Making Sense of the Distrust of the Chinese Government in Light of China’s Successes in Economic Modernization

This presentation explores the contrast of China\u27s economic development and the low scores of trust for the Chinese Communist Party\u27s (CCP\u27s) legitimacy among the Chinese people. The sharp contrast may reflect flaws in the shaping of de facto authority by the Chinese government. The de facto authority is examined in connection to the Mandate of Heaven from the Confucian tradition. The severe imbalance of unprecedented economic growth coupled with the lack of visible political reform among the Chinese people is discussed against the background of domestic and international politics. Overall, this presentation uses modernization theory and the concept of the Mandate of Heaven as its foundation. Modernization theory shapes the selection of data for this presentation, which includes economic and social data that points to the processes and structures of modernized societies. These structures and processes include industrialization, urbanization, structural differentiation, and bureaucratic rationality. These structures and processes are analyzed based on the trends that have been identified in these data sources. The Mandate of Heaven is a concept that points specifically to the Chinese understanding of political legitimacy, or the right to rule. It is based on the idea that the role of the government is to provide a good life for its citizens; in effect, this presentation focuses on the economic, social, and political consequences of China’s modernization. The uniqueness of this presentation is that it clearly differentiates modernization from Westernization. The concept of the Mandate of Heaven is a measuring tool that evaluates the effects of modernization in a manner that is consistent with China’s Confucian history. This presentation argues that, in spite of the phenomenal economic development of the past three decades, the Chinese people hold mixed feelings about the legitimacy of the Chinese authorities. These mixed feelings may be rooted in the rescued significance of the Mandate of Heaven and in the CCP\u27s flawed legitimacy based on de facto authority. The implications of these findings for China’s domestic and international position are discussed in terms of the political reform initiatives that the CCP is currently undertaking