ABSTRACT
This chapter covers the term in office of the so-called Fourth Generation, led by Hu Jintao as president of the PRC. It points out that Hu and his colleagues essentially followed the policies put in place by Jiang Zemin. China’s impressive economic growth is covered, as are the high social costs of China’s rising economic inequality that have accompanied that growth. The regime’s effort to combat corruption and several notorious health scandals the CCP attempted to cover up, including the SARs epidemic of 2002–2003 and the spread of HIV/AIDS due to unsafe practices used for collecting blood, are examined. This chapter also covers environmental problems resulting from the regime’s failure to enforce pollution regulations as it promoted economic growth and the Olympics of 2008.
