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Chapter Sixteen:
China: History, Culture and Political Economy
True/False Questions:
1) The population of China is 750,000 and stable.
2) China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001.
3) China’s real growth in GDP has averaged nearly 12% annually since the open-
door policy began in 1978.
4) China is an ancient country, with an organized rural society well over 10,000
years old.
5) The governmental bureaucracy is more recent in China.
6) By the early 1900’s, China was very modernized and well influenced by the West.
7) Dr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Republic of China in 1911.
8) Japan is one of China’s largest trading partners.
9) Deng Xiaoping assumed the leadership of China after the deaths of Mao and
foreign minister Zhou Enlai and began many reforms and modernizations.
10) An important factor in understanding Chinese social and economic organizations
is the country’s rich cultural heritage.
11) The teachings of Confucianism are a key to understanding the Chinese.
12) The family structure of a hierarchy is key in Chinese politics.
13) Taoian behavioral norms display a strongly particularistic, as opposed to
universal, inclination.
14) Formal ties in China are called guanxi.
15) Confucianism has a strong focus on group cohesion and solidarity.
16) The importance of guanxi is such that individuals must concern themselves with
acquiring it.
17) Taoism has often been linked with the development and operation of capitalism in
China and other Asian countries.
18) Commercial and political successes were closely linked in imperial China and still
are.
19) The Politburo is responsible for the ongoing administration of the CCP.
20) In the CCP, democratic decision-making is its primary characteristic in
accordance to the principles of democratic centralism.
21) China’s paramount executive body is the Local Council.
22) China has no tradition of an independent judiciary.
23) The state-owned enterprise, or SOE, represents the single most important type of
company in China.
24) Private enterprises have flourished in the reform era, although their role in
industrial production remains relatively small.
25) SOE’s are the primary suppliers of social services.
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26) SOE’s are incredibly efficient and effective.
27) In 1979 China established four “Special Economic Zones” to allow direct foreign
investment.
28) Joint ventures are illegal in China.
29) No foreign company is allowed wholly foreign-owned status in China.
30) China is recognized as the leader for human rights in Asia.
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Multiple Choice Questions:
31) How many companies have set up operations in China?
a) About 175
b) About 570
c) Thousands
d) Tens of thousands
32) What is the approximate population of China?
a) 367 million
b) 625 million
c) 879 million
d) Over 1.3 billion
33) Ethnic Chinese are also known as the people.
a) Wong
b) Han
c) Tsui
d) Qin
34) Which of the following is not one of the three important schools that shaped
Chinese philosophy?
a) Daoism
b) Shintoism
c) Legalism
d) Confucianism
35) What are the periods of rule called in China?
a) Dynasties
b) Periods
c) Segments
d) Realms
36) What is a danwei system?
a) Social unit
b) Economic unit
c) Work unit
d) Labor division
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37) Deng’s economic reforms were called the “Four Modernizations.” Which of the
following is not one of them?
a) Agriculture
b) Industry
c) Infrastructure
d) Defense
38) All of the following except which one are elements of Confucianism?
a) Hierarchy
b) Moral Rectitude
c) Deference
d) Pride
39) Which of the following is the basic theme of Confucian ethics?
a) Self-awareness
b) Self-cultivation
c) Self-flagellation
d) Self-consciousness
40) The objectives of self-cultivation are two interrelated concepts: ren and li.
Translated into English they mean what?
a) Life and harmony
b) Humanity and harmony
c) Humanity and propriety
d) Property and humanity
41) Regarding non-household matters, the family is to defer to which of the
following?
a) State
b) Head of a house
c) Head of a clan
d) None are correct
42) Informal personal ties in China are referred as what?
a) Li
b) Ren
c) Guanxi
d) Xoani
43) Which of the following best defines China’s framework of operating as a nation?
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a) Democratic
b) Structured pluralism
c) Uniform
d) Unitary
44) Which of the two pairs of institutions in China are the relatively weaker in
comparison?
a) The Bureaucracy and the Judiciary
b) The Bureaucracy and the Legislature
c) The Party and the Bureaucracy
d) The Legislature and the Judiciary
45) Nominally, the highest authority in China is the National Party Congress. When
not in session, authority passes to what institution?
a) Central Committee
b) Politburo
c) National Party Congress
d) People’s Liberation Army
46) An SOE in China is a what?
a) State Ordered Enterprise
b) State Ordained Enterprise
c) State Owned Enterprise
d) State Operated Enterprise
47) There were how many joint ventures operating in China in the mid-1990’s?
a) 1000
b) 10,000
c) Over 100,000
d) 500,000 or more
48) International concern about China’s human rights have centered on which of the
following?
a) Criminal justice system
b) Persecution of ethnic and religious minorities
c) Little tolerance of political dissidents
d) All are correct.
49) In a report by Transparency International, China was ranked about where among
179 countries in terms of corruption, a problem as economic activity grew?
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a) 10th
b) 20th
c) 35th
d) 72nd
50) What has been China’s principal environmental concern?
a) Global warming
b) Domestic pollution
c) Changes in water levels
d) Changes in agricultural land
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Essays and Review Questions:
1) Compare and contrast the China of old with the new China. Choose any period to
represent the old China. Use specific references in your analysis.
2) You have been sent by your company to run a branch of your company’s
operation in China. You are female, 32 years of age, possess an MBA from
Harvard, are not married, are of African-American descent, love to take risks such
as sky diving, and you are 5’ 11’. Discuss what issues, realities and problems you
might face with both your employees and with the Chinese society.
3) Trace the roots of Chinese economic theory and apply those ideas to modern day
China.
4) Compare and contrast the USA and China in terms of politics, family, business,
relationships, religion, history, technology, social dealings, futures and political
systems.
5) You are asked to show a delegation of Chinese around your company. Your
company is Levi-Strauss, which left China due to its human rights policies. How
would you handle the situation?
6) You are doing a project comparing the average American family to the average
Chinese family. What differences and similarities might you note? How would
this analysis impact employment in either country?
7) Describe the likely scenario for China in the year 2010.
8) China is an ancient land with quite set ideas and ways of proceeding. You are to
figure out how you could help China become more democratic if it so chooses.
9) Describe the social and cultural heritage of China and how it impacts business.
10) Discuss and analyze the key issues in the cases of Wugang and the Reform of
State-Owned Enterprises and Google in China.