Chinas Transition from Empire to Communist Country: The Rights and Responsibilities of the Citizens and Government

Jyothi Mony Tara Wu elley !ang Group Website "enior #ivision

When $e dis%overed that the theme of the &'()*&'(+ year $ould be about rights and responsibilities, $e immediately thought of infringements and over*usage of both in different governments be%ause $e feel that rights and responsibilities are %ommonly and $idely tested bet$een a government and the %itizens of a %ountry- Thin.ing about a bit of prior .no$ledge and dipping into the heritage of some of our group members, $e felt that the history of China $ould be a very interesting topi% to resear%h, as there are, in fa%t, as $e have found, four sides to the issue: rights and responsibilities of both the government and the people/t the start of our resear%h, $e began $ith online databases for the %overing the basi%s of our topi%, to understand $hat it $as and $hy it $as %reated- / variety of pi%tures helped give us a better understanding of the %onditions in China during %ommunist regime and $e sought referen%e boo.s and te0tboo.s to find sour%es that $ould go more in depth about the %ommunism of China and e0plain, in detail, important events that shaped the rule and the ultimate result of a %ommunist rule in China- We didnt stop at sour%es $ritten in English, though, $e also delved into boo.s and databases $ritten in Chinese for a vie$ that $as more in perspe%tive and dire%t#uring the pro%ess of sele%ting our presentation %ategory, %reating a do%umentary $as $hat first %ame to mind as it $ould allo$ for a variety of primary sour%es that $ould visually attra%t the 1udges and allo$ for better %han%es at su%%ess in the regional %ompetition- We ended up opting out of %reating a do%umentary, though, be%ause it $ould be diffi%ult to find enough primary sour%es in English to fill it up- 2y %hoosing the $ebsite, $e dis%overed that $e %ould simultaneously $or. on it on our %omputers from home and $e $ouldnt have to %ondu%t fa%e*to*fa%e meetings as often sin%e $e %ould dis%uss our pro1e%t over group te0ts and shared do%uments- #iffi%ulties $ere not unfound, though3 $e had issues $ith our s%hedules and time management4o$ever, $e devised a solution: by sharing do%uments bet$een us $ith all our notes and

%itations, our produ%tivity rates in%reased and it has sin%e greatly helped $ith effi%ien%y and information a%%ess bet$een group members and at different $or. sites5ur pro1e%t %orresponds to the theme be%ause it fo%uses on the rights and responsibilities of both the government and the %itizens and ho$ they $ere both negle%ted and overused at different points in Chinas transition from imperialism to %ommunism- The rights of the %itizens of %ommunist and imperialisti% China $ere negle%ted and abused through the %orruption of their rulers, and it $as their responsibility to stand up for their rights and reform their government- 6t is the Chinese governments responsibility to govern Chinas affairs and provide for their %itizens, and it is their right to %hange the so%ial and e%onomi% systems of China if they believe it is to the benefit of the people-