ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a framework for understanding the historical and social background of the three crises, and the remarkable adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to changing political and economic environments both at domestic and international levels. The first major crisis was the 10 years of Cultural Revolution in which political and economic radicalism. The second was the market reform since the end of the 1970s, which defined China's development in terms of economic growth and productivity and eroded the CCP's monopoly of political expression. The third crisis emerged in the aftermath of the tragedy of Tiananmen Square. It refers to a series of demonstrations in Beijing in and near Tiananmen Square mainly led by student activists and intellectuals between the period of April 15 and June 4, 1989. The CCP started as a Marxist-Leninist party in form, but a nationalist party in substance.
