Forced marriage

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_marriage

 

Criticism about the Azeri forced marriage tradition from early 20th-century satirical periodical Molla Nasraddin. Forced marriage is the theme for the cartoon with the caption – Free love. The image should be read from right to left. The first picture in the right: Should you not want to go voluntarily, I will take you by force. In the next picture: The akhund – cleric says: "Lady, since you don't say anything, it seems that you agree. By the order of God I marry you to this gentleman".

Unequal marriage, a 19th-century painting by Russian artist Pukirev. It depicts an arranged marriage where a young girl is forced to marry against her will.

Forced Marriage Unit campaign

Forced marriage is a marriage in which one or more of the parties is married without their consent or against their will. A marriage can also become a forced marriage even if both parties enter with full consent if one or both are later forced to stay in the marriage against their will.

A forced marriage differs from an arranged marriage, in which both parties presumably consent to the assistance of their parents or a third party such as a matchmaker in finding and choosing a spouse. There is often a continuum of coercion used to compel a marriage, ranging from outright physical violence to subtle psychological pressure.

Though now widely condemned by international opinion, forced marriages still take place in various cultures across the world, particularly in parts of South Asia and Africa. Some scholars object to use of the term "forced marriage" because it invokes the consensual legitimating language of marriage (such as husband/wife) for an experience that is precisely the opposite. A variety of alternative terms have been proposed, including "forced conjugal association" and "conjugal slavery".

The United Nations views forced marriage as a form of human rights abuse, since it violates the principle of the freedom and autonomy of individuals. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that a person's right to choose a spouse and enter freely into marriage is central to their life and dignity, and their equality as a human being. The Roman Catholic Church deems forced marriage grounds for granting an annulment—for a marriage to be valid both parties must give their consent freely. The Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits marriage without right to refusal by both parties and requires a minimum age for marriage to prevent this. Similarly, the International Labour Organization recognizes forced marriage as a form of modern slavery.

In 2009, the Special Court for Sierra Leone's (SCSL) Appeals Chamber found the abduction and confinement of women for "forced marriage" in war to be a new crime against humanity (AFRC decision). The SCSL Trial Chamber in the Charles Taylor decision found that the term 'forced marriage' should be avoided and rather described the practice in war as 'conjugal slavery' (2012).

In 2013, the first United Nations Human Rights Council resolution against child, early, and forced marriages was adopted; the resolution recognizes child, early, and forced marriage as involving violations of human rights which "prevents individuals from living their lives free from all forms of violence and that has adverse consequences on the enjoyment of human rights, such as the right to education, [and] the right to the highest attainable standard of health including sexual and reproductive health", and also states that "the elimination of child, early and forced marriage should be considered in the discussion of the post-2015 development agenda." The elimination of this harmful practice is one of the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5.

Historical context

Further information: Arranged marriage, Love marriage, Coverture, Marital power, and Raptio

Arranged marriages were very common throughout the world until the 18th century. Typically, marriages were arranged by parents, grandparents or other relatives. The actual practices varied by culture, but usually involved the legal transfer of dependency of the woman from her father to the groom. The movement towards emancipation of women in the 19th and 20th centuries led to major changes to marriage laws, especially in regard to property and economic status. By the mid-20th century, many Western countries had enacted legislation establishing legal equality between spouses in family law. The period of 1975–1979 saw a major overhaul of family laws in countries such as Italy, Spain, Austria, West Germany, and Portugal. In 1978, the Council of Europe passed the Resolution (78) 37 on equality of spouses in civil law. Among the last European countries to establish full gender equality in marriage were Switzerland, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, and France and the paternal authority of a man over his family was ended in 1970, it was only in 1985 that a legal reform abolished the stipulation that the husband had the sole power to administer the children's property.

An arranged marriage is not the same as a forced marriage: in the former, the spouse has the possibility to reject the offer; in the latter, they do not. The line between arranged and forced marriage is however often difficult to draw, due to the implied familial and social pressure to accept the marriage and obey one's parents in all respects. The rejection of an offer to marry was sometimes seen as a humiliation of the prospective groom and his family.

In Europe, during the late 18th century and early 19th century, the literary and intellectual movement of romanticism presented new and progressive ideas about love marriage, which started to gain acceptance in society. In the 19th century, marriage practices varied across Europe, but in general, arranged marriages were more common among the upper class. Arranged marriages were the norm in Russia before early 20th century, most of which were endogamous. Child marriages were common historically, but began to be questioned in the 19th and 20th century. Child marriages are often considered to be forced marriages, because children (especially young ones) are not able to make a fully informed choice whether or not to marry, and are often influenced by their families.

In Western countries, during the past decades, the nature of marriage—especially with regard to the importance of marital procreation and the ease of divorce—has changed dramatically, which has led to less social and familial pressure to get married, providing more freedom of choice in regard to choosing a spouse.

Historically, forced marriage was also used to require a captive (slave or prisoner of war) to integrate with the host community, and accept his or her fate. One example is the English blacksmith John R. Jewitt, who spent three years as a captive of the Nootka people on the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1802–1805. He was ordered to marry, because the council of chiefs thought that a wife and family would reconcile him to staying with his captors for life. Jewitt was given a choice between forced marriage for himself and capital punishment for both him and his "father" (a fellow captive). "Reduced to this sad extremity, with death on the one side, and matrimony on the other, I thought proper to choose what appeared to me the least of the two evils" (p154).

Forced marriage was also practiced by authoritarian governments as a way to meet population targets. The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia systematically forced people into marriages, in order to increase the population and continue the revolution.

These marriage ceremonies consisted of no fewer than three couples and could be as large as 160 couples. Generally, the village chief or a senior leader of the community would approach both parties and inform them that they were to be married and the time and place the marriage would occur. Often, the marriage ceremony would be the first time the future spouses would meet. Parents and other family members were not allowed to participate in selecting the spouse or to attend the marriage ceremony. The Khmer Rouge maintained that parental authority was unnecessary because it "w[as] to be everyone's 'mother and father.'"

Raptio is a Latin term referring to the large scale abduction of women, (kidnapping) either for marriage or enslavement (particularly sexual slavery). The practice is surmised to have been common since anthropological antiquity.

In the 21st century, forced marriages have come to attention in European countries, within the context of immigration from cultures in which they are common. The Istanbul Convention prohibits forced marriages (see Article 37).

Timeline of laws against forced marriages

• 1215: Magna Carta banned forced marriage of widows in England.
• 1724: Peter the Great signed decree banning forced marriages in Russia.
• 1734: Sweden banned forced marriages.
• 1804: Napoleonic Code banned forced marriage.
• 1889: New law in Japan required consent of both spouses for marriage, although the consent of women was still likely to be forced until the early 20th century, as women gradually gained access to education and financial independence.
• 1901: Zimbabwe banned forced marriages, but practice continued covertly.
• 1917: Ottoman family law banned forced marriage.
• 1926: Criminal code of Uzbekistan criminalized forced marriages.
• 1928: Albania: The Civil Code of 1928 bans forced marriages and gives married women the right to divorce and equal inheritance.
• 1928: Criminal code of Kazakhstan criminalized forced marriages.
• 1946: North Korea banned forced marriages and selling of women.
• 1950: China banned forced marriages via New Marriage Law
• 1956: Tunisia banned forced marriages.
• 1959: Iraq banned forced marriages.
• 1960: Vietnam banned forced marriage.
• 1962: Mali banned forced marriage.
• 1965: Ivory Coast banned forced marriages.
• 1973: England and Wales: The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 stipulates that a forced marriage is voidable.
• 1978: New communist government banned forced marriages in Afghanistan.
• 1991: Laos banned forced marriages.
• 1994: Kyrgyzystan banned bride kidnapping with up to three years in prison.
• 1998: Sweden made forced marriages a criminal offense.
• 1990: Burkina Faso banned forced marriages, however the law is not well enforced and the practice is widespread.
• 1999: Ghana banned forced marriages.
• 2003: Norway made forced marriage a criminal offense.
• 2004:
  • Benin banned forced marriages.
  • Morocco banned forced marriages.
  • Georgie banned bride kidnapping.
  • Ethiopia banned forced and child marriage with up to 20 years in prison.
• 2005:
  • Saudi Arabia banned forced marriages.
  • Germany made it a criminal offense to force someone to marry.
• 2006:
  • Austria criminalized forced marriage.
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo outlawed forced marriage.
• 2007:
  • Pakistan introduced a law to ban forced marriages with up to three years in jail.
  • Sierra Leone banned forced marriages.
  • Belgium made forced marriage a criminal offense.
  • Togo banned forced marriage.
• 2008:
  • Denmark criminalized forced marriage.
  • Luxembourg criminalized forced marriage.
• 2009: Afghanistan made forced marriage a criminal offense.
• 2010: France introduced forced marriage as an aggravating circumstance of other crimes.
• 2011:
  • Scotland made forced marriage a criminal offense.
  • Australian court ruled against validility of a foreign marriage made under duress.
  • Zambia banned forced marriages.
• 2013:
  • Australian government made it a criminal offense to force someone to marry.
  • Switzerland criminalized forced marriages increasing penalty to up to five years in prison.
  • Hungary criminalized forced marriage.
  • France criminalized forcing someone to marry abroad.
  • Kyrgyzystan increased punishment for bride kidnapping up to 10 years in prison.
• 2014:
  • UK government made it criminal offense to force someone to marry in England, Wales and Scotland.
  • Malta criminalized forced marriage.
• 2015:
  • Canada made forced marriage a criminal offense punishable up to five years in prison.
  • Georgia criminalized forced marriages with up to 400 hours of public labour or up to two years in jail.
• 2016:
  • Gambia banned forced marriages.
  • Cameroon criminalized forced marriages.
  • New Zealand criminalized forced marriages.
• 2018: Morocco made forced marriages a criminal offense.
• 2022: Indonesia banned forces marriages with up to nine years in prison.

Conventions

Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery

The 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery defines "institutions and practices similar to slavery" to include:

c) Any institution or practice whereby:

• (i) A woman, without the right to refuse, is promised or given in marriage on payment of a consideration in money or in kind to her parents, guardian, family or any other person or group; or
• (ii) The husband of a woman, his family, or his clan, has the right to transfer her to another person for value received or otherwise; or
• (iii) A woman on the death of her husband is liable to be inherited by another person;

Istanbul Convention

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention, states:

Article 32 – Civil consequences of forced marriages

Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that marriages concluded under force may be voidable, annulled or dissolved without undue financial or administrative burden placed on the victim.

Article 37 – Forced marriage

1. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or a child to enter into a marriage is criminalised.
2. Parties shall take the necessary legislative or other measures to ensure that the intentional conduct of luring an adult or a child to the territory of a Party or State other than the one she or he resides in with the purpose of forcing this adult or child to enter into a marriage is criminalised.

Types

There are numerous factors which can lead to a culture which accepts and encourages forced marriages. Reasons for performing forced marriages include: strengthening extended family links; controlling unwanted behavior and sexuality; preventing 'unsuitable' relationships; protecting and abiding by cultural values; keeping the wealth in the extended family; dealing with the consequences of pregnancy out of wedlock; considering the contracting of a marriage as the duty of the parents; obtaining a guarantee against poverty; aiding immigration.

Relation to dowry and bride price

Further information: Dowry and Bride price

The traditional customs of dowry and bride price contribute to the practice of forced marriage. A dowry is the property or money that a wife (or wife's family) brings to her husband upon marriage. A bride price is an amount of money or property or wealth paid by the groom (or his family) to the parents of the bride upon marriage.

Marriage by abduction

Main articles: Bride kidnapping and Groom kidnapping

Marriage by abduction, also known as bride kidnapping, is a practice in which a man abducts the woman he wishes to marry. Marriage by abduction has been practiced throughout history around the world and continues to occur in some countries today, particularly in Central Asia, the Caucasus and parts of Africa. A girl or a woman is kidnapped by the groom-to-be, who is often helped by his friends. The victim is often raped by the groom-to-be, for her to lose her virginity, so that the man is able to negotiate a bride price with the village elders to legitimize the marriage. The future bride then has no choice in most circumstances, but to accept: if the bride goes back to her family, she (and her family) will often be ostracized by the community because the community thinks she has lost her virginity, and she is now 'impure'. A different form of marital kidnapping, groom kidnapping, occurs in some areas where payment of a dowry is generally expected.

As debt negotiation

Main article: Money marriage

Money marriage refers to a marriage where a girl, usually, is married off to a man to settle debts owed by her parents.

As dispute resolution

Further information: Vani (custom)

A forced marriage is also often the result of a dispute between families, where the dispute is 'resolved' by giving a female from one family to the other. Vani is a cultural custom found in parts of Pakistan wherein a young girl is forcibly married as part of the punishment for a crime committed by her male relatives. Vani is a form of forced child marriage, and the result of punishment decided by a council of tribal elders named jirga.

Widow inheritance

Main articles: Widow inheritance and Levirate marriage

Widow inheritance, also known as bride inheritance, is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a kinsman of her late husband, often his brother. It is prevalent in certain parts of Africa. The practice of wife inheritance has also been blamed for the spread of HIV/AIDS.

As war spoils

"In conflict areas, women and girls are sometimes forced to marry men on either side of the conflict. This practice has taken place recently in countries such as Syria, Sierra Leone, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Historically, this was common throughout the world, with women from the communities of the war enemy being considered "spoils of war", who could be kidnapped, raped and forced into marriage or sexual slavery". Because women were regarded as property, it seemed reasonable to see them as the chattel of the war enemy, which could now be appropriated and used by the winner.

Shotgun wedding

A shotgun wedding is a form of forced marriage occasioned by an unplanned pregnancy. Some religions and cultures consider it a moral imperative to marry in such a situation, based on reasoning that premarital sex or out-of-wedlock births are sinful, not sanctioned by law, or otherwise stigmatiz Giving birth outside marriage can, in some cultures, trigger extreme reactions from the family or community, including honor killings.

The term "shotgun wedding" is an American colloquialism, though it is also used in other parts of the world. It is based on a hyperbolic scenario in which the pregnant (or sometimes only "deflowered") woman's father resorts to coercion (such as threatening with a shotgun) to ensure that the male partner who caused the pregnancy goes through with it, sometimes even following the man to the altar to prevent his escape. The use of violent coercion to marry was never legal in the United States, although many anecdotal stories and folk songs record instances of such intimidation in the 18th and 19th centuries. Purposes of the wedding include recourse from the man for the act of impregnation and to ensure that the child is raised by both parents as well as to ensure that the woman has material means of support. In some cases, a major objective was the restoring of social honor to the mother.

Shotgun weddings have become less common as the stigma associated with out-of-wedlock births has gradually faded and the number of such births has increased; the increasing availability of birth control, sex education and abortion, as well as material support to unwed mothers, such as Elterngeld, child benefits, parental leave, and free kindergartens have reduced the perceived need for such measures.

Consequences

For victims and society

Early and forced marriages can contribute to girls being placed in a cycle of poverty and powerlessness. Most are likely to experience mistreatment such as violence, abuse and forced sexual relations. This means that women who marry younger in age are more likely to be dominated by their husbands. They also experience poor sexual and reproductive health. Young married girls are more likely to contract HIV and their health could be in jeopardy. Most people who are forced into a marriage lack education and are often illiterate. Young ones tend to drop out of school shortly before they get married.

Forced marriage often means a lifetime of rape, abuse and domestic servitude, and the loss of reproductive rights, financial rights and basic human rights. For women and girls, forced marriage often means forced motherhood.

Escaping a forced marriage

Ending a forced marriage may be extremely difficult in many parts of the world. For instance, in parts of Africa, one of the main obstacles for leaving the marriage is the bride price. Once the bride price has been paid, the girl is seen as belonging to the husband and his family. If she wants to leave, the husband may demand back the bride price that he had paid to the girl's family. The girl's family often cannot or does not want to pay it back. Some countries also have Male Guardianship requirements, prohibiting women from paying themselves out, but in other countries it has happened multiple times.

British citizens escaping forced marriage abroad are forced to pay their repatriation costs or get into debt. This makes escaping a forced marriage harder.

In the United States, Unchained At Last is the only nonprofit organization operating to help people in the U.S. escape forced or arranged marriages by providing free legal and social services.

Honor killing

Further information: Honor killing

Forced marriages are often related to violence, both in regard to violence perpetrated inside the marriage (domestic violence), and in regard to violence inflicted in order to force an unwilling participant to accept the marriage, or to punish a refusal (in extreme cases women and girls who do not accept the marriage are subjected to honor killings).

Legislative consequences

Prime Minister David Cameron accompanied by Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt and Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone visited the Forced Marriage Unit, 8 June 2012 to meet with campaigners Aneeta Prem, Jasvinder Sanghera and Diana Nammi to discuss the new legislation and the range of measures that will be introduced to increase support and protection for victims.

Depending by jurisdiction, a forced marriage may or may not be void or voidable. Victims may be able to seek redress through annulment or divorce. In England and Wales, the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 stipulates that a forced marriage is voidable. In some jurisdictions, people who had coerced the victim into marriage may face criminal charges.

Sharia law

Main articles: Sharia and Islamic marital jurisprudence

See also: Women in Islam and Islam and domestic violence

In Islamic law, consent is needed for a valid marriage. Islamic marriage is concluded (but not excluding the bride) between the guardian (wali) of the bride and bridegroom, not between bridegroom and bride but her permission is still necessary. The guardian (wali) of the bride can only be a free Muslim. The wali has the power to initiate a marriage contract on behalf of a child before puberty, but once the child attains puberty he or she can accept or reject the marriage. The marriage contract can be annulled on grounds of coercion.

However, in the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, a guardian is not needed to make the marriage valid.

By country

Africa

Madagascar

Forced marriage is prevalent in Madagascar. Girls are married off by their families, and often led to believe that if they refuse the marriage they will be "cursed". In some cases, the husband is much older than his bride, and when she becomes a widow, she is discriminated and excluded by society.

Malawi

According to Human Rights Watch, Malawi has "widespread child and forced marriage" and half of the girls marry before 18. The practice of bride price, known also as lobolo, is common in Malawi, and plays a major role in forced marriage. Wife inheritance is also practiced in Malawi. After marriage, wives have very limited rights and freedoms; and general preparation of young girls for marriage consists in describing their role as that of being subordinated to the husband.

Mauritania

Forced marriage in Mauritania takes three principal forms: forced marriage to a cousin (known as maslaha); forced marriage to a rich man for the purpose of financial gain; and forced polygamous marriage to an influential man.

Morocco

In 2018, a law went into effect known as the Hakkaoui law because Bassima Hakkaoui drafted it; among other things, it includes a ban on forced marriage.

Niger

Forced marriage is common in Niger. Niger has the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world; and also the highest total fertility rate. Girls who attempt to leave forced marriages are most often rejected by their families and are often forced to enter prostitution in order to survive. Due to the food crisis, girls are being sold into marriage.

Balkissa Chaibou is known as one of the most famous activists against forced marriage in Niger. Chaibou was 12 when she was informed by her own mother that she was to be married to her cousin, and when she was 16, she took to the courts. With little success, Chaibou was forced to a women's shelter before she was finally able to go home where she learned of her parents changed views on forced marriage, that they were now against it.

Somalia

The "Sexual Intercourse Related Crimes Bill" proposed in August 2020 in Somalia would allow both child marriage and forced marriage. The new bill "risks legitimizing child marriage, among other alarming practices," U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet said. Thousands of people in Somalia circulated a petition against the bill, including representatives of the Mogadishu-based Elman Peace and Human Rights Center. More than 45% of young women in Somalia marry or are "in union" before the age of 18.

South Africa

Main article: Ukuthwala

In South Africa, ukuthwala is the practice of abducting young girls and forcing them into marriage, often with the consent of their parents. The practice occurs mainly in rural parts of South Africa, in particular the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. The girls who are involved in this practice are frequently under-aged, including some as young as eight. The practice received negative publicity, with media reporting in 2009 that more than 20 Eastern Cape girls are forced to drop out of school every month because of ukuthwala.

Tanzania

In Tanzania, the practices of forced marriage and child marriage impacts the human rights and childhood of girls. Families sell their girls to older men for financial benefits, causing pain among young girls. Oftentimes, girls are married off as soon as they hit puberty, which can be as young as seven years old. To the older men, these young brides act as symbols of masculinity and accomplishment. Child brides endure forced sex, causing health risks and growth impediments. Primary education is usually not completed for young girls in forced marriages. Married and pregnant students are often discriminated against, and expelled and excluded from school. The Law of Marriage Act currently does not address issues with guardianship and child marriage. The issue of child marriage establishes a minimum age of 18 for the boys of Tanzania, but no such minimum age is established for girls.

The Gambia

In 2016, during a feast ending the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Gambian President Yahya Jammeh announced that child and forced marriages were banned.

Asia

Compensation marriage

Compensation marriage, known variously as vani, swara and sang chatti, is the traditional practice of forced marriage of women and young girls to resolve tribal feuds in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The practice is illegal in Pakistan, though it continues to be widely practiced in Pakistan's Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province. In Afghanistan, the practice is known as baad.

Afghanistan

Forced marriage is very common in Afghanistan, and sometimes women resort to suicide to escape these marriages. A report by Human Rights Watch found that about 95% of girls and 50% of adult women imprisoned in Afghanistan were in jail on charges of the "moral crimes" of "running away" from home or zina. Obtaining a divorce without the consent of the husband is nearly impossible in Afghanistan, and women attempting a de facto separation risk being imprisoned for "running away". While it is not socially acceptable for women and girls to leave home without permission, "running away" is not defined as a criminal offense in the Afghan Penal Code. However, in 2010 and 2011, the Afghan Supreme Court issued instructions to courts to charge women with "running away" as a crime. This makes it nearly impossible for women to escape forced marriages. The Human Rights Watch report stated that:

According to the UN, as of 2008, 70 to 80 percent of marriages in Afghanistan were forced, taking place without full and free consent or under duress. Another study found that 59 percent of women had experienced forced marriage.

Pakistan

DIG Sindh Police Aftab Pathan had said on the occasion of a consultative workshop organized by FIA Sindh that in 2014, 1,261 cases of abduction of women for forced marriage were registered. Five accused were jailed while the case of 369 accused was pending. There were also 45 cases of abduction of children under the age of ten. There are reports of forced conversion of girls belonging to minorities in Pakistan and then forced marriages to a Muslim man. Forced marriages are the norm in Pakistan.

However, Federal Shariat court had taken strict actions against forced marriages and pressurized provincial governments, after which Balochistan government drafted a bill "The Balochistan Child Marriages Prohibition Act, 2021".

China

Forced marriages have been documented between Chinese men and women from neighboring countries. These women, usually through false promises of work, are lured to China and forced to marry.

Indonesia

Some Indonesian tribes have traditions or local customs that may be considered a forced marriage. For instance, Sasak people who still adhere to old customs believe that if their daughter were going out with a man until late at night, then marriage must be carried out soon after. People in Sumba also practices bride kidnapping.

However, in April 2022, Indonesian legislature passed Law No. 12 of 2022 on Sexual Violence Crimes. The law considers forced marriage a form of sexual violence and outlaw it, with offenders can be sentenced to a maximum imprisonment of 9 years and/or face a maximum fine of Rp200 million. Included as forms of forced marriage are child marriage, forcing rape victims to marry the rapists, and forcing people to marry in the name of local customs.

Iran

Forced marriage remains common for Kurdish girls in Iran and is also one of the major reasons for self-immolation in Iran. In 1998, UNICEF reported high rates of forced marriage in Iranian Kurdistan, including at an early age, but also reported that the practice was declining. Kurdish cultural norms which facilitate the practice of forced and child marriage perpetuate the fear of violence amongst Kurdish girls in Iran.

Nepal

Girls in Nepal are often seen as an economic burden to the family, due to dowry. Parents often compel young girls to marry, because older and more educated men can demand a higher dowry. In 2009, the Nepalese government decided to offer a cash incentive (50,000 Nepali rupees – $641) to men for marrying widowed women. Because widows often lose social status in Nepalese society, this policy was meant to 'solve' their problems. However, many widows and human rights groups protested these regulations, denouncing them as humiliating and as encouraging coerced marriages.

Sri Lanka

During the Sri Lankan Civil War, a 2004 report in the journal Reproductive Health Matters found that forced marriage in Sri Lanka was taking place in the context of the armed conflict, where parents forced teenage girls into marriage in order to ensure that they do not lose their chastity (considered an increased risk due to the conflict) before marriage, which would compromise their chances of finding a husband.

Tajikistan

Although Tajikistan's laws prohibit forced and child marriage, these practices are common throughout the country, and very little is done to curb these customs. Rates of child marriage increased drastically during the civil war, when parents forced their daughters to marry, in order to protect their premarital chastity (that could be lost through rape, which could affect the 'reputation' of the family). Fear of the girl remaining unmarried is another factor, which also encourages parents to arrange early marriages, since it is not socially acceptable for a woman to not have a husband.

Europe

Germany

In 2011, the family ministry of Germany found that 3,000 people were in forced marriages, nearly all from migrant families and most (83.4%) from Muslim families, by querying help bureaus. These figures exceeded the estimates of help organisation Terre des Femmes, which up until then had estimated that about 1,000 migrant women sought help annually. More than half of the women had experienced physical abuse, and 27% were threatened with weapons or received death threats. Of the victims, 30% were 17 years old or younger. 31.8% were from Germany, 26.4% from Asia, 22.2% from Turkey, and 5.6% from Africa. In 2016, the German ministry of the interior found that 1,475 children were in forced marriages. Of those 1,474, 1100 were girls, 664 were from Syria, 157 were Afghans, and 100 were Iraqis.

United Kingdom

Forced Marriage Unit, UK

Forced marriages can be made because of family pride, the wishes of the parents, or social obligation. For example, according to Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, many forced marriages in Britain within the British Pakistani community are aimed at providing British citizenship to a member of the family currently in Pakistan to whom the instigator of the forced marriage feels a sense of duty. In response to the problem of forced marriages among immigrants in the UK, the Forced Marriage (Civil Protection) Act 2007 (applicable in England and Wales, and in Northern Ireland) was passed, which enables the victims of forced marriage to apply for court orders for their protection. Similar legislation was passed in Scotland: the Forced Marriage, etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland), Act 2011 gives courts the power to issue protection orders.

In 2008, it was estimated that about 3,000 forced marriages took place each year.

In June 2012, the British Government, under Prime Minister David Cameron, declared that forced marriage would become a criminal offence in the United Kingdom. In November 2013, it was reported that a case was brought before the High Court in Birmingham by local authority officials, involving a then-14-year-old girl who was taken to Pakistan, forced to marry a man ten years her senior, and, two weeks later, forced to consummate the marriage with threats, resulting in pregnancy; the court case ended with Mr. Justice Holman saying he was powerless to make a "declaration of non-recognition" of the forced marriage, since he was prevented by law from granting a declaration that her marriage was "at its inception, void". Mr. Justice Holman said that the girl, now 17, would have to initiate proceedings herself to have the marriage nullified. British courts can also issue civil orders to prevent forced marriage, and since 2014, refusing to obey such an order is grounds for a prison sentence of up to five years.

The Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014 makes forcing someone to marry (including abroad) a criminal offence. The law came into effect in June 2014 in England and Wales, and in October 2014 in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, the Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Criminal Justice and Support for Victims) Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 criminalises forced marriage (section 16 – Offence of forced marriage).

In July 2014, the United Kingdom hosted its first global Girl Summit; the goal of the Summit was to increase efforts to end child marriage, early, and forced marriage, and female genital mutilation within a generation.

The first conviction for forced marriage in the United Kingdom occurred in June 2015, with the convicted being a man from Cardiff, who was subsequently sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Of the cases recorded by the government's Force Marriage Unit, run jointly between the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Home Office, the majority involved South Asia communities, with 37% linked to Pakistan, 11% linked to Bangladesh, and 7% linked to India. About 30% involved victims below the age of 18.

Sweden

See also: Family honor § Sweden

In July 2014, forced marriages were criminalised to protect individuals who were forced to marry against their will (Swedish: äktenskapstvång). The maximum sentence is four years. No court has given the maximum sentence As of January 2019.

Schools in Skåne in the southern part of Sweden report that they discover that about 25 youth are forced to marry annually due to them being part of a shame society. An investigation by government organisation Ungdomsstyrelsen reported that 70,000 youth perceived they were unfree in their choice of spouse.

In July 2016, an Afghani man in Sweden was sentenced to 4 years in prison for forcing his daughter to marry someone in Afghanistan in the first Swedish conviction. He was also convicted for sexually molesting her Swedish boyfriend, assault, threats, robbery, blackmailing, and false imprisonment.

In January 2019, the maternal uncle and aunt of a 16-year-old girl of an Iraqi family were sentenced to 21 months in jail and to pay €12500 in damages for forced marriage. In December 2016, her family discovered that the girl was dating a boy, and the family decided to marry her off to a cousin without her knowledge. Under the false pretense that her grandmother was mortally ill, the girl, her mother, aunt, and uncle travelled to Iraq where all but the girl had return tickets. In Iraq, the grandmother proved to be in good health, and the girl was to marry her cousin. Despite having no contacts in Iraq, and the mobile phone had been taken from her, she managed to return to Sweden eight months later.

Other

Although forced marriage in Europe is predominately found within the immigrant population, it is also present among some local populations, especially among the Roma communities in Eastern Europe.

The British Forced marriage consultation, published in 2011, found forcing someone to marry to be a distinct criminal offence in Austria, Belgium, Turkey, Denmark, Norway, and Germany. In 2014, it became a distinct criminal offence in England and Wales.

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence defines and criminalizes forced marriage, as well as other forms of violence against women. The Convention came into force on 1 August 2014.

In November 2014, UCL held an event, Forced Marriage: The Real Disgrace, where the award-winning documentary Honor Diaries was shown, and a panel, including Jasvinder Sanghera CBE (Founder of Karma Nirvana), Seema Malhotra MP (Labour Shadow Minister for Women), and Dr Reefat Drabu (former Assistant General Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain), discussed the concept of izzat (honour), recent changes in British law, barriers to tackling forced marriage, and reasons to be hopeful of positive change.

The Americas

Canada

Forced marriage may be practised among some immigrant communities in Canada. Until recently,^[] forced marriage has not received very much attention in Canada. The lack of attention has protected the practice from legal intervention. In 2015, Parliament enacted two new criminal offences to address the issue. Forcing a person to marry against their will is now a criminal offence under the Criminal Code, as is assisting or aiding a child marriage, where one of the participants is under age 16. There has also been the long-standing offence of solemnizing an illegal marriage, which was also modified by the 2015 legislation.

In addition to these criminal offences, the Civil Marriage Act stipulates: "Marriage requires the free and enlightened consent of two persons to be the spouse of each other", as well as setting 16 as the minimum age for marriage.

United States

See also: Sex trafficking in the United States § Forced marriages

According to Nancie L Katz, thousands of Pakistani girls have been flown out of the New York City area to Pakistan to undergo forced marriages; those who resist are threatened and coerced. The AHA Foundation commissioned a study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice to research the incidence of forced marriage in New York City. The results of the study were equivocal. However, AHA Foundation for the past 11 years has operated a helpline that successfully referred numerous individuals seeking help in fleeing or avoiding a forced marriage to qualified service providers and law enforcement. According to the National Center for Victims of Crime Conference, there are "limited laws/policies directly addressing forced marriage", although more general non-specific laws may be used. The organization Unchained at Last, an organization in the United States, assists women escaping forced or arranged marriages with free legal services and other resources. It was founded by Fraidy Reiss.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) has been suspected of trafficking underage girls across state lines, as well as across the US–Canada and US–Mexico borders, for the purpose of sometimes involuntary plural marriage and sexual abuse. The FLDS is suspected by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police of having trafficked more than 30 under-age girls from Canada to the United States between the late 1990s and 2006 to be entered into polygamous marriages. RCMP spokesman Dan Moskaluk said of the FLDS's activities: "In essence, it's human trafficking in connection with illicit sexual activity." According to the Vancouver Sun, it is unclear whether or not Canada's anti-human trafficking statute can be effectively applied against the FLDS's pre-2005 activities, because the statute may not be able to be applied retroactively. An earlier three-year-long investigation by local authorities in British Columbia into allegations of sexual abuse, human trafficking, and forced marriages by the FLDS resulted in no charges, but did result in legislative change.

Oceania

New Zealand

Main article: Forced marriage in New Zealand

Forced divorce

One internationally publicized and criticized instance of forced divorce occurred in Saudi Arabia in July 2005. Justice Ibrahim Al-Farraj of the first-instance court in Al-Jouf Province annulled in absentia the nearly three-year-old marriage of Mansour al-Timani and Fatima `Azzaz in response to a complaint from `Azzaz's half-brothers that her husband's tribe had insufficient social status compared to hers; the brothers also said that al-Timani had misrepresented his background. Her half-brothers filed the lawsuit with power of attorney obtained from Fatima's father, who was her male legal guardian while she was unmarried (and who later died). Al-Timani was not served the divorce papers until nine months later, in February, 2006.

`Azzaz gave birth to their son in detention the couple's forced separation. `Azzaz spent three months living with her mother and the couple's two children before sneaking off to Jeddah with Al-Timani, where they were arrested for living together as an unmarried couple. `Azzaz was detained in Dammam Public Prison with both their children and then another Dammam facility described as an orphanage with her son because she refused to return to her mother's family under her half-brothers' guardianship. She feared being married off to a "more suitable" man, As he was afraid they would be mistreated if sent to live with the brothers' family, Al-Timani later gained custody of their daughter, but was repeatedly detained and warned not to talk to the media. He said the first instance court had not asked the couple for its side of the story, that sharia law did not use tribal affiliation as a requirement for marriage, and that the brothers brought the case as part of an inheritance dispute. The Riyadh Court of Appeals (known as a Court of Cassation) upheld the annulment in January, 2007. Authorities stopped letting the couple see each other after she gave an interview to Arab News in November, 2006.

After King Salman asked the Supreme Court of Saudi Arabia, which did not exist at the time of the initial decision, to review the case, lawyers submitted arguments about al-Timani's tribal background. The Supreme Court ruled in January 2010 against the annullment, allowing the couple to reunite.

History of the People's Republic of China (1976–1989)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China_(1976%E2%80%931989)

 

The time period in China from the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 until the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre is often known as Dengist China. In September 1976, after Chairman Mao Zedong's death, the People's Republic of China was left with no central authority figure, either symbolically or administratively. The Gang of Four was purged, but new Chairman Hua Guofeng insisted on continuing Maoist policies. After a bloodless power struggle, Deng Xiaoping came to the helm to reform the Chinese economy and government institutions in their entirety. Deng, however, was conservative with regard to wide-ranging political reform, and along with the combination of unforeseen problems that resulted from the economic reform policies, the country underwent another political crisis, culminating in the crackdown of massive pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

Power struggles after Mao's death

Hua Guofeng and the return of Deng Xiaoping (1976–1978)

Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party, died on September 9, 1976. The Communist Party, in the wake of his death, officially urged "[the carrying out of] Chairman Mao's revolutionary line and policies in foreign affairs resolutely." At the time of his death, China was in a political and economic quagmire. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and subsequent factional fighting had left the country much poorer, weaker, and isolated than it had been in 1965. Scores of capable party officials, bureaucrats, intellectuals, and professionals were languishing in prison or laboring in factories, mines, and fields. Many schools had been closed, and an entire generation of young people were unable to obtain an education, coming of age as a "lost generation", finding it harder to be employed and integrate into social life.

Chinese people mourned him, but not in the more emotional way they had mourned the late Premier Zhou Enlai. Meanwhile, Mao's designated successor Hua Guofeng had assumed the post of party chairman. Hua was unaware that the Gang of Four were plotting his downfall until Defense Minister Ye Jianying and several generals warned him about this, saying that he'd better do something before it was too late. Hua was a bit surprised, but he agreed, and on the 6th or 7 October the Gang were arrested. None of them put up any resistance, although one of Jiang Qing's housekeepers reportedly spat at her as she was being taken away.

The demise and arrest of the Gang of Four prompted nationwide celebrations, including parades in the streets of Beijing and other major cities. The Gang of Four symbolized everything that went wrong during the ten years of chaos of the Cultural Revolution, and their demise, the general populace had expected, would mark the beginning of a new era.

In late 1976 and early 1977, the state propaganda machine was working overtime to promote Hua Guofeng. He was billed as being Mao's personally appointed successor (with paintings produced showing him receiving Mao's final blessings) and as having saved China from the Gang of Four. Hua tried to fill his mentor's shoes by, among other things, sporting an identical haircut. He stated that "in order to honor Chairman Mao, we should govern in accordance with his wishes." and proclaimed the "Two Whatevers", meaning that "Whatever Chairman Mao said, we will say, and whatever Chairman Mao did, we will do." Throughout 1977–78, policy efforts centered around economic recovery. Schools began to reopen, and the more extreme aspects of Mao's personality cult were toned down. It was now being said that he was a great leader and thinker, but not an infallible god and that the revolution had been the work of many people and not just him. The Cultural Revolution was said to have been a well-meaning idea that got out of control, and Hua declared that a second Cultural Revolution might be necessary in a few years. Beginning in April 1978, newspapers stopped printing Mao's quotations in bold text. Nuclear weapons testing, missile, and space launches continued apace.

Hua's reliance on Maoist orthodoxy led him to continue a cult of personality surrounding his own image alongside Mao's, equating his presence to that of Mao, but pinpointing the focus at a nominally separate era. To provide for distinct identity, Hua attempted his own change of the Chinese written language by further simplifying characters. A small number of these Hua-era simplifications continue to be in use informally, as there was no formal sanction of their legitimacy after Hua left office. In 1978, the National Anthem was changed to reflect pure communist ideology rather than revolutionary drive, inserting lyrics exclusively dealing with Mao Zedong Thought and building an ideal socialist nation, as opposed to the wartime patriotism reflected by the original lyrics. However, Hua faced difficulty legitimizing his power due to continuing factional struggle and the fact that his rule was not legitimized by the NPC until his prior promotion to party chairman was legally ratified in 1977.

Hua's unimaginative policies received relatively little support, and he was regarded as an unremarkable leader, lacking political support within the Politburo. At the time Deng Xiaoping was still living in seclusion because of "political mistakes," and the issue of his return to politics was yet again put on the table. Deng had insisted on supporting all of Hua's policies in one of the letters the two men exchanged, to which Hua responded that Deng had "made mistakes, and rightfully must continue to receive criticism." The arrest of the Gang of Four, Hua said, did not justify that Deng's "revisionist" ideas should resurface. During a Politburo meeting in March 1977, many members voiced support for Deng's return, to no avail. In a letter to Hua dated April 10, Deng Xiaoping wrote, "I am fully behind Chairman Hua's policies and agenda for the country." This letter would be openly discussed in the Politburo, and in July 1977, Deng Xiaoping was restored in his former posts. In August, the 11th Party Congress was held, which again rehabilitated Deng and confirmed his election as the new Committee Vice-chairman, and the Central Military Commission's vice-chairman, Deng guaranteed the elevation of his supporters, Hu Yaobang, Zhao Ziyang and Wan Li.

On 5 March 1978, a new constitution was adopted. This was the third one used by the PRC, after the original 1954 document, which was scarcely implemented (particularly after the Anti-Rightist Movement) and referred to by Mao as being "[in many parts] obsolete" by 1958, and the short-lived 1975 "Gang of Four" constitution. The new one was patterned after the 1954 constitution and attempted to restore some rule of law and mechanisms for economic planning. In regards to the latter, Hua Guofeng wanted a return to the Soviet-style economics of the mid-1950s. He drew up a ten-year plan which emphasized heavy industry, energy, and capital construction.

In regards to foreign policy, Hua made his first trip abroad in May 1978. This was a visit to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where he was given a warm reception and joined North Korean leader Kim Il Sung in calling for the United States to withdraw its troops from the Republic of Korea. In September, Deng Xiaoping also visited the North Korean capital Pyongyang. He was unimpressed with Kim Il-sung's extensive personality cult, having seen enough of this sort of thing in China with Mao and also took umbrage at being expected to lay a wreath in front of the giant gold-plated statue of Kim in Pyongyang. Deng reportedly expressed his displeasure at how the aid money given to North Korea by China over the years was being spent on statues and monuments honoring Kim. He suggested that they might be better served using that aid to improve their people's living standards. The North Koreans appeared to have gotten the message, for the gold plating was quietly scraped off the Kim statue in Pyongyang afterwards.

Trying to crawl out of its international isolation, China mended fences with President of Yugoslavia Josip Tito, who visited Beijing in May 1977 after having been long denounced as a "revisionist" and a traitor. In October 1978, Deng Xiaoping visited Japan and concluded a peace treaty with that country's prime minister Takeo Fukuda, officially ending the state of war that had existed between the two countries since the 1930s. While Japan and China had in fact opened diplomatic relations in 1972, the peace treaty took nearly six years to negotiate, one major sticking point being Chinese insistence on Tokyo including a clause that denounced Soviet "hegemony" in Asia.

There was little sign of improved relations with the Soviet Union, and Deng Xiaoping declared the 1950 Sino-Soviet friendship treaty to be null and void. Relations with Vietnam suddenly turned hostile in 1979. These two countries had once been allies, but in 1972 Mao Zedong told Vietnamese premier Pham Van Dong that they should stop expecting Chinese aid and that the old historical feud between the two countries would erupt again. China also gave its support to the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that took power in Cambodia during 1975, provoking the hostility of the Soviet-backed Vietnamese government. In January 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and drove the Khmer Rouge from power. During his U.S. visit, Deng Xiaoping remarked that Vietnam would have to "be taught a lesson". In February, a full-scale Chinese attack was launched on the Vietnamese border. Although China withdrew after three weeks and declared its objectives met, the war had not gone well and demonstrated the country's weakness. The PLA lost over 20,000 men due to weapons and equipment that were outdated, poorly made, and in short supply (a side effect of the disruption caused by the Cultural Revolution), maps that were decades old, the continued use of human-wave tactics from the Korean War, and the fact that the army had no system of ranks. Even worse was the fact that the Chinese had not even engaged Vietnam's regular army (which was in Cambodia), but instead fought militia and home guard units. On the other hand, it was a political victory since the Soviet Union had failed to come to its ally's aid and contented itself with verbal protests. In reference to Moscow's inaction, Deng Xiaoping reiterated Mao Zedong's saying that "You can't know how the tiger will react until you poke its backside."

China finally fully established diplomatic relations with the United States on January 1, 1979. This had been planned since President Nixon's visit in February 1972, but was delayed by the Watergate scandal and the US withdrawal from Vietnam. The US agreed to recognize the PRC as China's sole government. Diplomatic relations with Taiwan were terminated, but unofficial and commercial ties remained. Deng Xiaoping visited the U.S. in February and met with President Carter. Meanwhile, Hua Guofeng headed to Europe in May. He first stopped in France, reportedly because it was the first western nation to recognize the PRC, and made a fierce attack on Soviet expansionism and hegemony. Later, he visited West Germany, asking all "peace-loving states" to "demand a stop to aggression and hegemonism", thought to be a veiled reference to the Soviet Union, and expressed his support for German reunification, a move criticized by the East German news. He displayed some restraint, however, and decided against making what would have been a highly provocative visit to the Berlin Wall.

China's establishment of diplomatic ties with the United States brought about a mixed reaction from the communist world similar to Richard Nixon's 1972 visit. While the Soviets could not condemn this, they were deeply worried about Sino-US collusion against them. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu hailed it as "an outstanding event in the service of peace", while Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito welcomed the thaw as "a contribution of peaceful coexistence between nations". North Korea also congratulated "our brotherly neighbor for ending long-hostile relations and establishing diplomatic ties with the US" while Cuba and Albania openly denounced Beijing as traitors to the cause of world socialism. Sino-Albanian relations would deteriorate over the course of the next six years, ending in the termination of diplomatic correspondence between the two countries in 1978.

Deng becomes Paramount Leader

Although Hua continued in his leadership role, his power began waning the moment Deng Xiaoping returned to Beijing. The two continued to co-rule for a time, but the latter was rapidly gaining power. With Mao and Zhou Enlai gone, there was no one else in China with his experience and leadership abilities and his ideas seemed fresh and appealing as opposed to Hua's stale promotion of Mao Zedong Thought. Hua was quickly seen as being nothing more than a vacuous party hack with no ideas of his own. This was reflected in the 1978 constitution, which still contained references to proletarian internationalism and continuous revolution. As Vice-Premier in charge of Technology and Education, Deng restored the University Entrance Examinations in 1977, opening the doors of post-secondary education to nearly a generation of youth who lacked this opportunity because of the Cultural Revolution, with 680,000 passing the first entrance exams, though some remained cut off from education. He elevated the social status of intellectuals from the lows of the Cultural Revolution to becoming an "integral part of socialist construction."

Deng chaired the (11th) National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, China's de jure legislative body, and stressed the importance of the Four Modernizations, a series of advances in various fields aimed at strengthening the country by adapting to modern standards. By then Deng was poised to make a final political move to grab power. On May 11, 1978, the Guangming Daily newspaper published an article, inspected by Deng's supporter Hu Yaobang, titled "Practice sets the only Standard to Examine Truth". The article stressed the importance of uniting theory and practice, denounced the dogmatic euphoria of the Mao era, and was, in fact, an outright criticism on Hua's Two Whatevers policy. This article was reprinted in many newspapers across the country, and echoed widespread support amongst party organs and the general populace. Discussions sprung up nationwide in government and military organizations, and Deng's novel and pragmatic stance gained increasing popularity.

Despite the freshness of Deng's ideas, in truth his ideas were not really new, but merely an effort to restore China to the situation of the mid-1960s, right before the Cultural Revolution, and in any case, the Politburo continued to be a gerontocracy dominated by men born in the opening years of the 20th century, all of whom had participated in the Long March and Chinese civil war. The 81 year old Ye Jianying was forced to step down as defense minister in 1978 for health reasons and even with the death of several party elders during the 1970s, the average age of the Central Committee was still around 70.

In April, Deng began the political rehabilitation of those who were formerly labeled "rightists" and counter-revolutionaries, a campaign led by Hu Yaobang that pardoned the wrongly accused, restoring the reputation of many party elders and intellectuals who were purged during the Cultural Revolution and other campaigns going all the way back to the Anti-Rightist Movement in 1957. Prominent politically disgraced people including Peng Dehuai, Zhang Wentian, He Long and Tao Zhu were given belated rank-appropriate funerals at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery. Liu Shaoqi was given a large state funeral in May 1980, when the country was asked to mourn the former president eleven years after his death. During this time, the CCP also established rules for an orderly succession of state and government leaders. Deng Xiaoping proposed mandatory retirement ages despite some protests from party elders and also guidelines were put in place that CCP members who lost their posts or were removed from office could not be jailed or subjected to physical harm. In this regard, Deng borrowed much from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev when the latter had ended Stalin's terror state and established the practice of using more peaceful methods to dispose of his political rivals. To that end, CCP figures such as Hua Guofeng were merely demoted to unimportant posts, but otherwise retained their party membership and state pension.

In 1979, the CCP made a pledge to the nation that it would never again embark on mass campaigns like the Cultural Revolution.

Meanwhile, the Gang of Four went on trial in 1980 on charges of counterrevolution, attempting to overthrow the state, and plotting to assassinate Mao. Only Jiang Qing tried to defend herself, repeatedly interrupting the proceedings with hysterical outbursts and sobbing. She argued that she had never done anything more than follow Mao's orders, saying "I was his dog. Whoever he told me to bite, I bit." and daring the authorities to cut off her head. The others were given life in prison, but Jiang was sentenced to death. However, Mao's memory still lingered strong, and her sentence was later commuted to life. She hanged herself in a Beijing hospital in 1991 while undergoing treatment for throat cancer.

The power transition from Hua to Deng was confirmed in December 1978, at the Third Plenum of the Central Committee of the Eleventh National Party Congress, a turning point in China's history. The course was laid for the party to move the world's most populous nation toward the ambitious targets of the Four Modernizations.

After a decade of turmoil brought about by the Cultural Revolution, the new direction set at this meeting was toward economic development and away from class struggle. The plenum endorsed major changes in the political, economic, and social system. Hua renounced his "Two Whatevers" and offered a full self-criticism. Replacing the old focus of class struggles was the new policy focused on economic construction.

It also instituted sweeping personnel changes, culminating in the elevation of two key supporters of Deng Xiaoping and the reform program, Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang. In contrast to previous leadership changes, Hua would resign his posts one by one, although he remained on the Politburo until 1982. Hua was replaced by Zhao Ziyang as Premier of the State Council in September 1980, and by Hu Yaobang as Party General Secretary of the party in September 1982. The post of chairman was abolished to ensure that no one person could ever dominate the party as Mao Zedong had done. Until the mid-1990s, Deng Xiaoping was China's de facto Paramount leader, retaining only the official title of Chairman of the Central Military Commission, but not the chief offices of the State, government, or the Party. Meanwhile, Li Xiannian was appointed to the post of Chinese President, vacant since 1968. Li was a believer in central planning, and his appointment to this largely ceremonial position was a compromise move to appease conservative elements in the party.

With changes to the Chinese Constitution in 1982, the President was conceived of as a "figurehead" head of state, with actual power resting in the hands of the Premier of the People's Republic of China and the General Secretary of the Party, who were meant to be two separate people. In the original plan, the Party would develop policy, and the state would execute it. Deng's intentions were to have power divided, thus preventing a cult of personality from forming as it did in the case of Mao. The new emphasis on procedure, however, seemed largely undermined by Deng himself, who assumed none of the official titles on the grounds that they should go to younger men.

After 1979, the Chinese leadership moved toward more pragmatic policies in almost all fields. The party encouraged artists, writers and journalists to adopt more critical approaches, although open attacks on party authority were not permitted. The Chinese government repudiated the Cultural Revolution. A major document presented at the September 1979 Fourth Plenum of the Eleventh National Party Congress Central Committee, gave a "preliminary assessment" of the entire 30-year period of Communist rule. At the plenum, party Vice Chairman Ye Jianying declared the Cultural Revolution "an appalling catastrophe" and "the most severe setback to [the] socialist cause since [1949]." 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 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." As political ideology was downgraded, numerous statues of Mao were removed around the country and portraits of Marx, Engels, and Lenin, were taken down from Tiananmen Square. Joseph's Stalin's portrait remained until 1989.

In late 1978, after an official evaluation of the 1976 Tiananmen Incident as a "completely a revolutionary event", many emboldened people began staging rallies and protests in Beijing. They erected a large number of wall posters (the so-called "Democracy Wall") criticizing the Cultural Revolution, Mao Zedong, the Gang of Four, and Hua Guofeng. All these were tolerated because of being more-or-less in line with official positions, but some began calling for democracy and open elections. One candidate for a local position even declared his disbelief in communism. This was more than the authorities were willing to tolerate and they quickly stressed that the party would continue to hold power and guide the nation towards socialism. While greater freedom of thought would be allowed, loyalty to the party and socialist thought would still be required. Certain critics were arrested, including Wei Jingsheng, who put up a poster about a "fifth modernization", i.e. democracy. Nonetheless, writers began criticizing corruption, privileges enjoyed by party officials, and unemployment, all things that supposedly could not exist under socialism. It was now officially admitted that 20 million Chinese were unemployed and 100 million did not have enough food to eat.

Boluan Fanzheng and economic reform

A new page in diplomacy

Deng Xiaoping with US President Jimmy Carter, January 1979

Relations with the West improved markedly during Deng's term, although the People's Republic of China had gained a certain degree of recognition from the West in the late Mao era. In 1968, the government of Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau initiated negotiations with the People's Republic of China that led to the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Canada on October 13, 1970. Canada and China established resident diplomatic missions in 1971, and it led to a series of diplomatic successes in the west. The People's Republic of China joined the United Nations in 1971, replacing the international legitimacy previously held by the Kuomintang Government of the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. In February 1972, US President Richard Nixon made an unprecedented eight-day visit to the People's Republic of China and met with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai. On February 22, 1973, the United States and the PRC agreed to establish liaison offices. David K. E. Bruce became the first U.S. liaison to Beijing on May 14, 1973, and Huang Zhen arrived in Washington as China's liaison on May 30. Full diplomatic relations were established in 1979.

Deng traveled abroad and had a series of amicable meetings with western leaders, traveling to the United States in 1979 to meet President Jimmy Carter at the White House. Carter finally recognized the People's Republic, which had replaced the Taiwan-based Republic of China as the sole Chinese government recognized by the UN Security Council in 1971. In response to Carter's recognition of the PRC, the United States Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act in order to maintain unofficial diplomatic, cultural and economic relations with the governing authorities on Taiwan. One of Deng's achievements was the agreement signed by the United Kingdom and the PRC on December 19, 1984, under which Hong Kong was to be transferred to the PRC in 1997. With the 99-year lease on the New Territories coming to an end, Deng agreed that the PRC would not interfere with Hong Kong's capitalist system and would allow the locals a high degree of autonomy for at least 50 years. This "one country, two systems" approach has been touted by the PRC government as a potential framework within which Taiwan could be reunited with the mainland. Deng, however, did not improve relations with the Soviet Union. He continued to adhere to the Maoist line of the Sino-Soviet Split era, which stated that the Soviet Union was a superpower equally as "hegemonist" as the United States, yet even more threatening to the PRC because of its closer proximity. Deng brought China conflict with Vietnam in 1979, following the Vietnam War, under this subject of border disputes, and fought in the Sino-Vietnamese War.

"Red China" was a frequent appellation for the PRC between the Communist ascendancy and the mid-late 1970s with the rapprochement between China and the West (generally within the capitalist/Western bloc). The term was first used, before the establishment of the PRC, in the late 1940s during the Chinese Civil War, to describe the Communist side to differentiate from Western bloc countries that recognized the Republic of China (ROC) as "Free China" or "Nationalist China", and saw great prevalence in the 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. Starting around 1972–1973, following Richard Nixon's visit to China and the beginning of rapprochment and mounting likelihood of diplomatic normalization, the term began to drop in usage significantly. By the early 1980s, it was increasingly rare in mainstream journalism and publications in the Western countries. Since the early 1980s, however, the term remains in use in some circles, particularly right-wing or conservative political discourse and publications; nonetheless, some, including some conservatives, feel the term is not applicable to China in the contemporary period as the country is no longer a "monolithic political entity whose subjects march in lockstep with an all-powerful Communist regime". As of the early 2000s, "Red China" still retains some use among more right-wing writers, especially when framing China as an economic or political competitor or opponent (e.g. the "China threat" theory). "Red China" is sometimes used in more mainstream/less overtly partisan journalism for metaphoric or comparative use (e.g. "Red China or Green", New York Times article title).

Sino-Vietnamese War of 1979

Main article: Sino-Vietnamese War

China's relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam began to deteriorate seriously in the mid-1970s. After Vietnam joined the Soviet-dominated Council for Mutual Economic Cooperation (Comecon) and signed the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with the Soviet Union in 1978, China branded Vietnam the "Cuba of the East" and called the treaty a military alliance. Incidents along the Sino-Vietnamese border increased in frequency and violence. In December 1978 Vietnam invaded Cambodia, quickly ousted the Pol Pot regime, and overran the country.

China's twenty-nine-day incursion into Vietnam in February 1979 was a response to what China considered to be provocations on Hanoi's part. These included Vietnamese intimacy with the Soviet Union, mistreatment of ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam, hegemonistic "imperial dreams" in Southeast Asia, and spurning of Beijing's attempt to repatriate Chinese residents of Vietnam to China. In February 1979 China attacked along virtually the entire Sino-Vietnamese border in a brief, limited campaign that involved ground forces only. The Chinese attack came at dawn on the morning of 17 February 1979, and employed infantry, armor, and artillery. Air power was not employed then or at any time during the war. Within a day, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) had advanced some eight kilometers into Vietnam along a broad front. It then slowed and nearly stalled because of heavy Vietnamese resistance and difficulties within the Chinese supply system. On February 21, the advance resumed against Cao Bang in the far north and against the all-important regional hub of Lang Son. Chinese troops entered Cao Bang on February 27, but the city was not secured completely until March 2. Lang Son fell two days later. On March 5, the Chinese, saying Vietnam had been sufficiently chastised, announced that the campaign was over. Beijing declared its "lesson" finished and the PLA withdrawal was completed on March 16.

Hanoi's post-incursion depiction of the border war was that Beijing had sustained a military setback if not an outright defeat. Most observers doubted that China would risk another war with Vietnam in the near future. Gerald Segal, in his 1985 book Defending China, concluded that China's 1979 war against Vietnam was a complete failure: "China failed to force a Vietnamese withdrawal from [Cambodia], failed to end border clashes, failed to cast doubt on the strength of the Soviet power, failed to dispel the image of China as a paper tiger, and failed to draw the United States into an anti-Soviet coalition." Nevertheless, Bruce Elleman argued that "one of the primary diplomatic goals behind China's attack was to expose Soviet assurances of military support to Vietnam as a fraud. Seen in this light, Beijing's policy was actually a diplomatic success, since Moscow did not actively intervene, thus showing the practical limitations of the Soviet-Vietnamese military pact. ... China achieved a strategic victory by minimizing the future possibility of a two-front war against the USSR and Vietnam." After the war both China and Vietnam reorganized their border defenses. In 1986, China deployed twenty-five to twenty-eight divisions and Vietnam thirty-two divisions along their common border.

The 1979 attack confirmed Hanoi's perception of China as a threat. The PAVN high command henceforth had to assume, for planning purposes, that the Chinese might come again and might not halt in the foothills but might drive on to Hanoi. The border war strengthened Soviet-Vietnamese relations. The Soviet military role in Vietnam increased during the 1980s as the Soviets provided arms to Vietnam; moreover, Soviet ships enjoyed access to the harbors at Danang and Cam Ranh Bay, and Soviet reconnaissance aircraft operated out of Vietnamese airfields. The Vietnamese responded to the Chinese campaign by turning the districts along the China border into "iron fortresses" manned by well-equipped and well-trained paramilitary troops. In all, an estimated 600,000 troops were assigned to counter Chinese operations and to stand ready for another Chinese invasion. The precise dimensions of the frontier operations were difficult to determine, but its monetary cost to Vietnam was considerable.

By 1987, China had stationed nine armies (approximately 400,000 troops) in the Sino-Vietnamese border region, including one along the coast. It had also increased its landing craft fleet and was periodically staging amphibious landing exercises off Hainan Island, across from Vietnam, thereby demonstrating that a future attack might come from the sea. Low-level conflict continued along the Sino-Vietnamese border as each side conducted artillery shelling and probed to gain high spots in the mountainous border terrain. Border incidents increased in intensity during the rainy season, when Beijing attempted to ease Vietnamese pressure against Cambodian resistance fighters.

Since the early 1980s, China pursued what some observers described as a semi-secret campaign against Vietnam that was more than a series of border incidents and less than a limited small-scale war. The Vietnamese called it a "multifaceted war of sabotage." Hanoi officials have described the assaults as comprising steady harassment by artillery fire, intrusions on land by infantry patrols, naval intrusions, and mine planting both at sea and in the riverways. Chinese clandestine activity (the "sabotage" aspect) for the most part was directed against the ethnic minorities of the border region. According to the Hanoi press, teams of Chinese agents systematically sabotaged mountain agricultural production centers as well as lowland port, transportation, and communication facilities. Psychological warfare operations were an integral part of the campaign, as was what the Vietnamese called "economic warfare"—encouragement of Vietnamese villagers along the border to engage in smuggling, currency speculation, and hoarding of goods in short supply.

In recent years, both countries have pursued good relations and downplayed the years of hostility from 1979 to 1988. As a result, the Sino-Vietnamese conflict is generally not on the list of topics that may be openly mentioned in print or the media in present-day China, although veterans of the war are allowed to discuss their experiences on the Internet and correspond with their Vietnamese counterparts. On the other hand, a group of Chinese college students in 2007 discussed online plans for an invasion and conquest of Vietnam. This provoked considerable alarm in Hanoi, but the Chinese government stated that these were in no way officially sanctioned.

Foreign Policy from 1980-1989

After Ronald Reagan was elected US president in 1980, he gave a speech criticizing the Beijing government and proposing that diplomatic ties with Taiwan be restored. This aroused panic in China, and Reagan was convinced by his advisors to retract these statements. Vice President George H. W. Bush (who had been liaison officer to China from 1972 to 1978) then apologized for the president's remarks.

Despite this, Sino-US relations took a downward turn in 1981–1982. The Chinese took umbrage at Reagan's vocal anti-communism, even though it was mainly directed at the Soviet Union, as well as continued US arms sales to Taiwan. In December 1981, Premier Zhao Ziyang visited North Korea where he attacked the US troop presence on the Korean peninsula and stated that it was responsible for the continued division of the country. There were various minor squabbles such as the granting of asylum to a prominent tennis player, Hu Na, who feared persecution for refusing to join the CCP. China cancelled several educational and cultural exchange programs with the United States as a result of this episode. The US invasion of Grenada and stationing of missiles in Western Europe met with Chinese disapproval, and the two countries took opposing sides on the Falkland Islands conflict, the Palestinian question, and the presence of American troops in South Korea. By 1984, Sino-US relations had improved and President Reagan visited Beijing in April–May of that year. The trip went well, although a speech made by Reagan that promoted capitalism, democracy, and religious freedom, as well as indirect criticism of the Soviet Union, was not aired on TV in China.

In general however, China's foreign policy pronouncements were much more restrained than in the Mao era, and Beijing stated that its aim was now world peace rather than world revolution. Relations with the Soviet Union at last began to show some improvement and Foreign Minister Huang Hua led a delegation to Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev's funeral in November 1982. Huang met with his counterpart Andrei Gromyko and referred to Brezhnev as an "outstanding champion of world peace". He also expressed his hope for normalized Sino-Soviet relations, but in doing so apparently moved too quickly for the Beijing government, as he was removed from office almost as soon as he returned home (he had a history of making public statements that were at odds with official policy). On the state level, Sino-Soviet relations did improve during the 1980s. Trade and cultural exchanges grew substantially, but there was no indication of improved ties on the party level and no sign that the CCP was willing to treat the CPSU as an equal. Nagging foreign policy problems remained such as the presence of Soviet troops and nuclear missiles in Mongolia, as well as continued Soviet support for Vietnam and its occupation of Cambodia.

Economic Reform and Opening up

Main articles: Boluan Fanzheng and Chinese economic reform

The new, pragmatic leadership emphasized economic development and renounced mass political movements. At the pivotal Third Plenum of the 11th CCP Congress, completed on 22 December 1978, the leadership adopted economic reform policies known as the Four Modernizations. These tenets aimed at expanding rural income and incentives, encouraging experiments in enterprise autonomy, reducing central planning, and establishing direct foreign investment in Mainland China. The Plenum also decided to accelerate the pace of legal reform, culminating in the passage of several new legal codes by the National People's Congress in June 1979.

The goals of Deng's reforms were summed up by the Four Modernizations: the modernization of agriculture, industry, science and technology, as well as the military. The strategy for achieving these aims, all of which were designed to help China become a modern, industrial nation, was "socialism with Chinese characteristics". It opened a new era in Chinese history known as "Reforms and Opening up"(改革开放) to the Outside World.

The ten-year plan drafted by Hua Guofeng in 1978 was quickly abandoned on the grounds that China had neither the budget or the technical expertise to carry it out. Instead, a more modest five-year plan was adopted that emphasized light industry and consumer production.

In September 1982, the 12th Party Congress convened in Beijing. The United States and the Soviet Union were again criticized for imperialism and unification with Taiwan stressed. Most importantly, another new constitution was adopted in place of the 1978 document. This version (which remains China's constitution to the present day) emphasized foreign assistance in modernizing and developing the country, thus rejecting the Maoist self-reliance of the 1975 and 1978 constitutions. The last remaining references to the Cultural Revolution were also removed. Instead, the 1982 constitution stated that the "exploiter" class had been eliminated in China and so class struggle was no longer a relevant issue. Personality cults were also officially denounced at the 12th Congress.

However, these changes were not managed without overcoming opposition in the party, bureaucracy, and military. There were still a few extremist followers of the Gang of Four, but not many and efforts were made to weed them from the party. There did exist a large number of Stalinists who believed in orthodox central planning, and socio-political conformity. This group generally wanted to return to the ways of the 1950s and restore ties with the Soviet Union, believing that the communist world was China's natural friend. In particular, many of the Stalinists thought that Deng Xiaoping was moving too far in dismantling Mao's legacy and allowing greater freedom of expression. The largest number of them were in the military, which complained about having its budget cut from 10% of China's total GDP in 1978 to 5% by 1982. Several weapons projects that had been in the works during the '70s were dropped due to being too expensive and unnecessary and generals also objected at being asked to produce consumer goods (a common practice in the Soviet Union) instead of receiving badly needed defense modernization. Deng stressed the need for military obedience to party directives, reminding them of Mao's dictum that "The party must control the gun, but the gun must never be allowed to control the party." A higher degree of professionalism was emphasized in the PLA during the 1980s and the system of ranks that had been abolished in 1965 was slowly restored. On National Day (October 1) 1984, China staged its first military parade since 1959 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. These parades had been held every year during the 1950s, then called off due to cost reasons. The 1984 event however showed the relative backwardness of China's armed forces, which had only recently reached the technological level of the Soviet Union 25 years earlier. In 1985, Yeh Jianyang and several other elderly party leaders agreed to retire.

Deng argued that China was in the primary stage of socialism and that the duty of the party was to perfect "socialism with Chinese characteristics." This interpretation of Chinese Marxism reduced the role of ideology in economic decision-making and emphasized policies that had been proven to be empirically effective, stressing the need to "seek truth from facts". Rejecting Mao's idealistic, communitarian values but not necessarily the values of Marx and Lenin, Deng emphasized that socialism did not mean shared poverty (thus repudiating the Gang of Four's slogan "We would rather be poor under socialism than rich under capitalism.") Unlike Hua Guofeng, Deng believed that no policy should be rejected out of hand simply because it had not been associated with Mao. Unlike more conservative leaders such as Chen Yun, Deng did not object to policies on the grounds that they were similar to those found in capitalist nations. He merely stated that these ideas were part of the common heritage of mankind and not specifically tied to either capitalism or socialism.

Although Deng provided the theoretical background and the political support to allow economic reform to occur, few of the economic reforms that Deng introduced were originated by Deng himself. Local leaders, often in violation of central government directives introduced many reforms. If successful and promising, these reforms would be adopted by larger and larger areas, and ultimately introduced nationally. Many other reforms were influenced by the experiences of the East Asian Tigers. Among other things, it was now being admitted that Taiwan's per-capita GDP was three times that of the mainland.

This is in sharp contrast to the economic restructuring, or perestroika, undertaken by Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, in which Gorbachev himself originated most of the major reforms. Many economists have argued that the bottom-up approach of Deng's reforms, in contrast to the top-down approach of Perestroika, was a key factor in his success. In a 1985 interview with Frank Gibney of Encyclopædia Britannica, Deng remarked that the Soviet system suffered from an inflexibility and rigidness that did not affect China.

Contrary to popular misconceptions, Deng's reforms included introduction of planned, centralized management of the macro-economy by technically proficient bureaucrats, abandoning Mao's mass campaign style of economic construction. However, unlike the Soviet model or China under Mao, this management was indirect, through market mechanisms, and much of it was modeled after economic planning and control mechanisms in Western nations.

This trend did not impede the general move toward the market at the microeconomic level. Deng sustained Mao's legacy to the extent that he stressed the primacy of agricultural output and encouraged a significant decentralization of decision-making in the rural economy teams and individual peasant households. At the local level, material incentives rather than political appeals were to be used to motivate the labor force, including allowing peasants to earn extra income by selling the produce of their private plots on the free market. In the main move toward market allocation, local municipalities and provinces were allowed to invest in industries that they considered most profitable, which encouraged investment in light manufacturing. Thus, Deng's reforms shifted China's development strategy to emphasize light industry and export-led growth.

Light industrial output was vital for a developing country that was working with relatively little capital. With its short gestation period, low capital requirements, and high foreign exchange export earnings, the revenues that the light-manufacturing sector generated could be reinvested in more technologically advanced production and further capital expenditures and investments. However, these investments were not government-mandated, in sharp contrast to the similar but much less successful reforms in Yugoslavia and Hungary. The capital invested in heavy industry largely came from the banking system, and most of that capital came from consumer deposits. One of the first items of the Deng reforms was to prevent reallocation of profits except through taxation or through the banking system; hence, the reallocation in more "advanced" industries was somewhat indirect. In short, Deng's reforms sparked an industrial revolution in China.

These reforms were a reversal of the Maoist policy of autarky and economic self-reliance. The PRC decided to accelerate the modernization process by stepping up the volume of foreign trade, especially the purchase of machinery from Japan and the West. By participating in such export-led growth, the PRC was able to step up the Four Modernizations by taking advantage of foreign funds, markets, advanced technologies, and management experience. Deng also attracted foreign companies to a series of Special Economic Zones, where capitalist business practices were encouraged.

Another important focus of the reforms was the need to improve labor productivity. New material incentives and bonus systems were introduced. Rural markets selling peasants' homegrown products and the surplus products of communes were revived. Not only did rural markets increase agricultural output, they stimulated industrial development as well. With peasants able to sell surplus agricultural yields on the open market, domestic consumption stimulated industrialization, and also created political support for more difficult economic reforms.

Deng's market socialism, especially in its early stages, was in some ways parallel to Lenin's New Economic Policy and Bukharin's economic policies, in that they all foresaw a role for private entrepreneurs and markets based on trade and pricing rather than government mandates of production. An interesting anecdotal episode on this note is the first meeting between Deng and Armand Hammer. Deng pressed the industrialist and former investor in Lenin's Soviet Union for as much information on the NEP as possible.

Concurrent with economic reforms, China began a major crackdown on crime in what became known as "Strike Hard" campaigns. These have been launched periodically up to the present day and are typically accompanied by the liberal use of capital punishment and occasionally even mass executions. This stands in contrast to the Mao era, where executions were relatively rare after the CCP's consolidation of power during 1950-52 and criminals were generally punished with labor reform and political reeducation.

Tiananmen Square protests

Main articles: Activities of the PLA During Tiananmen Protests of 1989 and Activities of the People’s Liberation Army During Tiananmen Protests of 1989

At the same time, political dissent as well as social problems, including inflation, political corruption, massive urban migration, and prostitution emerged. The 1980s saw a surge in intellectual material as the country emerged from the conformity of the Cultural Revolution; the time period between 1982 and 1989 saw freedom of the press like never before, and has since then never been seen again. Two prominent schools of thought emerged. One school composed of students and intellectuals who urged greater economic and political reforms; the other, composed of revolutionary party elders, became increasingly skeptical on the pace and the ultimate goals of the reform program, as it deviated from the intended direction of the Communist Party.

Hard-liners in the party and especially the military stated that "art and literature must serve politics", while moderates were willing to tolerate apolitical material. Nonetheless, writers and artists were still told that their primary job was to "educate the people to believe in socialism". As such, the party took a stand against certain Western ideas and philosophies, as well as abstract theories of human nature. Highly personal poetry and discussions of the subconscious were viewed as representing an "unhealthy" tendency. Officials also took a stand against pornography, which was being imported from Hong Kong in large quantities. This was coming at a time when many young people were skeptical of the party's leadership and increasingly questioning whether it was really possible to achieve socialism or if doing so was desirable. Nonetheless, the authorities tolerated Zhao Cuan's play Marx In London which was compatible with official viewpoints in that it presented the communist founding father as a mortal man who lived in a different age and whose theories could not provide the answers for all of China's present-day problems. On the other hand, the writer Liu Binyan, who had been in and out of favor since 1957, was criticized for his novel A Different Kind Of Loyalty which suggested that the Communist Party was not infallible, nor should it be followed without question.

In late 1983, there appeared to be a brief revival of the Cultural Revolution when, after a speech by Deng Xiaoping condemning "spiritual contamination", the "Anti-Spiritual Pollution Campaign" was launched. Pornography and unacceptable writings were confiscated, people with Western hairstyles were forced to cut their hair, and army units were required to sing "Socialism is Good", a venerable tune that had been banned during the Cultural Revolution for "keeping the people too quiet." However, Deng Xiaoping rather quickly halted the campaign.

During the 1980s, religious freedom was restored in China after having been virtually outlawed in 1966–1976. The state restored de facto recognition of five official faiths, Protestantism, Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and Taoism. Houses of worship were permitted to operate with a license and under the condition that they not oppose the party and socialism. This religious settlement remains in China to the present day.

In December 1986, student demonstrators, taking advantage of the loosening political atmosphere, staged protests against the slow pace of reform, confirming party elders' fears that the current reform program was leading to a kind of social instability, the same kind that killed hundreds of millions between the years of the Opium War and the founding of the PRC. Inspired by Fang Lizhi, a physicist from the University of Science and Technology of China who gave speeches criticizing Deng's go slow policies, students took to protest. The students were also disenchanted with the amount of control the government exerted, citing compulsory calisthenics and not being allowed to dance at rock concerts. Students called for campus elections, the chance to study abroad, and greater availability of western pop culture. Hu Yaobang, a protégé of Deng and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for the protests and forced to resign as the CCP General Secretary in January 1987. In the "Anti Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign", Hu would be further denounced. Premier Zhao Ziyang was made General Secretary and Li Peng, a staunch conservative who was unpopular with the masses, formerly Vice Premier and Minister of Electric Power and Water Conservancy, was made Premier.

At the 13th Party Congress of the CCP in October–November 1987, Deng Xiaoping and remaining Party elders formally stepped down from power. This included a number of hard-liner Maoists who had resisted Deng's policies, including Chen Yun and Li Xiannan. The new leadership of the Central Committee averaged 5.5 years younger, and more than 70% were college educated. However, even with the retirement of the aged Long March veterans, they still retained considerable political pull behind the scenes, and one complaint of the student demonstrators in 1989 was the continued political influence exerted by party officials who were supposed to be retired. It was speculated that the appointment of Li Peng, a known political hardliner, as premier was a concession to Deng Xiaoping's opponents. The major policy declaration of the 13th Congress was formal endorsement of "market" socialism and that it was necessary to "adapt the principles of socialism to fit reality rather than bend reality to fit ideology."

As a further move away from the past, in 1988 the party decided that portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Stalin would no longer be displayed in Tiananmen Square on national holidays, only portraits of Mao and Sun Yat-sen.

After Zhao became the party General Secretary, the economic and political reforms he had championed came under increasing attack from his colleagues. His proposal in May 1988 to accelerate price reform led to widespread popular complaints about rampant inflation and gave opponents of rapid reform the opening to call for greater centralization of economic controls and stricter prohibitions against Western influence. This precipitated a political debate, which grew more heated through the winter of 1988–1989. With demands for political reforms growing, Deng Xiaoping merely reiterated that the Communist Party was necessary to provide stable leadership and economic development and that "China is not ready for democracy. If we were to hold elections tomorrow, the country would be plunged into a civil war."

The death of Hu Yaobang on April 15, 1989, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation and other social factors, provided the backdrop for a large-scale protest movement by students, intellectuals, and other parts of a disaffected urban population. University students and other citizens in Beijing camped out at Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform. Their protests, which grew despite government efforts to contain them, although not strictly anti-Government in nature, called for an end to official corruption and for the defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Protests also spread through many other cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu.

On April 26, the central leadership, under Deng Xiaoping, issued the 4-26 Editorial on People's Daily, which was subsequently broadcast on national media, denouncing all recent actions of protest as a form of "turmoil" (动乱). The editorial was the first in a series of events in an effort to contain the escalating protests through forceful measures. Thereafter, Deng's actions caused the presidency to have much greater power than originally intended. Various leaders sympathetic to the students, most notably Wan Li, then the NPC Chairman with a degree of constitutional powers to prevent full military action, were placed under house arrest after landing in Beijing. Wan's seclusion ensured that Premier Li Peng was able, in cooperation with Deng, then-head of the Central Military Commission, to use the office of the Premier to declare martial law in Beijing and order the military crackdown of the protests. This was in direct opposition to the wishes of the Party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Martial law was declared on May 20, 1989. Late on June 3 and early on the morning of June 4, a date now synonymous with the movement in the Chinese language, military units were called from neighboring provinces and brought into Beijing. Armed force was used to clear demonstrators from the streets. Official PRC estimates place the number of deaths at between two and three hundred, whilst groups such as the Red Cross believe the number to be in the two to three thousand range.

After the protests, the Chinese government faced hordes of criticism from foreign governments for the suppression of the protests, the government reined in remaining sources of dissent that were a threat to order and stability, detained large numbers of protesters, and required political re-education not only for students but also for insubordinate party cadre and government officials. Zhao Ziyang would be placed under house arrest until his death some 16 years later, and due to the subject still being largely taboo in China, Zhao has not yet been politically rehabilitated.

One Child Policy

Main article: One Child Policy

In 1979, the Chinese government instituted a one child policy to try to control its rapidly increasing population. The government had already enacted an aggressive family planning policy and fertility rates were already dropping sharply. Simultaneously there were major market-oriented economic reforms, which launched very rapid growth and migration to cities, which also reduced fertility. The policy was highly controversial in rural areas (where children were an asset in farm work) and interfered with the strong demand for sons. It helped solve the problem of famine, but by 2010 was leading to a major demographic disaster, with too many old retired people supported by too few workers. China returned to a two-child policy in 2015, then to a three-child policy in 2021, and finally abolished any limit later that year. Controversies are ongoing.