This comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date book provides information and analysis for a complete examination of contemporary China and its political and economic developments. Chapter topics include the origin and rise of the Chinese communist movement: from military communism to Deng's reforms; the erosion of Chinese communist ideology: Marxism-Leninism, Mao's thought, Dengism, and the thinking of Jiang Zemin; political institutions of the party-state: structural issues and the policy process; Elites and the Cadre System: leadership style, factionalism, succession, and recruitment; reform for a creditable Socialist legal system; provincial and local politics: centralism versus regionalism, national minorities, and the case of Tibet; Greater China: reversion of Hong Kong and Macao, and the Pearl River delta regional development, and the Taiwan Question; The military's role in Chinese politics; democracy, dissent, and the Tiananmen mass movement; the politics of modernization: rural and urban economic reforms; and the politics of modernization: education, science and technology, the open door policy, and the intellectuals. For individuals interested in Chinese politics.

Providing a base for the understanding of current Chinese politics, this book offers historical and cultural perspectives on the origin and rise of Chinese Communism, the erosion of Communist ideology, the political institutions of the Party-state, the role of elites and the cadre system, legal reforms, provincial and local politics, the military's role, democracy and dissent, and economic reform and modernization. Appendixes include the 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the 1982 Constitution of the Communist Party of China, and the Communist Party Constitution's 1987 revision and 1997 Amendment.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)