Details

25 mins, 2014

China is now a market economy, but holds on to the communist political system – pollution, corruption and ethnic divisions cause great tensions.

POLITICS They call it “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” but the communist party has a monopoly on power and no opposition is tolerated. There are tensions in regions such as Xinjiang Province where movements for independence have led to violence.

PROTEST In a one-party system the people are the opposition. A major cause of popular protest is land expropriations to build factories. The party says it must listen to these protests – but are they?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH Protests grow against censorship and human rights violations – the authorities try to clamp down but the internet is hard to censor. Says one blogger: “We can hope for a civil society, where people may dare to speak out.”

Key Topics

• China’s political system
• Popular protest in China
• Internet censorship in China