Focus Study - China

Question 1

Confuciousinism

Answer 1

Developed in the 6th-5th century B.E. and followed by the Chinese people for more than two millennia.

Promotes the idea that relationships between people are unequal and that everyone should have defined hierarchical roles.

The importance of age is emphasised in Confucianism as ‘filial piety.

Question 2

Developed 2 relations that were models of hierarchy

Answer 2

Sovereign-subject

Husband-wife

Question 3

Social stratification
Ideal Confusianium scheme of ranking

Answer 3

Scholars then farmers, then artisans, with merchants and soldiers in last place.

Favours those who contribute to society over individual gains

Question 4

Social Structure - Culture
- Collectivist culture
- Face

Answer 4

Encouraged to share the same mentality or goals as their family, work and government. In return for demonstrating loyalty and commitment to duty, an individual gains a sense of protection and unity.

Conservative conduct is the norm, as people don’t want to stand out and/or risk losing face by doing something that is considered inappropriate.

Question 5

Social Structure - interpersonal interactions
- Saying

Answer 5

The principle of guanxi commits friends, family and business colleagues to assist another.

Guanxi often refers to ‘networking, which is reflected in the Chinese saying, “nei wai you bie” (insiders are different from outsiders].

Question 6

Power and Authority on Macro Level
- History of CCP
- Xi Jinping role
- Quote

Answer 6

The CCP, Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic in 1949.

As general secretary of the CCP, Xi Jinping sits atop the party’s power structure. Also China’s head of state as president and the head of the military.

As Ian Johnson writes, “Run the party and you run China.”

Question 7

Challenges to Authority COVID-19
- China’s approach to COVID
- Cause of protest

Answer 7

“Zero COVID” policy: mass testing, quarantined the sick in government facilities and imposed strict lockdowns

An apartment fire that killed 10 in capital city of Xinjiang. Many users of Weibo and Wechat shared stories, concerns and essays on the policies.
- Eventually relaxed the ZERO COVID

Question 8

Dr quote about China protests

Answer 8

Only small protests prior to COVID

Dr Willy Lam says the major protests in November marked a turning point.
- “… people of all sectors, all classes from across the political and economic spectrum have been hurt.”

Question 9

COVID protests
- Example
- Government response

Answer 9

Sitong Bridge Protest 2022
- “The white paper represents everything we want to say but cannot say,” a 26-year-old man
- “We want food, not PCR tests. We want freedom, not lockdowns.”

Posts containing the words “Beijing”, “bridge” strictly controlled, and a song

Question 10

Challenging Power and Authority of China
- Examples

Answer 10

RiceBunny

Posted on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.
- Accompanied by emojis of rice bowls and bunny heads to expose female sexual harassment
- “Grass-mud horse”
Individuals adapted to it by using emojis against the Great Firewall

Question 11

How #MeToo

Answer 11

Woman harrassed at Beihang University by professor

Students and alumni from over 50 colleges have signed online petitions, demanding their schools develop mechanisms to prevent and deal with sexual harassment on campus.

Question 12

Feminists as ‘trouble-makers’ in Chinese society
- Examples of activists

Answer 12

In 2015, 5 right activists were arrested by Chinese authorities for “provoking trouble” by organising protests against sexual harassment on public transport.

In 2017, Zhang Leilei, an activist based in Guangzhou city attempted to crowdfund a nationwide anti-sexual harassment advertising campaign.
- Zhang herself was asked to leave the citv.

Question 13

Power and Authority: China bans children from playing video games during the week

Answer 13

The National Press and Publication Administration increase the frequency and intensity of inspections for online game

Under 18 years old will be limited to playing online games to only 3 hours a week.

Question 14

The impact of continuity and change - Micro
- Family life and populaton

Answer 14

Sibling-less people pose issues, small businesses won’t have successors. Working class shrinking, financial issue to support older.

More and more weighs on single children since they don’t have anyone to rely on 4-2-1

Question 15

The impact of continuity and change - Meso
- Urban Chinese Elders
- Unmarried men

Answer 15

66% Pension (2010) Urban Chinese Elders rely on income from this, while 22% by relatives transferring money to them.

Approx 30 million men are unmarried.
Men becoming leftover struggle to marry, sex ratio. Single men lead high crime rates, isolation and depression

Question 16

The impact of continuity and change - Macro
-Siblingless
- Rural relying on
- Unmarried women

Answer 16

By 2050, more than 1/3 will have no siblings.

Half (47.7%) of rural elders rely on families

30-34 (47.7% unmarried) despite the age peak to have children.

Question 17

One-child stats
- Lonely and selfish
- Divorce
- One child is enough

Answer 17

A 2005 survey between 15 and 25 found 60% of one-child respondents admitted being lonely and said they were selfish

One in five marriages ends in divorce, double the figure a decade ago, and figures are expected to go up

65 percent of China’s only child generation admitted that “one child is enough”, given the financial burdens of raising a child

Question 18

Hidden Children Stats
- Two child and Three child policy

Answer 18

In 2010 (census data), 13 million children were denied birth registration and proof of identity, known as hukou (household registration)

Two child policy in 2014 and three child child policy in 2021

Question 19

Hidden Children Micro Level Impact example

Answer 19

Ms Yuan, Beijing resident her son is already 8 years old, and has no birth registration and thus no legal documentation.
- He has been denied the hukou because he a second child born without permission.

Question 20

One Child Policy impact on Family Life and Population OVERVIEW

Answer 20

Shrinking working-age population

4-2-1 families restructuring kinship systems

Unequal gender distribution

‘Hidden Children’, ‘Little Emperor Syndrome’

Question 21

Impact of continuity - China updates gender law to tell women to ‘obey family values’ in growing push to adopt domestic roles

Answer 21

Amendment to Women’s Rights introduces list of moral standards women should abide by (“obey” family)

Record low birth rates and marriage numbers result in pressure for women to revert to traditional caregiver roles = by Xi Jingping

Question 22

Impact of continuity - A ‘Masculinity Crisis’? China Says the Boys Are Not All Right

Answer 22

The Education Ministry has emphasised facilities and masculine activities
→ emphasising the ‘spirit of yang’

Ear piercings of male pop stars have been blurred on Chinese television
→ Boys enrolled in boot camps

Question 23

Impact of continuity - How China’s ‘leftover women’ are using their financial power to fight the stigma of being single
- Example
- What they are referred to

Answer 23

33-year-old woman told ‘The Conversation’
“During family gatherings…I need to defend my parents [so] I constantly upgrade my own self-image by buying myself more expensive clothes to wear…”

Female, educated and unmarried by the age of 27 in China referred to as “Sheng-nu” which translates to “leftover women”.
- Portrayals of single women are lonely, desperate, overqualified and intimidating

Question 24

Continuity in family life and population

Answer 24

Ancestor worship
1. After death, people continue for a time to exist as spirits
2. Regular offering of food and drink to deceased members of the family
Among males, seniority was the principal index of authority.
Brides were married “out of” their natal families
- Knowing that after death they would be dependent on their descendants for sustenance as spirits
- Daughters were useful only if an opportunity arose to marry them off to families higher up on the social and economic ladder.

Question 25

Change in family life and population changes

Answer 25

BEFORE: Jia: A large, extended family unit with several generations living under the same roof.

4-2-1 problem

10th century CE “footbinding” feet of young girls intentionally reshaped to render it small.
- Reflection of grace and femininity, and attractive to men

Question 26

Continuity in family life and population change
- Example of the conservative role of women in poem
- Quote on Weibo
- Childcare

Answer 26

Book of Poetry concluded: “women should devote themselves to tending silkworms and weaving.”

Xu Youzhen CEO China online game wrote on Weibo:
“feminism is what stupid women use to repress traditional women.”

A decline in state-supported childcare facilities forced many women to stay home to take care of their children, according to the PIIE (Peterson Institute for International Economics) report.

Question 27

Is all change necessarily progress? - Positives
- Economic circumstance
- Poverty

Answer 27

Improved economic circumstances overall. This may be due to:
1. Lower fertility leads to a higher level of schooling per child.
2. Lower fertility may facilitate parental migration, thus enabling the reallocation of the labor force from rural to urban areas.

Chinese population estimated to be living in absolute poverty fell from between 200 million 1980 to 70 million in 2018.

Question 28

Is all change necessarily progress? - Negative
- Family structure
- OCP
- Human rights

Answer 28

The 4-2-1 problem, where one child is pressured to look after his/her two parents and 4 grandparents

The rise of the ‘little emperor’ syndrome. Not having siblings can hinder social and emotional development

Issues associated with human rights.
eg. forced abortions, mass sterilisation and due to unregistered children not legally existing they cannot attend school

Question 29

Groups that benefit from change
- Cause of creating ‘winners’ and ‘losers’

Answer 29

Youth - willing to embrace change, accustomed to rapidly developing technology.
e.g. Little Emperors

Wealthy - they can afford change and benefit earlier from advances in modernisation and new technology.

Powerful people - initiate and resist change. Han population makes 92% of China’s pop = similar beliefs
e.g. Xi Jinping, CCP, government officials

Question 30

Groups that benefit from change - Women

Answer 30

12th National Women Congress held by Jinping and All-China Women’s Federation made arrangements for the development of the causes pertaining to women in the next five years.
→ Policies and arrangements fully demonstrated the Party’s high attention in promoting gender equality

Question 31

Groups that benefit from change - Urban children
- Income of adults
- COVID
- Where they reside in

Answer 31

Income for urban areas is 3x as high than rural areas (can afford high school tuition)

COVID - Only 5% of urban students have zero access to online classes (compared to 50% in rural areas)

1950 15% + 60% by 2030 = urban pop.

Question 32

Groups that do not benefit from change -Urbanisation
- Disparity

Answer 32

Disparity within the floating population, top 20% earning 4x more than the bottom 20%

Floating Population: System provides temporary residency permits and access to some public services to migrant workers

The govt sets minimum wages but ignored by employers who know that unskilled villagers are often desperate for work.

Question 33

Groups that do not benefit from change - One Child Policy
- Elderly
- Women
- Single men

Answer 33

2016 5 work adults to support 1 retiree
- Predicted that by 2036 1 working adults to support one retiree

Women: An estimated 20 million baby girls went ‘missing’ from the population between 1980 and 2010 due to a preference for boys.

Single Men: 30 million more men than women

Question 34

Internet censorship in China: Firewall and Social Credit - A surveillance state
- How they are monitoring citizens

Answer 34

In Xinjiang, the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) gathers data on residents using CCTV cameras with face and voice recognition, and DNA sampling.

Question 35

Internet censorship in China: Firewall and Social Credit - Limiting freedom of speech
- Quote
- Statistics of camera installed

Answer 35

Since Jinping came into power “intention to suppress protest activity and limit freedom of speech through these technologies,” says Robin Barnwell, director of Inside China’s Digital Gulag.

2017 BBC reported there were 170 million cameras in place and plans to install 400 million more cameras over the next 3 years

Question 36

Technology use being limited by Chinese individuals
- Govt restriction
- What wumao is

• Research by Harvard University

Answer 36

Ordinary citizens up to 3 years in jail for spreading rumors if posts viewed more than 5,000 times or reposted 500 times.

The ­”wumao” (the 50-cent Party) are supposedly given half a renminbi ($0.08) for every post praising the government or denigrating its critics.

Govt-directed accounts generate nearly 450 million posts a year, with intense bursts of “cheerleading” or “distraction” around specific events or at sensitive times.

Question 37

Functionalist theory example China

Answer 37

Equilibrium dynamic
- Rule of the CCP
- Social credit system
- Hukou system
- COVID protest = Relaxing laws
- #MeToo, #RiceBunny
- One Child Policy
- WeChat, Social Media

Question 38

Peak Family - Future Direction
- Living parents
- Cousins

Answer 38

1950 only about 5% of men and women in their 50s had any living parents; today exceeds 60%.

1 in 4 Chinese people in their 30s had 10 or more living cousins in 1950, but more than 90%
- Big families helped their members navigate the upheavals and transformations in the Chinese economy.

Question 39

Related core concepts

Answer 39

continuity and change
modernisation
sustainability
tradition
beliefs and values
empowerment
westernisation
cooperation and
conflict

Question 40

Empowerment, westernisation and modernisation current trend + future direction

Answer 40

Current trend
- #RiceBunny = Challenging the CCP
- Technology = AI, surveillance
- Great FireWall

Future direction
- Women will continue to be empowered due to globalisation and westernisation
- Strengthen technological advancement

Question 41

The impact and implications for the aspect - Population

Likely changes
- Increase of elders, decrease of the youth

Answer 41

Likely changes
Number of citizens between 15 and 59 have dropped by 7% while the number of people over 60 rose by 5.5%

Question 42

Relationship between men and women

Likely changes

Probable continuities

Answer 42

Likely Changes
Dating Apps have become common, including gay dating apps
- LGBTQI+ to express their gender identity
- Nature of dating has become more romantic, with it previously it was taboo.

Probable Continuities
Chinese parents arrange marriages
Negative view of singles as ‘bare branches’ and ‘leftover women’

Question 43

Likely changes example
- Marriage
- Reasons for fewer marriages and children

Answer 43

In 2005 most women in Shanghai were married by the time they were 23, in 2019 at age 29 and most women here will have just one child as opposed to 2.4 average worldwide

996; Working from 9 am to 9 pm 6 days a week

Question 44

The importance of technologies examples
Great FireWall

Answer 44

February 2011, an online appeal calling for people in China to mirror the Arab Spring uprisings resulted in small gatherings
- Govt reacted, 100 of the country’s most outspoken critics and forcibly “disappearing” many of them for months, without any legal procedure, subjecting them to forced sleep deprivation, abusive interrogations and threats.

Question 45

The importance of technologies examples
China Using Artificial Intelligence in Classrooms

Answer 45

Students wear uniforms with chips that track their locations.

Surveillance cameras that monitor how often students check their phones or yawn during classes.

A program that’s supposed to boost students’ grades while also feeding powerful algorithms.

Teachers say the students now pay better attention during class and that has made them study harder and achieve higher scores.

Question 46

The importance of technologies examples
COVID19

Answer 46

• A national ID card is needed to do anything from buying a mobile phone to using any app everything you do leaves a data
• Phone location data used to map where the person visited in the 2 weeks
• Text message sent out through one of the major apps alerting those at risk every person is being assigned