BRIEF HISTORY:
The Chinese appeared in the dawn of history as a tribe on the middle Yellow
River . The following dynasties ruled China in chronological order:
Han Dynasty (206 B.C. to 200 A.D.)
Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. to 907 A.D.)
Sung Dynasty (906 A.D. to 1279 A.D.)
Mongols (1279 A.D. to 1385 A.D.)
Mings (1386 A.D. to 1644 A.D.)
Manchu Dynasty (1644 A.D. to 1911 A.D.)
The Manchu Dynasty was overthrown by the Sun -Yet-Sen who became the first
President of China. He was succeeded by Chiang - Kai- Shek in 1925. During his
reign a civil war broke out in the country. The communists led by Mao Zedong
assumed power & People's Republic of China was proclaimed on Oct 1,1949 . Mao
died in 1976 & was followed by important leaders like Hua Guofeng, Ziyang and
Deng Xiao-Peng. Jiang Zemin has been the Communist Party Chief since 1989 & the
President since 1993.
CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP
China witnessed for the first time in 50 years a change in leadership that
involved neither the death nor the overthrow of an incumbent. At the 16 th
Congress of Communist Party of China (CPC) held in November 2002 at the Great
Hall of People, Jiang Zemin who had led China for the past 13 years handed over
his post of the Party Chief to Hu Jintao. Hu took over the reins as President of
China from Jiang Zemin in March 2003. Eight young leaders joined Mr. Hu in an
expanded standing Central Committee.
On paper, the turnover at the top is nearly total. Apart from Jiang Zemin, 6
other members of the POLITBURO (the elite group that runs the country) gave up
their party posts. Thus Li Peng was replaced by Wu Bangguo as head of
legislature. Top Jiang operative Zeng Qinghong became Vice-President. Wen Jiabao
succeeded Zhu Rongji as the Prime Minister (Premier).
Before this change in leadership Jiang Zemin was holding three posts namely:
I) State President;
II) General Secretary of Communist Party;
III) Chairman of Central Military Commission.
Apart from the leadership transition, the 16 th meeting of the CPC, enshrined
for the first time, the important theory of "Three Represents", in the party's
Constitution. This theory is Mr. Jiang Zemin's contribution to modern China 's
political-economic revolution. It represents three forces in the Chinese
society-the advanced production forces, the advanced cultural forces, the
overwhelming majority of people. The theory of "Three Represents" is a guiding
ideology that the party must uphold for the times to comes, alongside the
theories of Mao and Deng-Xiao-Peng.
PROFILE OF HU JINTAO:
- He is a former Hydrological Engineer.
- He rose to prominence in Oct 1992 as the youngest ever member of the POLITBURO's
standing committee. His appointment was made by the late leader Deng-Xiao-Peng.
- He is known as brilliant and bland and has kept a very low profile ever since
his appointment in 1992. Hu is a familiar face on the news, but has spoken so
seldom in public, that he is a mystery even to the Chinese.
- Hu Jintao took over the twin crowns of party and Government from 76 years old
Jiang Zemin with an overwhelming voting ratio of 2937 to 4.
- He has no power base of his own to call upon for support. It is unlikely that he
would be able to exercise power in the way other leaders did in 80s and 90s. His
strongest supporter in the Politburo is likely to be Wen- Jiabao.
REFORM PROPOSALS OF NEW LEADERSHIP:
New generation of leaders is expected to stay in conformity with the Party's
policies, thus deepening the economic reforms of the past 20 years and speeding
China 's integration with global economy. However the new leaders have hinted at
a few basic proposals to meet the ever growing problems of the country. The some
of the proposals are:
- Banking Reforms: To restructure the banking system which is holding as much as
$500 billions of non-performing loans. The bad loans are largely the results of
lending money to state-owned institution irrespective of their ability to repay
the money.
- Administrative Reforms : To make state agencies more efficient and responsive
and at combating corruption. It would include consolidating some government
agencies and downsizing and streamlining others.
- Reducing Income Disparity: To check the rising wealth gap which is creating
fears of instability. Millions of urban Chinese have benefited greatly from
economic reforms, but an even large number of rural residence have been left
behind
- Economic Reforms: to build an advanced market economy, seen against the backdrop
of China 's recent entry into the World Trade Organization and forced the
economy to become more competitive. Also to achieve a high growth rate which in
turn may check unemployment.
To achieve the above objectives Hu Jintao has called for a return to the
communist values of hard work and humility. He has asked party members to oppose
unhealthy idea and an obsession with pleasure, to oppose a rush for quick
success and to oppose extravagance and wasting of money and on the whole work
unitedly for the common cause.
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