Ideologies of the Democracy Movement in China

After Deng Xiaoping gained power in 1978, a new political atmosphere was promised for the Chinese people.   A promise of a free land with a modern economic state was made by Deng in order to gain public support.   During Deng’s reign, a series of economic reforms were made.   These reforms had major impacts on both the economy and the society of China.   Although it has been argued that Deng was leading a totalitarian regime, historians tend to overlook the idea that the Chinese have different ideologies and morals than people in the west.   Chinese intellectuals who looked to the west as a model for democracy absorbed themselves into the western culture, and believed that everything that China stood for was ‘backward.’ This view of the Chinese society forced the people to hold resentments against Deng, which led to Democratic uprisings and movements.   Deng simply wanted to create a better economy for the Chinese people to live in according to Chinese values, but the society did not see it this way as an inflow of western attitudes and beliefs had been embedded into their minds.   Deng knew that China’s problems were coming from within the political system, and he attempted to solve these problems, but when he realized that these problems could not be solved, he resorted to more of an authoritarian rather than a democratic regime.


After 1978, China’s society faced a whole new relationship with the state.   As intellectuals became more independent, their perception of the state was changed.   Prior to the Deng era, only bureaucratic corruption was questioned, while the actual system of the government was never interrogated.   However, following the Maoist Regime, intellects threw their attacks on the repressive Communist era.   Those who were at one point loyal to the Communist government were now against Communist utopianism.   State socialism was critiqued, and the question of democracy was arisen.   Today’s intellects have become...