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Current Events Project, Changes in the Country

Since The cold war China since has had a variety of changes especially during the period between 1991 and 2011 (Chang & Halliday “Mao: The Unknown Story”). The changes range from economic, gender, governmental and social changes. First, in terms of trade and economy, China has experienced a myriad of changes. Since the cold war china has gained in terms of its relations with Germany, its key trade partner. For instance it is reported that the leadership of both countries have had a good relationship whereby they have been making visits between these countries (Jian “Mao’s China”). China however adopted communism following in the footsteps of the Soviet Union and has persisted with this system of governance since the second world war.

These visits were mostly reported during the period between 1993 and 1998. From these relations, china have benefited immensely as it has a ready market for its products and goods. China additionally benefits from the relations with Germany by getting the latest technological advancements. For instance, the trade volume between china and Germany by 2008 was above 100 billion US dollars in terms of governance, china is believed to be using the authoritative style of government. The country is controlled by only one party. This is believed to be the cause of the oppression of the people since the freedom of expression is curtailed. The government is thought to be oppressive in that; it limits judicial independence, has no press freedom and has no due regard for human rights. As regards the issues of gender and sexual orientations, the Chinese government slapped a ban on gay and homosexual tendencies in 1997 (Oxford Journals “China’s Policy”).

But, in 2001, the government stopped the classification of homosexuality as mental problem. Despite this advancement, the homosexuals continue to experience a lot of discrimination. First, they are not allowed to adopt children. Secondly, their relationships are not recognized by the law enforcers. Additionally, the Chinese government is ill prepared as regards that taking care of people with disability. For example, by September; the government still had the restriction of not employing teachers who are disabled physically. Additionally, there have been cases of kidnap and trafficking of people with mental disabilities in china. This case was in September. Furthermore, this human rights abuse and social discrimination was also reported in 2007 (Human rights watch “World Report 2012”). This is a clear indication that when it comes to gender roles and certain societal changes, China still seems to be lagging behind.

2.Current Event

There have been many events in china that are related to curtailing of freedom of expression by the country. For example in 2011, the government openly violated the right of expression by restricting the use of internet by journalists and bloggers. Through the state media, the government ordering for the censorship if all content that is believed to be offensive or sensitive to the state. For instance the country does not allow access to Facebook, twitter and other social sites. Additionally, the government restricted the access of information about Egypt’s uprising in January, on all the sites. Furthermore, in august, the government threatened to fine all the people or blogs that were running the story about the July Wenzhou train crash. In august, the court also sentenced 30 journalists who were believed to behind the exposure of corruption in government at the Shandong province. The problem of media being censored has for long threatened the journalism profession in china. For example in May, a journalist was demoted for his criticism on the government during the earthquake response in Sichuan. Additionally, the journalists face the ever increasing threat of being exposed to physical violence as evidenced by the assault of the journalists who declined to erase the photos taken on the stabbing incidence (Human rights watch “World Report 2012”).

Works cited

Chang, Jung & Jon, Halliday. “Mao: The Unknown Story”. New York. 2005 Print.

Jian, Chen. “Mao’s China & the Cold War”. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North

Carolina Press, 2001 Print.

Human rights watch, World Report 2012: China. Human rights watch. 2012 PDF file.

Oxford Journals. “ China’s Policy in the Post-Cold War Era. Chinese Journal of

International Politics. Volume 2, Issue 2.Pp. 229-261. 2008 print.