People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China 中华人民共和国 Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó | |||||||||
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| 1949–1999 | |||||||||
 Flag
.svg) Emblem
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Anthem: 义勇军进行曲 "March of the Volunteers" | |||||||||
| Capital | Beijing | ||||||||
| Largest city | Shanghai | ||||||||
| Official languages | Mandarin | ||||||||
| Government |
1949–1998: Unitary Marxist one-party republic 1998–1999: Unitary semi-presidential republic | ||||||||
| General Secretary and President | |||||||||
• 1949–1964 | Mao Zedong | ||||||||
• 1964–1990 | Zhou Zhiyong | ||||||||
• 1990–1999 | Song Kun | ||||||||
• 1999 | Ren Longyun | ||||||||
| Premier | |||||||||
• 1949–1964 | Zhou Enlai (first) | ||||||||
• 1999 | Qi Ronghua (last) | ||||||||
| Historical era | Cold War | ||||||||
• Established | 1 October 1949 | ||||||||
| 31 December 1999 | |||||||||
| ISO 3166 code | CN | ||||||||
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| Part of a series on the |
| History of China since 1911 |
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List
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1911–1927: Early Republic of China |
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1938–1949: Chinese Civil War |
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1949–1964: Mao Zedong's China |
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1964–1999: Reform and Fall of Communism |
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Related topics |
 China portal |
The People's Republic of China (PRC) was a state in East Asia from October 1949 until December 1999. It was the most populous country in the world with over 1.4 billion people by 1970, and was the largest country in the world by land area. Governed by the Chinese Communist Party, it had an authoritarian one-party government for most of its existence, and initially also had a centralized command economy before the 1960s when it began a gradual loosening of state controls over the economy. Beijing was the capital and largest city. The People's Republic of China bordered Manchuria, Tuva, Dauria, the Altai Republic, and Ussuria to the north, Kazakhstan, Persia and Tajikistan to the west, India, Myanmar, North Vietnam, Laos to the south, the British enclave of Hong Kong and the Portuguese enclave of Macau on its southeastern coast, and the German enclave of Qingdao on the northeastern coast.
The end of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938 was followed by the Chinese Civil War, which ended in 1949 with a total Communist victory as the Chinese Nationalist Army had been exhausted by more than a decade of fighting the Japanese Empire. Despite some initial economic reforms during the 1950s, the new People's Republic led by Mao Zedong remained an impoverished backwater up until his death in 1964 led to the start of economic reforms. The PRC remained neutral for most of Great War II until 1957, when it invaded Korea as the Japanese Empire faced defeat by the Allied powers, establishing a Korean communist state. In early 1965, seeking allies in the Cold War against the United Commonwealth, Sierran Prime Minister Earl Warren visited China for an official meeting with General Secretary Zhou Zhiyong and other Chinese leaders, establishing diplomatic relations with the country while signing a number of agreements. It began the opening of China to the world after decades of civil war and isolation. Mao's successor, Zhao Zhiyong supported "market socialism" instead of the more centrally planned economy during the Mao years.
The "Opening and Reform" policy implemented by Zhao Zhiyong led to increased trade with the Anglo-American and European countries, creating massive economic growth and making China one of the largest economies in the world by 1990. In the period of economic development and trade between 1966 and 1990, hundreds of millions of Chinese were raised out of poverty due to the increased trade and foreign investment, but by the middle of the 1990s decade this led to calls for democratization and more of a public role in Chinese politics. The disastrous Sino-Tajik War also discredited the Communist Party's rule in China. Some reforms were implemented starting in 1998 by General Secretary Song Kun with the goal of transitioning to a social democracy, but a coup attempt in 1999 precipitated the Beijing Spring protests, part of the larger Revolutions of 2000. The Beijing Spring led to the end of Communist one-party rule, at the moment when the army of Republic of China started to declare war to the People's Republic of China, which is supported by the United Tibet Opposition, Revolution Committee of the Ningxia People and the United States.
In view of the situation that the Islamic-backed Republic of China's army occupied Tianjin and Chongqing, two of the main cities in China and its troops are pushing closer and closer to the capital city Beijing, acting General Secretary Ren Longyun declared the the dissolution of the People's Republic on December 31, 1999. The fall of one of the world's two largest and most powerful Communist powers had a profound effect on global politics, and is considered to be one of the major events that ended the Cold War and contributed to a detente between the remaining power, the United Commonwealth, with the capitalist Western powers. A new presidential election have thus taken place in response to the dissolution of it, which is the democratic elections in 2000 and 2001 within a new Republic of China.
China remained in international isolation until Great War II, when it first established ties with the Allied powers in return for assisting them against Japan, which was seen as a common threat. This began the process of building ties between the West and China. During the Cold War from the mid-1960s the People's Republic of China was considered to be one of the leading Communist states alongside the United Commonwealth, and therefore was seen by some Western leaders as a counterweight to the Commonwealth. This led to the "opening and reform" policies after Mao Zedong's death, and the opening of China to the West. The visit of Sierran Prime Minister Earl Warren began the Sino-Continental split in 1966, and the PRC was considered to be the leader of the International Conference of Marxist and Maoist Organizations – becoming a rival to the Continental-led Landonist International. China was also a permanent member of the League of Nations Security Council from 1958.
History
Politics
The PRC was a socialist one-party republic dominated by the Chinese Communist Party and headed by the General Secretary, as the paramount leader of China. Executive power was exercised by the Central People's Government, or the State Council of the People's Republic (equivalent to a cabinet in Western governments). There was no political freedom, with the system completely controlled by the Communist Party, and only limited elections held on a local level. There were no national level elections of any kind. There were other political parties permitted to exist, but they were part of a "United Front" with the Communist Party and posed no opposition.
As a one-party state, the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party held absolute authority over the Party and the state. The President of China was an office of a ceremonial figurehead that was simultaneously held by the General Secretary. He was also the head of the Central Military Commission, which oversaw the armed forces. Since one person usually held these offices it gave them near-absolute power. His directives were carried out by the State Council, which was headed by a Premier as the head of government and assisted by four or five vice premiers, of which the most important was the First Vice Premier. The People's Republic of China was divided into 22 provinces and on the provincial level, the Communist Party Secretary was the highest authority, while the governor headed the state apparatus in the province and was the second-most powerful figure. The legislature was the National People's Congress, consisting of nearly 3,000 members and meeting for two weeks each year. Its main role was to discuss national policies and personnel assignments within the State Council and the Party, but otherwise its powers were limited and it was described as a rubber stamp body for the leadership.
Starting from the death of General Secretary Zhou Zhiyong in 1990, gradual political reforms began to be implemented. In a January 1998 speech, General Secretary Song Kun declared that China would move away from the one-party state and would become a social democracy, and would also drop Marxism-Maoism as its state ideology in favor of "universal human rights." His proposal included having elections for provincial assemblies by the end of 1998, releasing political prisoners and granting freedom of assembly and forming political parties, separating the posts of CCP General Secretary and the President of China, and having direct elections for the National People's Congress and the presidency in 2000. This led the conservative faction within the Communist Party to attempt a coup against Song Kun in the late summer of 1999, placing him and several other key reformers under house arrest. But the coup backfired as it caused mass protests both in Beijing and throughout the rest of the country. The "Beijing Spring" events led to the fall of the government as the protestors demanded not only the release of Song Kun but also more immediate reforms. Song was released but he resigned as in late December 1999 in favor of more radical reformers, among them Ren Longyun. Days later, on December 31, he declared that the People's Republic of China was dissolved and on the following day, the first day of the new millennium, the Republic of China was reestablished.
Military
The People's Liberation Army was the armed forces of the PRC and also the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party, divided in the Ground Force, Navy, and Air Force. The PLA was kept under strict political oversight by the CCP under the principle of "the party controls the gun," though in practice it decreased efficiency and capability because of the fragmented command structure. The primary role of the PLA was the defense of mainland China, as well as on defending the borders and maritime borders of the country. Limited conscription was maintained and the PLA numbered about 3.5 million as of 1987, later reduced to 2.5 million by 1996 as efforts were made to increase the training and education of its personnel. The PLA was considered a capable force for defending China itself by Western military analysts but lacked the capabilities for offensive operations abroad or power projection. By the early 1990s the Ministry of National Defense began planning to undertake major reforms to modernize the People's Liberation Army, but these reforms were still mostly in the planning stage by 1999.
Foreign policy
Economy
China was a poor and mostly agrarian economy when the Communist Party took power in 1949. It remained that way into the 1950s, and several five-year plans implemented by Mao Zedong failed to cause a major change of the economy. It was not until the start of the "opening and reform" period in 1966, after Mao's death, that significant economic improvement occurred.