Paper Example on Ancient China

Introduction

Ancient China had an emperor of China who had a central government just like the communist party of today. He controlled everything and allowed nobody to rival him. Of course, he got pieces advice from staff but made the final decision. His regime had a lot of advantages to the people and also disadvantages on politics, economics, culture and socially.

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Political

The Central government of China has done tremendously well in improving and developing China. It has fought for the interest of the people and changed the country into one of the focused, hardworking and competitive individuals. There is the hierarchy in command of leadership and it is the people that choose their leaders to represent their interest and that every leader must have the national agenda. This hierarchical form of governance means that order is taken from above. This system requires that a leader starts representing from the bottommost and progressively climbing up the ladder. This gives a good opportunity to understand the plight and problems facing the people and try to be part of the solution. This kind of political system makes the leaders at the top to be individuals of integrity, extraordinary brilliance, intelligence, expertise and perspicuity. The system has no shortcuts and that for one to be at the top, then he is one with big dreams, perseverance and endurance, which are good values for leaders of a nation. This system of government has been viewed by many people who live outside of China as dictatorial, autocratic and very oppressive yet the people of China do not see it that way and in most cases appreciate their government as one that fights for them.

The president is not elected by anybody. This means the people have no power to change their government. There is no link between the people and their government even if other political leaders are elected by the people. The Central government can then decide to do things their way without serving the interest of the people and if one raises his voice against this, then he is thrown into detention. It is not easy to find personal freedom from an autocrat (Fairbank, 27)

Disadvantages

There is to some extent a lack of individual freedom in China. But the people in most instances are not complaining of anything they don't have the feeling of oppression and repression because of this. Again this limited freedom is all dependent on individuals with the majority seemingly not having a problem with it. The people just ensure that they participate in building their nation by going to work and trying new things in their lives. The people consider some of the challenges they have as trivial and therefore do not seem to care. Examples are racial prejudice, religious disagreements and struggles, and segregation.

The people are able to get good services from the government like better healthcare and medical services, better education, pensions etc and therefore are comfortable in the way they live. I cannot deny the fact that there could be some people in the new generation who would want freedom in all that they co, the way it is done in most parts of Europe and America so that they can get to interact with the world and move forward at the same pace as others without hearing a knock on the door. These people would want the best of services, freedom to pursue individual happiness, full exploration and interaction with technology making them view their lives as those that are oppressed and have no enough freedom. The emperor in China was the person to make the sole decision making in every aspect of life whether political, economic or social. The leader did not allow anybody to thrive in order to oppose him or contest for power with him (Fairbank, 28)

Economy

Even today Chinese people are still farmers. They do a lot of agriculture especially rice farming (Fairbank, 15). This means that the Chinese people have been farmers since long ago. This cannot happen without the support of the government. The central government has a lot of interest in the supply of steel in the economy and industry. This kind of control has led to monopoly of the entire industry and it does this because of what it views as protection of the citizens from unemployment and also will make it lose voice over steel production. It is unfortunate that the government has failed to distribute the enormous resources in a manner that shows equity and fairness. The government regulates to a lot of extents the entering of the Chinese economy by the foreign firms protecting the Chinese people from losing jobs to the foreign firms and people. State owns everything in this economy, from banks to companies. When one wants to borrow loans, you have to go to the state-owned banks at their own interests. This simply means no one can pursue his business dreams without blessings and approval by the state. The economy in most cases hurts when the regime's key intention is to cling to power. They will do everything possible just to cling to power at the expense of the economy.

Pros

These actions by the central government lead to minimizing of wastages since there are proper planning of how to use the resources and the output that is expected. The government makes the decision on everything that goes on in the economy and so there is no private citizen or entrepreneur that monopolizes the economy. Decision making on policies is easy and takes a short time because they are done from one point. The regime can as well protect the people from overpricing because in most cases the government does not have any selfish intentions other than to retain power.

Cons

Not many professionals are involved in decision making and so there may be too much manufacturing of goods because decisions only serve the interest of the government. Sometimes the regime does not serve the interest of the people but its own, in order to be in power as long as they can. This could lead people to suffer like poverty and famine. This control and monopoly by the government restrict opportunities to some people while may give to some even more. This could lead to disparity in wealth among the citizens. The regime could favor more those who are loyal to the state than others.

Politics

China has failed to make their institutions of governance very strong, something that some parts of Europe and America have done very well. These institutions do away with discrimination, committed to fairness and are very key to the performance of a given economy. The government of China has shown harshness to these institutions of governance viewing them as those that will cut the power of the autocracy to size and that they will antagonize the authority of the Central government. It is the institutions of governance that make governance, justice, fairness and commitment to follow rule of law to be timeless, otherwise, when a leader cannot rule anymore, there would be a power vacuum and sometimes favoritism. The country cannot be a nation without independent institutions. The government can let go of anything else at the expense of retaining power and that is dangerous. It is better for a nation to recognize that the Country is bigger than the interest of any individual.

Social

The government has allowed people to use social amenities. People can gather in worship but the activities of the religious institutions are keenly watched by the regime and would want to control all of them. This means the government at any time can just raid any place and violate one's rights without even caring. This also happens to the non-governmental agencies that operate within the borders of China.

Culture

There have always been strong feelings in China about culture. The government has done a lot to maintain this. The people of China practiced painting, Buddhism, photography, painting, calligraphy etc. (Ebrey, 8). The central government encouraged these cultural practices and allowed them to thrive.

Conclusion

When there is an autocracy, the government wants to control power, market and economy. Nobody is allowed to thrive politically. Remaining in power is the most important thing for them. The market is also controlled and only supporters of state benefit more

References

Fairbank, John King, and Merle Goldman. China: A new history. Harvard University Press, 2006.

Ebrey, Patricia Buckley. Chinise Civilisation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.