Zhou Dynasty (14 abr 1046 ano antes da era comum – 8 ago 256 ano antes da era comum)

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Government
The government of the People’s Republic of China is highly centralized and operates in a top-down manner—at least on the surface. This means that in many cases, decisions and laws that are not explicitly delegated to local governments are dictated by the state. However, local government has often been able to ignore commands coming down from the central authorities.

Communist Party
The Chinese Communist party (CCP) is the primary political force in China. Unlike parties in Western democracies, it is a tightly organized movement that controls and leads society. The party sets policy and controls its execution through government officials who are also party members. The effect is to make the government an organ of the party.

At the time of its founding in 1921, the CCP focused on organizing urban workers, but it achieved only limited success in this effort. Orthodox Marxism expected the communist revolution to begin among industrial workers. However, Karl Marx had developed his theories based upon highly industrialized economies, and the industrial sector in China was small and relatively primitive. It was Mao Zedong who adapted Marxist theory to the conditions of an underdeveloped, primarily agricultural society. Marxism as interpreted by Mao is known as Maoism. Although Mao’s immediate successors downgraded some of his more radical ideas, Maoism was still designated as the official philosophy behind both the party and the government through the 20th century and beyond, alongside new official concepts introduced by subsequent leaders Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, and Hu Jintao. After Mao, however, Maoism was gradually replaced with authoritarian market capitalism, which is formally referred to as “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.”

The CCP is organized as a hierarchy, with power concentrated at the top. Above the local units, or cells, is a pyramid-like structure of party congresses and committees at various levels, culminating in the National People’s Congress, with more than a couple thousand members. When it is not in session, direction of the party is in the hands of a Central Committee of about 200 full members plus more than 150 alternates, all elected by the congress. The Central Committee, in turn, technically elects the Politburo (Political Bureau), which has about two dozen members, though the decision is generally made in advance by key leaders. It is within the Politburo and its elite Standing Committee that power is concentrated and the highest level decisions of state are made. The Secretariat carries on the day-to-day business of the party.

Prior to 1982, the highest party office was that of chairman, held for more than 25 years, through most of the People’s Republic’s history to that time, by Mao Zedong. In an effort to ensure that the power Mao had enjoyed was never again concentrated in one person, a new party constitution adopted in 1982 abolished the chairmanship and replaced it with the administrative position of general secretary to the Secretariat. The Secretariat, which has about a half dozen members, manages the work of the Politburo and makes personnel decisions for the party.

Theoretically, party membership is open to anyone over 18 who accepts the party program and is willing to work actively in one of its organizations. Members are expected to abide by the party’s discipline and to serve as model workers. There were more than 70 million members, roughly 5 percent of the total population, in 2007. The backbone of the party consists of full-time paid workers known as cadres (Chinese, ganbu). The term cadre is also used for public officials holding responsible positions who may or may not be members of the party.

National Government
The People’s Republic was first governed according to the “Common Program” and organic laws adopted in 1949. Four constitutions followed, each reflecting shifts in policy and the balance of power among factions of the top leadership. The 1982 constitution was designed to solidify the position of the leadership after Mao.

Like the party, the government is structured like a pyramid, ranging from local units such as residents’ (urban) and villagers’ committees through counties and prefectures to the 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, and four special status municipalities (Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), each with its own people’s congress and administrative organs. (The 22 provinces are Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, and Zhejiang. The 5 autonomous regions are Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Tibet, and Xinjiang.) The two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau each have a local assembly with local parties. Their chief executives are appointed by Beijing. At the top of the Chinese government structure is the national government in Beijing.

Legislative authority is vested in the National People’s Congress, and the Standing Committee of the Congress exercises its functions between sessions. The highest administrative organ is the State Council (similar to the United States Cabinet), headed by the premier. The 1975 constitution abolished the post of president (chairman of the republic), and for a time the chairman of the Standing Committee served as nominal head of state. The presidency was reinstated by the constitution of 1982. The president is once again head of state, while the premier is head of government.

The court system parallels the administrative system. However, the Chinese have traditionally tended to resolve conflicts through social rather than legal or judicial mediation, and the rule of law as it is known in Western countries is not well established. Despite the training of many lawyers in recent years, legal methods remain underused.

International Relations
The People’s Republic has undergone several shifts in foreign policy since 1949. Initially, it was closely tied to the Soviet Union and firmly identified as a member of the socialist camp. By the late 1950s, however, the Sino (Chinese)-Soviet relationship had begun to deteriorate. This resulted from differing national interests, differing interpretations of Marxism, and Chinese resentment over heavy-handed Soviet attempts at control, among other factors. By the mid-1960s China and the Soviet Union had become openly hostile toward each other.

Deng Xiaoping: with Carter and Nixon
Bettmann/Corbis
Bettmann/Corbis
China was largely isolated from the rest of the world during the height of the Cultural Revolution, but when the upheavals subsided in the 1970s it began to take a more practical foreign policy line. Trade was opened up with a number of Western countries, and China started to play an active role in international organizations. China established diplomatic relations with countries willing to recognize the People’s Republic—rather than the Nationalist government on Taiwan—as the government of China. Most dramatically, contacts were begun with the United States, leading to full diplomatic recognition on Jan. 1, 1979.

While China’s political system had changed little by the 1990s, its economy had become the fastest-growing in the world. Relations with the United States became unstable on two fronts. The Chinese government refused to allow human rights concerns to become an issue in trade talks. Trade itself became a major issue, as exports to the United States exceeded imports from that country. In the 2000s China’s trade relations with the United States strengthened, with robust exports to the United States and only modest imports from the United States. This led China’s growing economy to invest more and more in the growing U.S. debt.

Although from the early 1990s China’s relationship with India improved both diplomatically and economically, geostrategic and economic problems still remained in the early 21st century. The countries have seen themselves locked in mutual suspicion over boundary disputes and, more important, nationalistic rivalries. China’s relations with Japan remained strained by a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, competition for the leadership of East Asia, and the history of the Second World War. The two Koreas both had warm but tenuous relations with China, Taiwan remained an unsettled matter, and Vietnamese-Chinese distrust continued a centuries-old relationship. In contrast, China’s relationship with Russia improved in the 1990s and 2000s owing to the delimitation of borders and increasing trade, though the Russians had some concern over China’s rising economic influence in Russia’s Far East region.

History
Great Wall of China
© wusuowei/Fotolia
© wusuowei/Fotolia
With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, China is one of the few modern countries that also flourished economically and culturally in the earliest stages of world civilization. Indeed, despite the political and social upheavals that frequently ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience.

Beginnings
Archaeological evidence suggests that China was one of the cradles of the human race. Remains, tools, and other artifacts of the early humans called “Peking man” (or “Beijing man”) were excavated at Zhoukoudian, near Beijing, starting in the 1920s. They date back to 770,000 to 230,000 years ago, to the Lower Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age). Peking man was of the species Homo erectus. Remains of Homo erectus have been unearthed at sites in several other provinces, indicating that these early humans spread over a fairly wide area in China (as well as in other parts of the world). Fossils of early Homo sapiens, or modern humans, have also been found at many sites in China. These humans made tools out of stones and bones, made clothes out of animal hides, and knew how to make fire.

In about the 4th or 3rd millennium bc, in the Neolithic period (New Stone Age), great changes occurred in the lives of the ancient Chinese. Larger numbers of people began living together at settled places, cultivating land, and domesticating animals. These people made polished stone tools and built shelters in pit dwellings and beehive-shaped huts that were covered with reed roofs. Such villages were found mostly in the area of the great bend of the Huang He (Yellow River) on the North China Plain. Despite its severe winters, this area was well suited to agriculture. In fact, it closely resembled the other cradles of ancient civilizations, such as the valley of the Nile in Egypt.

Yangshao culture: Chinese pottery
© Asian Art and Archaeology, Inc./Corbis
© Asian Art and Archaeology, Inc./Corbis
The people of this period (3000–2000 bc) also developed the art of making pottery for storing food and drink. Two distinct types have been discovered: red clay pots with swirling black designs of the Yangshao culture in north-central China and smooth black pottery of the Longshan culture in northeastern and north-central China.

Xia (2070?–1600?bc) and Shang (1600?–1046 bc) Dynasties
ancient China: oracle bone
© Werner Forman Archive/age fotostock
© Werner Forman Archive/age fotostock
The Shang Dynasty is the first Chinese dynasty for which definite archaeological evidence and historical records exist. Chinese tradition mentions an earlier Xia Dynasty, but for lack of evidence, the Xia was considered a legendary period. In 1959 discoveries at Erlitou, in Yanshi Municipality, Henan Province, suggested that the site was the capital of the Xia, but this is still in debate. Until the late 1920s the Shang Dynasty itself was thought to be legendary, but discoveries made near the modern city of Anyang (the site of the Shang capital) in Henan Province proved that the dynasty existed. The most important of these discoveries were over 100,000 bones and shells inscribed with still-recognizable characters. These oracle bones and shells, originally used as religious objects, represent the earliest known form of the Chinese writing system.

Shang Dynasty: bronze cauldron
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bequest of Addie W. Kahn, 1949, 49.135...
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bequest of Addie W. Kahn, 1949, 49.135.2, www.metmuseum.org
In addition to the oracle bones and shells, the superb Shang bronzes and the tombs of the Shang rulers reveal a highly developed society. The Shang used bronze to make weapons, daily tools, and elaborately decorated sacrificial vessels.

The last Shang ruler was reportedly evil and tyrannical. He was overthrown by a revolt of the people, who were aided by the neighboring Zhou people. Wuwang, the leader of the Zhou, defeated the Shang and founded the Zhou Dynasty.

Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 bc)
The Zhou conquest of the Shang was given an important meaning by later moralistic interpretations of the event. The Zhou kings, whose chief deity was heaven, called themselves “Sons of Heaven,” and their success in overcoming the Shang was seen as the “mandate of heaven.” From this time on, Chinese rulers were called “Sons of Heaven” and the Chinese Empire, the “Celestial Empire.”

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