The Nature of Civil Disobedience Movement at the Time of Hu Jintao Administration

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Government of the Russian Federation

National Research University Higher School of Economics

Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs

School of Asian Studies

Master's Programme

"Socioeconomic and Political Development of Modern Asia"

MASTER'S THESIS

The Nature of Civil Disobedience Movement at the Time of Hu Jintao Administration

Student Aleksey Chigadaev

Scientific Advisor

Alexandra A. Sizova,

AlekseyA. Maslov

Moscow

2016



Content

Introduction

1. The Socioeconomic Reforms in the Context of "Harmonious Society" Philosophy as Hu Jintao Administration Fundamental Policy

1.1 Definition of Harmony

1.2 Major Issues on Constructing a Socialist Harmonious Society

1.3 Comparison of the "Harmony" Notions

1.4 The Results of Socioeconomic Reforms in Context of Political Discourse

2. The Nature of Civil Disobedience Movement and the Socioeconomic Factors Triggering Acts of Civil Disobedience

2.1 The Evidence of Social Unrest

2.2 Classifying Social Unrest

2.3 Motivation for Civil Disobedience

3. Coordination of State and Society

3.1 Social Portrait of Protesters and Evolution of the Claims

3.2 The Model of Dispute Resolution and State Response

3.3 Succession of "Harmonious Society" Policy

Conclusion

Bibliography

Appendix



Introduction

It's important to analyze the future of political and socioeconomic development of People's Republic of China (hereinafter, PRC) as this is a country with the 1,4 billion population and one of the leading economies in the world. In such circumstances, the stability of Chinese society seems to be the core factor of the global peace. There are a number of sociopolitical issues unresolved during the Hu Jintao Administration period that provoked different types of mass demonstrations, strikes and interventions against governments. At that time government was considered as corrupt and authoritarian, to some point of view. Does China remain a one-party system state with strict political vertical power? Would it be transformed into something new?

There is a rapid growth in the public protests number and scale in 2003-2013. According to some scientists' point of view Roberts, D. �Will Xi Jinping Be the Reformer China Needs?� / [Text] : Bloomberg Businessweek, March 1, 2013., this is the effect of unsuccessful Hu Administration's social reforms. It means that "Harmonious Society" policy is failed. The government has to find some new tools of responding to growing society's needs. In this way the new Administration that is under the rule of Xi Jinping has a chance to analyze the past experience and make all relevant reforms.

On the other hand, some researchers Sun, L. �The Biggest Threat to China is not Social Turmoil but Social Decay� / [Text] : Liping Sun. China Digital Times, March 10, 2009. say that the Chinese society future is a simply social decay. The Communist party of China (hereinafter, CPC) capability to face growing society needs in such things as democracy, human rights and social inequality is limited by its communist ideology. Under the circumstances, the only way to satisfy the society requirements is a system collapse and the democratization process in Western manner.

The subject under investigation is a nature of socioeconomic issues that led up to the mass riots, civil disobedience acts and demonstrations in PRC, excluding the Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter, SAR) Hong Kong and Macau, Taiwan at the time of Hu Jintao Administration from 2003 to 2013.

The goal is to analyze the causes of mass riots and forecast the possibility of PRC long political stability under the Xi Jinping Administration, focusing on following research tasks:

� underline the causes of civil disobedience acts during the Hu Jintao Administration rule on the base of relevant statistic data and mass media publications (economical, political, etc.), and formulate the basic claims of protesters in socioeconomic field;

� to evaluate the difference in claims through the 10 years;

� to describe the main actors of the civil disobedience movement - social groups, professional groups, including the level of education, average income, age of protesters etc.;

� to analyze the Hu Jintao Administration reaction and methods used in mass riots resolving;

� to make an attempt based on the material mentioned above to forecast the future political and socioeconomic stability in PRC under the Xi Jinping Administration rule.

There are two hypotheses we are going to testify. First of all, in the absence of effective channels for interaction between society and the state represented by the CPC, the number of civil disobedience acts will continuously increase. In the distant future it will lead to the social stability collapse. The second one claims that the policy of "Harmonious Society" is ineffective attempt to prevent the growing level of social unrest.

As long as the subject under study is the nature of socioeconomic issues that led up to the mass riots, civil disobedience acts and demonstrations in PRC during the time of Hu Jintao Administration, we are going to analyze the policy line and the relevant social environment. In this case we are going to use the qualitative observational research.

The qualitative research focuses on events in Chinese society which can be described in words instead of numbers. The full-scale quantities research is practically not available in the current circumstances. The official data concerning the level of social unrest has not published since the 2005 when Ministry of Public Security stopped issue official figures on the number of mass riots or civil disobedience acts. The research methods we use include the analyzing of newspaper reports, individual interviews, mass media resources and social studies specialists' observations. The other advantage of qualitative research is an ability to use different forms of sources unlike the quantitative method which primarily deals with numbers.

Through close investigation of the civil disobedience phenomenon in China in the period of Hu Jintao Administration, we will develop a deeper understanding of state and society communication mechanism based on mass media publications, personal observations and analysis of relevant official and unofficial statistic data. As a result, we will try to formulate a conceptually full theory explaining the further development of civil institutes and social stability in China. Within the framework of that theoretical approach we also use such research method as correlation analysis involved determining the strength of the relationship between two variables. The variables of interest here are socioeconomic policy of CPC and the relevant level of society satisfaction. These variables can be evaluated on the base of interaction type between society and Government (in this research by the main interaction type we understand acts of civil disobedience including mass riots, industrial actions, job and strike actions). In the context of investigation, interview research, survey research and other statistical research formats such as content analysis are widely applied.

We analyze the nature of civil disobedience movement in China from the realist paradigm or social realism approach on the base of rules for the explanation of social facts by DurkheimJones, R. �Emile Durkheim: An Introduction to Four Major Works / [Text] : Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1986. Pp. 60-81. - Access mode: http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries/rules.html#pgfId=3929.This approach refers to the assumption that social structures (in particular, social groups of protesters) and related to social phenomena (civil disobedience movement, acts of civil disobedience, in particular) have an existence over the existence of individual members of society, and are not dependent on our perception of them.

Our primary purpose is an explanation of civil disobedience movement in China. That's why we are not going simply demonstrate the fact that social unrest provoked the mass riots. The purpose is to identify the underlying mechanisms which causally connect them. The secondary purpose is to provide predictive knowledge of CPC socioeconomic system stability.

The primary sources used in this work include a variety of both Government and Political official documents. Through the whole work we have to deal with executive and legislative documents describing the official policy. Moreover, it is important to analyze the position of CPC toward civil disobedience movement in details. Finally, we have to identify the measurements and reforms implemented by state. The list of primary sources includes amendments to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, Constitution of Communist Party of China, Labor Law, regulations published on the official web-site of Ministry of Environmental Protection etc. The list of political documents includes official reports of CPC Central Committee, speeches of Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping and other high-ranking leaders of CPC.

We have to mention the book written by Tony Milligan "Civil Disobedience: Protest, Justification and the Law". In this book the nature of civil disobedience is examined in the context of contemporary political activism. This book provides strong theoretical approach of our research, while author analyzing the main ideas of Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King for a broader attitude towards what civil disobedience involves. In particular, author critically evaluates with clarity and insight such issues as abortion and animal liberation. At the same time, Tony Milligan gives us an explanation of the modern "Occupy Movements" all around the world, and the importance of such civil disobedience movement.

The list of secondary sources used in the work includes the speeches of the protesters published both on Chinese and foreign mass media web-sites. At the same time, we analyze the personal narratives of protesters published on the social networks, such as Weibo, Renren, WeChat and QQ. Another major secondary source of information includes interviews with protesters and open letters of them, transparencies published on protestors' accounts in social networks as an example of politician pamphlets. In absence of reliable official data published by Chinese Government, the core source of investigation is provided with the correspondence, published on BBC News, CNN, and South China Morning Post and on the web-sites of relevant Chinese NGOs.

On the base of interaction between society and Communist Party we can choose the efficient way to resolve relevant socioeconomic issues and evaluate it. Another possibility is to establish an independent civil institution responsible for dialogue with CPC. The research can be widely applied as a set of recommendations for organizations and people involved in any activity with China or Chinese society. The stability of political and socioeconomic system is the major factor in the field of capital investment, co-operation in the business projects, international institutions etc.



1. The Socioeconomic Reforms in the Context of "Harmonious Society" Philosophy as Hu Jintao Administration Fundamental Policy

As long as the subject of our investigation is the nature of socioeconomic issues led up to the mass riots, civil disobedience acts and demonstrations in PRC from 2003 to 2013, we have to describe the socioeconomic policy implemented in this period of time.

The scope of social spheres under study includes the sphere of labor conflicts, land disputes and environmental degradation.

We advisedly do not emphasize the interdependency of the Hu Jintao policy and Jiang Zemin "Three Represents" ideology. By no means, there is a clear correlation between all of these theories proposed by Chinese leaders. At the same time, we have to take into consideration the Chinese leaders generational continuity. In such circumstances, the Hu Jintao policy is a continuation of the Jiang Zemin socioeconomic line with the relevant modifications.

Due to the uninterrupted and fast evolution of Chinese society for the past few decades, it's almost impossible to identify the society's development stage when one or another social problem suddenly arose. In this case, we do not use the historical analysis and do not make any historical research of the social unrest roots. We purposely set limits to chronological framework, emphasizing the nature of socioeconomic issues during the 2003-2013 at the time of Hu Jintao Administration.

In the first Chapter we are going to describe theoretical approach on the base of which the socioeconomic reforms of Hu Jintao Administration were implemented. The mass disturbances and social unrest are the continuation of the "Harmonious Socialist Society" policy (which would be described below).

The brief overview of leading ideology is needed to describe the CPC officials' attitude toward the growing level of social unrest and necessary changes. It should be mentioned that all of the socioeconomic changes were implemented after amendments Amendment to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (adopted at the Second Session of the Tenth National People's Congress and promulgated for implementation by the Announcement of the National People's Congress on March 14, 2004), The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China Website,accessed at http://www.npc.gov.cn/englishnpc/Law/2007-12/05/content_1381906.htm to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China adopted on March 14, 2004. As long as our research is devoted to the socioeconomic issues, first of all let's look through the relevant amendments.

The seventh paragraph of the Preamble is revised and "�promote the coordinated development of the material, political and spiritual civilizations" is added. To our point of view, that is the first promise of a future "Harmonious Socialist Society" policy which directly emphasizes the growing need for coordination of these "material, political and spiritual civilizations" under the CPC guidance. The apologists of capitalism and market economy, by no means, would argue this statement, but after the tremendous success of Chinese modernization the gap between different social classes becomes more evident day by day. The time when all of the Chinese citizens were equally poor has gone. In the absence of free market economy and direct elections there is no any effective tools guarantee the coordinated development. So, that statement is finally declared officially, the state assumes the role of one legitimate moderator.

There are fundamental changes in the articles devoted to the relevant regulations on land and private property. The third paragraph of Article 10 is revised to read and now there is a compensation for the land expropriated or requisitioned by the State in the public interest and in accordance with law for its use. This is the same for the private property expropriation or requisition - compensation is guaranteed by the State. According the revised Article 13 of the Constitution, the State not only "protects the right of citizens to own lawfully earned income, savings, houses and other lawful property" but the inviolability of citizens' lawful private property is stated. In addition, PRC will protect the right to private property and the right of citizens to private property inheritance.

The second paragraph of Article 11 is revised to read - from that time the State exercises supervision and control over the non-public sectors of the economy not on the base of ideological or any political tools but in accordance with law (there is no such a statement before March 14, 2004). Besides, "�the State encourages, supports and guides the development of the non-public sectors of the economy�" - before March 14, 2004 the State only declared an obligation to protect the rights and interests of the non-public economy sectors (e.g. the individual and private sectors of the economy).

A social security system is mentioned in the Constitution of 2004 for the first time. One paragraph is added to Article 14 as the fourth paragraph, which declares a social security system compatible with the level of economic development established by the State. That is a fundamental change because first in the history of modern China the State expresses its willingness to be bound by social obligations, being charged with social development and a fundamental basis for productive human development and democracy.

The most important change is a paragraph added to Article 33 as the third paragraph, which reads, "the State respects and preserves human rights". That demonstrates not only the separation between the State as a bureaucratic institution and the citizens of PRC as a society which delegates a part of their rights directly to the state. Before this paragraph was adopted, it was difficult to evaluate the difference between state and society and now the new for Chinese citizens' type of relations between society and state on the base of "social contract" finally come into force.

That was the basic level of Hu Administration policy. The next level is the guiding socioeconomic ideology named "Scientific Outlook on DevelopmentFewsmith, J. �Promoting the Scientific Development Concept� / [Text] : China Leadership Monitor, No.11, July 30, 2004, - Access mode: http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/clm11_jf.pdf" (�Ȋw��չ��) which includes scientific socialism, social welfare, sustainable development, increased democracy, and, as a result, the creation of a Socialist Harmonious Society.

The Hu Jintao Administration key socioeconomic policy was based on the concept of the so-called the "Harmonious Socialist Society" (�Љ����aг�Љ�) or "Harmonious Society" (�Љ�aг). The first time term "Harmonious Society" was mentioned on September 19, 2004 during the 4th Plenary Session of 16th CPC Central Committee in the context of "�improving the ability of socialist harmonious society construction������16�͒�����Ա���l���S�̉������[4th Plenary Session of 16th CPC Central CommitteeOfficial Report], Xinhua News Agency Website, September19, 2004, accessed at http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2004-09/19/content_1995366.htm" (���?���Љ����aг�Љ�I�\��).

The clear definition of "Harmonious Society" was set in the document "CPC Central Committee on major issues on constructing a socialist harmonious society��������?��?���Љ����aг�Љ�኱�d������I�r�� [CPC Central Committee On Major Issues On Constructing a Socialist Harmonious Society], Xinhua News Agency Website, October 18, 2006, accessed at http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2006-10/18/content_5218639.htm." on October 11, 2006 during the 6th Plenary Session of 16th CPC Central Committee. On the base of this document we can evaluate the content of this policy and enumerate a number of socioeconomic issues faced by the Hu Jintao Administration.

1.1 Definition of Harmony

The central concept of ancient Chinese philosophy is "harmony" (�aг) and the notion of harmony can be considered as a part of all major Chinese traditional schools as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism. The character�a means "harmony" appears in all of Confucianism's "Five Classics" and three of the canonical "Four Books".

More detailed description of this concept and the interdependency between personal and common needs can be found in the "Doctrine of the Mean" (���f). This is a Confucian classic and part of the "Four Books" which is treated as a separate book from the Song periodTheobald U. �Zhongyong� [���f] / [Text] : An Encyclopedia on Chinese History, Literature and Art. July 24, 2010. - Access mode: http://www.chinaknowledge.de/Literature/Classics/zhongyong.html. The opening passages of the book introduce a cluster of key terms -�� xing (human nature), �� ("centrality" or "equilibrium") and �a (harmony) - that play important roles throughout the text.

John Delury gives the most prominent description of this term in accordance to ideas of Confucianism: "�humans were to live in harmony with nature and the harmonious tendency of heaven and earth; kingdoms were to act in concert with one another under the non-coercive lead of a virtuous emperor; rulers were to govern their populaces peaceably and with a popular mandate; families and lineages were to resolve their own disputes and create a strong sense of hierarchical solidarity; and gentlemen were to attain a state of inner harmony through rigorous study, ritual practice, and moral cultivationDelury, J. �Harmonious� In China� / [Text] : Policy Review Journal, March 31, 2008. - Access mode: http://www.hoover.org/research/harmonious-china".

The "mean" is a core concept of Confucianism. According to that, everyone has to follow the moderation in his or her activities and thoughts. That's only the way to achieve harmony in action and, as a result, the harmonious society. You simply cannot achieve the true harmony without the central tone. There should be a man in a high position who will stand in the center keeping all social positions stable. To prevent people rebel, the leader must not be arrogant and do not think of his or her own profit because it can provoke the disrupting�N�x��. ����f� [Doctrine of the Mean] / [Text] : ������S�ȑS��o�Ŏ�, 1987, 1229-1230ҳ. of social structures.

As we can see the notion of "harmonious society" as a political platform is quite diversified and has a number different connotations for different classes. One of the beneficiaries is the class urban poor and peasants who are seeking socialist commitment to the welfare. Educated elites understand "harmony" as a neutral position of Government toward journalists, advocates and other right-wing defenders. In contrary, for nationalists and conservatives such a "harmony" is a quite attractive tool for restoration traditional Chinese values of Confucianism and hierarchical structure of society. This understanding of "harmony" is very close to the officials of all levels - under the rule of such ideology the leading role of CPC is the "central tone" which will keep all social relations stable.

1.2 Major Issues on Constructing a Socialist Harmonious Society

The objective reasons of social unrest in China will be analyzed further on the base of mass media sources and official statistic data. On the base of "CPC Central Committee on major issues on constructing a socialist harmonious society" we have mentioned above, we can describe major social problems which are claimed directly by the officials. It means that the Central Committee at this period of time already understands the level of social unrest, that's why that policy document becomes the first attempt to implement social reforms. There are eight basic claims which we are going to identify briefly. That's the core socioeconomic policy of Hu Jintao Administration for the next 10 years.

Officials emphasize the importance of building a socialist harmonious society. On the primary stage of socialism, China has entered a crucial period of profound changes in the economic system and social structure. That's why one of the main problems of society is the contradiction between people's growing material needs and capacity of under-developed social production and overall planning on different levels. At the same time, there are many problems affecting social harmony, mainly: economic and social inequality of urban and rural population, environmental pressure as a result of overpopulation, unemployment, income distribution, education, welfare system, industrial safety etc. According to the report, institutional mechanism, democracy and legal system is still not perfect, too. The level of corruption remains quite serious which inevitable influence social stability.

Speaking of the guiding ideology, objectives and principles of building a socialist harmonious society, the main goal here is the socialist democratic improvement of legal system, maintenance of guarantees of the people's rights. At the same time, we want to pay attention to the principles of this policy declared by Hu Jintao.

Officials have to put the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority as the party and country's major point - to focus on people. At the same time, there is a need to strengthen the construction of socialist democratic regime, to develop the socialist democracy and implement the basic strategy of rule of law. It requires to build a socialist country ruled by law, establish a socialist concept of rule of law and promote social fairness and justice.

In economic sense, officials claim the need for continuing the "Reform & Opening Up" policy, orientated on the socialist market economy, meeting the requirements of social development and establishment highly efficient and more open institutional mechanism.

The CPC leadership plays a central role in maintaining the formation of harmonious society for all people. That is the only institution which will adhere to the relationship between reforms and stability - the intensity of reform and speed of development should correlate with degree of social unity, stability of the state. That means that no any radical reforms will be implemented on the base of that policy.

The development of new social construction should be coordinated. Social harmony in general depends on the level of social productive forces development, and its coordination. In the context of social harmony by Hu Jintao mentioned such initiatives as,

� to push forward the construction of new type rural area, promote the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. Implementation of the overall regional development strategy, promoting coordinated regional development which means the development of the western part of China, the revitalization of northeast China and other old industrial bases, promotion the rise of the central region and to encourage the eastern region to lead the development of all regions;

� to implement an active employment policy, the development of harmonious labor relations and to promote educational equity, gradually growth of financial education expenditure a 4% of GDP;

� to strengthen health services. Maintain the public welfare system reform, increase the number of government's responsibility, strict management of basic health care system covering urban and rural citizens, to provide people with safe, effective and inexpensive basic medical services;

� to accelerate the development of cultural programs and cultural industries, to meet the cultural needs of the people and to strengthen environmental policy.

It's important to point out the issues correlating with the subject of our investigation. There is a paragraph emphasizing the need of strengthen the system construction, safeguard social fairness and justice. It includes the actions for democratic rights protection system and legal system improvement. At the same time, there is a need to improve the judicial system and mechanism, strengthen judicial protection, the public finance and income distribution system, and standardize the order of income distribution. The last point is to improve the social security system to guarantee the basic livelihood needs of the masses.

The last task of government is to improve social management and maintain social stability and order - to build service-oriented government and strengthen social management.

1.3 Comparison of the "Harmony" Notions

Is there any contradiction between these two notions of "harmonious societies" in Confucian and the Hu Jintao ways of interpreting? Undoubtedly, the CPC becomes the main actor of building a socialist harmonious society and the only one leading force in the process of system improvement. We have to pay attention to the fact that "harmonious society" in its traditional understanding does not mean "to reform" the state or society. There is a working system already and the ruling officials only have to moderate it. Another factor is the socioeconomic reforms by itself. As it's already mentioned before, there is no need in thoroughgoing reforms in the society of Harmony because it could have a negative impact on efforts to improve efficiency of running measures of Government in the longer term. In system of "harmonious society" not officials but society itself will not permit even the mildest reform without a radical proposal pushing them. That's why the guiding ideology of Hu Administration does not contain any specific actions or implementation plan concerning the socioeconomic policy except such statements as "to promote educational equity�", "to strengthen health services�", etc.

As it's declared in the "Doctrine of the Mean", there should be someone in a high position keeping all social positions stable. That's the reason why all of the social structures are under control of CPC, because only one institute in country can control the life of society. Civil society cannot be considered as that kind of institution. The mechanism of maintaining remains quite patriarchal and society still needs a ruling clique or any other institute which would be considered as a part of the state, not society. Of course, Zisi (�q�v, 481-402 BC) - the author of the "Doctrine of the Mean�q�v. ����f� / [Text] : Baidu Encyclopedia. Access mode: http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=KjGrU84IvTxwYy1H7gKJ9IntfhqBx8sm3Xh2ln9vwPXmWJhjvTFrQ_Hx1NtC4fyJx3mWqYVnSK1L1_w9JZNvaa" - does not describe the social or economic peculiarities of harmonious society, but the interpretation of this concept in sense of ruling party is quite traditional.

Anyway, the ideology of CPC is based on the Marxism-Leninism transactions and the concepts of Mao Zedong, but terms correlating with the idea of "harmonious society" can be found there. Although in this economic and political stage of development the Hu Jintao Administration found the classical Confucian idea of harmony more applicable rather than idea of communist society. Politicians prefer to go into the past throw Confucius weight behind rather than promise to people ideal society of communist type. It seems like the ideas of Mao in the sphere of socioeconomic life do not have any response in XXI century and officials have to propose something more democratic but still not radical.

1.4 The Results of Socioeconomic Reforms in Context of Political Discourse

The effectiveness of "Harmonious Society" policy in China will be analyzed in the next Chapter. Still, it can be measured not only by real facts and statistic data but also by the current political landscape. The socioeconomic reforms of Hu Jintao Administration failed and that can be proved even by the fact that Harmonious Society does not mentioned in any official documents.

The best evidence of such political rhetoric is the fast replacement of guiding thoughts in policy of CPC. Constitution of Communist Party of China is revised at the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on November 14, 2012 - from this time the CPC takes not only Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory and the important thought of Three Represents but also the Scientific Outlook��c�Ȋw���W�ێʓ��}�͐��ő嗺�_� [The Scientific Development Concept Become the Biggest Bright Spot of the Party Constitution] / [Text] : �l�������C�O��, 2012�N11��19��, �攪��. - Access mode: http://paper.people.com.cn/rmrbhwb/html/2012-11/19/content_1146142.htm?div=-1 on Development by Hu Jintao as its guide to action���������}�͒� [Constitution of Communist Party of China] (revised and adopted at the Eighteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on November 14, 2012) / [Text] : official version. ���������}�V���, 2007�N10��22��. - Access mode:http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/64156/65682/4475081.html#. It is significant that there are no any amendments to the Constitution or any references to the Harmonious Society. It becomes much more obvious when on 2012, November 29 less than two weeks as Communist Party leader Xi Jinping visited the National Museum of China and used the term "China Dream" (������) for the first time. He defines it as "�in modern times the greatest dream is to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation���k. �ϰ�ߕ�: ���O?�@�̉�?������������������ΰ��?�˖ڱ�ܗE�O��� [Xi Jinping: Past and Future Continue to Move in the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation to Forge Ahead Goal] / [Text] : �V���, 2012�N11��29. - Access mode: http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2012-11/29/c_113852724.htm", and indicates that the dream will be achieved.

The Harmonious Society by that time has practically removed from political and mass-media discourse. Hu Jintao held the offices of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China till 15 November 2012 and two weeks after the new "Chine Dream" policy came in force.



2. The Nature of Civil Disobedience Movement and the Socioeconomic Factors Triggering Acts of Civil Disobedience

2.1 The Evidence of Social Unrest

The previous chapter has shown that the officials in PRC have realized the necessity of changes socioeconomic policy under the circumstances of rapidly growing economy and the income gap widening between urban and rural areas or different social classes.

In this Chapter, we examine the grievances that lie at the heart of civil disobedience. There is a popular belief that social unrest is closely correlated with the economic growth rates. As long as our research is not directly connecting with the economics, we are not go into details of PRC's economy structure and relevant indicators. But still it is inevitable to use some instruments of multidisciplinary approach and some economic data to describe some lacunas of our investigation.

The issue is, an absence of reliable data covering the phenomenon of civil disobedience makes it difficult to investigate the level of social unrest in common all around China, and describe the size and regional distribution of civil disobedience acts. There are 8700 incidents of social unrest in 1993, and then for the first years of 2000 Ministry of Public Security did not issue such data. In 2005 official annual figures on the numbers of the civil disobedience movement acts are about 87000. There is no any official statistic data about the protest activity from 2005 because the Ministry of Public Security just stopped issuing that. In this case we are going to examine the official statistic data compiled by National Bureau of Statistics in China�����l�����a������ͳ�Ƌ� [National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China] accessed at http://www.stats.gov.cn/concerning different indicators on social issues from 2003 to 2013.

According to the statistic of "Social Blue Book - 2005", number of marches, demonstrations, strikes and other mass incidents has been increased from 10,000 to 60,000 and the number of participants has increased from 730 thousands to 3,07 million people from 1993 to 2003 per year�Љ������� 2005�N: �����Љ�`�ƕ��͗^Ԥ�� [Social Blue Book 2005: China Social Situation Analysis and Prediction] / [Text] ���|��,½ѧ��,��M.�Љ�Ȋw�����o�Ŏ�,2004�N12��,390ҳ..

At the same time, we are going to analyze the informal estimates based on the mass media publications and reports from Western newspapers. For example, Chinese scholar Zhu Zhaogen���Ѹ�. �Ѱ���й����ĵĽ�Կ�׻ [Find the Golden Key to Political Reforms in China] / [Text] : ��ʶ�, 2010�N10��14��. - Access mode: http://www.21ccom.net/articles/zgyj/xzmj/article_2010101421861.html suggest a remarkable increase in occurrences of social unrest from 8 709 mass incidents in 1993 to 60 000 in 2003 by the time of Hu Jintao Administration. In 2008 the number of mass incidents increased to the 120 000, and in 2009 that is the 230 000 of such cases.

2.2 Classifying Social Unrest

It is necessary to clarify the definitions used in discourse of describing social unrest.

The first is the meaning of the term "mass incident". The definition of "mass incident" (�Q�̐�����) due to the economic environment and sociopolitical factors has experienced different phases. During the 1950s - late 1970s it is called "mass disturbances" (�Q?�֎��^��?�֎�); till the late 1980s it is called "peace order incident" or "mass peace order incident" (���������^�Q?����������). After that, there is a number of attempt to make a definition more precise. Finally, at the end of the 1990s - it has got a definition of "mass security incidents (�Q�̐���������). According to China's Ministry of Public Security on "Public Security Organs Dealing with Group Events Security Order������. ����O�䍑�Q�̐������I��v���^�y����{����� [The Main Types of Mass Incidents and the Basic Characteristics of the Current China] / [Text] : �������@��w�w��, China Academic Journal Electronic Publishing House, 2009�N, ��6��. - Access mode: http://www.socio-legal.sjtu.edu.cn/uploads/papers/2011/pkm110525044304776.pdf.", mass security incident is "common assembling a crowd violation of national laws, regulations, rules disturbing public order and endangering public safety, violation of citizens' personal safety and the safety of private and public property".

In 2003, the State Council issued the report entitled "Countermeasures on Mass Security Incident during the Period of Transition in China����ת�^���Q�̐��˷������ԍ􌤋�". Soon, November 8, 2004, the CPC Central Committee and State Council issued the notice "Comments on the Work to Actively Prevent and Properly Handle Mass Incidents?����?Ԥ�h�a�ÑP���u�Q�̐������I�H��Ӽ�" which contains the principles of mass incidents handling, and regulations on the organization, responsibilities, public education and other work in dealing with mass incidents and providing of such incidents.

At the end of 2005, the secretary of CPC Central Committee Secretariat, Minister of Public Security Zhou Yongkang for the first time used the term "mass incident" openly.

"People's Republic of China Response to Critical Incidents Law�����l�����a���˷�����Ӧ�Ԗ@"comes into force on November 1, 2007. On September 2009, the term "mass incident" was included to the "Party Building Dictionary�}�I���莫�T [Party Building Dictionary] / [Text] : official version. ���Ə����, ���������}�Z�o�Ŏ�, 2009�N5��1��, 664ҳ- Access mode: http://dangshi.people.com.cn/GB/151935/175422/".

December 21, 2009, Academy of Social Sciences published "Social Blue Book - 2010", pointed out that the number of mass incidents in 2009 remains high because of the process of accelerated development and transformation which has accumulated a lot of contradictions and problems.

So, the mass incidentSee the Chinese language definition of �mass incident / �Q�̐������ use the link: http://baike.baidu.com/view/61543.htm. is social conflict caused by certain specific groups or unspecified temporary formed group of persons on the base of contradictions among the people. It does not correspond with the legally approved number of participants what have a negative impact on the group activities. This impact appears in the form of speech or physical act generated a conflict on group activity or in the form of expressing their demands and claims, or direct fight and protect of their own interests, or to express one's grievances and to make an impact. As a result, there is a significant negative influence on the social order and social stability.

According to Human provincial government2010 �N�x�Γ�ȌQ�̐������l����@ [2010 Hunan Mass Incident Evaluation Methods] / [Text] : official version. - Access mode: http://wenku.baidu.com/link?url=Yhvpl74yAnW5UMtd10yyksmbl4DU0lCcauNpWJAa5Z4M5OhzxW05CwLxnJhV9k40hYzT0yPcDl3Jw0976XC7hxXtof3dEGiKwqSAZwcxmxq, there are four levels of such mass incidents classified by the number of participants and other factors (such as number of injured, dead or the duration, etc.). Extraordinary mass incidents include more than 2000 participants involved in illegal assembly and procession, sit-ins, hunger strikes and other events; or more than 1000 participants with severe beating, smashing, looting and burning incidents; a crowd stopped off the railway line more than 10 minutes and blocked the highway for more than 4 hours; participants blocked the state key construction projects for more than 48 hours; group fights, five or more people killed or more than 20 people injured. We are not going into details, the fact that such incidents are characterized not only by the number of participants but also by the nature of an incident. For comparison, it should be noticed that the small-scale mass incident involves between 100 and 500 participants. These numbers vary from province to province and fixed by the local officials.

The second term widely used by the officials from 2000 is the "public order disturbance" (���ҹ���������). But it is the fact that the term got a judicial interpretation by the Supreme Court of PRC only in September 2013See the web-link: http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E6%89%B0%E4%B9%B1%E5%85%AC%E5%85%B1%E7%A7%A9%E5%BA%8F%E7%BD%AA - the public order disturbance is violation against the normal social order management realized by the State, undermining of public order. It includes 35 different acts describing the public order disturbance.

Such kind of terms used by the State and relevant characteristics for describing these terms make an analyzing of official data a complicated task. That's one of the reasons why we have to use additional sources as mass media publications and interviews of Chinese and Western scholars.

Besides, the term "civil disobedience act" by which we understand all of the episodes of mass incidents and public order disturbance can be considered wrong in the Chinese discourse describing social unrest. But as long as this research is written on the base of Western approach, we found the use of "civil disobedience act" in this research appropriate.

2.3 Motivation for Civil Disobedience

In the first Chapter we have already emphasized the scope of social spheres under study which includes the sphere of labor conflicts, land disputes and environmental issues. The scope of social spheres under investigation were chosen by author on the base of empirical research by direct observation of current situation in Chinese society and on the base of a number of research combines qualitative and quantitative forms of analysis by Carl MinznerMinzner, C. �Social Instability in China: Causes, Consequences, and Implications� / [Text] : Report of Council on Foreign Relations Visiting Fellow from Center for Strategic and International Studies. May, 2007. - Access mode: http://csis.org/files/media/csis/events/061205_mizner_abstract.pdf, Christian G�bel and Lynette OngG�bel C., Ong L. �Social Unrest in China� / [Text] : Europe China Research and Advise Network, August 2012. - Access mode: http://eeas.europa.eu/china/docs/division_ecran/ecran_social_unrest_in_china_christian_gobel_and_lynette_h_ong_en.pdf, John KnightKnight, J. �The Economic Causes and Consequences of Social Instability in China� / [Text] : China Growth Centre at St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford, CGC Discussion Paper Series No. 15September, 2012. - Access mode: http://www.seh.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/DP15.pdf and Joseph FewsmithFewsmith, J. �China Since Tiananmen From Deng Xiaoping to Hu Jintao� / [Text] : Cambridge University Press, New York, 2008., etc.

Here we are not going to describe the core issues on the macro-level such as inequality or corruption, but we will evaluate the number of micro-level conflicts in different spheres. We also do not pay attention to the institutional component of these incidents because the subject under study is a nature of socioeconomic issues led up to the mass riots, civil disobedience acts and demonstrations in PRC, but not institutional elements. Still, we will describe some institutional peculiarities further, evaluating the role of state institutions and their response to act of civil disobedience.

2.3.1 Labor Conflicts

As we said above there is an assumption that a number of civil disobedience acts and level of social unrest are closely correlating with the economic growth rate.

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According to the World Development Bank http://www.worldbank.org/ there is an stable economic growth of GDP in PRC till 2007, and then following the 2008 financial crisis the indicators are going down to 2013 (See, Table 1).

At the same time, average annual wage increased to 52,388 �in 2013 from 16,024 � in 2004http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/wages (See, Table 2). This data on wages in China is reported by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

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It seems rather paradoxical. In spite of the economic slowdown, the average annual wage continues increasing, as a number of mass incidents on the base of labor conflicts. It is obvious that, at least, in this concrete case the level of social unrest does not correlate with the economic growth rate. The issues provoked the social unrest we are going to describe further.

Concerning the level of average annual wage, we have to notice this is an annual wage of country with around 779 millionshttp://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.TLF.TOTL.IN?page=1 of total labor force involving in different industries, living in absolutely incomparable geographic regions in economic development sense. Also this is an average wage for urban and rural population. Chinese people in common do not trust this datahttp://www.cctv-america.com/2015/06/17/the-best-and-worst-of-chinas-urban-annual-salary-report.

Still, the question is not a growing level of an average wage but the distribution of that by places of living, professions and types of employer. The rich people become richer and the poor labor force remains poor. That is why the first reason provoked labor conflicts are a growing gap between the poorest and the richest social classes. Another issue is the protection of workers' human rights. The last one is the increasing need of social guarantees.

Protection of Workers Human Rights

First of all, we have to evaluate the number of laws regulating workers' rights, especially through the period from 2003 to 2013. The laws and regulations implemented by the Hu Jintao Administration as a reflection of officials towards growing level of social unrest would provide better understanding of labor disputes' core issue.

Labor Lawhttp://english.gov.cn/archive/laws_regulations/2014/08/23/content_281474983042473.htm adopted at the 8th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the 8th National People's Congress in 1994; Trade Union Lawhttp://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/policyrelease/internationalpolicy/200703/20070304475394.htmladopted in 1992 at the 5th Session of the 7th National People's Congress (amended in 2001). These are the basic laws which were regulating the labor relations.

The huge achievement of Hu Jintao Administration is an implementation by Ministry of Labor and Social Security of "Minimum Wage Regulations�Œ�H�ʹ�� [Provisions on Minimum Wages] / [Text] : official version. �����l�����a���Ͷ��a�Љ�ۏᕔ�ߑ�21��, �k����w�@���M�����S, 2004�N1��20��- Access mode: http://www.pkulaw.cn/fulltext_form.aspx?Db=chl&Gid=51460f Hu Jintao Administration. On ink: l peculiarities0 000, and on 2009 that is the by the time of Hu Jintao Administration. On " in 2003 (went into effect on March 1, 2004). Before that, there is an article of the Labor Law emphasizing the necessity of minimum wage correlating with a level sufficient to support the daily needs of workers. Nevertheless, the clear definition and volume of minimum wage is implemented only after ten years from implementation of Labor Law. That measure is correlated with the growing gap in income between different social classes, because from that time any enterprise in China have provide the workers with at least minimum wage fixed by the provincial Government, even if the range of such wages varies extremely from province to province. That was a step to prevent a growing social unrest concerning the low wages.

Another achievement of Hu Jintao Administration is the Labor Contract Law�����l�����a���Ͷ������@ [Labour Contract Law of People's Republic of China] / [Text] : official version. �������{�Ż���, �V����, 2007�N06��29��- Access mode: http://www.gov.cn/flfg/2007-06/29/content_669394.htm went into effect 2008 (amended 2013). The law regulates the performance and alteration of labor contracts, its dissolution and termination; it also set the rules for collective labor contract, for the part-time employment, surveillance and inspection. AnalyticsQian, W. �Rethinking the Labour Contract Law of China� / [Text] : Wei Qian, Yan Dong, Ye Jingyi. Peking University Law School Labour Law & Social Security Law Institute, June, 2013. - Access mode: https://www.upf.edu/gredtiss/_pdf/2013-LLRNConf_QianEtAl.pdf in the sphere of China social life emphasize that was the respond by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the PRC to staff-sacking scandals in many companies both Chinese private owned and foreign companies who were interested in low-paid labor force.

It also can be considered as a measure against the violation of human rights that is described by Anita Chan as forced labor, intimidation, physical punishment, and even corporal violenceChan, A. �Labor Standards and Human Rights: The Case of Chinese Workers under Market Socialism� [Text] : Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 20, Number 4, November 1998, pp. 886-904. Access mode -https://muse.jhu.edu/article/13637.

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