China(h) Flashcards
The Great Leap Forward
1958 - 1960
1st goal: increase production to feed growing population
2nd goal: industrialize China to become part of a global economy
1st goal of GLF
- people put in communes to live/work
- pit them against each other to fill production quotas
- quotas = outrageously impossible
- —production leaders falsify quotas
- —central government has incorrect records
- —export more grain than able to…peasants starve
- 20 million people die
2nd goal of GLF
People produce steel in backyard furnaces
.’.terrible steel + people not working in fields
The Cultural Revolution
1966 - 1976
Mao stepped aside after GLF then decides to force revolution
College + high school youth become Red Guard &become indoctrined with reformation
-schools/factories closed
-bosses, teachers, political members killed
-destroy old culture
Ends when Mao dies in 1976
Causes of Sino-Soviet Split
- Cuban Missile Crisis
- Nuclear Weapons
Cuban Missile Crisis
Mao criticized Khrushchev because he…
- placed detectable missiles on the island
- backed down to Kennedy’s demands (didn’t know about Jupiter missiles)
- Didn’t hold back US imperialism (considered K a coward)
- Betrayed socialist revolution
Nuclear Weapons
- Mao believed nuclear war = inevitable
- disagreed with “peaceful coexistence”
- opposed Test Ban Treaty
- 1964: detonated first atomic bomb
- 1967: hydrogen bomb
- 1970 first satellite launched
Sino Soviet Border War 1969
- Low point of relationships
- full out war for almost one year along common border
- nuclear war avoided, but both now had missiles pointed to each other
- rivalry over who = THE premier communist country
1976 China Post-Mao
Hua Guofeng took over as head of CCP after Mao’s death
Replaced Deng Xiaoping
Deng ousted Hua in 1978
Deng Xiaoping
- Brought charges against “Gang of Four” (blamed for excesses of Cultural Revolution)
- opened China to the rest of the world
- 4 Modernizations
- emphasized economic strength of development
- –develop socialism with Chinese characteristics
- –create socialist MARKET economy
*tl;dr - Deng modernized China and turned it into world power of today via market economy
1978
“Democracy Wall” = focal point for protest
- artists/writers/poets/military vets/returning youth called for more freedom
- WAI JINGSHENG, former soldier, calls for 5th modernization (democracy)
Shanghai Protests
students demanded end to corruption, freedom of speech, fairer electoral process, greater funding
- protests spread to Beijing
- Deng announced tighter control of students/intellectuals
May 4, 1989
Symbolic date:
-70th anniversary of May 4th movement and creation of CCP
-1989 = 40th anniversary of PRC
-Bicentennial of French Revolution
20,000 students marched in TS supported by citizens
Media coverage plays a role (international coverage = only way the world finds out)
Gorbachev’s Visit
May 16: state visit attracted global media coverage
May 30: “Goddess of Democracy” erected in square
June 3: after 2 weeks of martial law, armed troops cracked down; fire on crowds
Results of Tiananmen Square
More citizens died than students, but exact toll unknown
June 9: Deng publicly claimed victory for the government
After Deng
Deng stayed leader until death in ‘97
BUT Jiang Zemin took over in practice since ‘93
2002-2013 Hu Jintao leader of CCP
2013-p Xi Jinping elected (previous VP)
Accomplishments of Mao
- Unified China for the first time since 1911
- Paved way to modernization by weeding out imperialists
- possessed influence to mobilize hundreds of peasants
- Populist leader with populist government
**agrarian utopia not congruent with dream of being modern industrial power
Economic goals of Deng
- urged foreign trade
- trade resources for equipment and technology to support industrialization
- general modernization in agriculture/defense/industry/science
- “capitalist market”
- Open Door policy
- –special economic zones to conduct foreign trade
- –create demand for Western consumer goods
Political controls of Deng
- Communist systems with capital-based markets
- anarchists/independent councils (established during CR) once again suppressed
- liberalization in economy but NOT in politics
Reasons behind Tiananmen Square
- Began as demand to attend funeral of Hu (1989)
- Led to 10,000 students marching in TS to demand intellectual freedom & political reforms
- Demonstrations spread
