History of the People's Republic of China (1989–2002)
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People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
,
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping (22 August 1904 – 19 February 1997) was a Chinese revolutionary leader, military commander and statesman who served as the paramount leader of the People's Republic of China (PRC) from December 1978 to November 1989. After CCP ...
formally retired after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, to be succeeded by former
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
CCP secretary
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
. During that period, also known as Jiangist China, the crackdown of the protests in 1989 led to great woes in China's reputation globally, and sanctions resulted. The situation, however, would eventually stabilize. Deng's idea of checks and balances in the political system also saw its demise with Jiang consolidating power in the party, state and military. The 1990s saw healthy economic development, but the closing of state-owned enterprises and increasing levels of corruption and unemployment, along with environmental challenges continued to plague China, as the country saw the rise to
consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...
, crime, and new-age spiritual-religious movements such as
Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
. The 1990s also saw the peaceful handover of
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
to Chinese control under the formula of One Country, Two Systems. China also saw a new surge of
nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
when facing crises abroad.


Recovery in the 1990s


Restoring economic stability and growth

The inflation trends of the years leading up to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre had subsided by the early 1990s, as
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
and the new generation of leadership attempted to calm any economic influx. Political institutions have stabilized, owing to the institutionalized procedures of the Deng years and a generational shift from peasant revolutionaries to well-educated, professional technocrats. The majority of university graduates come from a sciences-oriented background, and many pursued life outside of China. For those who stayed, state-owned research firms and enterprises were a popular destination. In the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests, China became an international pariah and the next three years were grim. Hardliners took over the government and began reining in free enterprise. They also attempted to revive Maoist propaganda and ideological campaigns, but the public largely treated it with apathy. In practice, the changes of the last decade made it impossible to ever truly return to the ways of Mao's time. The
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) leadership was further embarrassed by the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe during 1989–1990, and especially by the fall of Romanian leader
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...
, as his fanatical regime was one they were certain would never fall. Despite retreating into its shell, China's government continued to state that it welcomed foreign business and investment. For all its weakness and unpopularity, the CCP nonetheless had no serious opposition, as most overseas dissident groups were divided, quarrelsome, and lacking a charismatic leader. In April 1990, Chinese Premier
Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ch ...
visited Moscow where he was faced with dozens of Soviet protesters denouncing him as a butcher. Li laid a wreath on Lenin's tomb, indicating his loyalty to
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
. His ideas of reform did not extend beyond economic matters, and he flatly dismissed the idea that glasnost and perestroika were also applicable to China. The failure of the August 1991 coup in Moscow also upset Chinese leaders, although the PRC publicly stated that all events going on in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union were the internal affairs of those countries and it was not their business to criticize them. China also quickly granted diplomatic recognition to all newly independent ex-Soviet republics. Internal CCP discussions and documents however stated that the Soviets had made a colossal blunder by appointing Mikhail Gorbachev as CPSU general secretary and thus allowing the return of capitalism to the country. Further, the Chinese leadership maintained that the coup attempt fell apart due to an inability to keep the Soviet army in line with
Marxist leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical ...
ideas. As a result, political education and Marxist–Leninist propaganda in the PLA was stepped up. Meanwhile, relations with the United States became extremely bad in the aftermath of Tiananmen Square, reaching their worst point since before President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
's visit to China in 1972. The US Congress in particular was eager to impose as many economic sanctions and cancellation of business, trade, and cultural exchanges as it could, although President
George HW Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
(who had been liaison officer to China in the 1970s), continued to uphold an optimistic view of Sino-US relations and that the current situation was only a temporary bump in the road. He did however succeed in antagonizing Beijing by meeting with the exiled
Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...
in April 1991. Chinese suspicion of US intentions worsened and numerous accusations were made of Washington having embarked on a systematic campaign to undermine the socialist system, especially after Congress accused China of exporting goods made with prison labor and selling weapons to rogue regimes in the Middle East (as far back as 1987, Beijing had been accused of selling Silkworm anti-ship missiles to Iran). Sino-US military ties were also abruptly terminated in 1989 and all technology transfers and sales of US military equipment to China cancelled. During the Persian Gulf crisis in 1990–91, China condemned Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, but also criticized the UN intervention, stating that it was a local issue that should be resolved strictly by the Arab states.


Deng's Southern Tour

In the spring of 1992, Deng Xiaoping suddenly reappeared in public and embarked on a tour of southern China to restore faith in his reforms and stop the country's slide back into Maoism (on the trip, he criticized the CCP for its "continuing leftism"). The visit was not only Deng's last major public appearance, but also seen as a test for the direction of the new leadership. Deng's renewed push for a market-oriented economy received official sanction at the
14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party The 14th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (Traditional Chinese: 中國共產黨第十四次全國代表大會) was convened from October 12 - 18, 1992. It was preceded by the 13th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party ...
later in the year as a number of younger, reform-minded leaders began their rise to top positions. The congress also affirmed the position of
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
, a former
Communist Party secretary A Party Committee Secretary () is the leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organization in a province, city, village, or other administrative unit. In most cases, it is the ''de facto'' highest political office of its area of jurisdictio ...
of Shanghai, as the new
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party () is the head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Since 1989, the CCP general secretary has been the paramount leader ...
and " core of CCP leadership", paving the way of Jiang becoming the "Third-generation" leadership figure. Deng and his supporters argued that further reform was necessary to raise China's standard of living. After the visit, the Communist Party Politburo publicly issued an endorsement of Deng's policies of economic openness. Though not completely eschewing political reform, China has consistently placed overwhelming priority on the opening of its economy. Relations with the West also improved by 1993, after Deng reminded the CCP leadership that China did not have the technological or financial resources to confront the US or be a geopolitical player, that capitalism and democracy were currently in the ascendancy, and that there was no choice but to practice a passive foreign policy. Although another massive protest is unlikely in the near future, social instability due to economic conflicts has become a greater challenge for the third and fourth generation of leaders. Politically, however, Deng's experiment separating the governance of Party, Government and Military have proven to be a failed strategy under the current political system. During the recovery period,
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
took the office of CCP General Secretary,
President of the PRC The president of the People's Republic of China, commonly called the president of China, is the head of state and the second-highest political office of the People's Republic of China. The presidency is constitutionally a largely ceremonial off ...
, and
Chairman of the Central Military Commission Chairman of the Central Military Commission may refer to: *Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China) *Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party of Korea See also *Secretary of the Central Military Commission of the ...
, securing political stability, and centralizing power yet again.


Deng's legacy

Deng Xiaoping was one of only a few peasant revolutionaries to lead China, along with Mao Zedong and the founders of the
Han Han may refer to: Ethnic groups * Han Chinese, or Han People (): the name for the largest ethnic group in China, which also constitutes the world's largest ethnic group. ** Han Taiwanese (): the name for the ethnic group of the Taiwanese p ...
and
Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...
dynasties. Deng's policies opened up the economy to foreign investment and market allocation within a socialist framework, and put into practice a daring and unprecedented system that allowed free enterprise and capitalist ideas to grow and compensate for each other under a single-party political system. Since his death, under Jiang's leadership, mainland China has sustained an average of 8%
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
growth annually, achieving one of the world's highest rates of per capita economic growth, and became the world's fastest growing major economy. Also as mentioned, due in part to "socialist" measures and price/currency controls, the inflation characteristic of the years leading up to the Tiananmen protests had subsided. Political institutions have stabilized, due to the institutionalization of procedure of the Deng years and a generational shift from peasant revolutionaries to well-educated, professional technocrats. At the beginning of the 1990s it seemed that social problems have eased as well, as China rapidly became a more modern and prosperous nation. According to journalist Jim Rohwer, for example, "the Dengist reforms of 1979-1994 brought about probably the biggest single improvement in human welfare anywhere at any time." Deng's reforms lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. The reforms, however, have left a number of issues, mainly in the social and political arena, unresolved. As a result of his market reforms, it became obvious by the mid-1990s that many state-owned enterprises (owned by the central government, unlike
TVEs TVES is a Venezuelan public television channel. Its name is short for Televisora Venezolana Social (''Venezuelan Social Television'') and is pronounced ("te ves"), meaning ''you see yourself''. It replaced the signal of Radio Caracas Televisión ...
publicly owned at the local level) were unprofitable and needed to be shut down to prevent them from being a permanent and unsustainable drain on the economy. As the pace of urbanization continued to increase, urban
unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...
became a serious problem, and urban housing shortages caused the rise of low-income slums in major urban centres like
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...
and
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
. Furthermore, by the mid-1990s most of the benefits of Deng's reforms, particularly in agriculture, had run their course; rural incomes had become stagnant, leaving Deng's successors in search of new means to boost economic growth in rural areas, or else risk a massive social implosion. Finally, Deng's policy of asserting the primacy of economic development, while maintaining the rule of the Communist Party, has raised questions about its legitimacy. Many observers both inside and outside of China question the degree to which a one-party system can indefinitely maintain control over an increasingly dynamic and prosperous Chinese society. Questions have also been raised about the amount of foreign enterprise within China, and the time it takes before the government will no longer be able to effectively control private enterprise to fit their standards. Deng Xiaoping died on February 19, 1997. His successor
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
delivered an official eulogy to the late revolutionary and
Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...
veteran stating, "The Chinese people love Comrade Deng Xiaoping, thank Comrade Deng Xiaoping, mourn for Comrade Deng Xiaoping, and cherish the memory of Comrade Deng Xiaoping because he devoted his life-long energies to the Chinese people, performed immortal feats for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation." His ideology, Deng Xiaoping Theory, became an official "guiding ideology" in the national Constitution in the subsequent meeting of the
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...
.


Return of Hong Kong and Macau

Hong Kong was returned to Chinese control after a 99-year-lease to
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
on July 1, 1997. The agreement reverting control had applied Deng's theory of One Country, Two Systems. Hong Kong was to maintain independence in all areas except for foreign affairs and defense, withholding any major changes for another fifty years.
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
reverted to Chinese control under a similar agreement with
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
on December 20, 1999. The two former colonies kept separate legal systems. The return of the two colonies meant the installation of an unprecedented political system, and the legal matters involved thereof, especially those involving Hong Kong's Basic Law, became the subject of constant debate. The subject of the amount of control the Mainland has over the former colonies' political institutions had raised many questions both internally and abroad. Some debate ensued over the legitimacy of Hong Kong's Chief Executive
Tung Chee-hwa Tung Chee-hwa (; born 7 July 1937) is a Hong Kong businessman and politician who served as the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong between 1997 and 2005, upon the transfer of sovereignty on 1 July. He is currently a vice-chairman of the Chin ...
and the level of democracy in Hong Kong, as the colony is supposed to remain economically independent from the mainland for another fifty years. Hong Kong is also fighting against Shanghai to keep its status as the regional commercial hub.


Third generation of leaders

Deng's health deteriorated in the years prior to his death in 1997. During that time, General secretary Jiang Zemin and other members of his generation gradually assumed control of the day-to-day functions of government. This "third generation" leadership governed collectively with Jiang at the "core". Jiang was initially seen as an unlikely candidate for the position of General Secretary, and was believed to be simply a power transition figure. In reality, however, Jiang's era saw the return to complete, centralized leadership by 1998, after ousting rival party senior leader Qiao Shi and firmly taking the positions of the CCP General secretary, the President, and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission, becoming paramount leader of China's tripartite Party-State-Military functional structure. With support from
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
and
Li Peng Li Peng (; 20 October 1928 – 22 July 2019) was a Chinese politician who served as the fourth Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1987 to 1998, and as the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ch ...
, then General secretary and Premier respectively, the government enacted tough
macroeconomic Macroeconomics (from the Greek prefix ''makro-'' meaning "large" + ''economics'') is a branch of economics dealing with performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of an economy as a whole. For example, using interest rates, taxes, and ...
control measures. The PRC began expunging low-tech, duplicated projects and sectors and projects in transport, energy, agriculture and sectors, averting violent market fluctuations. Attention has focused on strengthening agriculture, still the economic base of the developing country and on continuing a moderately tight monetary policy. In September 1997, Jiang was re-elected CCP general secretary during the 15th CCP National Congress. In March 1998, Jiang was re-elected President during the
9th National People's Congress The 9th National People's Congress () was in session from 1998 to 2003. It held five plenary sessions in this period. It followed the final session of the 8th National People's Congress. There were 2,979 deputies to this Congress. Election result ...
. Premier Li Peng was constitutionally required to step down from that post. He was elected to the chairmanship of the
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...
. Vice Premier
Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji (; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1998 to 2003 and CCP Politburo Standing Committee member from 1992 to 2002 along with the Chinese Communist ...
was nominated as premier of the
State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...
by President
Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004, and as pr ...
to replace Li and confirmed by the Ninth
National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...
(NPC) on March 17, 1998, at the First NPC Session. He was re-elected
Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Histori ...
member of 15th CCP Central Committee in September 1997. Zhu was believed to be a tougher and more charismatic leader compared to the generally unpopular Li Peng.


Falun Gong

While the government under Jiang Zemin allowed further opening of the Chinese economy, a more liberal and materialistic environment gave way to the emergence of various schools of new-age social and religious thinking in what is known as Qigong fever.
Falun Gong Falun Gong (, ) or Falun Dafa (; literally, "Dharma Wheel Practice" or "Law Wheel Practice") is a new religious movement.Junker, Andrew. 2019. ''Becoming Activists in Global China: Social Movements in the Chinese Diaspora'', pp. 23–24, 33, 119 ...
(法轮功 lit. ''The Practice of the Wheel of Law'') founded by
Li Hongzhi Li Hongzhi (, born 1951/2) is a Chinese religious leader. He is the founder and leader of Falun Gong, or ''Falun Dafa'', a United States-based new religious movement. Li began his public teachings of Falun Gong on 13 May 1992 in Changchun, and ...
in 1992, was one such qigong practice which holds some similar beliefs to
Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...
and
Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...
. It was allowed to grow for a few years, under CCP supervision. After criticism of the qigong practices by academics and certain inner party elements began in 1999, Falun Gong practitioners initiated group appeals or letter writing to local party and government leadership to restrict what practitioners considered "unfair" media criticism. A newspaper article denouncing "teenagers practicing Qi Gong," with some parts specifically targeting Falun Gong, in
Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popu ...
in April triggered a series of events which eventually led to over 10,000 practitioners silently protesting outside the Beijing
Zhongnanhai Zhongnanhai () is a former imperial garden in the Imperial City, Beijing, adjacent to the Forbidden City; it serves as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the State Council (central government) of China. Zhongn ...
compound to call for the release of detained practitioners. Premier
Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji (; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1998 to 2003 and CCP Politburo Standing Committee member from 1992 to 2002 along with the Chinese Communist ...
met with several Falun Gong representatives and agreed to a few, but not all their demands. Some political analysts have suggested that Jiang was using the situation to strengthen his own core of CCP leadership, while CCP supporters contend that Falun Gong's continual spread would result in unwanted political instability. On June 10, 1999, the government set up the "6-10 Office", an extra-constitutional organization in charge of the crackdown on "heterodox faiths", which included Falun Gong. China's state-controlled media vilified Falun Gong and denounced it as an unhealthy element in society. On 22 July, the PRC Ministry of Civil Affairs outlawed the Falun Dafa Research Society as an illegal organization "engaged in illegal activities, advocating superstition and spreading fallacies, hoodwinking people, inciting and creating disturbances, and jeopardizing social stability",
Xinhua Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...

China Bans Falun Gong
''People's Daily'', 22 July 1999
coinciding with a concerted media assault. State television's prime time ''
Xinwen Lianbo ''Xinwen Lianbo'' (, literally News Simulcast) is a daily news programme produced by China Central Television (CCTV), a state broadcaster. It is shown simultaneously by all local TV stations in mainland China, making it one of the world's most ...
'' that day was extended to three hours from half an hour. It and many provincial and municipal TV networks labeled Falun Gong as an "evil cult". Regular programming was changed in many cases for up to a week. On July 23, the '' People's Daily'' contained a full-page editorial attacking the movement. On July 22, 1999, Falun Gong's exiled founder Li Hongzhi published a statement in which he called on international governments, organizations, and people for support, claiming that Falun Gong was without any particular structure, had no political objectives, nor had ever been involved in any anti-government activities. Human rights organisations noted that Falun Gong and its supporters claim that since 1999, thousands of practitioners have been tortured, beaten, subjected to psychiatric abuses, put in forced labour camps, and that tens of thousands more have been imprisoned. Falun Gong practitioners, including western practitioners travelling to China to protest, have continued to appeal for an end to the persecution and legalisation of the practice. Practitioners inside China have continued to resist and oppose what they see as the state controlled media's propaganda campaigns against Falun Gong, but continue to be met with harassment, arrests, torture or worse, according to Falun Gong sources.


Economic development

Amidst maintaining political stability, Premier
Zhu Rongji Zhu Rongji (; IPA: ; born 23 October 1928) is a retired Chinese politician who served as Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1998 to 2003 and CCP Politburo Standing Committee member from 1992 to 2002 along with the Chinese Communist ...
kept things on track in the difficult years of the late 1990s, maintaining mainland China's averaged growth at 9.7% a year over the two decades to 2000. The ability of the PRC to chart an effective course through the recent Asian Financial crisis, which crippled Southeast and East Asian economies (including that of Hong Kong and Taiwan), was also rather noteworthy. Part of the survival was owed to the state's overall control of the economy. Against the backdrop of the
Asian financial crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998– ...
and the catastrophic
1998 Yangtze River Floods The 1998 China floods (1998年中国洪水) lasted from middle of June to the beginning of September 1998 in China at the Yangtze RiverChinanews.com.cn.Chinanews.com.cn" ''98年特大洪水.'' Retrieved on 2009-08-01. as well as the Nen River, Son ...
, mainland China's
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
still grew by 7.9% in the first nine months of 2002, beating the government's 7% target despite a global economic slowdown. Active state intervention to stimulate demand through wage increases in the public sector and other measures showed certain strengths in the Chinese economic system in times of hardship. While foreign direct investment (FDI) worldwide halved in 2000, the flow of capital into mainland China rose 10%. As global firms scramble to avoid missing the China boom; FDI in China has risen 22.6% in 2002. While global trade stagnated, growing by one percent in 2002, mainland China's trade soared by 18% in the first nine months of 2002, with exports outstripping imports. Zhu tackled deep-seated structural problems which more conservative leaders were afraid of letting go. Uneven development was a major issue, as was the remaining state-owned enterprises. In addition, inefficient state firms and a banking system mired in bad loans and lost funds to foreign countries. Substantial disagreements over economic policy resulted in the party leadership, as the tensions focused on the pace of change. Zhu was long known to have been involved in a divisive relationship with CCP leader Jiang. The PRC leadership was also struggling to modernize and privatize State-owned enterprises (SOEs) without inducing massive urban unemployment. A generation of people that suffered due to the
Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...
that lacked the proper education or applicable skills has found it increasingly difficult to find a stable place in the increasingly privatized workforce. As millions lost their jobs as state firms closed, Zhu demanded financial safety nets for unemployed workers. While mainland China will need 100 million new urban jobs in the next five years to absorb laid off workers and rural migrants; so far they have been achieving this aim due to high per capita GDP growth. Under the auspices of Zhu and
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...
, his top deputy and successor, the state has been alleviating unemployment while promoting efficiency by pumping tax revenues into the economy and maintaining consumer demand. Critics have charged that there is an oversupply of manufactured goods, driving down prices and profits while increasing the level of bad debt in the banking system. But demand for Chinese goods, domestically and abroad, is high enough to put those concerns to rest in the time being. Consumer spending is growing, boosted, in large part, due to longer workers' holidays. Zhu's right-hand man, then Vice-Premier
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...
oversaw regulations for the stock market, campaigned to develop poorer inland provinces to stem migration and regional resentment. Zhu and Wen have been setting tax limits for peasants to protect them from high levies by corrupt officials. Well respected by ordinary Chinese citizens, Zhu also holds the respect of Western political and business leaders, who found him reassuring and credit him with clinching China's market-opening
World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization that regulates and facilitates international trade. With effective cooperation in the United Nations System, governments use the organization to establish, revise, and ...
(WTO) deal, which has brought foreign capital pouring into the country. Zhu remained as Premier until the National People's Congress met in March 2003, when it approved his struggle to clinch trusted deputy
Wen Jiabao Wen Jiabao (born 15 September 1942) is a retired Chinese politician who served as the Premier of the State Council from 2003 to 2013. In his capacity as head of government, Wen was regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic polic ...
as his successor. Like his fourth-generation colleague Hu Jintao, Wen's personal opinions are difficult to discern since he sticks very closely to his script. Unlike the frank strong-willed Zhu, Wen, who has earned a reputation as an equally competent manager, is known for his suppleness and discretion.


Crises abroad

The downturn in relations with the US during the 1990s was not totally related to the Tiananmen Square Massacre, but numerous other factors including the end of the Cold War which made Sino-US cooperation less important or useful. The transition to a de facto unipolar geopolitical landscape and US military actions around the globe, from the Persian Gulf to Haiti to the Balkans, were received with dismay by Beijing. In 1995–96, the old issue of Taiwan's political status returned to the forefront after having largely been swept under the rug during the years of amicable Sino-US relations in the 1970s-80s. Beijing was disturbed by the island's transition to a multiparty democracy in 1987 and after the fallout in relations with the US in the early 1990s, American arms sales to Taipei were stepped up. In a speech to the Central Military Commission in 1993, General Secretary Jiang Zemin spoke of China's primary strategic concern being the prevention of Taiwan from declaring political independence. During this time, China began a significant military modernization program and a move away from Maoist ideas of "people's war" with a vast, lightly armed infantry force. Although arms sales from the US had been ended in 1989, China found a new arms supplier in post-Soviet Russia, which was in rather desperate economic straits during the 1990s and was willing to sell armaments to nearly anyone willing to pay. The CCP during this time began conscious efforts to remove the PLA from direct involvement in high-level political decisions, and as of 2017, no PLA general has sat in the Politburo Standing Committee since 1997. In 1998, the PLA was directed to abandon economic and business activities and focus strictly on defense matters. However, this edict proved less than effective as many army officers, enjoying lavish profits, simply continued business activities in a more surreptitious fashion. Corruption and selling of army posts to the highest bidder has continued to be endemic in the PLA. With Taiwanese presidential elections due up in 1996, Beijing began a significant arms buildup near the Taiwan Straits. The PLA conducted two major military exercises in July 1995 and March 1996, apparently to intimidate Taiwan into not electing a pro-independence president. In response, US president
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
dispatched the US 7th Fleet to the region in a major show of force. China abruptly pulled back. Aggressive posturing towards Taiwan ultimately proved self-defeating for Beijing since it sowed increased distrust with the US and China's neighbors. US-Japanese military ties were stepped up, and in 1997, Washington and Tokyo concluded a renewed "Guidelines for Defense Cooperation" pact. In 1999, Sino-US relations took another ugly downturn when
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...
forces undergoing bombing operations in Yugoslavia during the
Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the wa ...
bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. Three Chinese journalists died in the bombing, and Beijing reacted harshly. Mass anti-US protests rocked the streets of Beijing in the largest public demonstrations to take place since the pro-democracy movement 10 years earlier. Despite US statements that the bombing was accidental, China did not accept this explanation, bitterly condemning the action and demanding a full apology. In an official statement, then-Vice-president Hu Jintao declared the action as "barbaric" and behind the basic principle of ignorant "
American hegemony American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
". In the same statement he raised traditional slogans regarding the strength of the Chinese people, to rally behind the government and Jiang's leadership a huge portion of the populace. As protests escalated, the Central Government began changing its tone in an attempt to calm the outpouring wave of nationalism. Further aggravating relations with the US in 1999 were accusations of Chinese espionage at the Los Alamos Nuclear Lab in
New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...
. Around the start of the 21st century, although China had a relatively healthy economy with increased foreign investment, it faced a more precarious position on the global scale.
Human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
became the concern for many western governments, and most leaders of western powers mention the issue every time on an official state visit. Pro- Taiwan Independence forces of the Democratic Progressive Party won the elections in Taiwan for the first time, limiting talks of Chinese unification. Li Teng-hui published his "Two Countries Statement", the first of its kind labeling Taiwan as an independent entity separate from China. Yet another clash with the United States occurred in April 2001 when a US spyplane collided with a Chinese jet fighter over the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
, killing the Chinese pilot, whose remains were never recovered. The American EP-3E spyplane was forced to land on
Hainan Island Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly ...
, after which Chinese authorities promptly detained the crew and confiscated the aircraft. After two weeks of negotiations, the crew were released. Three months later, China returned the plane to the US in pieces. Meanwhile, in July 2001, the PRC and
Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
signed the 20-year Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, aimed at increasing Sino-Russian cooperation and mutual assistance in various areas, covering
economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...
,
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
, diplomatic (including
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
),
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...
and
ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...
fronts. The move was seen as another step towards balancing out US dominance in global affairs. China and Russia had also agreed upon a complete border treaty between the two countries.


Notes


References


Further reading

* Al-Rfouh, Faisal O. "Sino-Indian Relations: From Confrontation to Accommodation (1988-2001)." ''China Report'' 39.1 (2003): 21–38. * * Cheng, Yuk-shing. "Fleeing from the Asian Financial Crisis: China's Economic Policy in 1997-2000." ''China Report'' 38.2 (2002): 259–273. * Duckett, Jane. "International Influences on Policymaking in China: Network Authoritarianism from Jiang Zemin to Hu Jintao." ''China Quarterly'' 237 (2018): 15–37.
online
* Fabre, Guilhem. "Decentralisation, corruption and criminalisation: China in comparative perspective." ''China Report'' 38.4 (2002): 547–569. * Fenby, Jonathan ''The Penguin History of Modern China: The Fall and Rise of a Great Power 1850 to the Present'' (3rd ed. 2019) popular history. * Garver, John W. ''China's Quest: The History of the Foreign Relations of the People's Republic'' (2nd ed. 2018) * Joffe, Ellis. "Ruling China after Deng." ''Journal of East Asian Affairs'' 11.1 (1997): 183–220
online
* Kazuko, Mori, and Brij Tankha. "Integrative and Disruptive Forces in Contemporary China." ''China Report'' 38.3 (2002): 385–396
online
* Kissinger, Henry. ''On China'' (2011) * Lam, Willy Wo-Lap. ''China after Deng Xiaoping: the power struggle in Beijing since Tiananmen'' (1995). * Leung, Edwin Pak-wah. ''Political Leaders of Modern China: A Biographical Dictionary'' (2002) * Meisner, Maurice. ''Mao's China and after: A history of the People's Republic'' (Simon and Schuster, 1999). * Perkins, Dorothy. ''Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture.'' Facts on File, 1999. 662 pp. * Salisbury, Harrison E. ''The New Emperors: China in the Era of Mao and Deng'' (1993) * Schoppa, R. Keith. ''The Columbia Guide to Modern Chinese History.'' Columbia U. Press, 2000. 356 pp. * Scobell, Andrew. "After Deng, What?: Reconsidering the Prospects for a Democratic Transition in China." ''Problems of Post-Communism'' 44.5 (1997): 22–31. * Shambaugh, David. ''Deng Xiaoping: portrait of a Chinese statesman'' (Oxford UP, 1995). * Spence, Jonathan D. ''
The Search for Modern China ''The Search for Modern China'' is a 1990 non-fiction book by Jonathan Spence, published by Century Hutchinson and W. W. Norton & Company. It covers the period 1600 to 1989. According to Spence, the goal was to explain how Modern China was creat ...
'' (1999), 876pp; survey from 1644 to 1990s * Suettinger, Robert, and L. Strobe Talbott. ''Beyond Tiananmen: The Politics of U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000'' (2003) * Wang, Ke-wen, ed. ''Modern China: An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Nationalism.'' Garland, 1998. 442 pp. * Whiting, Allen S. "Chinese nationalism and foreign policy after Deng." ''China Quarterly'' 142 (1995): 295–316. * Yang, Benjamin. ''Deng: A political biography'' (1998) * Zeng, Jinghan. ''The Chinese Communist Party's capacity to rule: ideology, legitimacy and party cohesion.'' (Springer, 2015). * Zhao Ziyang. ''Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang'' (2009)


Historiography

* Harding, Harry. "The study of Chinese politics: toward a third generation of scholarship." ''World Politics'' 36.2 (1984): 284–307. * Wu, Guo. "Recalling bitterness: Historiography, memory, and myth in Maoist China." ''Twentieth-Century China'' 39.3 (2014): 245–268.
online
* Yu, Bin. "The Study of Chinese Foreign Policy: Problems and Prospect." ''World Politics'' 46.2 (1994): 235–261. * Zhang, Chunman. "Review Essay: How to Merge Western Theories and Chinese Indigenous Theories to Study Chinese Politics?." ''Journal of Chinese Political Science'' 22.2 (2017): 283–294
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:History of the People's Republic of China (1989-2002) (1989-2002) 20th century in China 21st century in China