Mass Politics in the People's Republic

Exploring the crucial link between state and society in the PRC, this study analyzes the interaction between the Chinese Communist Party and the countrys major social groupspeasants, workers, youths and students, intellectuals, and ethnic minoritiessince the founding of the Peoples Republic. Alan Liu argues that uninstitutionalized public opinion has existed in China ever since the inception of the Communist regime and that it gradually grew powerful enough to thwart Maos policies and programs. He contends that the governments radical post-Mao reforms emerged less from the preferences of another paramount leaderDengthan from public opinion, which has grown too strong for the communist party either to ignore or control.