law stipulate that Macau operate with a degree of autonomy until at least 2049. Macau participates in international organizations and events that do not require members to national sovereignty. Macau is a city in Southern China, known for its casinos. Its gaming revenue has been the worlds largest since 2006, with the heavily dependent on gaming. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the present Chinese name means Inlet Gates. Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing or Jinghai, the name Macau is thought to be derived from the A-Ma Temple, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty, the first recorded Chinese inhabitants of the area were people seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols during the Southern Song. Under the Ming dynasty, fishermen migrated to Macau from Guangdong, the Macau native people were Tanka boat people. Macau did not develop as a settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1513, Jorge Álvares became the first Portuguese to land in China, in 1535, Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macaus harbours and to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, the Portuguese continued to pay an annual tribute up to 1863 in order to stay in Macau. By 1564, Portugal commanded western trade with India, Japan, but their pride was damaged by the indifference with which the Chinese treated them
Macau
–
Portuguese coin (minted 1996) commemorating the arrival of the Portuguese in China in 1513
Macau
–
Flag
Macau
–
Ruins of St. Paul's, by
George Chinnery (1774–1852). The church was built in 1602 and destroyed by fire in 1835. Only the southern stone façade remains today.
Macau
–
Macau,
c. 1870.
5.
Great Hall of the People
–
The Great Hall of the People is a state building located at the western edge of Tiananmen Square in Beijing. It is used for legislative and ceremonial activities by the Peoples Republic of China government and it is also the meeting place of the National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which, since 1982, has occurred once every five years. The Great Hall of the People is also an attraction in the city frequented by tourists visiting the capital. The Great Hall of the People was designed by Zhang Bo and it was opened in September 1959, and was one of the Ten Great Constructions completed for the 10th Anniversary of the PRC. The structure was built in 10 months by construction workers and volunteers, the building covers 171,801 square metres of floor space, it is 356 metres in length and 206.5 metres in width. The centre peaks at 46.5 metres, at the eaves of the main gate hangs the national emblem of the PRC. The Great Hall of the People consists of three sections, the central section principally includes the Great Auditorium, the Main Auditorium, the Congress Hall, the Central Hall, the Golden Hall and other main halls. The northern section consists of the State Banquet Hall, the Salute State Guest Hall, the North Hall, the East Hall, the southern part is the office building of the Standing Committee of the Peoples Congress of China. Each province, special administrative region, autonomous region of China has its own hall in the Great Hall, such as Beijing Hall, Hong Kong Hall, each hall has the unique characteristics of the province and is furnished according to the local style. The Great Auditorium, with volume of 90,000 cubic metres, government leaders make their speeches, and the representatives do much of their business. It can simultaneously seat 10,000 representatives, the ceiling is decorated with a galaxy of lights, with a large red star is at the centre of the ceiling, and a pattern of a water waves nearby represents the people. Its facilities equipped with audio-visual and other systems adaptable to a variety of meeting types and sizes, a simultaneous interpretation system is also provided with a language booth. The State Banquet Hall with an area of 7,000 square meters can entertain 7,000 guests, the Great Hall of the People is the political hub of Beijing and home of the National Peoples Congress. The Communist Party of China also holds its National Congress every five years in the Great Hall of the People, the Great Hall has been used for meetings with foreign dignitaries on state or working visits, as well as large anniversary celebrations attended by top leaders. The Great Hall has been used for the funerals and memorial services for several top leaders. Former President Liu Shaoqi was purged during the Cultural Revolution and died in the ensuing struggles and he was posthumously rehabilitated after 1978. In 1982 Liu was granted a funeral held at the Great Hall. The Great Hall also held the funerals of General Secretary Hu Yaobang in 1989 during the Tiananmen Square protests, mao Zedongs funeral ceremony was not held at the Great Hall, it was held at Tiananmen Square
Great Hall of the People
–
The Great Hall of the People, Beijing
Great Hall of the People
–
Inside the main auditorium.
Great Hall of the People
–
Façade of the Great Hall of the People at night.
Great Hall of the People
–
Ceiling of the main auditorium.
6.
Zhongnanhai
–
The term Zhongnanhai is closely linked with the central government and senior Communist Party officials. It is often used as a metonym for the Chinese leadership at large, China Central Television frequently shows footage of meetings inside the compound, but limits its coverage largely to views of the interior of buildings. These two lakes are part of a series of projects carried out during the construction of the nearby Forbidden City. Also part of the system is the Northern Sea, or Beihai, now a public park. The Northern, Central. And the Shichahai is connected to Beihai at the north, the Taiye Lake were originally an imperial garden called Xiyuan, with parklands on the shores, enclosed by a red wall in the west part of the Imperial City, Beijing. Most of the pavilions, shrines, and temples survive from this period, whereas the Northern sea had a religious focus, the shores of Central and Southern seas were dotted with a number of palaces. During the Jin dynasty, the Emperor Zhangzong of Jin built the northern lake, the northern section of Zhongnanhai was the Taiye Lake, with an attached palace called the Palace of Great Peace. During the Yuan Dynasty, Taiye Lake was included in the Imperial City and it was also expanded, covering approximately the area occupied by the Northern and Central Seas today. Three palaces were built around the lake, after the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, construction on the existing Imperial Palace began in 1406. The Ming palace was to the south of the Yuan palace, as a result, a new Southern Sea was dug to the south of the old lake. The excavated soil, together with that from construction of the moat, was piled up to form Jingshan, at this time, the three lakes were connected and were collectively called the Taiye Lake. The three lakes were divided by bridges, the lakes were part of an extensive royal park called Xiyuan to the west of the Imperial Palace. After the Qing Dynasty established its capital in Beijing, the government reduced the size of the park to within a small walled area around the three lakes. Several successive emperors built pavilions and houses along the lake shores, during the reign of the Empress Dowager Cixi, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor would often live in the Zhongnanhai compound, travelling to the Forbidden City only for ceremonial duties. During the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, the Russian army occupied Zhongnanhai, almost all artifacts and decorations in the compound were looted. Later, the Eight-Nation Alliance commander also lived in Zhongnanhai, when Puyi was crowned Emperor, his father as the Prince Regent lived for a short time in the compound. Zhongnanhai attained political significance during the Republic of China era, when the Beiyang Government under Yuan Shikai placed its presidential palace in the Zhongnanhai compound from 1911, the current main gate, Xinhua Gate or Gate of New China, was created by Yuan Shikai. The present gatehouse was previously a pavilion located on the shore the Southern Sea
Zhongnanhai
–
Xinhuamen, the "Gate of New China" built by
Yuan Shikai, today the formal entrance to the Zhongnanhai compound.
Zhongnanhai
–
A map of the Zhongnanhai area, with the two lakes shown in green at centre. The western edge of the Forbidden City is shown at right.
Zhongnanhai
–
Satellite image of Zhongnanhai. (1967-09-20)
Zhongnanhai
–
The Pavilion of the Water and Cloud, on the eastern bank of the Central Sea.
7.
Beijing
–
Beijing is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China and the worlds third most populous city proper. It is also one of the worlds most populous capital cities, the city, located in northern China, is governed as a direct-controlled municipality under the national government with 16 urban, suburban, and rural districts. Beijing is the second largest Chinese city by population after Shanghai and is the nations political, cultural. It is home to the headquarters of most of Chinas largest state-owned companies, and is a hub for the national highway, expressway, railway. The citys history dates back three millennia, as the last of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing has been the political centre of the country for much of the past eight centuries. Beijing was the largest city in the world by population for much of the second millennium A. D, the city is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, parks, gardens, tombs, walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have made it centre of culture, encyclopædia Britannica notes that few cities in the world have served for so long as the political headquarters and cultural centre of an area as immense as China. Siheyuans, the traditional housing style, and hutongs, the narrow alleys between siheyuans, are major tourist attractions and are common in urban Beijing. The city hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and was chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics, many of Beijings 91 universities consistently rank among the best in China, of which Peking University and Tsinghua University are ranked in the top 60 universities in the world. Beijings Zhongguancun area is known as Chinas Silicon Valley and Chinas center of innovation. According to the 2016 InterNations Expat Insider Survey, Beijing ranked first in Asia in the subcategory Personal Finance Index, expats live primarily in urban districts such as Dongcheng and Chaoyang in the east, or in suburban districts such as Shunyi. Over the past 3,000 years, the city of Beijing has had other names. The name Beijing, which means Northern Capital, was applied to the city in 1403 during the Ming Dynasty to distinguish the city from Nanjing, the English spelling is based on the pinyin romanisation of the two characters as they are pronounced in Standard Mandarin. Those dialects preserve the Middle Chinese pronunciation of 京 as kjaeng, the single Chinese character abbreviation for Beijing is 京, which appears on automobile license plates in the city. The official Latin alphabet abbreviation for Beijing is BJ, the earliest traces of human habitation in the Beijing municipality were found in the caves of Dragon Bone Hill near the village of Zhoukoudian in Fangshan District, where Peking Man lived. Homo erectus fossils from the date to 230,000 to 250,000 years ago. Paleolithic Homo sapiens also lived more recently, about 27,000 years ago. Archaeologists have found neolithic settlements throughout the municipality, including in Wangfujing, the first walled city in Beijing was Ji, a city from the 11th to 7th century BC
Beijing
–
Clockwise from top:
Beijing CBD skyline,
Tiananmen,
Temple of Heaven,
National Center for the Performing Arts, and
Beijing National Stadium
Beijing
–
The museum at
Zhoukoudian
Beijing
–
The
Tianning Pagoda, built around 1120.
Beijing
–
Longevity Hill in Beijing where
Kublai Khan wrote his poem.
8.
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Chinese characters
Traditional Chinese characters
–
Job announcement in a Filipino Chinese daily newspaper written in Traditional Chinese characters.
Traditional Chinese characters
–
A Series of Reading workbook in Traditional Chinese used in some Elementary schools in the Philippines.
9.
Simplified Chinese characters
–
Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
Simplified Chinese characters
–
Chinese characters
Simplified Chinese characters
–
The slogan 战无不胜的毛泽东思想万岁 (Zhàn wúbù shèng de Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng wànsuì; Long live the invincible
Mao Zedong Thought) on
Xinhua Gate in Beijing.
Simplified Chinese characters
–
The first batch of Simplified Characters introduced in 1935 consisted of 324 characters.
10.
Standard Chinese
–
Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
Standard Chinese
–
A poster outside of high school in
Yangzhou urges people to speak Putonghua
Standard Chinese
–
Zhongguo Guanhua (中国官话/中國官話), or Medii Regni Communis Loquela ("Middle Kingdom's Common Speech"), used on the frontispiece of an early Chinese grammar published by
Étienne Fourmont (with
Arcadio Huang) in 1742
11.
Hanyu Pinyin
–
Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
Hanyu Pinyin
–
A school slogan asking elementary students to speak
Putonghua is annotated with pinyin, but without tonal marks.
Hanyu Pinyin
–
In
Yiling,
Yichang,
Hubei, text on road signs appears both in Chinese characters and in Hanyu Pinyin
12.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
China
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Yinxu, ruins of an ancient
palace dating from the
Shang Dynasty (14th century BCE)
China
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Flag
China
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Some of the thousands of life-size
Terracotta Warriors of the
Qin Dynasty, c. 210 BCE
China
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The
Great Wall of China was built by several dynasties over two thousand years to protect the sedentary agricultural regions of the
Chinese interior from incursions by
nomadic pastoralists of the northern
steppes.
13.
Politics of China
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The politics of the Peoples Republic of China takes places in a framework of a semi-presidential socialist republic run by a single party, the Communist Party of China. State power within the Peoples Republic of China is exercised through the Communist Party, the Communist Party of China uses Internal Reference to manage and monitor internal disagreements among the people of Peoples Republic of China. Peoples Congress members at the county level are elected by voters and these county level Peoples Congresses have the responsibility of oversight of local government, and elect members to the Provincial Peoples Congress. The Provincial Peoples Congress in turn elects members to the National Peoples Congress that meets each year in March in Beijing, the ruling Communist Party committee at each level plays a large role in the selection of appropriate candidates for election to the local congress and to the higher levels. The President of China is the head of state, serving as the ceremonial figurehead under National Peoples Congress. The Premier of China is the head of government, presiding over the State Council composed of four vice premiers, as a one-party state, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China holds ultimate power and authority over state and government. Chinas population, geographical vastness, and social diversity frustrate attempts to rule from Beijing, political power has become much less personal and more institutionally based than it was during the first forty years of the PRC. For example, Deng Xiaoping was never the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President, or Premier of China, today the authority of Chinas leaders is much more tied to their institutional base. Central government leaders must increasingly build consensus for new policies among party members, local and regional leaders, influential non-party members, however, control is often maintained over the larger group through control of information. The Chinese Communist Party considers China to be in the stages of socialism. Many Chinese and foreign observers see the PRC as in transition from a system of ownership to one in which private ownership plays an increasingly important role. The more than 80 million-member Communist Party of China continues to dominate government, in periods of relative liberalisation, the influence of people and groups outside the formal party structure has tended to increase, particularly in the economic realm. Under the command system, every state owned enterprise was required to have a party committee. The introduction of the market means that economic institutions now exist in which the party has limited or no power. Nevertheless, in all institutions in the PRC, the party committees at all levels maintain a powerful. The CPCs most important responsibility comes in the selection and promotion of personnel and they also see that party and state policy guidance is followed and that non-party members do not create autonomous organizations that could challenge party rule. Particularly important are the small groups which coordinate activities of different agencies. Constitutionally, the partys highest body is the Party Congress, which is supposed to meet at least once every 5 years, meetings were irregular before the Cultural Revolution but have been periodic since then
Politics of China
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1st
Politics of China
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China
Politics of China
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3rd
Politics of China
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4th
14.
Generations of Chinese leadership
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Because both the Communist Party of China and the Peoples Liberation Army promote according to seniority, it is possible to discern distinct generations of Chinese leadership. In official discourse, each group of leadership is identified with an extension of the ideology of the party. Historians have studied various periods in the development of the government of the Peoples Republic of China by reference to these generations, while in English the chronological leadership groups are commonly referred to as generations of Chinese leadership, there is no exact equivalent expression in Chinese. The usual term in official discourse for such a group is a leadership collective, thus, for example, the first generation of leaders identified below are labelled as the first generation leadership collective. In official discourse, they are not viewed as leaders of the state. The revision of party history into generations helped to secure Jiangs position as core, xi Jinping did continue this practice until October 2016 when the 6th Plenary of the 18th Central Committee named him as the core leader in a document. Thus, the first generation, from 1949 to 1976, consisted of Mao Zedong as core, along with Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yun, Peng Dehuai, and later Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. These were the leaders that founded the Peoples Republic of China after the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War and they were born between 1886 and 1907, although the Gang of Four were a distinct subgroup born 1914 to 1935. Most were born before the demise of the Qing Dynasty and thus lived to see both the birth and, on the mainland, the end of the Republic of China, one characteristic of these leaders were that they tended to be both political and military leaders. Most had some education outside China, and their formative experiences included the Long March, the Chinese Civil War, the guiding political ideology from the first generations were general principles of Marxism and Mao Zedong Thought. Liu, then the President, was removed from his party position in 1966, placed under house arrest in 1967, with the demise of Liu, Mao promoted Lin Biao as his deputy, and the Gang of Four to fill the role of his trusted henchmen. Lin fell out of favour, however, and died in 1971 while attempting to escape to the Soviet Union and their demise came shortly afterwards in a political coup managed by what become the second generation of leaders. Of the other members identified above, Chen Yun was sidelined from the early 1960s, lost his party position in 1969, but survived to play an influential role in the second generation of leadership. Peng Dehuai was denounced in 1959, made a return to government in 1965. The death of Mao, Zhou and Zhu in 1976, and soon afterwards the coup resulted in the arrest of the Gang of Four. During this period the most power and influence had a group of old party veterans, known as the Eight Elders, whose members were Li Xiannian and Chen Yun. All of them had more than 40 years of political experience, thus, in official discourse, the second generation of leadership lasted from 1976 to 1992. The official discourse of the Communist Party today identifies Deng Xiaoping as the core of this second generation, instead, the formal party leaders during this time were, successively, Hua Guofeng, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Jiang Zemin
Generations of Chinese leadership
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First generation leaders (from left)
Zhu De,
Mao Zedong,
Chen Yun and
Zhou Enlai in
Zhongnanhai in 1954.
Generations of Chinese leadership
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China
Generations of Chinese leadership
15.
Paramount leader
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In modern Chinese politics, the paramount leader of the Communist Party of China and the State is an informal term that refers to the most prominent political leader in the Peoples Republic of China. The paramount leader is not a formal position nor an office unto itself, there has been significant overlap between paramount leader status and leadership core status, though they are separate concepts. Hence Xi Jinping is considered to have become paramount leader in November 2012 upon his becoming General Secretary, Chairman Mao Zedong was the undisputed ruler of Communist China beginning in 1949. Beginning in the 1980s, the leadership experimented with a quasi-separation of powers, whereby the offices of General Secretary, President, for example, in 1985, the General Secretary was Hu Yaobang, the President was Li Xiannian, and the Premier was Zhao Ziyang. However, Deng Xiaoping was still recognized as the core of the leadership during this period, both Hu and Zhao fell out of favour in the late 1980s, but Deng was able to retain ultimate political control. There has also been an emphasis on collective leadership, whereby the top leader is a first among equals style figure. This was particularly apparent during the tenure of Hu Jintao, when Jiang left the offices of General Secretary and President in 2002 and 2003, respectively, he held onto the position of Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Military power had always been an important facet in the exercise of power in Communist-ruled China. Thus between 2002 and 2004, when Jiang finally stepped down from his last formal post, it was ambiguous who the paramount leader was at the time, Hu Jintao held the same trio of positions during his years in power. These bodies were tasked with establishing the general direction for national security as well as the agenda for economic reform. Both groups are headed by General Secretary
Paramount leader
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Mao Zedong 毛泽东 (1893–1976)
Beijing At-large (49–76)
Paramount leader
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China
Paramount leader
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Hua Guofeng 华国锋 (1921–2008)
Hunan At-large (64–78)
Beijing At-large (78–83)
Paramount leader
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Deng Xiaoping 邓小平 (1904–1997)
Beijing At-large (59–64,78–83)
PLA At-large (83–97)
16.
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping is the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, President of the Peoples Republic of China, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission. As General Secretary, Xi holds a seat on the Politburo Standing Committee. The son of Communist veteran Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping rose through the ranks politically in Chinas coastal provinces, Xi was governor of Fujian from 1999 to 2002, and governor, then party secretary of neighboring Zhejiang province from 2002 to 2007. Following the dismissal of Chen Liangyu, Xi was transferred to Shanghai as party secretary for a period in 2007. Xi joined the Politburo Standing Committee and central secretariat in October 2007, Xi was vice-president from 2008 to 2013 and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 2010 to 2012. Since assuming power, Xi has attempted to legitimize the authority of the Communist Party by introducing far-ranging measures to enforce party discipline and he initiated an unprecedented and far-reaching campaign against corruption, leading to the downfall of prominent incumbent and retired officials. Xi has also imposed further restrictions over civil society and ideological discourse, Xi Jinping was born in Beijing on 15 June 1953. After the founding of the Communist state in 1949, Xis father held a series of posts, including propaganda chief, vice-premier, Xis father is from Fuping County, Shaanxi, and Xi could further trace his patrilineal descent from Xiying in Dengzhou, Henan. He is the son of Xi Zhongxun and his wife Qi Xin. When Xi was age 10, his father was purged from the Party and sent to work in a factory in Luoyang, Henan. In May 1966, Xis secondary education was cut short by the Cultural Revolution, Xi was age 15 when his father was jailed in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. Without the protection of his father, Xi was sent to work in Yanchuan County, Shaanxi and he later became the Party branch secretary of the production team, leaving that post in 1975. When asked about this experience later by Chinese state television, Xi recalled, and when the ideals of the Cultural Revolution could not be realised, it proved an illusion. From 1979 to 1982, Xi served as secretary for his fathers former subordinate Geng Biao and this gained Xi some military background. In 1985, as part of a Chinese delegation to study American agriculture, he visited the town of Muscatine and this trip, and his stay with an American family, has been considered influential in his views on the United States. Xi joined the Communist Youth League in 1971 and the Communist Party of China in 1974, in 1982, he was sent to Zhengding County in Hebei as deputy Party Secretary of Zhengding County. He was promoted in 1983 to Secretary, becoming the top official of the county, Xi subsequently served in four provinces during his regional political career, Hebei, Fujian, Zhejiang, and Shanghai. Xi held posts in the Fuzhou Municipal Party Committee and became the president of the Party School in Fuzhou in 1990, in 1997, Xi was named an alternate member of the 15th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Xi Jinping
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Xi in October 2013
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping greeting U.S. President
George W. Bush in August 2008.
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping with
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on 28 September 2010.
Xi Jinping
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Xi Jinping at a meeting with United States Secretary of Defense
Leon Panetta on 19 September 2012.
17.
Li Yuanchao
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Li Yuanchao is the Vice President of the Peoples Republic of China. He is also a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and he was a member of the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China and head of its Organization Department between 2007 and 2012. From 2002 to 2007, Li served as the Communist Party of China Secretary of Jiangsu and he is considered a figure of Chinas fifth generation of leadership. He is married to Gao Jianjin and has a son named Li Haijin and he was named Yuanchao after the campaign to aid North Korea, he would change the characters of this name later in life while maintaining the pronunciation. Li attended Nanyang Model High School in Shanghai, where he graduated in 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, he worked in Dafeng County, Jiangsu, performing manual labour. In 1972, Li was recommended to enter East China Normal University to study mathematics and he then worked as a teacher at the Nanchang Secondary School in Shanghai, then an instructor at the industry vocational college of Luwan District in Shanghai. After the resumption of the National College Entrance Examination Li was admitted to pursue a degree from Fudan University in mathematics. He joined the Communist Party of China in June 1978, in 1982, after graduating, he stayed at Fudan to teach as a lecturer and held a leadership position in the Communist Youth League organization of the university. In 1983, Li was elevated on recommendation from then Shanghai party chief Chen Pixian to head the Shanghai Communist Youth League organization at age 33, shortly thereafter he became a member of the Central Secretariat of the Communist Youth League, in charge of propaganda and ideology. He served in the post until 1990, in 1993, he was named deputy head of the State Council Information Office. In 1996, he became Vice Minister of Culture and he pursued mid-career training at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 2002. Li was elevated to Deputy Party Secretary of Jiangsu province and concurrently party chief of the provincial capital Nanjing in 2001, in October 2001, a mere month after he took office, Li garnered attention by firing several municipal officials accused of sexually harassing female hotel employees. Li served as the Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary for Jiangsu between 2002 and 2007, during his tenure in Jiangsu, Li assessed local officials in terms of performance measured by social and environmental factors, as opposed to purely economic ones. After the 18th Party Congress, Li Yuanchao was no longer the head of the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China since 19 November 2012, Li was said to favour political reform. He, however, continued to serve on 25-member Politburo, to which he was first selected in 2007, in March 2013, Li was elected to be the Vice President. Since taking on the office, which is ceremonial in nature. Li was the most senior Chinese official to attend the memorial of South African leader Nelson Mandela
Li Yuanchao
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Li Yuanchao
18.
Communist Party of China
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The Communist Party of China is the founding and ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China. It was founded in 1921, chiefly by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, the CPC is currently the worlds second largest political party with a membership of 88.76 million as of 2016. It also controls the worlds largest armed force, the Peoples Liberation Army, the highest body of the CPC is the National Congress, convened every fifth year. The partys leader holds the offices of General Secretary, Chairman of the Central Military Commission, through these posts the party leader is the countrys paramount leader. The current party leader is Xi Jinping, elected at the 18th National Congress, the CPC is still committed to communist thought and continues to participate in the International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties each year. The official explanation for Chinas economic reforms is that the country is in the stage of socialism. The planned economy established under Mao Zedong was replaced by the socialist market economy, the CPC has its origins in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, during which radical ideologies like Marxism and anarchism gained traction among Chinese intellectuals. Other influences stemming from the Bolshevik revolution and Marxist theory inspired the Communist Party of China, Li Dazhao was the first leading Chinese intellectual who publicly supported Leninism and world revolution. In contrast to Chen Duxiu, Li did not renounce participation in the affairs of the Republic of China, both of them regarded the October Revolution in Russia as groundbreaking, believing it to herald a new era for oppressed countries everywhere. The CPC was modeled on Vladimir Lenins theory of a vanguard party, Study circles were, according to Cai Hesen, the rudiments. Several study circles were established during the New Culture Movement, the founding National Congress of the CPC was held on 23–31 July 1921. With only 50 members in the beginning of 1921, the CPC organization, while it was originally planned to be held in Shanghai French Concession, police officers interrupted the meeting on 3 July. Because of that, the congress was moved to a tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, only 12 delegates attended the congress, with neither Li nor Chen being able to attend. Chen sent a representative to attend the congress. The resolutions of the called for the establishment of a communist party. The communists dominated the left wing of the KMT, a party organized on Leninist lines, when KMT leader Sun Yat-sen died in March 1925, he was succeeded by a rightist, Chiang Kai-shek, who initiated moves to marginalize the position of the communists. Fresh from the success of the Northern Expedition to overthrow the warlords, Chiang Kai-shek turned on the communists, ignoring the orders of the Wuhan-based KMT government, he marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by communist militias. Although the communists welcomed Chiangs arrival, he turned on them, Chiangs army then marched on Wuhan, but was prevented from taking the city by CPC General Ye Ting and his troops
Communist Party of China
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Mao declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949
Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
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Chinese communists celebrate
Joseph Stalin 's birthday, 1949
Communist Party of China
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A monument dedicated to Marx (left) and Engels (right) in Shanghai, China
19.
History of the Communist Party of China
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This article details the history of the Communist Party of China. Marxist ideas started to spread widely in China after the 1919 May Fourth Movement, in June 1920, Comintern agent Grigori Voitinsky was sent to China, and met Li Dazhao and other reformers. He financed the founding of the Socialist Youth Corps, the Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the French concession of Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and an informal network. The birth of the party was declared here in a boat on South Lake and it is therefore considered by the Chinese to be one of the most important historical places of the revolution. The formal and unified name Zhōngguó Gòngchǎn Dǎng was adopted and all names of communist groups were dropped. The key players were Li Dazhao, Chen Duxiu, Chen Gongbo, Tan Pingshan, Zhang Guotao, He Mengxiong, Mao Zedong was present at the first congress as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group. Other attendees included Dong Biwu, Li Hanjun, Li Da, Chen Tanqiu, Liu Renjing, Zhou Fohai, He Shuheng, Deng Enming, notably absent at this early point were future leaders Li Lisan and Qu Qiubai. According to Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Heshen and Gao Yuhan opposed the motion, whereupon Maring invoked the authority of the Comintern, under the guidance of the Comintern, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923, in preparation for the Northern Expedition. However, the nascent party was not held in regard, Karl Radek, one of the five founding leaders of the Comintern. Mikhail Markovich Borodin negotiated with Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei the 1923 KMT reorganization, Borodin and General Vasilii Blyukher worked with Chiang Kai-shek to found the Whampoa Military Academy. And, it was the CPCs reliance on the leadership of the Comintern that was the first indication that the 1923-27 First United Front was fragile. The death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 created great uncertainty regarding who would lead the party, despite the tensions, the Northern Expedition led by Kuomintang and participated by CPC gained some quick successes in overthrowing the warlord government. In 1927, as the Northern Expedition approached Shanghai, the Kuomintang leadership split, the Left Kuomintang at Wuhan kept the alliance with the Communists. Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking grew increasingly hostile to them and launched a campaign against them and this happened after the capture of Shanghai, which occurred with the Communists and Kuomintang still in alliance. André Malrauxs novel, Mans Fate, is based on these events, as Chiang Kai-shek consolidated his power, various revolts continued, and Communist armed forces created a number of Soviet Areas. The largest of these was led by Zhu De and Mao Zedong, a number of military campaigns from KMT army failed, but meantime the party leadership were driven out of Shanghai and moved to Maos base, sidelining him. Chiang Kai-shek launched a campaign which succeeded. The CPC had to give up their bases and started the Long March to search for a new base, during the Long March, the party leadership re-examined its policy and blamed their failure on the CPC military leader Otto Braun, a German sent by Comintern
History of the Communist Party of China
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In 1920 Li Dazhao met comintern Russian agent G.N. Voitinsky
History of the Communist Party of China
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China
History of the Communist Party of China
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Location of the first Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in July 1921, in
Xintiandi, former
French Concession,
Shanghai.
20.
Organization of the Communist Party of China
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The organization of the Communist Party of China is based upon the Leninist idea of democratic centralism. It has been the policy since the 8th Central Committee to democratize the CPC. The meaning of democracy in CPC parlance has its basis in Vladimir Lenins concept of democratic centralism, however, with its rise to power, members began to demand the democratization of the party. Second, the principle of democratic centralism was defined as democracy under the guidance of centralism, third, all the business of the 8th Central Committee was made public. Fourth, there should be no idolatry, fifth, the CPC should have regular deputies to Party congresses. Sixth, a strict and effective supervision mechanism within the CPC should be established, seventh, the CPC should explore fixed terms of appointment. Eighth, the CPC should protect and expand the rights of members. However, these points were not implemented under Mao Zedong, in most parts because of the Cultural Revolution in which the CPC returned to the norm of issuing policy on the basis of centralism. However, with the end of the Cultural Revolution and the death of Mao Zedong, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee was the first to dwell on these issues. In practice this was even worse because executive committees at all levels concentrated all power. He then concluded that because of the leadership system thought. The 6th Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee endorsed these views and this stance was mentioned again in the Political Report to the 13th National Congress, in which it was stated that developing democracy within the party was a feasible project to develop socialism. The 14th Plenary Session of the 14th Central Committee became the CPCs first endorsement of developing intra-party democracy so as to develop peoples democracy and this line has continued to this day. The Political Report to the 16th National Congress stated that strengthening the character of the party was a life. The party has made it clear, with announcements from both party and state organs, that the policy of strengthening the democratic character will continue. The National Congress is the supreme organ, and is held every fifth year. According to the constitution, a congress may not be postponed except under extraordinary circumstances. A congress may be held before the date if the Central Committee so decides
Organization of the Communist Party of China
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Ordinary CPC members marking the convening of the 18th National Congress.
Organization of the Communist Party of China
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China
21.
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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The National Congress of the Communist Party of China is a party congress that is held every five years. The National Congress is theoretically the highest body within the Communist Party of China, since 1987 the National Congress has been held in the months of October or November. The venue for the event, beginning in 1956, is the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, in the past two decades the National Congress of the CPC has been pivotal at least as a symbolic part of leadership changes, and therefore has gained international media attention. In addition, as people at the top level of the party retire, there is room for members of the party to move up one level. Because of the structure of the party and the existence of mandatory retirement ages, cadres who are not promoted at a party congress are likely to face the end of their political careers. In addition to making changes, the Congress also reviews and changes, if necessary, the Partys Constitution, and selects the Central Committee. Each five-year cycle of the National Peoples Congress also has a series of plenums of the Central Committee which since the mid-1990s have been more or less regularly once every year. Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba. Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, election of the delegates to the 18th National Congress of CPC. china. org. cn. Chinas Party Congress, Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation, chinas Party Congress, Power, Legitimacy, and Institutional Manipulation
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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Location of 1st Congress (Xingye Road,
Shanghai).
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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China
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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Memorial plaque at the
Museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
National Congress of the Communist Party of China
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18th National Congress of the CPC
22.
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
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The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is a political body that comprises the top leaders of the Communist Party of China. It is currently composed of 205 full members and 171 alternate members, members are elected once every five years by the National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The Central Committee is, formally, the partys highest organ of authority when the National Congress is not in session and it also oversees work of various powerful national organs of the party. The Committee convenes at least once a year at a plenary session, the Committee operates, however, on the principle of democratic centralism, i. e. once a decision is made, the entire body speaks with one voice. The role of the Central Committee has varied throughout history, nonetheless, Central Committee plenums function as venues whereby policy is discussed, fine-tuned, and publicly released in the form of resolutions or decisions. The Central Committee is therefore technically the partys highest organ of authority when the National Congress is not in session. The Central Committee must also be convened to prepare for a National Congress, for example, to determine its dates, delegate selection, agenda. The Central Committee has the power to elect the General Secretary and the members of the Politburo, its Standing Committee, and the Central Military Commission. These elections take place in the form of votes, i. e. there is only one candidate. In some instances write-in candidates may also be allowed, the Central Committee also confirms membership of the Secretariat, the organ in charge of executing party policy, whose membership is determined through nomination by the Politburo. The Central Committees role has varied throughout history and it was founded in 1927 as a successor organization to the Central Executive Committee, a group of party leaders charged with executing party work during the pre-revolutionary days of the CPC. Over the next decades it served to confirm the party leadership lineup and legitimize military, strategic. In practice, power was concentrated in a group of military and political leaders. Although the Central Committee was required to convene at least once a year, it did not convene at all in 1951–53,1960, 1963–65, and 1967. Mao did not hold power over the Central Committee, as evidenced by the debates surrounding the policies of the Great Leap Forward. Mao faced some opposition at the 11th Plenum but ultimately most delegates were goaded into ratifying Maos decisions, many members were politically disgraced or purged thereafter. The Committee was then convened again in October 1968 to ratify the decision to then head of state Liu Shaoqi from the Party. At the 12th plenum, less than half the members actually attended, in a letter to Mao evaluating the members of the Central Committee at the time, Kang Sheng wrote that some 70% of CC members were considered traitors, spies, or otherwise politically unreliable
Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
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China
23.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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The officeholder is usually considered the paramount leader of China. According to the Constitution, the General Secretary serves as an ex member of the Politburo Standing Committee. The current General Secretary is Xi Jinping, who took office on 15 November 2012, as China is a de facto one-party state, the General Secretary holds ultimate power and authority over state and government. However, the men who have held the post have held far less power than Chairman Mao Zedong, since the mid-1990s, the General Secretary has traditionally also held the post of President of the PRC. While the presidency is nominally a ceremonial post, it is customary for the General Secretary to assume the presidency to confirm his status as de jure head of state. These bodies were tasked with establishing the general direction for national security as well as the agenda for economic reform. Both groups are headed by the General Secretary, that the power of the General Secretary has become more concentrated
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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Incumbent
Xi Jinping since 15 November 2012
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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Chen Duxiu (1 July 1921 – 7 August 1927)
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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Xiang Zhongfa (7 August 1927 – 24 July 1931)
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
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Bo Gu (24 July 1931 – January 1935)
24.
Politburo of the Communist Party of China
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Unlike politburos of other Communist parties, power within the politburo is centralized in the Politburo Standing Committee. The Politburo is nominally elected by the Central Committee, in addition, some Politburo members hold powerful regional positions. How the Politburo works internally is unclear, but it appears that the full Politburo meets once a month and this is believed to be much more infrequent than the former Soviet Politburo had met. The agenda for the meetings appears to be controlled by the General Secretary, the Politburo was eclipsed by the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee in the early 1980s under Hu Yaobang, but has re-emerged as a dominant force after Hus ousting in 1987. The 18th Politburo was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee on November 15,2012, the 9th Politburo was elected at the 1st Plenary Session of the 9th Central Committee on April 28,1969, consisting of 21 members and 4 alternate members. There have been no alternate members since, miller, China Leadership Monitor No.9 www. nodulo. org Pictures of the members
Politburo of the Communist Party of China
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Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China 中国共产党中央政治局
25.
Secretariat of the Communist Party of China
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The Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee is a body serving the Politburo of the Communist Party of China and its Standing Committee. The Secretariat is mainly responsible for carrying out routine operations of the Politburo and it is empowered by the Politburo to make routine day-to-day decisions on issues of concern in accordance to the decisions of the Politburo, but it must consult the Politburo on substantive matters. The Secretariat was set up in January 1934 and it is nominally headed by General Secretary, though the position of General Secretary was not always one and the same as the top party leader. Secretaries of the Secretariat are considered some of the most important political positions in the Communist Party, by protocol, its members are ranked above the Vice Chairmen of the National Peoples Congress as well as State Councilors. The General Secretary presides over the work of the Secretariat, the Secretariat of the Central Committee was formed in January 1934 at the 5th Plenary Session of the 6th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which was held in Shanghai. In 1956, the party created the position of the General Secretary to head its Secretariat, the position is not that of the foremost leader in the party, which at the time was the Chairman of the Central Committee. Rather, the General Secretary was in charge of carrying out the work of the Communist Partys Politburo. Its inaugural General Secretary was Deng Xiaoping, with prominent political figures such as Peng Zhen, during the Cultural Revolution, the post of General Secretary as well as the Secretariat itself completely ceased to function. Beginning at the 9th Party Congress, party documents made no mention of the Secretariat, since its reinstatement, the composition of the Secretariat has varied between 6 and 12 members. Wan Li, Hu Qili, Hu Jintao, Zeng Qinghong, Xi Jinping, the Secretaries of the Secretariat are ranked highly in the order of precedence among party and state leaders. The Secretaries rank under the Politburo, but ranks above the Vice-Chairpersons of the National Peoples Congress
Secretariat of the Communist Party of China
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Central Secretariat of the Communist Party of China 中国共产党中央书记处
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Liu Yunshan
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Liu Yunshan is one of the top leaders of the Communist Party of China, and a current member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the de facto top decision-making body of China. He is generally seen as the top official in charge of ideology, propaganda work, Liu built his career in Inner Mongolia, working initially as a teacher, then a Xinhua reporter, before entering the Communist Youth League and Inner Mongolia party propaganda department. He had a stint working as the Party Secretary of the city of Chifeng. Between 2002 and 2012, Liu served as the head of the Central Propaganda Department, Liu was born to an ordinary family of farmers in Tumed Right Banner in Inner Mongolia, he traces his ancestry to Xinzhou, Shanxi province. He spent over twenty years of his career in Inner Mongolia and he joined the Communist Party in 1971. He initially worked as a teacher, then was sent down to do labour in the countryside as part of the Cultural Revolution. He attended college part-time at the Jining Teachers College in Ulanqab League and he then worked in the local propaganda department of Tumed Right Banner. He became a Xinhua reporter in 1975, writing stories about nomadic herders in Inner Mongolia and he was eventually promoted to a supervisory role. He then worked for the provincial Communist Youth League organization, in 1985, the 38-year old Liu earned an alternate seat on the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Between 1989 and 1992, Liu attended the Central Party School to take courses in public administration, between 1993 and 2002, he worked in Beijing as the deputy head of the Central Propaganda Department as a deputy to Ding Guangen. In 2002, at the 16th Party Congress, Liu became the head of the Central Propaganda Department, Liu also became a Secretary of the Secretariat. He was also a member of the 17th Politburo of the Communist Party of China, after the 18th Party Congress in November 2012, Liu was elected to both the 18th Politburo and its Standing Committee. e. Liu, considered a censorship hard-liner, was seen as a conservative member of the Standing Committee who religiously upheld party orthodoxy. Previously, the top position of the Secretariat and the leading post for propaganda were held by separate people, several theories had been proposed for Lius elevation to the Standing Committee. His two-term tenure was often cited as a primary factor, China analyst Cheng Li said that Liu was elevated due to the patronage of former leader Jiang Zemin. Others suggest that Liu was a force in that he had both Communist Youth League experience and loyally upheld party orthodoxy as a conservative. That Liu Yunshan effectively succeeded in the held by two individuals prior to the Congress was arguably an indication of the breadth of his power. In 2013, Liu was named one of three deputy leaders of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reforms, some commentators saw the remarks as implicitly critical of star television host Bi Fujian, who made some comments critical of Mao which surfaced on an online video
Liu Yunshan
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Liu Yunshan
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Central Military Commission (China)
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The State CMC is nominally considered the supreme military policy-making body and its chairman, elected by the National Peoples Congress, is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. In reality, command and control of the PLA, however, both commissions are identical in membership, thus actually forming one identical institution under two different names, in order to fit in both state government and party systems. Both commissions are currently chaired by Xi Jinping, who is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China as well as Paramount leader, the 11-man commission issues directives relating to the PLA, including senior appointments, troop deployments and arms spending. CMC has control over 6.8 million personnel The CMC is housed in the Ministry of National Defense compound in western Beijing. The party military committee dates back to October 1925, and while operating under various degrees of authority and responsibility, was named the Central Military Affairs Commission. Among Western commentators, “Affairs” is frequently dropped from the title, as a commission, it ranks higher in the party hierarchy than departments such as the Organization or United Front Departments. In this period, the Committee was always chaired by Mao Zedong, in the September 1949 reorganization, military leadership was transferred to a government body, the Peoples Revolutionary Military Commission of the Central Peoples Government. As a consequence of the Cultural Revolution, the Party CMC became the sole military overseeing body, both the National Defense Commission and State CMC have been described as consultative bodies. Contrarily to the National Defense Commission, however, the Party and state CMCs are almost identical in leadership, composition, the Commission included the post of secretary-general until 1992. This post was held by Yang Shangkun, Huang Kecheng, Luo Ruiqing, Ye Jianying, Luo Ruiqing, Geng Biao, Yang Shangkun, Yang Baibing. In 2016, the 5 traditional departments were dissolved by order of Chairman Xi Jinping, unlike in most countries, the Central Military Commission is not considered as just another ministry. Although China does have a Ministry of National Defense, headed by a Minister of National Defense, the most important chain of command runs from the CMC to the four General Headquarters and, in turn, to each of the service branches. In addition, the CMC also has control over the Rocket Force, the National Defense University. The CMC shares command authority with the Ministry of Public Security of the State Council. The CMC is usually chaired by the General Secretary of the Communist Party, members of the CMC normally includes the Directors of the PLA’s Four Department and the Commander of the Ground Force, Air Force, Navy, and Rocket Force. The Chairman of the CMC was twice in its history held by an official who had given up his other posts, by Deng in the late 1980s. In the case of Deng Xiaoping, because of his prestige, he was able to exercise considerable power after his retirement, one major factor is that, in contrast to Deng Xiaoping, who always had close relations with the Peoples Liberation Army, Jiang had no military background. In addition, with the promotion of the generation of Chinese leaders to lead the civilian party
Central Military Commission (China)
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The CMC is housed in the
Ministry of National Defense compound ("August 1st Building")
Central Military Commission (China)
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The emblem of the Communist Party of China
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress document: "China: A country study". Federal Research Division. Government and Politics.
This article incorporates 
