4.1 - Causes of Chinese Revolution INTERPRETATIONS Flashcards
1
Q
Interpretations
Republic of China
x4
A
- “The true face of the 1911 Revolution belonged to Yuan Shikai, not Sun Yat-sen.” (Zarrow)
- “a most radical step… wildly idealistic, unpractical and reckless.” (Fitzgerald)
- “[Yuan] had no vision of a new system” (Fairbank)
- “brought a ray of light into the age-long darkness of China, but for a short time only” (Wu)
2
Q
Interpretations
Yuan as Emperor
x2
A
- “Aroused fiercer and more determined opposition” (Lynch)
- The presidency had become a military dictatorship” (Mühlhahn)
3
Q
Interpretations
May 30 Incident
x1
A
- “helped usher in a new hope for social mobilisation and revolutionary upsurge” (Karl)
4
Q
Interpretations
New Culture Movement
x1
A
- “intellectually and socially one of the most promising and exciting times in Chinese history” (Mitter)
5
Q
Interpretations
May 4th Movement
x4
A
- “indicated the beginning of a credible and important nationalist movement” (Short)
- “yearning for national renewal” (Short)
- “a sense of real and impending crisis; a combination of a plurality of ideas aimed at ‘saving the nation’” (Miter)
- “Chinese students and intellectuals… turned even more eagerly to revolutionary theory” (Lynch)
6
Q
Interpretations
Shanghai Massacre
x2
A
- “a bloodbath that virtually destroyed both the CCP and the worker’s movement in China’s largest city” (Meisner)
- “an orgy of counter-revolutionary violence” (Meisner)
7
Q
Interpretations
Jiangxi Soviet
x2
A
- “Social laboratory” (Davin)
- “first opportunity to test [the Communists’] ability to govern” (Shiping)
8
Q
Interpretations
Nanjing Decade
x3
A
- “the unification achieved in this decade was more apparent than real” (Bianco)
- “stunning accomplishments from a position of unenviable weakness” (Kirby)
- “in every respect China… was solving her problems, at least on an experimental scale” (Gray)
9
Q
Interpretations
Jiang and Fascism
x2
A
- “wonderful medicine exactly suited to China” (Ebrey)
- “a regime Fascist in every quality except efficiency” (Fitzgerald)
10
Q
Interpretations
New Life Movement
x2
A
- Aimed to “create a citizenry that was self-aware, politically conscious, and committed to the nation” (Mitter)
- Achieved little “other than intruding into people’s personal lives” (Ryan)
11
Q
Interpretations
Weaknesses of Nationalist Government
x2
A
- “the government was ‘strong on the outside but weak on the inside’” (Hsu)
- “fundamental problems of social and economic injustices and the chronic ill of deficit spending” (Hsu)
12
Q
Interpretations
Long March
x7
A
- “What began as a rout ended as a legend” (Lynch)
- “later presented as a great achievement in Communist history, was a nightmare of death and pain while it was in progress” (Spence)
- “a true story exploited for propaganda purposes” (Jocelyn)
- “contributed enormously to the perception of [Mao] as a man of destiny” (Meisner)
- “dazzling, pyrotechnic display of mobile warfare… that left pursuing enemies confused” (Short)
- “the biggest armed propaganda tour in history… millions of peasants… are no longer afraid of [the Red Army]” (Snow)
- “Mao was the prophet who had led survivors through the wilderness” (Meisner)
13
Q
Interpretations
Sino Japanese War
x6
A
- “[the Nanjing Government’s] fate was determined… by the menace of Japanese imperialism” (Fairbank)
- “Chinese armies overall were ineffective. For all the bravery of their defence of Shanghai, the Nationalists lost many of their best troops” (Zarrow)
- “Jiang was double-dealing on a colossal scale” (Rooney)
- “[CCP] was struggling for nationalist goals more vigorously and more competently than the GMD” (Moise)
- “It was the Communist armies which impressed the Chinese public” (Gray)
- Jiang’s effort to protect Wuhan was “one of the grossest acts of violence against its own people” (Mitter)
14
Q
Interpretations
Civil War
x4
A
- Nationalists “specialise in keeping land and losing men” (Ryan)
- “every… Nationalist military weakness was an area of Red Army strength” (Bianco)
- “people’s war” (Chesneaut)
- “Conscription [to the CCP]… was an honour in Liberated Areas” (Bianco)
15
Q
Interpretations
Significance of Yanan
x2
A
- “would reinforce many of the ideals that became fundamental to the Chinese Communists” (Ryan)
- “Mao’s capital” (Chang and Halliday)