China

1900-Present

Aim: How have different kinds of political leadership affected China’s development?

Vocabulary: communes, quotas, Great Leap Forward, Little Red Book,

SUN YATSEN

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• Sun Yatsen served as president of the New Republic in 1911.

• He helped to form the Guomindang, or the Nationalist Party.

• He laid out his goals for China in The Three Principals of the People.

NATIONALISM

l. Principle of Nationalism …Nationalistic ideas in China did not come from a foreign source; they were inherited from our remote forefathers. Upon this legacy is based my principle of nationalism...No vengeance has been inflicted on the Manchus and we have endeavored to live side by side with them on a n equal footing. This is our nationalistic policy toward races within our national boundaries. Externally, we should strive to maintain independence in the family of nations, and to spread our indigenous civilization as well as to enrich it by absorbing what is best in world civilization, with the hope that we may forge ahead with other nations towards the goal of ideal brotherhood.

Q: Describe Sun Yatsen’s nationalist goals for China.

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DEMOCRACY2. Principle of Democracy

All through my revolutionary career I have held the view that China must be made a republic. There are three reasons. First, from a theoretical point of view, there is no ground for preserving a monarchical form of government, since it is widely recognized that the people constitute the foundation of a nation and they are all equal in their own country. In the second place, under Manchu occupation the Chinese were forced into the position of the vanquished, and suffered oppression for more than two hundred and sixty years. While a constitutional monarchy may not arouse deep resentment in other countries and can maintain itself for the time being, it will be an impossibility in China. This is from a historical point of view. A third reason may be advanced with an eye on the future of the nation. That in China prolonged periods of disorder usually followed a revolution was due to the desire of every insurgent to be a king and to his subsequent contention for the throne. If a republican government is adopted, there will be no contention. For these three reasons, I have decided for the republican form of government in order to realize the principle of democracy.

Q: Why did Sun Yatsen support the formation of a representative governmentIn China?

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LIVELIHOOD3. Principle of Livelihood. With the invention of modern machines, the phenomenon of uneven distribution of wealth in the West has become all the more marked. Intensified by crosscurrents, economic revolution was flaring up more ferociously than political revolution. This situation was scarcely noticed by our fellow- countrymen thirty years ago. On my tour of Europe and America, I saw with my own eyes the instability of their economic structure and the deep concern of their leaders in groping for a solution. I felt that, although the disparity of wealth under our economic organization is not so great as in the West, the difference is only in degree, not in character. The situation will become more acute when the West extends its economic influence to China. We must form plans beforehand in order to cope with the situation. After comparing various schools of economic thought, I have come to the realization that the principle of state ownership is most profound, reliable and practical.

Q: Why was Sun Yatsen wary of capitalism?

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Chinese Political Opponents-1945

Nationalists• Chiang Kai-shek

• Southern China

• United States

• Defeat Communism

• Weak (bad economy)

• Ineffective, corrupt leadership, poor morale

Communists• Mao Zedong

• Northern China

• Soviet Union

• National Liberation

• Strong (land reform)

• Motivated and experienced guerrilla army

LEADER

AREA RULED

FOREIGN SUPPORT

DOMESTICPOLICY

PUBLIC SUPPORT

MILITARYORGANIZATION

Q: Why do you think the Communists were able to win the support of the peasants?

"Don't you want to abolish state power?" Yes, we do, but not right now; we cannot do it yet. Why? Because imperialism still exists, because domestic reaction still exists, because classes still exist in our country. Our present task is to strengthen the people's state apparatus-mainly the people's army, the people's police and the people's courts-in order to consolidate national defense and protect the people's interests. Given this condition, China can develop steadily, under the leadership of the working class and the Communist Party, from an agricultural into an industrial country and from a new-democratic into a socialist and communist society, can abolish classes and realize the Great Harmony.

Mao Zedong 6/30/49

Q: If you lived in China in 1949, would you have accepted Mao’s explanationabout why state power could not be abolished?

Mao’s Social Reforms

• Replaced Confucian and traditional beliefs with Communist ideology

• Mao’s government did away with the old landlord and business classes

• Peasants and workers were lauded as the builders of a new China

• Mao reformed education, making Chinese characters simpler. Schools were opened for the young and old where they learned to praise Mao Zedong.

• Health care workers were sent to rural areas to reduce disease

• Women won more equality, but not full equality

How did Mao’s reforms differ from traditional Confucian beliefs?

Mao’s Political Reforms

• Established a one- party, communist, totalitarian state

Mao and the Communists claimed to have the “Mandate of Heaven” and used this as justification to rule.

Q: Why do you think Mao claimed to have the “Mandate of Heaven?”

Mao’s Economic Reforms

• The Great Leap Forward (1958) was intended to increase agricultural and industrial output

• Mao established communes included several villages, thousands of acres of land, and up to 25,000 people. They were self-sufficient units. Each commune had to meet a quota for production.

• Communes also had labor brigades to build dams and irrigation systems. Communes produced steel and other products as well.

“The Great Leap Backward”

• Backyard industries turned out low-quality and useless goods

• Communes slowed food output

• Bad weather also led to a famine

• Between 1959 and 1961 about 30 million Chinese starved to death

Praise of Mao’s China

“Labor is joy, how joyful is it? Bathed in sweat and two hands full of mud,Like sweet rain, my sweat waters the landAnd the land issues scent,Better than milk.”

Yuan Keijia (poet)

The Cultural Revolution

• The goal was to purge China of “bourgeois” or nonrevolutionaries

• Teenagers formed bands of Red Guards who attacked those believed to be counterrevolutionaries

• Mao’s Little Red Book was carried around by the Red Guards.

Quotes from Mao’s Little Red Book

“In order to build a great socialist society, it is of the utmost importance to arouse the broad masses of women to join in productive activity. Men and women must receive equal pay for equal work in production. Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.”

“Every Communist must grasp the truth, ‘Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’."

U.S.-Chinese Relations

• After Chiang kai-shek fled to Taiwan the U.S. continued to support the nationalists and refused to recognize the “Republic of China” (“Red China”)

• 1971 China won admission to the United Nations

• Richard Nixon visited China the next year and this led to improved relations between the U.S. and China

UNEASY ALLIES

China• Mao relied on

peasants, not factory workers, to lead the revolution

• Mao thought the Soviets were too conservative and accused them too willing to “coexist” with capitalist powers

Soviet Union• Marx had predicted

factory workers would lead the revolution

• Stalin rejected Mao’s views

Both vied for influence in the Third World and had a history of border disputes along the Amur River. In 1960 border clashes resulted in Soviets withdrawing all aid and advisors from China

Deng Xiaoping

• Mao died in 1976 and was succeeded by more moderate leaders

• Deng Xiaoping set out to modernize China.

• Four Modernizations: Agriculture, Industry, Science, and Defense

• Included some private property and free market policies, resulting in a surge of economic growth and a higher standard of living

Tiananmen Square

• Deng was not willing to compromise when it came to the government’s tight control

• Students protested in Tiananmen Square in May of 1989, demanding freedom and democracy

• Troops and tanks crushed the demonstrations

TIANANMEN SQUARE 1989

Q: Deng Xiaoping died in 1997. Do you think that Deng Xiaoping should be remembered favorably by the Chinese? Why or why not?

POLITICAL CARTOONS

I just saw the funniest cartoonsin Mrs. Sherman’sclass!!

CARTOON ANALYSIS

• Identify the W’s

• Who

• What

• Why

• Where

• When

China today

• The President of China is Hu Jintao• He is the head of the communist party. He also

heads all three branches of government• Hu Jintao has expressed no interest in Western-

style democratic reforms• He is said to believe in "yi ren wei ben", or

putting people first• Hu Jintao was a protégé of Deng Xiaoping• Hu Jintao has warned about the use of force in

Taiwan

bbc news

Q: Do you think China is better off today than it was a hundred years ago?