1
One of the great challenges in teaching students about politics outside of the
United States is the difficulty in getting them to understand what it is like to walk in the
shoes of decision-makers in other countries. What are their goals and interests? What
are the constraints with which those leaders must contend? How do these impact the
outcome of the political process? Such questions can be difficult enough for students to
grasp when dealing with their own country. Getting them to understand them in an
entirely alien political context is that much more challenging. Chinese politics, in
particular, can seem almost incomprehensible to many students when they are first
introduced to it. Not only is China a (nominally) communist system, but its complex
institutional framework and arcane factional struggles can be daunting to even the most
politically astute student. Given China’s growing importance in the field of political
science, it seems imperative to develop new methods for teaching Chinese politics that
can get beyond these hurdles.
One solution is to give students an opportunity to experience Chinese politics
‘first hand.’ Since extended field trips to the halls of Chinese political power are beyond
the financial means of most political science departments, not to mention politically and
linguistically impracticable, the next best thing is to recreate the Chinese political
experience in the comfort of the students’ own classroom and campus by simulating the
political dynamics of the Chinese Politburo. Such a simulation can help to enhance
student understanding of the complex issues faced by Chinese policy-makers, as well as
the political processes through which decisions on these issues are made. In addition, it
would provide an opportunity to better integrate student research and writing assignments
into a more concrete, problem-solving context. This paper will outline the design of such
Convention