China Notes

Question 0

What is current capital of China?

Answer 0

Beijing

Question 1

What is Peking?

Answer 1

A name by which Beijing was once refered

Question 2

What is the population of China?

Answer 2

1.34 billion

Question 3

Who is the current leader of China, and what is his title?

Answer 3

Xi Jinping, and general secretary

Question 4

What affect has Imperial China had on the leaders of the PRC?

Answer 4

Until recently many of the PRC’s leaders grew up during China’s Imperial era and as a result were educated in the old, Chinese style

Question 5

Describe the Imperial Chinese bureaucracy

Answer 5

Centralized, authoritarian model staffed by scholars

Question 6

What distinguished the Imperial Chinese bureaucracy from other bureaucracies of its time.

Answer 6

Positions were filled by placement in an open, competitive exam which primarily tested Confucian thought

Question 7

What is the Confucian role of government?

Answer 7

Maintenance of harmony and social order

Question 8

Who was part of the social hierarchy and what distinguished positions?

Answer 8

Chinese commoners were part of the social hierarchy because they were outside of the political one. Positions were distinguished by age, gender, and lineage (husband over wife, old over young, father over son)

Question 9

Describe the representativeness of the Imperial Chinese bureaucracy?

Answer 9

While the bureaucracy didn’t have constituencies, quotas were utilized to ensure all regions were represented

Question 10

What similarities did the bureaucracy charge with today’s CCP members?

Answer 10

• view themselves as ruling elite
• discourage party competition as it hinders progress
• require huge bureaucracies

Question 11

What was the first group to invade China?

Answer 11

The Mongols invaded China early on and dominated the country for centuries

Question 12

Which European nations began to trade with China and what were they trading for?

Answer 12

England, Portugal, and the Netherlands were trading for spices and tea

Question 13

Which event brought about the beginning of the Opium Wars and when did it occur?

Answer 13

In 1839 the Chinese govt. seized $6 mil (unadjusted) worth of Opium in Canton and destroyed it

Question 14

What brought about the end of the Opium War?

Answer 14

British victory and the signing of the Unequal Treaty of 1842

Question 15

What were the terms of the Unequal Treaty of 1842?

Answer 15

• British reimbursed for valued of destroyed opium
• more harbors open for trade with western ships
• British given Hong Kong
• British given control over China’s trade policy

Question 16

During which decade did Chinese anti-foreign sentiment intensify, and what did these feelings culminate in?

Answer 16

1890’s

Boxer rebellion

Question 17

How did the Boxer Rebellion begin?

Answer 17

The “Fists of Righteous Harmony” (Boxers) laid siege to the Embassy Complex at Peking with the support of Empress Tzu Hsi

Question 18

What is the Chinese name for the Boxers?

Answer 18

Yihequan

Question 20

What are the most significant terms of the Boxer Protocol from an imperialistic perspective?

Answer 20

• foreign navies were allowed to patrol Chinese coasts and rivers
• the presence of foreign troops was allowed in China

Question 21

Why did Japan invade China?

Answer 21

As Japan industrialized they needed resources that were scarce on the island so they looked to China as a source of resources

Question 22

Where and when did Japan initially invade China?

Answer 22

In 1937 Japan invaded Manchuria

Question 23

When did Japan end its occupation of mainland China?

Answer 23

In 1939 with the outset of the 2nd World War

Question 24

What became of Henry Pu Yi during the Japanese occupation.

Answer 24

As the Chinese Emperor, Henry acted as a Japanese puppet in Manchuria

Question 25

What was the “Rape of Nanking”?

Answer 25

Indiscriminate killing of 100,000’s of Chinese civilians by the Japanese

Question 26

What brought the Boxer Rebellion to an end?

Answer 26

A multinational coalition and the signing of the Boxer Protocol

Question 27

What effect has the exploitation, destruction, and occupation of China by foreign nations had on the Chinese perspective of outsiders.

Answer 27

Historically the actions of outside nations within China have led to xenophobia, today it has led to Chinese nationalism.

Question 28

Which Chinese dynasty was overthrown in 1911, and by whom?

Answer 28

The Manchu dynasty was overthrown in 1911 by democratic revolutionaries led by Dr. Sun Yixian.

Question 29

Who was elected provisional President of the Republic of China in 1912?

Answer 29

Sun Yat-sen

Question 30

What are Sun Yatsen’s “Three Principles of the People”?

Answer 30

1. End foreign domination
2. Establish democracy
3. Deliver a decent livelihood for all the Chinese

Question 31

What brought about the end of the Republic of China in 1912 and politically, what characterized the period that followed?

Answer 31

A coup forced Sun Yatsen from office; the next 20 years were characterized by the feudal rule of warlords

Question 32

How did Chang Kai Shek come to lead the Koumintang (KMT)?

Answer 32

As a young officer he was appointed by Sun to lead the KMT’s armies to reunify China under central control

Question 33

Who assumed control of China in 1928, and why?

Answer 33

It took until 1928 for Chang Kai Shek to reunify China at which point he assumed control because Sun Yatsen had died 2 years earlier.

Question 34

What problems did the nationalists face?

Answer 34

1. Most Chinese were more loyal to family than to the state
2. No experience with a representative government
3. Poor economy
4. Didn’t propose land reform
5. Unresponsive, corrupt bureaucracy
6. Repressed intellectual dissent
7. Ineffective military leadership against the communists

Question 35

Why did the Nationalists initially make an alliance with the Communists?

Answer 35

To expel foreigners

Question 36

Between 1927, and 1945 what was the nature of the relationship between the KMT and CCP?

Answer 36

They collaborated on and off to oust the Japanese occupation of China
When they weren’t collaborating they were fighting each other