The People's Republic of China

Question 1

work groups in communist systems that are led by ideologically committed Communist Party members rather than technical experts

Answer 1

Cadres

Question 2

a body of the Communist Party that is chosen by the larger Party Congress and is ostensibly empowered to choose the Politburo and senior leadership positions

Answer 2

Central Committee

Question 3

the ruling party of China since 1949; it established the People’s Republic of China and a one-party system

Answer 3

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Question 4

a system of philosophy or religion, based on the ideals of Confucius and prominent in Chinese culture, that emphasizes social harmony and self-improvement

Answer 4

Confucianism

Question 5

the term for the Chinese Communist Party’s policies from 1966 to 1976, which attempted to purify the ideology of the country of capitalist and democratic values and restore and enhance the Maoist ideology

Answer 5

Cultural Revolution

Question 6

the spiritual leader of Tibet; a target of the Chinese state because of his advocacy of Tibetan autonomy and independence

Answer 6

Dalai Lama

Question 7

a period of time in the late 1970s and 1980s during which Chinese citizens were posting reports and opinions freely on city walls without significant restrictions from the state

Answer 7

Democracy Wall Movement

Question 8

a psuedo-spiritual movement persecuted by the Chinese state as an illegally formed civil society organization

Answer 8

Falun Gong

Question 9

the danger of an aging population in which fewer and fewer young workers are born to pay for sustaining retirements and health care for elderly Chinese; this danger is a result of China’s one-child policy

Answer 9

“4-2-1 Problem”

Question 10

the senior leadership position in the Communist Party and the de facto chief executive in the Soviet communist system

Answer 10

General Secretary

Question 11

a mass starvation event in China (1985-1962) that killed 20 to 45 million people and coincided with the policies of the Great Leap Forward

Answer 11

Great Chinese Famine

Question 12

an aggressive, forced collectivization and industrialization campaign starting in 1957 that resulted in disastrous famines and economic decline

Answer 12

Great Leap Forward

Question 13

Chinese word for “connection”; it is used to describe the importance of patron-client relationships in Chinese politics

Answer 13

Guanxi

Question 14

the dominant majority ethnic group in China, comprising more than 90 percent of the Chinese population

Answer 14

Han Chinese

Question 15

reforms by Deng Xiaoping that provided market incentives to China’s rural economy by requiring peasants to pay taxes to the state in return for the rights to grow crops and sell them at a profit

Answer 15

Household Responsibility system

Question 16

a policy under Mao Zedong from 1956 to 1957 that allowed open discussion and criticism of the policies of the Communist Party and their results; it ended in a crackdown against dissidents

Answer 16

Hundred flowers campaign

Question 17

a Maoist-era Chinese term for the welfare state guarantees of housing and jobs to citizens

Answer 17

Iron rice bowl

Question 18

the ruling nationalist party of China from 1927-1948; it fought against the Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War

Answer 18

Kuomintang (KMT)

Question 19

a retreat by the communist forces (1934-1935) during which Mao and the communists recruited new forces and built support among peasants across the countryside

Answer 19

Long March

Question 20

during the dynasty period, a description used in China for the choice by collective ancestral wisdom of who should hold political power

Answer 20

Mandate of Heaven

Question 21

a system of thought and ideology, based on the ideals of Mao Zedong, that emphasizes collectivism, egalitarianism, and the necessity of individual participation in class struggle

Answer 21

Maoism

Question 22

a principle of Maoism emphasizing the need for political leaders and elites to stay close and connected to the peasantry

Answer 22

Mass Line

Question 23

a Chinese conception of the state of China and its people as central to the story of the world; evidence of Chinese ethnocentrism

Answer 23

“Middle Kingdom”

Question 23

a phenomenon in China of a much larger male-to-female population ratio because of sex-selected abortions; a result of the one-child policy

Answer 23

“Missing girls”

Question 24

China's national legislature, its almost 3,000 members meet only once every five years, and it does not provide a significant check to executive power

Answer 24

National People's Congress

Question 25

the process of the elite recruitment in communist systems, whereby leaders, at higher levels of the power hierarchy provide the names of those they would like to see promoted from the lower levels

Answer 25

Nomenklatura

Question 26

a policy in China from 1979 through 2016 that attempted to control the growth of China's population by limiting the number of children a family could have to one (with exceptions)

Answer 26

One-child policy

Question 27

a decision-making gathering of party officials held at each level of Chinese government to select officials for higher levels

Answer 27

Party Congress

Question 28

a system in which the internal workings of a single political party shape the governance of the state itself

Answer 28

Party state

Question 29

China's national military; it also wields considerable political influence as senior PLA members serve concurrently in the Politburo

Answer 29

People's Liberation Army (PLA)

Question 30

the use of media, propaganda, spectacles, social controls, and other mechanisms by the state to promote an idealized and heroic image of the country's leader

Answer 30

Personality Cult

Question 31

a system in which autonomous, independently formed groups freely attempt to influence the policymaking process of the government in competition with one another

Answer 31

Pluralism (pluralist)

Question 32

in communist parties, the senior leadership group that also acts as the executive branch in most cases

Answer 32

Politburo

Question 33

geographic areas in China where manufacturers cna make and export goods at lower tax rates than are permitted elsewhere in the country

Answer 33

Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Question 34

a system to influence policymaking: the state establishes or selects groups to represent various interests rather than allow independently formed groups to participate

Answer 34

State Corporatism

Question 35

China's highest court of appeals; it lacks any power of judicial review of the government's policies

Answer 35

Supreme People's Court

Question 36

also called the Republic of China, an island which KMT nationalists fled after losing the Chinese Civil War; ruled independently but still claimed by the People's Republic of China

Answer 36

Taiwan

Question 37

a crackdown by the Chinese military against pro-democracy protesters in 1989 in which thousands of the protesters were killed

Answer 37

Tiananmen Square Massacre

Question 38

an ethnic group in China, concentrated in the Tibet region; frequently a concern to China as a potential separatist movement

Answer 38

Tibetans

Question 39

a reference to the claims of both communist government in mainland China and the nationalist government in Taiwan to be legitimate rulers of China; the term is increasingly used to describe the major disparity in economic development between China's cities and rural areas

Answer 39

"Two Chinas"

Question 40

an ethnic minority group in China, predominantly Muslim and concentrated in the Xinjiang region, that is frequently a concern to China as a potential separatist movement

Answer 40

Uighurs