History of China (2002–2012)

In this process, there was an unprecedented shift in stance towards favouring rural development and farmers, as well as other generally populist policies. The Hu-Wen government, on the same token, attempted to restrict some personal freedoms, especially those associated with political content on the Internet. China's increased prominence on the global stage has also brought with it general skepticism and intense scrutiny, especially in the lead up to the 2008 Summer Olympics and after the March 2008 protests in Tibet. The government continues to be criticized on human rights abuses and the various product quality scandals that have increasingly damaged the country's integrity and continues to raise suspicions about the country's safety standards. This has led to an intense wave of nationalism (or Socialist patriotism) surfacing in Chinese populations around the world.

As of mid-2012, government statistics show that for the first time ever over 50% of the Chinese population now live in urban areas, marking a milestone in the urbanization of China. The majority of modern city dwellers are migrants and their children who moved to cities during the economic boom of the last 30 years started by Deng Xiaoping's policy of reform and opening up.

Politics

"Fourth Generation": The Hu-Wen administration

Ever since the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping had promoted mandatory retirement ages for senior CCP officials, which was made official in 1998. In November 2002, at the 16th Chinese Communist Party National Congress, then-CCP General Secretary Jiang Zemin stepped down from the powerful Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to make way for a younger "fourth generation" of leadership led by Tsinghua engineering graduate Hu Jintao. Speculation remained, however, that Jiang would continue to wield significant influence. At the time, Jiang stacked newly expanded Politburo Standing Committee, China's foremost power organ, with three of his hardline allies: former Shanghai party secretary Huang Ju, former Beijing party secretary Jia Qinglin, and Li Changchun to control propaganda. In addition, the new vice-president, Zeng Qinghong, was also seen as a staunch Jiang ally, as he was part of Jiang's Shanghai clique.

Also elevated during the Congress was Wen Jiabao, then Premier Zhu Rongji's right-hand man. Wen would become Premier in March 2003, and along with Hu, they were termed the Hu-Wen Administration. Both Hu and Wen's careers are remarkable in that they survived through the 1989 political crisis, which was attributed to their moderate views and careful attention not to offend or alienate older supporters. Hu Jintao is the first General Secretary to have joined the Communist Party after the Revolution over 50 years ago. In his 50s, Hu was the youngest member by far of the then seven-member Standing Committee. Wen Jiabao, a geology engineer who spent most of career in China's hinterlands, had never lost his political ground despite being a former ally to disgraced CCP general secretary Zhao Ziyang.

In November 2012, Hu Jintao retired as General Secretary and was succeeded by Xi Jinping, the nation's first paramount leader to be born after the foundation of the PRC. Xi initiated a series of large-scale anti-corruption drives, which however are believed to be secondary to removing his political opponents in the party, especially allies of Jiang Zemin's two sons. Jiang himself, despite being retired since 2004, was believed to still be manipulating politics behind the scenes.

Policy transition

Due to the large number of social, political, and economic imbalances left over from the Jiang era, Hu and Wen inherited a government nearly run-down from severe corruption and the immense rise in materialism. Because Jiang continued to wield influence, the direction of the Hu-Wen administration did not deviate from that of the Jiang-era for a few years after taking over power. Jiang, however, faced both popular pressure and significant inner party and military opposition, and stepped down as the Central Military Commission Chairman in September 2004. Although superficially, Hu and Wen continued to support Jiang era policies and hail his Three Represents theory, gradual changes were put in place to revert some of the worst excesses of the Jiang era. The changes had a much more egalitarian focus, concentrated on sectors of the Chinese population which have been left behind by the economic reform and closing the great wealth gap. Hu and Wen have both taken a number of high-profile trips to the poorer areas of China with the stated goal of understanding these areas better.

The degree of difference between the Hu and Jiang administrations is subject to debate. Within the top leadership of the PRC, there was still a general consensus that the reform and opening up should continue. But because of the clear slant towards more capitalist elements under a one-party system, it has been contested that the government has an unclear ideological direction. The seriousness of China's internal problems is often masked by its high economic growth indicators and rapidly increasing foreign investment interest. Both Hu and Wen have given keynote addresses indicating the government's determination to deal with problems in a more logical, scientific way.

Media control

Chinese leaders understand that news media could be a very effective means to fight against corruption. Media controls were initially reduced, as market forces have encouraged tabloid reporting. Yet, the government occasionally fires reporters or shuts down newspapers that stray outside the party-line. The media reforms of Hu Jintao have been considered conservative by Western watchdogs. At the same time, Hu issued a directive for official CCP newspapers and state media outlets such as Xinwen Lianbo to concentrate on more populist issues instead of constantly following the daily affairs of each of China's top leaders.

The introduction of the Internet and SMS has increased the difficulty of attaining complete control, although general internet censorship involving sites such as Google and Wikipedia persist. Moreover, the news media from Hong Kong, protected by Basic Law, has become increasingly involved in news reporting in China, and have become increasingly accessible to a Mainland public hungry for "real news".

Protection of individual rights

The term "Weiquan movement" first appeared in the 1990s. The word wéiquán (Chinese characters: 維權) literally means "rights protection". As it implies, the Weiquan movement is not necessarily meant to protect specifically the political rights of the civilians. In fact, it was rather like a movement of consumers' rights protection at its early stage. It became more developed after 2003. Citizens began to protect their violated rights by means of organizing demonstrations, seeking help through the legal system and media reports, writing open or appeal letters, etc. However, because the legal system is not independent and mature, and the fact that the central government is sometimes suspicious and local governments even hostile toward it, the Weiquan movement has been encountering difficulties in the course of its development.

There are cases in which lawyers were harassed, journalists beaten, and civilians imprisoned in the Weiquan movement. What makes the Weiquan movement more difficult is the Chinese system "Re-education through labor" (Pinyin: láodòng jiàoyăng or láojiào in short) (Chinese characters: 劳动教养 or 劳教 in short), in which person can be detained for up to 4 years without being convicted by a court. This system is also used to deal with some activists of the Weiquan movement.

In spite of the difficulties, the Weiquan movement still made some progress, such as the abolition of "custody and repatriation" in 2003. However, the pace of the progress is still very slow.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong's sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China in 1997. Since then, the economy of the former British colony has progressed smoothly. There was ongoing debate about the amount of democracy under the new system. Notably, the central government ran into trouble with Hong Kong legal groups and citizens surrounding the territory's pseudo-constitution, the Hong Kong Basic Law, particularly Article 23, and democratic reform. Although the region enjoys a high degree of autonomy in all areas except for defence and foreign affairs, the Central Government in Beijing desired to keep appointment powers for the Hong Kong Chief Executive as well as part of the Hong Kong legislature. These continued powers led to unrest with certain segments of the Hong Kong population, who demanded direct elections for the Chief Executive and the legislature. Thousands of protesters took to the streets in a series of July 1 marches.

Taiwan

With Hong Kong and Macau reunited with the mainland the main outstanding issue is Taiwan. The strategy of the PRC government was to wait out the term of pro-Taiwan independence President Chen Shui-bian in hopes that the pro-Chinese unification ticket of Lien Chan and James Soong would win the elections of 2004. Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan made an unprecedented visit to Beijing in 2005, shaking hands with Communist Party leader Hu Jintao, marking the first such Kuomintang-Communist meeting since the end of the Chinese Civil War. Chen Shui-bian and his pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party was reelected in 2004, impeding possible unification progress. Though Chen will unlikely pledge to the One-China policy to begin negotiations, he has pledged the Four Noes and One Without, which quells any armed conflict in the near future. At the same time, Chen has gone step by step with actions provoking Beijing, trying to gradually create a separate Taiwan identity. In 2008, tourism slightly opened between Taiwan and the mainland.

Tibet

The Chinese government and the 14th Dalai Lama have been in contact since 1978, at the behest of the reformist Deng Xiaoping, and have held several secret or formal talks since 1982. The main points of contention are the Dalai Lama's want for a Greater Tibet, or to unite the Tibet Autonomous Region with Chinese territory that has not been a part of political Tibet in modern times, and the Dalai Lama's insistence that Tibet should be run "like a western-style democracy" instead of by the Chinese Communist Party. In response to the Chinese government's rejection of these demands, the Dalai Lama has traveled all over the world persuading foreign governments to demand China accept these terms. As a result of this pressure and the apparent failure of liberal reforms in Tibet to quell separatist sentiment, hardliners within the Chinese government gained in power. Tibetan nationalists felt, then, that they must escalate with violent opposition in Tibet "to prevent China from doing business as usual". After a period of relatively peaceful time since the demonstrations in 1989, the 2008 Tibetan unrest indeed provoked an international reaction against China.