I keep telling my wife it's run by communist and she keeps telling me that certain parts are not like Shanghai etc. I don't get it. Communist is supposed to be like the government controls everything and gives the people their stuff. There is so much business going on? Of course I can hit up wikipedia but i'm sure you guys can tell me what's going on.
Is China a communist country?
- Thread starter ryans
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nobody knows?
Per wiki:
Power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the Communist Party of China, the state, and the People's Liberation Army.
All positions of significant power in the state structure and in the army are occupied by members of the Communist Party of China which is controlled by the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, a group of 5 to 9 people, usually all men, who make all decisions of national significance. As the role of the Army is to enforce these decisions in times of crisis, support of the PLA is important.
Power within the government of the People's Republic of China is divided among three bodies: the Communist Party of China, the state, and the People's Liberation Army.
All positions of significant power in the state structure and in the army are occupied by members of the Communist Party of China which is controlled by the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, a group of 5 to 9 people, usually all men, who make all decisions of national significance. As the role of the Army is to enforce these decisions in times of crisis, support of the PLA is important.
The entire Mainland of china is under communist control.
I believe Hong Kong and Taiwan are some of the few territories not under communist rule. There are others to.
This might help
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:China_administrative.gif
I believe Hong Kong and Taiwan are some of the few territories not under communist rule. There are others to.
This might help
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:China_administrative.gif
You have so many people getting rich in china. I thought this was not possible in a communist society.
Yes but those people getting rich for the most part are connected or have connections to government officials. Hence of course the people in charge will make sure they, their friends, and family get rich. But I am sure if you count the numbers, based on their population of 1 billion people, its probably a very small percent. And if you have a problem with that, they will happily send soldiers to your house to show you the error of your ways.
While it is still labeled as a Communist nation, it is really a socialistic society with some strings attached. There are still some censorship against anti government voices, and social value is still very conservative. Capitalism has fully kicked in in all major cities, and the rural part is still ignored like 3k years ago.
The current president Hu Jiang Tao is a pro capitalism president. He allows and encourage capitalism. He also understand that you can't change a nation with 1.5 billion people over night. Just look at Russia after the cold war, twenty years later, it is still a mess. China will not let that happen.
While major cities/provence get to prosperous, low density province still requires government assistance, or self efficiency.
Taiwan (ROC) is not under the control of China (PRC). Hong Kong is under the control of the Chinese government since 1997 but get to keep their ways life.
So is it a communist country, absolutely not. It is a capitalistic society with Socialism attached to it. Socialism is the bi-product of the old Communism system and eventually, it will go away. Just a matter of time.
LMAO... Sounds just like USA!!! 1% wealthy!!! 9% upper middle class, and the rest of us.
And
The current president Hu Jiang Tao is a pro capitalism president. He allows and encourage capitalism. He also understand that you can't change a nation with 1.5 billion people over night. Just look at Russia after the cold war, twenty years later, it is still a mess. China will not let that happen.
While major cities/provence get to prosperous, low density province still requires government assistance, or self efficiency.
Taiwan (ROC) is not under the control of China (PRC). Hong Kong is under the control of the Chinese government since 1997 but get to keep their ways life.
So is it a communist country, absolutely not. It is a capitalistic society with Socialism attached to it. Socialism is the bi-product of the old Communism system and eventually, it will go away. Just a matter of time.
LMAO... Sounds just like USA!!! 1% wealthy!!! 9% upper middle class, and the rest of us.
And
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it's not a 100% communist country. they are not like Soviet/Russia or North Korea.
for 1.3billion population, competition is very tough.
for 1.3billion population, competition is very tough.
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China is only communist in name now. They have more or less embraced capitalism. Things started changing in the early to mid '90s, and really gained momentum in the late '90s and early 2000s.
The days when the government controlled everything and told you what you could and couldn't do are over. The days where the government provided everything for you are also over.
Today, the typical citizen of China can pretty much do whatever (s)he wishes, provided that (s)he does not do or say anything that can be even remotely construed as going against the government. As long as you don't go against the government, you are ok.
In many ways, it's even more capitalistic than the west now. Everything, and I mean *everything* is for sale and has it's price.
The days when the government controlled everything and told you what you could and couldn't do are over. The days where the government provided everything for you are also over.
Today, the typical citizen of China can pretty much do whatever (s)he wishes, provided that (s)he does not do or say anything that can be even remotely construed as going against the government. As long as you don't go against the government, you are ok.
In many ways, it's even more capitalistic than the west now. Everything, and I mean *everything* is for sale and has it's price.
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China IS a Communist country. I have clients that have products manufactured in China and they always meet with a Military General.
China is "partners" in all of the large industrial businesses with the private sector.
Don't be fooled.
Hong Kong is a part of China, and they are ruled by the Communist party. China is allowing Hong Kong to continue to operate as they did before 1997. They know that if they tried any drastic changes toward authoritarian communism, alot of the companies invested there would leave, as would a large amount of the population.
I was there a couple of years ago on business, and this is precisely the conversation I had with some Hong Kong businessmen.
Purchasing goods from China is like purchasing a majority of your things from your sworn enemy, simply because they will sell it cheaper than your friends. China will soon use the very dollars americans are spending on their products, against them.
China is "partners" in all of the large industrial businesses with the private sector.
Don't be fooled.
Hong Kong is a part of China, and they are ruled by the Communist party. China is allowing Hong Kong to continue to operate as they did before 1997. They know that if they tried any drastic changes toward authoritarian communism, alot of the companies invested there would leave, as would a large amount of the population.
I was there a couple of years ago on business, and this is precisely the conversation I had with some Hong Kong businessmen.
Purchasing goods from China is like purchasing a majority of your things from your sworn enemy, simply because they will sell it cheaper than your friends. China will soon use the very dollars americans are spending on their products, against them.
Not sure if this is very accurate. As of a year ago, China had 106 billionaires, almost 400,000 millionaires, and 5,000 with over 30m (all U.S. dollars obviously). It has a long way to go to reach the U.S.'s levels but it's not too far off proportionaly to GDP figures. A simplified outlook might suggest that if China maintains growth rates even 75% of current ones and the U.S. manages to hold its growth rate at 3% (currently at 11 and 0 respectively), it will only be another 15-25 or so years before the figures align. Of course the U.S. only has one fourth of China's population and will likely have closer to 1/6 when/if that time comes. But considering the wealth we started out with compared to China when China started industrializing in the early 1980's, that's startling.
I'll also disagree with the suggestion that a government connection is a requirement for success. While many officials do allocate funds for government projects (as in that's their job, decides who gets the money), the U.S. does the exact same thing. Unlike over here, curruption ends with execution instead of a few pages in a tabloid about a bridge to no where in alaska.
I say this with decent confidence because I personally know a few gentleman who allocate funds for large governmental institutions there (specifically the zhejiang province and Shanghai (it's own province)). The majority of them are highly distinguished professors and researchers who work extremely hard, not some aristocrats making their friend's rich. There are so many levels you have to get approval through and so many people monitoring the progress it's suicide at a remotely high level to perform outright curruption right now.
As for the original question, yes it's communist. However, since the early 80's the government has embraced capitalism. It decided that in order to maintain power and control over it's broad population it would need strong economic growth. As time went on, this reinforced itself. While some communist ideas are relatively obvious to outsiders, in general the country operates similar to any other capitalist nation economically. An exception would be that tipping is not very common (if everyone is doing their part, why would you need a 'performance bonus' for activities that are not beyond what your job requires?), which I find quite refreshing and quickly got used to.
HK is China, but the better way to structure the relationship is that China is the head corporation and HK is a subsiderary. Like InBev buying out bud but letting bud do it's thing. In several decades the relationship's structure will be back up at the 'bargaining table' so to speak.
Taiwan and China are seperate countries at this point for all intents and purposes.
As to the last poster, the trade deficit we have with China (I assume that's what you are referring to) is completely our fault. They have eagerly bought up our debt and put the terms of trade in their favor exactly as they are supposed to. As for giving money to our enemies, I think your worry is misguided. The vast majority of our current deficit and dollars net flowing out of the country go to purchase black gold. At least China actually makes things and competes, most of our dollars go towards nothing but commodity lottery winners who will eventually have their days.
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You two are just arguing about semantics.
China is, in general, still politically communist. However, there are local regions that have become more democratic over time. There are provinces that have local officials directly elected by the people.
Economically, China has really moved away from communism. They have a free market economy, and although the govt. has more control over business than say the US, they are moving more towards capitalism every day.
Regions of China like Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc. each have their own governments (I am not sure about HK, but I believe there is some agreement they will govern themselves until a certain date but they will be officially recognized as a subdivision of the Chinese govt.) They call it something like: "One China; two systems"
Basically, China realized capitalism works better for the country and they have embraced it. If they feel democracy works better, they will embrace that too.
Baby steps...
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