China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC) is one of the world's few

remaining socialist states openly endorsing communism. Its current political, ideological and
economic system has been termed by its leaders as the "people's democratic dictatorship",
"socialism with Chinese characteristics" (which is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances)
and the "socialist market economy" respectively. The country is ruled by the Communist Party of
China (CPC), whose power is enshrined in China's constitution. The Chinese government has
been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian and corporatist,
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with heavy restrictions in many areas, most notably against free access to the
Internet, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, the right to have children, free formation of
social organizations and freedom of religion.

In 2014, the government imposed tighter curbs on the already

limited space for media, internet, academia, and cultural
expression. Authorities also cracked down on civil society
activities persecuting, arresting, and sentencing rights activists,
lawyers, and critics, including many prominent ones.
Under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese government and
Communist Party have unleashed the harshest campaign of
politically motivated investigations, detentions, and sentencing in
the past decade, marking a sharp turn toward intolerance of
criticism.
Rather than embrace lawyers, writers, and whistleblowers as
allies in an effort to deal effectively with rising social unrest, the
government remains hostile to criticism. The government targets
activists and their family members for harassment, arbitrary
detention.
Xu Zhiyong main founder and icon of the New Citizens' Movement in China promoting
citizens rights and rule of law In January 2014 he was sentenced to four years in prison
for "gathering crowds to disrupt public order

By crushing the movement, Mr. Xu said in his court statement, the regime is
attempting to block Chinas road to democratic constitutional government
through peaceful reform. On Wednesday, hours before the trial began, the
Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
published a report detailing how families of elite Chinese leaders, including
the president, had squirreled away their wealth in secret offshore tax
havens. ICIJs Web site and foreign news about the report were immediately
blocked in China.
In his first year in power, Mr. Xi has tried to curry public favor by launching
an anti-corruption campaign that he claims will tackle tigers as well as
flies. But the raw persecution of Mr. Xus movement shows that the new
leader mainly intends to protect what has become a massive network of
official corruption. Pressure has been raised on Western correspondents in

China, especially those who attempted to report on the vast wealth

accumulated by the families of senior figures such as former prime minister
Wen Jiabao.