China in 2014: Historical and Political Context


Speaker	Dr. Thomas Gold
Summary	To establish background for the following presentations, Dr. Gold presents three major concepts. First, China is not a monolith. It is extremely diverse and complicated in terms of geography, ethnicity, language, traditional beliefs, economic development, and economic class. Second, the political system is shaped by the central role of the Communist Party. Third, China’s current quest for wealth and power began in the 1840s and is characterized by the struggle to find a development model that adopts western technology while retaining Chinese essence.
Keywords	monolith, Communist Party
Publish Date	August 4, 2014
Source	Speech given at 1990 Institute Teachers Workshop on “Balancing Eonomic Development ant Environmental Sustainability”, August 4-5, 2014, at San Mateo County Office of Education, Redwood City, CA.
Speaker Bio	Thomas Gold Bio