Mainland Affairs Council
After 30 years of reform and opening up, there have been huge
changes in China's economy and society. In recent years, although there have
been over 10 percent growths in the economy, various interest groups have
exerted their influence, which the authoritarian system in China was not able to
effectively regulate, resulting in the lack of protection for minority groups
and a surge in social problems. The widening rich-poor gap and urban-rural gap,
unemployment among the labor force, the loss of land among the farmers, and
other problems have led to increasing dissatisfaction among the Chinese people
and to incessant occurrence of large-scale mass protests across China. Under
such circumstances, the accumulated social tension is endangering the social
stability in China.
In facing a "disharmonious society," Hu Jintao has proposed
the ideal of a "harmonious society" since his coming into power. The 6th Plenary
Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party in 2006 saw the
passage of the "resolutions of the CPC Central Committee on major issues
regarding the building of a harmonious socialist society" which required all
government entities in China to "exert their efforts in resolving matters
concerning the intense mass reactions resulting from the expropriation of land
and the implementation of house demolitions for urban construction,
and
actively prevent and properly address the mass incidents triggered by internal
contradictions among the people and maintain public interest and social
stability." In an analysis of this issue, the official Xinhua News Agency
indicated that it was the first time that the Chinese authorities have recorded
the "active prevention and proper management of mass incidents" in major
documents, signifying that "mass incidents triggered by internal contradictions
among the people have expanded in scope and in numbers and have become the most
striking issue seriously affecting social stability in China."
1. China is undergoing the phase of social transformation
and is moving toward a "risky society"
China is undergoing a period of rapid economic development.
In 2003, the average gross domestic product (GDP) per capita exceeded US$1,000
and reached almost US$2,000 in 2006 (XinhuaNet, October 26, 2007). According to
the world's economic development and social evolution patterns, when a countrys
per capita GDP increases from US$1,000 to US$3,000, many problemssuch as uneven
distribution of wealth, frequent occurrence of unemployment and social
disorderoften occur in the process. In 2005, Jiang Ming-an, director at Peking
University's Public Law Research Center, indicated that China is undergoing a
period of rapid transformation. Lack of emphasis on fairness and justice will
easily result in mass incidents (XinhuaNet, August 1, 2005). Li Jingtian, vice
minister of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, indicated
that "certain contradictions will probably arise in huge numbers due to drastic
reforms and development" (Xinhua Net, July 7, 2005).
2. Mass incidents have increased tenfold in 13 years and
have continued to expand in scale
Statistics have shown that the number of mass incidents in
Chinaincluding the obstruction of public service execution, mass disturbances
leading to social disorder, mass fighting, and trouble-causing activitieshas
increased from 8,700 in 1993, over 32,000 in 1999, 60,000 in 2003, and 74,000 in
2004 to 87,000 in 2005, representing a tenfold increase in 13 years (Yu Jianrong,
Disturbance Incidents and Management Crisis in China, October 2007; the homepage
of Chinese Ministry of Public Security website, May 2006; 2005 Blue Paper on
Chinese Society) and an average of one incident every six minutes. The 2006
Social Statistics announced in December 2007 by China's National Bureau of
Statistics show that in 2006 public security entities handled 599,392 casessuch
as disturbances in social order, disturbances in public spaces,
trouble-making activities, and obstruction of public service execution,
among which 583,180 have been investigated and resolved. It can be seen that
there is an explosive growth in the number of mass incidents.
3. The major factors leading to the occurrence of mass
incidents
Yu Jianrong, director of Research Center for Social Issues
under the Institute of Rural Development at the Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, published an article entitled "Disturbance Incidents and Management
Crisis in China" in October 2007 indicating that according to statistics, until
the year 2005, 35 percent of the mass incidents occurring in China were related
to the protection of farmers' rights, 36 percent were related to the protection
of workers rights, and 15 percent were related to the protection of citizens
rights. Moreover, factors such as social disputes and social disturbances
accounted for 10 percent and 5 percent of the total incidents, respectively. It
is observed that generally speaking, the large-scale mass incidents occurring in
China over recent years have been due to the aforementioned factors, which can
be summarized as follows.
(1) Loss of farmers' lands
According to Chinas Ministry of Labor and Social Security,
the total number of Chinese farmers who have lost their lands due to
expropriation has reached 40 million. It is estimated that during the period of
the "Eleven Five-years" the number will increase by 3 million persons per year (ChinaNet,
July 24, 2007). In current Chinese society, there exists a situation where
people have difficulty in obtaining employment and there is a lack of a sound
social security mechanism. As such, many land-lost Chinese farmers have been
enmeshed in a dilemma in which they have "no land to till on, no work to engage
in, and no social security to depend on." Zhang Xinbao, director of the Law
Enforcement and Supervision Bureau of Chinas Ministry of Land and Resources,
acknowledged as early as in 2006 that these farmers could not be sufficiently
compensated due to the local governments' lack of financial resources (Voice of
Free Asia quotes from the China Youth Daily, April 19, 2006), and so they would
be unable to maintain their livelihood (based on the current per capita
consumption in agricultural villages, these farmers will only be able to survive
for another seven years, and only two years if in the city, with the
compensation received). In addition, the 2005 Blue Book on Chinese Society
indicated that in expropriating the lands, the local government gains between 20
to 30 percent of the profits, the developers 40 to 50 percent, while the
original owners, the farmers, only 5 to 10 percent. The land developers became
the biggest beneficiaries from the government's land expropriation scheme, while
the farmers losing their lands were not able to be reasonably compensated. Under
such circumstance, land disputes become the key factor that has pushed farmers
to take actions to protect their rights. According to the figures compiled by
the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, a
total of 385,000 farmers participated in mass protests in 2006, accounting for
the highest proportion among the various categories of protesters (Central News
Agency, April 11, 2007). The Xinhua News Agency also reported that official
Chinese figures showed that nearly 200,000 hectares of land were expropriated
from farmers every year, and that mass incidents triggered by land expropriation
have already accounted for over 65 percent of the number of mass incidents in
all the agricultural villages (Xinhua News Agency, January 30, 2007).
(2) The protection of workers' rights
Over recent years, the incidents triggered by the protection
of workers rights in labor-related disputes have emerged. In 2005, the number
of labor-related disputes in China was approximately 314,000, an increase of 20
percent over 2004. About 45 percent of rural laborers were forced to work over
the maximum number of hours, while 10 percent did not have any agreement signed
with their employers (cited by the Voice of Free Asia from the official China
Daily, February 1, 2007). In addition, according to figures compiled by Chinas
Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the number of labor-related disputes has
increased 13.5-fold during the 12 years between 1995 and 2006. There are
countless phenomena in which rural laborers jumped off buildings to demand wage
payments; Chinas system of legal holidays was unable to be actually
implemented; no overtime payments were made for overtime work; and no reason was
given for worker layoffs. These incidents were common occurrences (China
Economic Weekly, November 19, 2007). Although China has formulated a new "law on
employment contracts" to be implemented on January 1, 2008, it deserves more
attention regarding whether laborers are going to be dismissed earlier due to
the implementation of this new law.
(3) The gap between rich and poor
Although the Chinese economy has skyrocketed, statistical
figures show that the wealth is concentrated in the hands of the rich minority;
the majority of the Chinese people are not able to enjoy the fruits of economic
development. Li Peilin, director of the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, (chief editor of the 2006 Blue Book on Chinese
Society) indicated that regarding per capita income, the upper 20 percent with
the highest incomes earn four times as much as the people at the bottom 20
percent. This disparity has increased to 18.2 times in 2006, which means that
the property disparity between the highest income group and the lowest income
group has reached 72-fold (XinhuaNet, December 25, 2006). If this is examined
based on the Gini coefficient used in the international society to measure
income inequality, Chinas 2006 Gini coefficient was 0.496, which has exceeded
the internationally recognized alarm level of 0.4 (Institute of Sociology,
Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences, 2007 Trends Analysis and Predictions on
Chinese Society; ChinaNet, January 12, 2007). What's more, the situation is
still worsening. The continued widening of rich-poor and rural-urban gaps will
enlarge social hatred and social split. Moreover, it is generally believed that
a Gini coefficient of over 0.5 signifies the possibility of potential social
unrest. Apparently, China is now on the brink of the "high-risk period" during
which the outbreaks of social unrest may occur.
4. Concluding statement
The bi-polarized development occurring in China's society has
resulted in the continued accumulation of resentment and dissatisfaction among
the Chinese people. Coupled with the rising awareness of human rights, the
Chinese people have begun to realize that they can use collective power to
protect their interests and to resist irrational and unfair circumstances. In
facing such mass incidents, the responsible entities in China often resort to
tough measures. However, if the Chinese authorities continue to ignore the crux
of the issues and continue to use the wording"disturbances in the social order"
to define the mass actions taken by the people to protect their interests so as
to maintain a superficial "harmonious society," then their actions will be
unconducive to solving the problems and will even lead to more intense and
discordant situations.