China after WWII became a communist nation politically and still is today, yet they still posses some attributes of democracy and an autonomous nation. The Peoples Republic of China has recently bared a man with the family name Chu, a Hong Kong man, of running for election in Hong Kong. The city was annexed as a territory by China in 1997; it was previously part Britain as a territory. Hong Kong was to remain apart of China but also semi autonomous. Chu hinted that he supported self determination for Hong Kong or in other words, indirectly supporting independence from China. China held an investigation and found Chu to be supporting self determination despite claiming he did not. We can see that the ideals of democracy and independence are not just fantasy in China but are popular ideas amongst people, but those same people are afraid to express it against the government. The United States government protects the right to free speech and press which allows citizens to outrightly criticize the government and inspire change: part of the reason why we have elections so often. The Chinese government claims that they do not restrict freedom of speech or deprive the right of election or influencing elections but I think that they are doing just that here. “Hong Kong authorities say “self-determination“, or seeking greater autonomy from China, violates the city’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, which states that Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China.” This constitution should be able to be amended especially seeing as Hong Kong is still recently apart of China’s communist political sphere. Without a change in ideological leadership in the government, the government cannot adapt or change to be what the people want.
China has recently asked citizens to suppress the bride price in the country. A bride price is a price that grooms families must pay to the family of the bride. The prices are outrageously high in recent years which in turn has opened up new businesses centered around weddings, but ultimately has hurt the economy. Farmers who make on average about the equivalent of $2,500 a year, must pay about a years earnings as a bride price. This obviously is impractical and for pour farmers, but it has also taken a toll on the rich and middle class. Some families do it to make other families insubordinate to them and to rank themselves above others, essentially creating more than just a class system formed by capitalism. The government has started to encourage alternative events like group weddings that are “elegant and meaningful in content” much as done in other parts of the world. This according to constructivist theory creates a common ground between China and other countries which in turn promotes trade and economic growth.