China AOS2 Interpretations Flashcards
Callick
Re: Military
‘It is not the army of the government, or of China more generally, but of the CCP.’
Fenby
Re: national unity in new political system
this amounted to ‘window dressing; the non-Communist politicians were known as “flower vases” - there for decoration.’
11/23 ministers in govt. were non-communist h/w CCP maintained dominant authority
Short
Re: Korean War propoganda
‘In this superheated atmosphere, the campaign to supress counter-revolutionaries burned white-hot.’
Short
Re: Escelation of Land Reform
‘Peasants who killed with their nare hands the landlords who oppressed them were wedded to the new revolutionary order in a way that passive spectators could never be.’
Dikotter
Re: Escelation of Land Reform
land reforms were ‘a pact sealed in blood between the Party and the poor.’
Meisner
Re: Thought Reform (intellectuals)
Communists saw campaign as ‘educational’ rather than vindictive with the aim of producing ‘correct thoughts’
Gray
Re: Wufan (businessmen)
Wufan was ‘an opportunity to pulverise China’s capitalists politically.’
Terril
Re: Wufan (businessmen)
It was not necessary for CCP to destroy bourgeoisie b/c easily subdued: ‘Many capitalists turned red when the heat went on, silently, like lobsters put in hot water.’
Dietrich
Re: Women’s Rights
China’s women had risen to the status of second-class citizens
Spence
Re: First 5 Year Plan
‘it was a formidable achievement.’
Dietrich
Re: Agricultural Stagnation on collectivisation
‘Did they prescribe the wrong medicine, or was the dose too small? Should they go backward or forward?’
Ryan
Re: Mao’s speeches prior High Tide
‘electrifying effect’
Ryan
Re: Hundred Flowers Campaign
Mao wants his ‘garden to bloom’
Ryan
Re: Hundred Flowers Campaign
‘blooming and contending’ when critics spoke out became a ‘fine rain’ of criticism that grew into a heavy downpour of resentment.’
Short
Re: reflection of Hundred Flowers Campaign
‘ambitious attempt… to combine a totalitarian system with democratic checks and balances… what started as an attempt to bridge the gap between the Party and the people… became a trap.’
Short
Re: GLF & High Tide
Mao was ‘on an adrenaline high pumped up by the limitless vista of a bright Communist future in which nothing would be able to withstand the concerted efforts of 600 million people.’
Fairbank
Re: People’s Communes
‘The state had become the ultimate landlord.’
Chang & Halliday
Re: People’s Communes
‘The aim was to make slave driving more efficient.’
Ryan
Re: People’s Communes
‘many ordinary people were genuinely enthusiastic for the People’s Communes.’
Salisbury
Re: Backyard steel
‘The country looked as though it had been picked clean by iron-eating ants.’
Terrill
Re: Manipulating statistics
Mao’s treatment of numbers reinforced the unrealistic nature of the Great Leap Forward
Chang
Re: Manipulating statistics
‘disregard for reality.’