I. For People's Liberation and Wellbeing
1. Human Rights Trampled after the Mid-19th Century
The Chinese nation is a great nation boasting a civilization spanning five millennia. China once led the world in composite national strength over a long period of time. But beginning in the middle and latter half of the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911), and especially after the Opium War in 1840, China plunged into stagnation due to a corrupt, incompetent government and ever growing Western aggression. It was eventually reduced to a semi-colonial, semi-feudal state where the people were enslaved and suffered immeasurably.
Beginning in 1840, the Western imperialist powers, through war and other aggressive means, forced the Chinese government into hundreds of unequal treaties, regulations and conventions, grabbing territory, demanding reparations and privileges, and engaging in a process of colonization and plunder throughout China. Western invasion and colonization shackled the Chinese people, trampling on their dignity and putting their very lives in jeopardy.
It was a tragedy for the country and the people. Oppressed by imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism, the Chinese people suffered from hunger and poverty and the nation from backwardness and subjugation.
The subsistence crisis raged in all directions. The economy was in a shambles. Low agricultural productivity, land annexation, harsh taxes and levies, natural disasters, and frequent wars turned large numbers of small farmers and peasants into farm laborers for hire or homeless poor. Industry and commerce developed to a certain extent, but was small in scale, low in productivity and unbalanced in structure. Manipulated by foreign and domestic bureaucrat capital, it was impossible to sustain the nation or the people. Under a shattered economy, the people were destitute and struggled to survive. It is estimated that 80 percent of the population was constantly haunted by dire hunger or inadequate food supply, and that tens or even hundreds of thousands of people starved to death every year.
China was also tortured by diseases and hindered by the lack of education among its people. Epidemics such as plague, smallpox and cholera swept across the country and recurred every year, taking a heavy toll on the populace due to the lack of health services. The average life expectancy in old China was only 35 years. When the PRC was founded in 1949, 80 percent of the 540 million population were illiterate, less than 20 percent of school-age children were in elementary schools, and there were only 117,000 students receiving higher education. Commenting on the miseries of the people, Mao Zedong said, “The poverty and lack of freedom among the Chinese people are on a scale seldom found.” With the people struggling for survival, it was impossible to talk about any other rights.
2. National Salvation on the Shoulders of the CPC
With the nation under threat and the people in pain, many people of lofty ideals and insight devoted themselves to the cause of national salvation – leading peasant uprisings, creating initiatives to learn from the West, attempting reformist experiments, and launching a bourgeois revolution. But none of these freed the Chinese from oppression and slavery. The mission of national independence and the liberation of the people fell to the CPC.
In July 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China announced the founding of the Party, heralding a new stage in the Chinese revolution. It reversed the tragic fate of the Chinese people and laid down the foundations for them to enjoy their basic rights. The first Marxists in China, including Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong, already understood the close connection between liberation, independence and the people's interests.They knew well that only through revolution could the proletariat and the working people establish and maintain their rights, and that only through revolution could China get back on its feet and its people emerge from poverty and humiliation.
The CPC was a party of the proletariat from the very beginning. Through its programs, proposals, and declarations, it made its mission clear and its stance known – to save the nation and secure human rights for its people. The original aspiration and the mission of the Party is to seek happiness for the people of China and rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is also the root of its stance on human rights. The CPC, with its people-centered position, has won the support of the Chinese people, making it the spine of the Chinese revolution.
3. Human Rights Protection During the New Democratic Revolution
In the New Democratic Revolution to liberate and free the people and make them masters of the country, the CPC always applied Marxist human rights theory to the Chinese context, pioneering a path of human rights predicated on the universality of human rights and one that is distinctively Chinese.
In the Great Revolution (1924-1927), the CPC took on improving people's lives and protecting their right to subsistence as key objectives. In the Agrarian Revolutionary War (1927-1937), the CPC-led Chinese Soviet Government promulgated the Land Law, giving the peasants political rights as well as land to till, so that they could make a living. In the full-scale phase of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945), the Party formulated a series of regulations and measures for human rights protection, and enacted tax and interest reduction policies in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region. In the War of Liberation (1945-1949), the Party emphasized protection of human rights and ensuring basic livelihoods for the people, formulated the Outline of the Land Law of China and carried out land reform among 100 million people in the liberated areas, distributing land among peasants and putting an end to feudal production relations. It organized production campaigns to ensure self-sufficiency, encouraged privately-owned industrial and commercial businesses, and provided social relief, all to ensure the people's wellbeing.
Making the people masters of the country was a primary goal in ensuring human rights during the New Democratic Revolution. Universal suffrage was implemented in the CPC-led Central Soviet Area and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, and the long-oppressed people finally had the right to participate in politics and have their voice heard. During the War Against Japanese Aggression, the base areas established democratic governments with CPC members, progressive non-CPC figures, and centrists each occupying one third of the official posts. These policies and systems greatly encouraged the people to take part in revolution and political administration.
The legitimate rights and interests of women were protected. Following the guidelines of the CPC Central Committee on women's liberation and marriage reform, and the marriage laws and regulations enacted and applied to all the soviet areas, arranged and mercenary marriage was abolished, and keeping maids or concubines was forbidden. Monogamy was established along with freedom of marriage, and postnuptial property was regarded as community property. For the first time, women gained the freedom of their person and economic equality in marriage. With rising social status, women became more active in revolution and in the workplace.
Culture, education, and health services flourished in the CPC-led areas. In the Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic promulgated in the Central Soviet Area, it was stipulated that the working masses enjoyed equal right to education. Schools were built and training sessions organized to help improve people's educational levels. In the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region the government set up night schools and newspaper reading groups to eliminate illiteracy, opened elementary and middle schools despite the difficult conditions, and founded the Lu Xun School of the Arts, the Yan'an Academy of Natural Sciences, and other institutions of higher education and research.
The Chinese Soviet Republic formed an epidemic prevention and control committee at the central level, and health departments (offices) were set up at the district, county and provincial levels. Hospitals were built for workers and peasants, as well as clinics for the poor and public health centers. The cohort of health workers was strengthened and mass campaigns were rolled out to prevent and control epidemics. All this significantly improved people's health.
4. Human Rights Protection in the PRC
The founding of the PRC in 1949 ushered in a new era for people's rights. It put an end to the exploitation, oppression and slavery that had shackled the Chinese nation for a century, and signified the beginning of substantial progress in human rights in a socialist country under the leadership of the CPC.
Since 1949, human rights in China have undergone three stages of development.
Stage 1: Beginning in 1949, the Chinese people committed themselves to socialist revolution and economic development under CPC leadership, establishing the basic systems of socialism, completing the most extensive and profound process of social change in Chinese history, and promulgating the first socialist constitution. All these laid the political and institutional foundation for human rights in China.
From a political perspective, the system of people's democracy was established and consolidated, with democracy of the people and socialism as the basic principles. With the implementation of the system of people's congresses, it was guaranteed that all rights of the state belonged to the people.
From an economic perspective, the completion of the land reform triggered a burst of great creativity among the people. Socialist transformation was completed in agriculture, individual craft industries, and capitalist industry and commerce, and the basic socialist system was formed to ensure equal access to economic development and the sharing of economic gains.
From a social perspective, the Marriage Law was promulgated, stipulating the free choice of spouses, the principle of monogamy, equal rights for men and women, and the protection of the lawful rights and interests of women and children. Efforts were made to promote education and health services, and medical and preventive care networks were established at every local level – village, township, county, city and province. Labor insurance was created and social relief was provided. The government stood firmly against ethnic oppression and discrimination, upheld equality among all ethnic groups, and introduced regional ethnic autonomy. In developing the legal framework, important laws were formulated and promulgated in line with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China to protect citizens' basic rights.
Stage 2: Beginning in 1978, when reform and opening up was introduced, the CPC led the Chinese people on a path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, unleashing an immense wave of social development and productivity. Thanks to tremendous progress in human rights the people enjoyed better protection of their rights to subsistence and development and other basic rights. Reform and opening up is a great revolution on the part of the Chinese people under CPC leadership. The Party pursues development as its top priority in governance and as the key to solving the problems of China; it strives to promote social productivity and improve human rights protection through development. During this stage the people enjoyed better lives and grew more active economically and socially. Under CPC leadership, China upheld the rule of law in all areas, and included in the Constitution as an important principle of national governance respect for and protection of human rights. Human rights progress was included in national development strategies and plans, the mechanisms for ensuring human rights in the context of China's realities were improved, and the system for ensuring human rights with Chinese characteristics began to take shape.
Stage 3: Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. China has completed the mission of eradicating absolute poverty as scheduled under the strong leadership of the Party Central Committee with Xi Jinping at the core. Decisive success has been achieved in the final stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects, and human rights protection has been brought to new heights. Upholding people-centered development, the CPC is grounding its efforts in the new development stage, applying the new development philosophy, and creating a new framework of development. Focusing on high-quality development, it endeavors to meet the fundamental goal of satisfying the people's growing desire for a better life. Implementing the Five-sphere Integrated Plan and the Four-pronged Comprehensive Strategy, the Party has made sure that the people enjoy a greater sense of gain, happiness and security. As the Belt and Road Initiative builds momentum, the concept of a global community of shared future has been widely recognized.
