ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changing character of the Chinese political system, processes of participation and forms of protest. The chapter charts the processes by which the political mobilization of the Maoist period has given way to management of protest in the post-Mao phase of Chinese politics. While innovative in the Chinese context, is not very effective because the political institutions are unable to respond flexibly to the growing demands generated by the privatizing economy and the regenerating civil society. This could, in the long run, pose a threat to the legitimacy of the Chinese state. The Chinese political system has been routinely described in a language of totalitarianism, with Mao Zedong cast as the Red Emperor and the Chinese people as 'blue ants' tugged and pushed by a corps of cadres and completely powerless to resist the demands of the Party/state. Demands for democratic participation were an important part of the political revolution that engaged Chinese elites.
