Temperature-salinity diagram of changes in density of water
Ocean salinity at different latitudes in the Atlantic and Pacific
Seawater, or sea water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity
of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram
(roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has approximately 35 grams
(1.2 oz) of dissolved salts (predominantly sodium (Na+ ) and chloride (Cl− ) ions). The average density at the surface is 1.025 kg/L. Seawater is denser than both fresh water
and pure water (density 1.0 kg/L at 4 °C (39 °F)) because the dissolved
salts increase the mass by a larger proportion than the volume. The
freezing point of seawater decreases as salt concentration increases. At
typical salinity, it freezes at about −2 °C (28 °F). The coldest seawater still in the liquid state ever recorded was found in 2010, in a stream under an Antarcticglacier: the measured temperature was −2.6 °C (27.3 °F).
Seawater pH is typically limited to a range between 7.5 and 8.4.
However, there is no universally accepted reference pH-scale for
seawater and the difference between measurements based on different
reference scales may be up to 0.14 units.
Although the vast majority of seawater has a salinity of between 31
and 38 g/kg, that is 3.1–3.8%, seawater is not uniformly saline
throughout the world. Where mixing occurs with freshwater runoff from
river mouths, near melting glaciers or vast amounts of precipitation
(e.g. monsoon), seawater can be substantially less saline. The most saline open sea is the Red Sea, where high rates of evaporation, low precipitation
and low river run-off, and confined circulation result in unusually
salty water. The salinity in isolated bodies of water can be
considerably greater still – about ten times higher in the case of the Dead Sea.
Historically, several salinity scales were used to approximate the
absolute salinity of seawater. A popular scale was the "Practical
Salinity Scale" where salinity was measured in "practical salinity units
(PSU)". The current standard for salinity is the "Reference Salinity"
scale with the salinity expressed in units of "g/kg".
Density
The density of surface seawater ranges from about 1020 to 1029 kg/m3,
depending on the temperature and salinity. At a temperature of 25 °C,
the salinity of 35 g/kg and 1 atm pressure, the density of seawater is
1023.6 kg/m3. Deep in the ocean, under high pressure, seawater can reach a density of 1050 kg/m3
or higher. The density of seawater also changes with salinity. Brines
generated by seawater desalination plants can have salinities up to
120 g/kg. The density of typical seawater brine of 120 g/kg salinity at
25 °C and atmospheric pressure is 1088 kg/m3.
The pH value at the surface of oceans in pre-industrial time (before 1850) was around 8.2. Since then, it has been decreasing due to a human-caused process called ocean acidification that is related to carbon dioxide emissions: Between 1950 and 2020, the average pH of the ocean surface fell from approximately 8.15 to 8.05.
The pH value of seawater is naturally as low as 7.8 in deep ocean
waters as a result of degradation of organic matter in these waters. It can be as high as 8.4 in surface waters in areas of high biological productivity.
Measurement of pH is complicated by the chemical properties of seawater, and several distinct pH scales exist in chemical oceanography.
There is no universally accepted reference pH-scale for seawater and
the difference between measurements based on different reference scales
may be up to 0.14 units.
Chemical composition
Seawater contains more dissolved ions than all types of freshwater. However, the ratios of solutes differ dramatically. For instance, although seawater contains about 2.8 times more bicarbonate than river water, the percentage of bicarbonate in seawater as a ratio of all dissolved ions is far lower than in river water. Bicarbonate ions constitute 48% of river water solutes but only 0.14% for seawater.Differences like these are due to the varying residence times of seawater solutes; sodium and chloride have very long residence times, while calcium (vital for carbonate formation) tends to precipitate much more quickly. The most abundant dissolved ions in seawater are sodium, chloride, magnesium, sulfate and calcium. Its osmolarity is about 1000 mOsm/L.
Small amounts of other substances are found, including amino acids at concentrations of up to 2 micrograms of nitrogen atoms per liter, which are thought to have played a key role in the origin of life.
Diagram showing concentrations of various salt ions in seawater. The composition of the total salt component is: Cl− 55%, Na+ 30.6%, SO2− 4 7.7%, Mg2+ 3.7%, Ca2+ 1.2%, K+ 1.1%, Other 0.7%. Note that the diagram is only correct when in units of wt/wt, not wt/vol or vol/vol.
Research in 1957 by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography sampled water in both pelagic and neritic
locations in the Pacific Ocean. Direct microscopic counts and cultures
were used, the direct counts in some cases showing up to 10 000 times
that obtained from cultures. These differences were attributed to the
occurrence of bacteria in aggregates, selective effects of the culture
media, and the presence of inactive cells. A marked reduction in
bacterial culture numbers was noted below the thermocline, but not by direct microscopic observation. Large numbers of spirilli-like
forms were seen by microscope but not under cultivation. The disparity
in numbers obtained by the two methods is well known in this and other
fields. In the 1990s, improved techniques of detection and identification of microbes by probing just small snippets of DNA, enabled researchers taking part in the Census of Marine Life
to identify thousands of previously unknown microbes usually present
only in small numbers. This revealed a far greater diversity than
previously suspected, so that a litre of seawater may hold more than
20,000 species. Mitchell Sogin from the Marine Biological Laboratory feels that "the number of different kinds of bacteria in the oceans could eclipse five to 10 million."
Bacteria are found at all depths in the water column, as well as in the sediments, some being aerobic, others anaerobic. Most are free-swimming, but some exist as symbionts within other organisms – examples of these being bioluminescent bacteria. Cyanobacteria played an important role in the evolution of ocean processes, enabling the development of stromatolites and oxygen in the atmosphere.
Some bacteria interact with diatoms, and form a critical link in the cycling of silicon in the ocean. One anaerobic species, Thiomargarita namibiensis, plays an important part in the breakdown of hydrogen sulfide eruptions from diatomaceous sediments off the Namibian coast, and generated by high rates of phytoplankton growth in the Benguela Current upwelling zone, eventually falling to the seafloor.
Bacteria-like Archaea surprised marine microbiologists by their survival and thriving in extreme environments, such as the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor. Alkalotolerant marine bacteria such as Pseudomonas and Vibrio spp. survive in a pH range of 7.3 to 10.6, while some species will grow only at pH 10 to 10.6. Archaea also exist in pelagic waters and may constitute as much as half the ocean's biomass, clearly playing an important part in oceanic processes. In 2000 sediments from the ocean floor revealed a species of Archaea that breaks down methane, an important greenhouse gas and a major contributor to atmospheric warming.
Some bacteria break down the rocks of the sea floor, influencing
seawater chemistry. Oil spills, and runoff containing human sewage and
chemical pollutants have a marked effect on microbial life in the
vicinity, as well as harbouring pathogens and toxins affecting all forms
of marine life. The protist dinoflagellates may at certain times undergo population explosions called blooms or red tides, often after human-caused pollution. The process may produce metabolites known as biotoxins, which move along the ocean food chain, tainting higher-order animal consumers.
Pandoravirus salinus,
a species of very large virus, with a genome much larger than that of
any other virus species, was discovered in 2013. Like the other very
large viruses Mimivirus and Megavirus, Pandoravirus infects amoebas, but its genome, containing 1.9 to 2.5 megabases of DNA, is twice as large as that of Megavirus, and it differs greatly from the other large viruses in appearance and in genome structure.
In 2013 researchers from Aberdeen University
announced that they were starting a hunt for undiscovered chemicals in
organisms that have evolved in deep sea trenches, hoping to find "the
next generation" of antibiotics, anticipating an "antibiotic apocalypse"
with a dearth of new infection-fighting drugs. The EU-funded research
will start in the Atacama Trench and then move on to search trenches off New Zealand and Antarctica.
The ocean has a long history of human waste disposal on the
assumption that its vast size makes it capable of absorbing and diluting
all noxious material.
While this may be true on a small scale, the large amounts of sewage
routinely dumped has damaged many coastal ecosystems, and rendered them
life-threatening. Pathogenic viruses and bacteria occur in such waters,
such as Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae the cause of cholera, hepatitis A, hepatitis E and polio, along with protozoans causing giardiasis and cryptosporidiosis.
These pathogens are routinely present in the ballast water of large
vessels, and are widely spread when the ballast is discharged.
Other parameters
The speed of sound
in seawater is about 1,500 m/s (whereas the speed of sound is usually
around 330 m/s in air at roughly 101.3 kPa pressure, 1 atmosphere), and
varies with water temperature, salinity, and pressure. The thermal conductivity of seawater is 0.6 W/mK at 25 °C and a salinity of 35 g/kg.
The thermal conductivity decreases with increasing salinity and increases with increasing temperature.
The water in the sea was thought to come from the Earth's volcanoes, starting 4 billion years ago, released by degassing from molten rock. More recent work suggests much of the Earth's water may come from comets.
Scientific theories behind the origins of sea salt started with Sir Edmond Halley
in 1715, who proposed that salt and other minerals were carried into
the sea by rivers after rainfall washed it out of the ground. Upon
reaching the ocean, these salts concentrated as more salt arrived over
time (see Hydrologic cycle). Halley noted that most lakes that don't have ocean outlets (such as the Dead Sea and the Caspian Sea, see endorheic basin), have high salt content. Halley termed this process "continental weathering".
Halley's theory was partly correct. In addition, sodium leached
out of the ocean floor when the ocean formed. The presence of salt's
other dominant ion, chloride, results from outgassing of chloride (as hydrochloric acid) with other gases from Earth's interior via volcanos and hydrothermal vents. The sodium and chloride ions subsequently became the most abundant constituents of sea salt.
Ocean salinity has been stable for billions of years, most likely as a consequence of a chemical/tectonic system which removes as much salt as is deposited; for instance, sodium and chloride sinks include evaporite deposits, pore-water burial, and reactions with seafloor basalts.
Human impacts
For the increase in the Earth's volume of seawater, see Sea level rise.
Climate change, rising levels of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere, excess nutrients, and pollution in many forms are altering global oceanic geochemistry.
Rates of change for some aspects greatly exceed those in the historical
and recent geological record. Major trends include an increasing acidity, reduced subsurface oxygen in both near-shore and pelagic waters, rising coastal nitrogen levels, and widespread increases in mercury
and persistent organic pollutants. Most of these perturbations are tied
either directly or indirectly to human fossil fuel combustion,
fertilizer, and industrial activity. Concentrations are projected to
grow in coming decades, with negative impacts on ocean biota and other
marine resources.
Accidentally consuming small quantities of clean seawater is not
harmful, especially if the seawater is taken along with a larger
quantity of fresh water. However, drinking seawater to maintain
hydration is counterproductive; more water must be excreted to eliminate
the salt (via urine) than the amount of water obtained from the seawater itself. In normal circumstances, it would be considered ill-advised to consume large amounts of unfiltered seawater.
The renal system actively regulates the levels of sodium and chloride in the blood within a very narrow range around 9 g/L (0.9% by mass).
In most open waters concentrations vary somewhat around typical
values of about 3.5%, far higher than the body can tolerate and most
beyond what the kidney can process. A point frequently overlooked in
claims that the kidney can excrete NaCl in Baltic
concentrations of 2% (in arguments to the contrary) is that the gut
cannot absorb water at such concentrations, so that there is no benefit
in drinking such water. The salinity of Baltic surface water, however,
is never 2%. It is 0.9% or less, and thus never higher than that of
bodily fluids. Drinking seawater temporarily increases blood's NaCl
concentration. This signals the kidney
to excrete sodium, but seawater's sodium concentration is above the
kidney's maximum concentrating ability. Eventually the blood's sodium
concentration rises to toxic levels, removing water from cells and
interfering with nerve conduction, ultimately producing fatal seizure and cardiac arrhythmia.
Survival manuals consistently advise against drinking seawater. A summary of 163 life raft
voyages estimated the risk of death at 39% for those who drank
seawater, compared to 3% for those who did not. The effect of seawater
intake on rats confirmed the negative effects of drinking seawater when
dehydrated.
The temptation to drink seawater was greatest for sailors who had
expended their supply of fresh water and were unable to capture enough
rainwater for drinking. This frustration was described famously by a
line from Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:
Water, water, everywhere,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink.
Although humans cannot survive on seawater, some people claim that up
to two cups a day, mixed with fresh water in a 2:3 ratio, produces no
ill effect. The French physician Alain Bombard
survived an ocean crossing in a small Zodiak rubber boat using mainly
raw fish meat, which contains about 40% water (like most living
tissues), as well as small amounts of seawater and other provisions
harvested from the ocean. His findings were challenged, but an
alternative explanation was not given. In his 1948 book The Kon-Tiki Expedition, Thor Heyerdahl reported drinking seawater mixed with fresh in a 2:3 ratio during the 1947 expedition. A few years later, another adventurer, William Willis,
claimed to have drunk two cups of seawater and one cup of fresh per day
for 70 days without ill effect when he lost part of his water supply.
During the 18th century, Richard Russell advocated the medical use of this practice in the UK, and René Quinton
expanded the advocation of this practice to other countries, notably
France, in the 20th century. Currently, it is widely practiced in
Nicaragua and other countries, supposedly taking advantage of the latest
medical discoveries.
Minerals have been extracted from seawater since ancient times. Currently the four most concentrated metals – Na, Mg, Ca and K – are commercially extracted from seawater. During 2015 in the US 63% of magnesium production came from seawater and brines. Bromine is also produced from seawater in China and Japan. Lithium extraction from seawater was tried in the 1970s, but the tests were soon abandoned. The idea of extracting uranium from seawater has been considered at least from the 1960s, but only a few grams of uranium were extracted in Japan in the late 1990s. The main issue is not one of technological feasibility but that current prices on the uranium market for uranium from other sources are about three to five times lower than the lowest price achieved by seawater extraction. Similar issues hamper the use of reprocessed uranium and are often brought forth against nuclear reprocessing and the manufacturing of MOX fuel as economically unviable.
Standard
ASTM International has an international standard for artificial seawater:
ASTM D1141-98 (Original Standard ASTM D1141-52). It is used in many
research testing labs as a reproducible solution for seawater such as
tests on corrosion, oil contamination, and detergency evaluation.
After the Korean War ended in 1953, Mao Zedong launched campaigns to persecute former landlords and merchants, starting the industrialisation program
at the same time. Mao's first goal was a total overhaul of the land
ownership system, and extensive land reforms, including the execution of
more powerful landlords. China's old system of gentrylandlord
ownership of farmland and tenant peasants was replaced with a
distribution system in favor of poor/landless peasants which
significantly reduced economic inequality. Over a million landlords were executed in the Chinese land reform.
In Zhangzhuangcun, in the more thoroughly reformed north of the
country, most "landlords" and "rich peasants" had lost all their land
and often their lives or had fled. The campaign resulted in hundreds of
millions of peasants receiving a plot of land for the first time. As a result, "middling peasants", who now accounted for 90% of the village population, owned 91% of the land. Drug trafficking and opium use were largely wiped out. Foreign investments were seized and outsiders were expelled.
At the same time, political movements and class struggles were launched nationwide. The Anti-Rightist Campaign
of 1957–1958 significantly damaged the democracy in China, during which
at least 550,000 people were persecuted, most of whom were
intellectuals and political dissidents. After the campaign, China entered the de factoone-party state of the Chinese Communist Party. Other major political movements in 1950s included the Suppression of Counter-revolutionaries, the Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns and the Sufan Movement, each of which resulted in a large number of deaths nationwide.
People were required to produce more steel during the Great Leap Forward.
Mao Zedong believed that socialism would eventually triumph over all other ideologies, and following the First Five-Year Plan based on a Soviet-style centrally controlled economy, Mao took on the ambitious project of the Great Leap Forward in 1958, beginning an unprecedented process of collectivisation in rural areas (the People's commune).
Mao urged the use of communally organised iron smelters to increase
steel production, pulling workers off of agricultural labor to the point
that large amounts of crops rotted unharvested. Mao decided to continue
to advocate these smelters despite a visit to a factory steel mill
which proved to him that high quality steel could only be produced in a
factory. He thought that ending the program would dampen peasant
enthusiasm for his political mobilisation, the Great Leap Forward.
The implementation of Maoism thought in China may have been responsible for the deadliest famine in human history, in which 15-55 million people died due to starvation and epidemics. By the end of 1961, the birth rate was nearly cut in half because of malnutrition. In 1958, the Xunhua uprising broke out and in 1959, a major uprising erupted in Tibet, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Tibetans, and the Dalai Lama went into exile afterwards. Mao's failure with the Leap reduced his power in government, whose administrative duties fell to President Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, especially after the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in early 1962. The power struggle between Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi together with Deng Xiaoping began after 1962. The Socialist Education Movement was launched by Mao from 1963 to 1965, as a result.
After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, China's leadership slowed the pace of industrialization. It invested more on in China's coastal regions and focused on the production of consumer goods. After an April 1964 General Staff report concluded that the
concentration of China's industry in its major coastal cities made it
vulnerable to attack by foreign powers, Mao argued for the development
of basic industry and national defense industry in protected locations
in China's interior. This resulted in the building of the Third Front, which involved massive projects including railroad infrastructure, aerospace industry including satellite launch facilities, and steel production industry including Panzhihua Iron and Steel.
Development of the Third Front slowed in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution, but accelerated again after the Sino-Soviet border conflict at Zhenbao Island, which increased the perceived risk of Soviet Invasion. Third Front construction again decreased after United States President Richard Nixon's 1972 visit to China and the resulting rapprochement between the United States and China. When Reform and Opening up began after Mao's death, China began to gradually wind down Third Front projects.
The Third Front distributed physical and human capital around the
country, ultimately decreased regional disparities and created favorable
conditions for later market development.
In 1963, Mao Zedong launched the Socialist Education Movement, which
is regarded as the precursor of the Cultural Revolution. To impose
socialist orthodoxy and rid China of "old elements",
and at the same time serving certain political goals, Mao began the
Cultural Revolution in May 1966, attempting to return to the center of
political power in China. The campaign was far reaching into all aspects
of Chinese life. Estimated death toll ranges from hundreds of thousands
to 20 million. Massacres took place across the country while massive cannibalism also occurred; Red Guards
terrorized the streets as many ordinary citizens were deemed
counter-revolutionaries; education and public transportation came to a
nearly complete halt; daily life involved shouting slogans and reciting
Mao quotations; many prominent political leaders, including Liu Shaoqi
and Deng Xiaoping, were purged and deemed "capitalist roaders". The campaign would not come to a complete end until the death of Mao Zedong and arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976. The second constitution of China, known as the "1975 Constitution", was passed in 1975 during the Cultural Revolution.
On the other hand, by the time of Mao's death, China's unity and sovereignty were assured for the first time in a century, and there was development of infrastructure, industry, healthcare, education (only 20% of the population could read in 1949, compared to 65.5% thirty years later), which raised standard of living for the average Chinese. There is also an argument that campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward – an example of the concept New Democracy
– and the Cultural Revolution were essential in jumpstarting China's
development and "purifying" its culture: even though the consequences of
both these campaigns were economically and humanly disastrous, they
left behind a "clean slate" on which later economic progress could be
built.
Foreign relations
The primary foreign policy was to obtain diplomatic recognition in the face of strong American opposition.
The Bandung Conference in 1955, at which Premier Zhou Enlai led the Chinese delegation, was an important milestone for China's foreign relations. China developed its foreign relations with many newly-independent and soon-to-be independent countries. China's Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence were incorporated into the Ten Principles of Bandung.
In 1964, tensions between Washington and Paris allowed France to open relations.
In 1950, India became one of the first countries to recognize People's Republic of China and establish formal diplomatic relation. However, India had close ties to the USSR and in 1962, a one-month Sino-Indian war and also a one-month Second Sino-Indian war in 1967 broke out along their remote border. Border tensions flared from time to time ever since.
Beijing was very pleased that the success of the Soviet Union in the space race – the original Sputniks
– demonstrated that the international communist movement had caught up
in high technology with the Americans. Mao assumed that the Soviets now
had a military advantage and should step up the Cold War; Khrushchev
knew that the Americans were well ahead in military uses of space.
The strains multiplied, quickly making a dead letter of the 1950
alliance, destroying the socialist camp unity, and affected the world
balance of power. The split started with Nikita KhrushchevDe-Stalinization program. It angered Mao, who admired Stalin.
Moscow and Beijing became worldwide rivals, forcing communist parties
around the world to take sides; many of them split, so that the
pro-Soviet communists were battling the pro-Chinese communists for local
control of the left-wing forces in much of the world.
Internally, the Sino-Soviet split encouraged Mao to plunge China
into the Cultural Revolution, to expunge traces of Soviet ways of
thinking. Mao argued that as far as all-out nuclear war was concerned,
the human race would not be destroyed, and instead a brave new communist
world would arise from the ashes of imperialism. This attitude troubled
Moscow, which had a more realistic view of the utter disasters that
would accompany a nuclear war. Three major issues suddenly became
critical in dividing the two nations: Taiwan, India, and China's Great
Leap Forward. Although Moscow supported Beijing's position that Taiwan
entirely belong to China, it demanded that it be forewarned of any
invasion or serious threat that would bring American intervention.
Beijing refused, and the Chinese bombardment of the island of Quemoy
in August 1958 escalated the tensions. Moscow was cultivating India,
both as a major purchaser of Russian munitions, and a strategically
critical ally. However China was escalating its threats to the northern
fringes of India, especially from Tibet. It was building a militarily
significant road system that would reach disputed areas along the
border. The Russians clearly favored India, and Beijing reacted as a
betrayal. By far the major ideological issue was the Great Leap Forward,
which represented a Chinese rejection of the Soviet form of economic
development. Moscow was deeply resentful, especially since it had spent
heavily to supply China with high-technology – including some nuclear
skills. Moscow withdrew its vitally needed technicians and economic and
military aid. Khrushchev was increasingly crude and intemperate
ridiculing China and Mao Zedong to both communist and international
audiences. Beijing responded through its official propaganda network of
rejecting Moscow's claim to Lenin's heritage. Beijing insisted it was
the true inheritor of the great Leninist tradition. At one major meeting
of communist parties, Khrushchev personally attacked Mao as an ultra
leftist – a left revisionist – and compared him to Stalin for dangerous
egotism. The conflict was now out of control, and was increasingly
fought out in 81 communist parties around the world. The final split
came in July 1963, after 50,000 refugees escaped from Xinjiang in western China to Soviet territory to escape persecution. China ridiculed the Russian incompetence in the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 as adventurism to start with and capitulationism
to wind up on the losing side. Moscow now was increasingly giving
priority to friendly relationships and test ban treaties with the United States and United Kingdom.
Increasingly, Beijing began to consider the Soviet Union, which it viewed as Social imperialism, as the greatest threat it faced, more so than even the leading capitalist power, the United States. In turn, overtures were made between the PRC and the United States, such as in the Ping Pong Diplomacy, Panda Diplomacy and the 1972 Nixon visit to China.
Diplomatic relations established
China established formal relationships with several major western countries and Japan. Typically the other party broke relations it had with the government on Taiwan.
During the Mao era, tens of millions of people died during various political movements as well as during the Great Chinese Famine, while tens of millions of other people were persecuted and permanently crippled. China turned into a de factoone-party state after the Anti-Rightist Campaign starting in 1957, during which democracy and the rule of law were damaged while at least 550,000 intellectuals and political dissidents were persecuted.
Moreover, the Cultural Revolution severely damaged the rule of law as
well as traditional Chinese culture and moral values; massacres were committed across the country and acts of cannibalism were also committed on a massive scale (e.g., Guangxi Massacre).
Higher education was halted during the Cultural Revolution and
scientific research was also seriously affected because many scientists
were persecuted, killed or committed suicide. Some doubt statistics or
accounts given for death tolls or other damages incurred by Mao's
campaigns, attributing the high death toll to natural disasters, famine, or other consequences of political chaos during the rule of Chiang Kai-shek.
Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) also exported
the ideology of socialism and socialist revolution to other parts of the
world, especially to Southeast Asia. Influenced and supported by Mao and the CCP, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge conducted the Cambodian genocide during which 1.5-2 million people were killed in just three years.
In September 1977, Deng first proposed the idea of "Boluan Fanzheng", attempting to dismantle the far-leftMaoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution. In the same year, he resumed the National College Entrance Examination
which was cancelled for ten years due to the Cultural Revolution.
Moreover, within several years, victims of more than 3 million "unjust,
false, wrongful cases" were rehabilitated by Deng and his allies such as
Hu Yaobang, then General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party.
However, on the subject of Mao's legacy, Deng coined the famous phrase
"7 parts good, 3 parts bad" and avoided denouncing Mao altogether. A
major document presented at the September 1979 Fourth Plenum, gave a
"preliminary assessment" of the entire 30-year period of Communist rule.
At the plenum, party Vice ChairmanYe Jianying
declared the Cultural Revolution "an appalling catastrophe" and "the
most severe setback to [the] socialist cause since [1949]".
In June 1981, the Chinese government's condemnation of the Cultural Revolution culminated in the Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China, adopted by the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
This resolution invalidated the Cultural Revolution as a "domestic
havoc", but it stated that "Comrade Mao Zedong was a great Marxist and a
great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist. It is true
that he made gross mistakes during the "Cultural Revolution", but, if we
judge his activities as a whole, his contributions to the Chinese
revolution far outweigh his mistakes. His merits are primary and his
errors secondary".
Today, the public perception of Mao has improved at least
superficially; images of Mao and Mao related objects have become
fashionable, commonly used on novelty items and even as talismans.
As an aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, nationwide public
safety worsened in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and as a result Deng
launched the "Strike Hard" Anti-crime Campaign
in 1983 which lasted until early 1987. More than 1.7 million people
were arrested and received legal punishment during the campaign.
The image of Deng Xiaoping in Shenzhen.Shenzhen, one of the first special economic zones of China and the "Silicon Valley of China". Notable high-tech companies such as Huawei, ZTE and Konka were all founded in Shenzhen in the 1980s.Xiamen, one of the first special economic zones of China.Zhuhai, one of the first special economic zones of China.
At the Third Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee, Deng embarked China on the road to Reform and Opening-up (改革开放 Gaige Kaifang),
policies that began with the de-collectivisation of the countryside,
followed with industrial reforms aimed at decentralizing government
controls in the industrial sector. In 1979, Deng emphasized the goal of "Four Modernizations" and further proposed the idea of "xiaokang", or "moderately prosperous society". Deng laid emphasis on light industry as a stepping stone to the development of heavy industries. The achievements of Lee Kuan Yew to create an economic superpower in Singapore
had a profound effect on the Communist leadership in China. Leaders in
China made a major effort, especially under Deng Xiaoping, to emulate
his policies of economic growth, entrepreneurship, and subtle
suppression of dissent. Over the years, more than 22,000 Chinese
officials were sent to Singapore to study its methods.
Deng championed the idea of Special Economic Zones (SEZ), including Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen,
areas where foreign investment would be allowed to pour in without
strict government restraint and regulations, running on a basically capitalist system. On 31 January 1979, the Shekou Industrial Zone of Shenzhen was founded, becoming the first experimental area in China to "open up". Under the leadership of Yuan Geng, the "Shekou model" of development was gradually formed, embodied in its famous slogan "Time is Money, Efficiency is Life", which then widely spread to other parts of China. In January 1984, Deng Xiaoping made his first inspection tour to Shenzhen and Zhuhai, recognizing the "Shenzhen Speed" of development as well as the success of the special economics zones. With the help of Yuan Geng, the first joint-stockcommercial bank in China – the China Merchants Bank – and the first joint-stock insurance company in China – the Ping An Insurance – were both established in Shekou. In May 1984, fourteen coastal cities in China including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Tianjin were named "Open Coastal Cities (沿海开放城市)".
Supporters of the economic reforms point to the rapid development of the consumer and export sectors of the economy, the creation of an urban middle class that now constitutes 15% of the population, higher living standards (which is shown via dramatic increases in GDP per capita, consumer spending, life expectancy, literacy rate,
and total grain output) and a much wider range of personal rights and
freedoms for average Chinese as evidence of the success of the reforms.
Critics of the economic reforms, both in China and abroad, claim that
the reforms have caused wealth disparity, environmental pollution, rampant corruption, widespread unemployment associated with layoffs at inefficient state-owned enterprises,
and has introduced often unwelcome cultural influences. Consequently,
they believe that China's culture has been corrupted, the poor have been
reduced to a hopeless abject underclass, and that the social stability
is threatened. They are also of the opinion that various political
reforms, such as moves towards popular elections, have been unfairly
nipped in the bud.
After all, the path of modernisation and market-oriented economic
reforms that China started since the early 1980s appears to be
fundamentally unchallenged. Even critics of China's market reforms do
not wish to see a backtrack of these two decades of reforms, but rather
propose corrective measures to offset some of the social issues caused
by existing reforms. On the other hand, in 1979, the Chinese government
instituted a one child policy
to try to control its rapidly increasing population. The controversial
policy resulted in a dramatic decrease in child poverty. The law was
eliminated in 2015.
Zhao Ziyang,
a leading reformist, was assigned by Deng to take charge of the
political reforms since 1986. However, he was forced to leave his
position as the General Secretary of CCP after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, while the majority of the planned political reforms (after 1986) ended drastically.
On
18 August 1980, Deng Xiaoping gave a speech titled "On the Reform of
the Party and State Leadership System (党和国家领导制度改革)" at an enlarged
meeting of the Political Bureau of the CCP Central Committee in Beijing, launching the political reforms in China. He called for the end of bureaucracy, centralisation of power as well
as patriarchy, proposing term limits to the leading positions in China
and advocating the "democratic centralism" as well as the "collective leadership". In addition, Deng proposed to the National People's Congress a systematic revision of China's constitution (the 1978 Constitution), and emphasized that the Constitution must be able to protect the civil rights of Chinese citizens and must reflect the principle of separation of powers; he also described the idea of "collective leadership" and championed the principle of "one man, one vote" among leaders to avoid the dictatorship of the General Secretary of CCP. In December 1982, the fourth Constitution of the People's Republic, known as the "1982 Constitution", was passed by the 5th National People's Congress, embodying Chinese-style constitutionalism with most of its content still being effective as of today.
In the first half of 1986, Deng repeatedly called for the revival
of political reforms, as further economic reforms were hindered by the
original political system while the country had seen an increasing trend
of corruption and economic inequality, aggravated by the many social privileges enjoyed by governmental officials and their relatives. A five-man research unit for China's political reforms was established in September 1986, and the members included Zhao Ziyang, Hu Qili, Tian Jiyun, Bo Yibo and Peng Chong.
Deng's intention of political reforms was to boost the administrative
efficiency, further separate the responsibilities between the Communist
Party and the Government, and to eliminate bureaucracy. Although he also mentioned "rule of law" and "democracy", Deng delimited the reforms within the one-party system and opposed the implementation of Western-style constitutionalism. In October 1987, at the 13th National Congress of CCP chaired by Deng, Zhao Ziyang delivered an important talk drafted by Bao Tong on the political reforms. In his speech titled "Advance Along the Road of Socialism with Chinese characteristics (沿着有中国特色的社会主义道路前进)", Zhao argued that the socialism in China was still in its primary stage
and by taking Deng's speech in 1980 as guidelines, Zhao outlined a
variety of steps to be taken for the political reforms, including
promoting the rule of law and the separation of powers, imposing de-centralisation, and improving the election system. At this Congress, Zhao was elected as the new General Secretary of CCP.
However, after the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre,
many leading reformists including Zhao and Bao were removed from their
posts, and the majority of the planned political reforms (after 1986)
ended drastically. Left-wing conservatives led by Chen Yun, President Li Xiannian and Premier Li Peng took control until Deng Xiaoping's southern tour
in early 1992. On the other hand, many policies due to the political
reforms launched by Deng in the early 1980s remain effective after 1989
(such as the new Constitution, term limits, and the democratic
centralism), even though some of them have been reversed by CCP general
secretary Xi Jinping after 2012.
Although standards of living improved significantly in the 1980s,
Deng's reforms were not without criticism. Hard-liners asserted that
Deng opened China once again to various social evils, and an overall
increase in materialistic thinking, while liberals attacked Deng's
unrelenting stance on wider political reforms. Liberal forces
began gathering in different forms to protest against the Party's
authoritarian leadership. In 1989, the death of Hu Yaobang, a liberal figure, triggered weeks of spontaneous protests in the Tiananmen Square. The government imposed martial law and sent in tanks and soldiers to suppress the demonstrations. Western countries and multilateral organisations briefly suspended their formal ties with China's government under Premier Li Peng's leadership, which was directly responsible for the military curfew and bloody crackdown.
In March 1981, Deng Xiaoping determined that a military exercise was necessary for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), and in September 1981, the North China Military Exercise took place, becoming the largest exercise conducted by the PLA since the founding of the People's Republic.
In 1985, in order to modernise the PLA and to save money, Deng
cut 1 million troops from the military (百万大裁军) and ordered further
modernisation.
On 1 January 1979, the People's Republic of China formally established its diplomatic relations with the United States. In January 1979, Deng Xiaoping visited the United States, which was first official visit by a paramount leader of China to the United States. In the same year, the Chinese Olympic Committee for PRC was recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Under the advice of Lee Kuan Yew,
Deng Xiaoping agreed to further open up the country and stop exporting
communist ideologies and revolutions to other countries like Mao did,
and the decisions significantly improved the relations between China and
many countries, especially those in south-east Asia.
After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, China faced strong backlash from the western countries.
Deng, as a response, devised a new set of diplomatic strategies for
China, which were summarised to be "hide your strength, bide your time,
never take the lead".
In the 1980s and early 1990s, People's Republic of China continued to
establish formal diplomatic relations with a number of countries such as
United Arab Emirates (1984), Qatar (1988), Saudi Arabia (1990), Singapore (1990), Israel (1992) and South Korea (1992).
After the Cultural Revolution, Deng started the Boluan Fanzheng program to correct the Maoist
mistakes, but some of his policies and views were controversial. Deng
insisted on praising that Mao had done "7 good and 3 bad" for the
Chinese people, while attributing numerous disasters in the Cultural
Revolution to Lin Biao and the Gang of Four. In addition, he stated and imposed the "Four Cardinal Principles" as the fundamental principles of the Constitution of China (1982), in order to maintain the one-party state in China for the Communist Party.
Moreover, the role that Deng played in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre was rather controversial. In fact, he also cracked down the Democracy Wall movement as well as the Beijing Spring in early 1980s.
To cope with the population crisis after Mao's era, Deng Xiaoping, together with other senior officials including Chen Yun and Li Xiannian, supported the implementation of the "one-child policy". Some of the extreme measures in practice created many controversies such as human rights violations.
After the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Deng Xiaoping
stepped away from public view and fully retired. Power passed to the
third generation of leadership led by Jiang Zemin, who was hailed as its "core". However, owing to the Tiananmen massacre, the Reforms and Opening-up program
went into stagnation in early 1990s, and Jiang, supported by left-wing
conservatives, was not doing enough to continue the reforms.
In the spring of 1992, Deng made his famous tour to southern China,
which is widely regarded as a critical point in the history of modern
China as it saved China's economic reform as well as the capital market (Shanghai Stock Exchange and Shenzhen Stock Exchange),
and preserved the stability of the society. Jiang eventually sided with
Deng and publicly supported the Reforms and Opening-up program.
Conservative Li Peng was the Premier of China until 1998, when reformist Zhu Rongji succeeded as the new Premier.
Economic growth achieved a sustained high rate by the mid-1990s.
Jiang Zemin's macroeconomic reforms furthered Deng's vision for "Socialism with Chinese characteristics". Jiang laid heavy emphasis on scientific and technological advancement in areas such as space exploration.
At the same time, Jiang's period saw a continued rise in social
corruption in all areas of life. Unemployment skyrocketed as
unprofitable State-owned enterprise
(SOE) were closed to make way for more competitive ventures internally
and abroad. The ill-equipped social welfare system was put on a serious
test. In 2000, Jiang proposed his ideology of "Three Represents", which was ratified by the Chinese Communist Party at the Sixteenth Party Congress in 2002.
At the same time, Premier Zhu Rongji's economic policies held China's economy strong during the Asian Financial Crisis. Economic growth averaged at 8% annually, pushed back by the 1998 Yangtze River Floods. Standards of living improved significantly, although a wide urban-rural wealth gap was created as China saw the reappearance of the middle class.
Wealth disparity between the Eastern coastal regions and the Western
hinterlands continued to widen by the day, prompting government programs
to "develop the West", taking on ambitious projects such as the Qinghai–Tibet railway.
However, rampant corruption continued despite Premier Zhu's
anti-corruption campaign that executed many officials. Corruption alone
is estimated to amount to the equivalent of anywhere from 10 to 20 per
cent of China's GDP.
To sustain the increased electricity consumption, the Three Gorges Dam
was built, attracting supporters and widespread criticism.
Environmental pollution became a very serious problem as Beijing was
frequently hit by sandstorms as a result of desertification.
Jiang Zemin and Bill Clinton exchanged state visits, but Sino-American relations took very sour turns at the end of the decade, especially after the third Taiwan Strait Crisis. On 7 May 1999, during the Kosovo War, U.S. aircraft bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The U.S. government claimed the strike was due to bad intelligence and false target identification. Inside the United States, the Cox Report stated that China had been stealing various top United States military secrets. In 2001, a United States surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet over international waters near Hainan, inciting further outrage with the Chinese public, already dissatisfied with the United States.
On the political agenda, China was once again put on the spotlight for the banning of public Falun Gong activity in 1999. Silent protesters from the spiritual movement sat outside of Zhongnanhai,
asking for dialogue with China's leaders. Jiang saw it as a threat to
the political situation and outlawed the group altogether, while using
mass media propaganda to denounce it as an "evil cult".
The
economy continued to grow in double-digit numbers as the development of
rural areas became the major focus of government policy. In 2010, China
overtook Japan as the world's second-largest economy. The assertion of the Scientific Perspective to create a Socialist Harmonious Society
was the focus of the Hu Jintao - Wen Jiabao administration, as some
Jiang Zemin-era excesses were slowly reversed. In late 2002, the South–North Water Transfer Project began construction.
In gradual steps to consolidate his power, Hu Jintao removed Shanghai Party secretary Chen Liangyu and other potential political opponents amidst the fight against corruption, and the ongoing struggle against once powerful Shanghai clique. In particular, in 2012, the Wang Lijun incident and the scandal of Bo Xilai received widespread attention and media coverage.
The continued economic growth of the country as well as its sporting power status gained China the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics.
However, this also put Hu Jintao's administration under intense
spotlight. While the 2008 Olympics was commonly understood to be a
come-out party for People's Republic of China, in light of the March 2008 Tibet protests, the government received heavy scrutiny. The Olympic torch was met with protest en route. Within the country, these reactions were met with a fervent wave of nationalism with accusations of Western bias against China.
Continued economic growth during the worldwide financial crisis
which started in the United States and hobbled the world economy
increased China's confidence in its model of development and convinced
elites that the global balance of power was shifting.
In the Chinese view, the cause of the crisis was Western countries'
"inappropriate macroeconomic policies" and "unsustainable modes of
development." When Western countries were nearing financial disaster, China created credit for spending on infrastructure. This both helped stabilize the global economy and it also provided an opportunity for China to retool its own infrastructure. China increased its standing as a responsible global actor during the crisis.
The political status and future of Taiwan
remain uncertain, but steps have been taken to improving relations
between the Communist Party and several of Taiwan's parties that hold a
less antagonistic view towards China, notably former rival Kuomintang.
Hu's critics say that his government was overly aggressive in
asserting its new power, overestimated its reach, and raised the ire and
apprehension of various neighbours, including Southeast Asian
countries, India, and Japan. Such policies are also said to be
provocative towards the United States.
Controversies
In the years after Hu Jintao's rise to power, respect of basic human rights in China continued to be a source of concern. Liu Xiaobo, Nobel Peace Prize winner and human rights activist, was arrested and sentenced to jail for 11 years in 2010. Liu Xiaobo, together with others, authored the Charter 08 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Liu Xiaobo passed away in 2017.
In Hu Jintao's time, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government created the "50 Cent Party", attempting to "guide" public opinions online in favor of the Communist Party and the Chinese government.
Xi Jinping and the fifth generation (2012–present)
As Xi Jinping continued to consolidate power domestically, he
gradually abandoned the diplomatic principles ("hide your strength, bide
your time, never take the lead") set by Deng Xiaoping and appeared more as a "strongman" in the global stage. He launched the "One Belt One Road initiative"
to make infrastructure investment in dozens of countries, which
received widespread attention (both receptions and criticism) from
around the world.
Since Xi Jinping succeeded as the leader of China, he tried to
change "China's passivity" into an assertive strategy to defend China's
claims over border and territory disputes such as in the South China Sea and in Taiwan. In 2018, China–United States trade war started and significantly affected the global economy. In May 2020, China–India skirmishes along the border broke out and resulted in casualties.
Since 2012, Xi Jinping together with his allies has rolled back several policies from the Boluan Fanzheng period of Deng Xiaoping and promoted his cult of personality as Mao Zedong
did. For example, in 2018, Xi Jinping eliminated the term limit in
China's Constitution for Chinese President, which challenged some of the
political legacies of Deng Xiaoping and triggered concerns about a
return to a one-man rule similar to Mao.
Domestic human rights violation has deteriorated. In July 2015,
hundreds of Chinese lawyers and human rights activists nationwide were
detained or arrested during the 709 crackdown.Moreover, the Xinjiang re-education camps since 2017, in which over a million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities are being detained, and the massive protests in Hong Kong since 2019 have received widespread attention and extensive media coverage from around the world. The Hong Kong national security law published on 30 June 2020 also received widespread attention and raised considerable concern worldwide over the breach of the "One Country, Two Systems" principle.
After Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, the Communist Party along with the Chinese government have significantly strengthened their internet censorship
and tightened their control over the Chinese internet environment,
blocking Chinese citizens' access to many foreign websites and mobile
apps using the "Great Firewall". At the same time, a large number of "50 Cent Party" members have been recruited to "guide" online narratives around the globe in favor of the Party and the Government. During the massive Hong Kong protests, for instance, Twitter and Facebook claimed to have removed or suspended over 200,000 accounts and pages linked with the Chinese government. As of 2022, the mass surveillance system keeps the whole population under close watch.
Globally, the aggressive "wolf warrior diplomacy" under Xi Jinping Administration has created numerous controversies and backlashes. Controversies also surround the "One Belt One Road initiative" and the China–United States trade war. In 2019–2020, under Xi Jinping, China's handling of the outbreak of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as well as its relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO) was rather controversial. There have been a large number of conspiracy theories and misinformation related to COVID-19, including the origin of the virus.
China has also launched its own disinformation campaign globally over
the issues of the pandemic, of Hong Kong and Uyghurs, and more,
promoting China as a global leader while attacking the United States for
instance.
Furthermore, manipulation of economic data by the Chinese government,
such as publishing inflated GDP figures over the years, is also a major
concern.
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