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Contemporary China: Course Presentation. UTEP-ASDP Cohort 3 Dr. Joshua Fan - History Dr. Gaspare Genna – Political Science Dr. Taeko Hiroi – Political Science Dr. Richard Pineda - Communication. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO. Framing Assumptions. The course will be team taught:
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Contemporary China: Course Presentation UTEP-ASDP Cohort 3 Dr. Joshua Fan - History Dr. Gaspare Genna – Political Science Dr. Taeko Hiroi – Political Science Dr. Richard Pineda - Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Framing Assumptions • The course will be team taught: History 43XX: Contemporary China Political Science 43XX: Contemporary China Asian Studies 43XX: Contemporary China Communication 43XX: Contemporary China • The catalog description/advertising will explain the course as a dynamic seminar focused on studying contemporary China from the intersections of history, politics, culture, and communication. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Framing Assumptions • Content is being developed in module format for inclusion into a database of China-focused courses. THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Contemporary China: Challenges and Transitions • The course in four parts: • I. Political Phenomena • II. International Relations/Power Transition Theory • III. Migration, Environment/Energy & Population • IV. Media, Culture & Popular Imaginaries THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Political System of China • One-Party Socialist Republic • The Evolution of the Constitution • Current version adopted in December 1982, with revisions in 1988, 1993, 1999 & 2004 • The National People’s Congress as the highest state power THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Parallel Party-State Structure • Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) • CCP created and controls the state • Decisions are made in the CCP and then approved and administered by the state • Party and state leadership merges (is the same) at the top positions THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Communist Party State President & Premier Chair/General Secretary Standing Committee of State Council Standing Committee of Politburo State Council Politburo Central Military Commission Central Military Commission Party Central Committee National People’s Congress National Party Congress Provincial Party Congress Provincial People’s Congresses Township/County Township/County Local Local
China’s Political Status • Freedom House • Political Rights Score of 7 (worst), on a 1 (most free) to 7 (least free) scale, 2013 • Polity IV • Polity score of -7 (one of the worst), on a 10 (most democratic) to -10 (most autocratic) scale, 2013 THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Democracy Movements • Beijing Spring/Democracy Wall, 1978-79 • Oct. 1978, CCP policy: “seeking truth from facts” • Dec. 1979, “The Fifth Modernization” by Wei Jingsheng, called for political liberalization/democracy THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Democracy Movements • Tiananmen Square Protests, 1989 • April 1989, death of HuYaobang, a reformist CCP leader • More than one million people gathered in Tiananmen Square and marched in Beijing and elsewhere • June 4: Massacre, w/ a death toll of 2,000 to 3,000 • Gov/CCP response: Crackdown THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Stability Maintenance Program • Maintains domestic stability/public security • “Weiwen” in Chinese • Top priority of Gov/CCP (along with economic growth) • Established in response to the Tiananmen Square Incident THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Stability Maintenance Program • Since 2011, the budget for internal security has exceeded the military budget • 2013 budget: 769 billion Yuan (US$125 billion) • Penetrates and found at all levels of government and community THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Power Transition Theory • Assumptions and Hypotheses • International hierarchy • Preponderant power creates political and economic structures and norms of behavior that enhance stability • International trade, finance, democracy, etc. • Rise and fall of preponderant powers • If dissatisfied, major war likely upon power transition (at parity) THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
China and Asia • Economic Cooperation • ASEAN + China (South Korea and Japan) • Territorial Disputes • Taiwan • Jiandao (North and South Korea) • Ieodo Island/Suyan Rock (South Korea) • Macclesfield Bank/Zhongsha Islands (Vietnam) • Okinotori-shima (Japan) • Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands (Japan) • Spratly Islands (Many) • Aksai Chin (India) THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
China and the World • Trade • Latin America • Africa • FDI • Latin America • Africa • GATT/WTO • Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
China and the USA • Economic Interdependence • Managing the Status Quo • Territorial Issues • US Preparedness • Air-Sea Battle Concept (Anti-Access/Area Denial) • China Preparedness • The growing defense industry THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Floating Population / Migrant Workers • Films: The Last Train Home, Getting Home, & Lost in Beijing • Sources: Factory Girls (Leslie T. Chang) & Made in China (Pun Ngai) • Literature: Worker Literature vs. Under-stratum / Subaltern Literature [no English translation] THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Environment vs. Energy Choices THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Environment vs. Energy Choices • Films: Before the Flood, Still Life, & A CCP approved documentary (2011) • Sources: Before the Deluge (Deirdre Chetham) & The River Dragon Has Come! (Dai Qing) • Choke Point China, The Struggle for Sustainability in Rural China, China's Environmental Challenges, & China and the Environment: The Green Revolution THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
One-Child Policy / Family Planning THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
One-Child Policy / Family Planning • Films: One-Child Policy-China & The Invisible Red Thread • Sources: Just One Child (Susan Greenhalgh), Only Hope (Vanessa Fong), & Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother (Xinran) • Literature: The Dark Road (Ma Jian) THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Media, Culture & Popular Imaginaries • News Media – comparative focus on media coverage(s): • Discursive media & threat construction • Popular opinion and political capital • Reading: • Pan, et al, One Event, Three Stories: Media Narratives of the Handover of Hong Kong in Cultural China (1999) International Communication Gazette THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Media, Culture & Popular Imaginaries • Popular Culture – resistance and maintenance of control: • Arts and resistance • The State as cultural propaganda manufacturer • Reading: • McGranhan (1996) “Miss Tibet, or Tibet Misrepresented?: The Trope of Woman-as-Nation in the Struggle for Tibet,” in Colleen Ballerino Cohen et al., eds., Beauty Queens on the Global Stage: Gender, Contests, and Power THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Media, Culture & Popular Imaginaries • Internet – Manipulative Expressive Space(s): • Political voice and virtual demonstrations • Design or default in shallow internet activism • Reading: • Yang (2012) “A Chinese Internet? History, Practice, and Globalization.” Chinese Journal of Communication THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
Thank you THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO