IDs Flashcards
1
Q
The Xinhai Revolution
A
- Revolution in 1911 that overthrew China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing dynasty, and established the Republic of China.
- The revolution consisted of many revolts and uprisings. The turning point was the Wuchang uprising on 10 October 1911, which was the result of the mishandling of the Railway Protection Movement. (Qing wanting to nationalize local railway developments).
- The revolution ended with Emperor Puyi’s resignation since he was a toddle, on 1912.
- The revolution arose mainly in response to the decline of the Qing state, which had proven ineffective in its efforts to modernize China and confront foreign aggression.
- The Qing should have won against the revolutionaries however, the political ambitions of Yuan Shikai, the commander of the Qing forces, were greater than his devotion to the dynasty leading indirectly to the victory of the revolutionaries.
2
Q
The Boxer Rebellion
A
- Anti-imperialist, anti-foreign, and anti-Christian uprising in China that took place in the late 19th century.
- Led by a secret society called the “Harmonious Fists” that combined traditional martial arts with shamanistic beliefs of special powers, fueling xenophobia. Young men including peasants and discharged soldiers joined.
- They blamed China’s failures on the evil of foreigners and missionaries that attempted to indoctrinate Chinese society with western values.
- Empress Dowager Cixi supported their cause against the west and declared war, having tens of thousands of Boxers moving from Shandong to Beijing and other provinces to attack foreigners and destroy their property.
- Eventually the west was able to defeat the Chinese and took over Beijing, stealing everything in the city.
- After the empress escaped, regional governor Li Honzhang was left to negotiate and accept a series of penalties imposed by foreign nations such as the cancellations of examinations for 5 years where violence had occurred. China also had to provide 450 million ounces of silver with interest (twice the government’s annual revenues) over the course of forty years to compensate nations.
3
Q
Guomindang (Kuo Min Tang)
A
- It was founded in 1919 by Chiang Kai Shek and Sun Yat-Sen and was involved in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and subsequently the proclamation of the Republic of China. Chiang was in charge of the army while Sun was the provisional first President.
- They established their capital in Nanjing, following a unification campaign across all of mainland China.
- During their rule of mainland China, from 1919 to 1949, after their defeats to the Japanese and Communists, they were forced to retreat to the island of Taiwan, as they were completely defeated, and they vowed to retake the mainland. The Kuomintang and the CCP never officially signed a peace deal and still have not to this day.
- As the ruling party in Taiwan, they had a seat in the United Nations up until 1971 when the UN agreed to the One-China policy. They were the ruling party in Taiwan up until 2000. It is still one of the main political parties in Taiwan. KMT still advocates for eventual unification with the mainland, which is not the same view as the current government in Taiwan.
4
Q
Chen Duxiu and New Youth
A
- He propagated ideas of Communism for Chinese ruling. Came from a wealthy family.
- He created the New Youth journal which used to promoted science, democracy and new vernacular language literature. He supported a westernized moralized system and human rights. Intellectuals over China attempted to promote reforms.
- He went to Peking University and brought the journal with him, it was very critical of Confucianism.
- As he joined the university’s library group, he started to publish Marxism since it appealed to him. He did translations of Lenin and Marx.
- Then he went to Shanghai and established the Chinese Communist Party, since he wanted to do more than just write.
5
Q
Sun Yat-Sen
A
- Philosopher and politician who was the first President of the Republic of China. He is often referred to as the “Father of the Nation”, for his role in overthrowing the Qing Dynasty. He was born into a poor farming family in southern China. However, after he moved to Hawaii, he became fascinated by the mix of Western and Eastern culture.
- On his return to China, Sun viewed the Qing as conservative, corrupt and ineffective to defend China from foreign powers. He began to revolt against the dynasty. Eventually finding victory in 1911, was China’s first President.
- Sun Yat Sen died in 1925 and did not live to see his party unify the country. However, his impact lived on through his Three Principles of the People which were a blend of Western and Eastern ideologies.
1) The People’s Community: nationalism
2) The People’s law: democracy
3) The People’s welfare: livelihood / socialism - Community represented a regaining a sense of Chinese independent community under a unified China.
- Law represented a strong civil service under a sovereign nation.
- Welfare represented the state’s responsible to take care of feeding, clothing, housing and transporting its people.
6
Q
Yuan Shi-Kai
A
- A military man, he established the first modern army and the government in the north.
- Arguably the Qing’s most successful military commander, Shikai’s command of the modernised New Army helped bring about the end of the dynasty.
- In 1912, he forced the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor, in return for the presidency of the new republic.
- Shikai was no republican or democrat, however. He viewed the presidency as a stepping stone to the imperial throne. As president, his actions sabotaged Chinese republicanism and disempowered democratic institutions before either could consolidate or mature.
- He also submitted to the demands of Japanese imperialists, ceding control of Manchuria and Shandong.
Yuan Shikai’s last significant action was an attempt to revive the imperial throne and place himself upon it. - This produced a storm of protest and the breakaway of several provinces, forcing Shikai to abandon the restoration of the monarchy in March 1916. Three months later he died.
7
Q
The Yan’an Talks on Art and Literature
A
- Mao’s rectification campaigns served to make Marxist principles completely Chinese and called for intellectuals to rectify their thoughts in a way that reflected the needs of peasants.
- He decided that art’s primary function was to serve the people and politics, proclaiming all art, literature and media of information were property of the state and would exclusively focus on the peasantry.
- Mao alleged that intellectuals possessed inadequate knowledge of the language of the people. But the leader’s restraints would hardly center on his personal interest to popularize peasantry lifestyles, considering his intention of indoctrinating Chinese society.
- Celebrating the contributions of the peasantry was used as an instrument for advancing socialist principles by appealing to the common working class.
- As a result, the role of art and literature would change unprecedentedly for years to come, undermining intellectuals even eight decades later, in the modern-day world (no freedom of media and intellectual censorship under Xi Jinping).
8
Q
One Hundred Flower Movement
A
- Campaign launched by Mao in 1956 to allow intellectuals to speak, granting greater freedom of thought.
- Many were skeptical at first, but by Spring 1957 more people began to voice ideas, opinions and suggestions to the government.
- The large number of criticisms took Mao by surprise and he reversed it by accusing the critics of going against the Communist Party.
- Most critics were labeled disgraceful or rightists and half a million were sent to the countryside and forced to do manual labor while others got sent to prison.
9
Q
Liu Xiaobo
A
- Liu Xiaobo was an outspoken critic of the Chinese government. A former professor of literature at Beijing Normal University, he wrote about Chinese society and culture with a focus on democracy and human rights.
- He was jailed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre for his role in supporting students who had taken part in the peaceful protests.
- He was imprisoned again in a re-education labor camp for criticizing China’s policies toward Taiwan and Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
- He was sentenced once again to 11 years for calling for political reforms in China.
He served almost 8 years in a Liaoning prison until being transferred to a hospital in Shenyang, Liaoning province, due to health issues. He later died from cancer. - In 2010 Liu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”
10
Q
Jiang Qing
A
- Mao Zedong’s third wife and the most influential woman in the People’s Republic of China for a while until her downfall in 1976.
- Jiang reached the height of her power and influence by being the CCP’s head of propaganda and through her strong public speaking skills as well as her involvement with the radical young Red Guard groups of the revolution.
- She became the first deputy head of the Cultural Revolution and acquired far-reaching powers over China’s cultural life. She oversaw the total suppression of a wide variety of traditional cultural activities during the decade of the revolution.
- After the fall of Lin Biao, Jiang Qing’s oppressive monitoring on the restriction of capitalist and revisionist ideas in art and culture led to further radicalism.
- After the Cultural Revolution turned fruitless, Jiang and the other members of the Gang of Four were soon afterward arrested. She was expelled from the Communist Party in 1977 and convicted for one of the most inhumane events in China’s history.
11
Q
The Second United Front
A
- The Second United Front was the alliance between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Communist Party of China (CCP) to resist the Japanese invasion during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which suspended the Chinese Civil War from 1937 to 1941.
- Mao Zedong, responded to the growing anti-Japanese sentiment of their countrymen by calling on the KMT to join with them in expelling the Japanese.
- Chiang Kai Shek was heavily supported and funded by the US government, but proved to be ineffective against the Japanese during the Second World War.
In the fighting against the Japanese, the KMT armies were either crushed or were ordered to retreat. - After Japan withdrew its troops and China won, the KMT was defeated by the CCP since Mao gained control over mainland China once he strangled the cities and Chiang’s supplies from the countryside and he fled to Taiwan.
12
Q
Shanghai
A
- Name literally means “on the sea, is located on the east China coast.
- One of most populous urban areas in China. Larger population than in Beijing.
- Shanghai is a global center for finance, innovation and transportation and the Port of Shanghai is the world’s busiest container port.
13
Q
Beijing
A
- Romanized as Peking
- Beijing is the capital of China, located in the Northern part of the country. Mostly surrounded by Hebei Province.
- One of the most populous urban areas in China.
- Governed as a municipality under direct administration of the central government.
- One of the oldest cities in the world (dates back three millennia)
- One of the oldest cities in the world. It contains seven UNESCO World Heritage sites.
14
Q
Li Dazhao
A
- Came from a poor family and lost his parents early on.
- Recruited by Peking University and was made as the main librarian.
- At Peking University, he influenced students during the May Fourth Movement. He advised and coached young students in Beijing to fight for their state’s sovereignty among other issues.
- Started a reading club for Marxist writings. Co-founder of Communist Party. He believed that the peasants were the most important group of people for the revolution.
- Mao was hired to work provisionally at the library, and also introduced the peasant class for revolution.
15
Q
Xi Jinping
A
- Current president of China and General Secretary of the Communist Party. Son of a Chinese Communist veteran and served in the People’s Liberation Army. Worked his way up to Party Chief of Fujian, Zhejiang and Shanghai.
- He has campaigned to crack down corruption and enforce loyalty. He removed presidential term limits, ruling indefinitely.
- Has tightened party control over the media and imposed strict rules regulating non-governmental organizations, religious organizations and
online speech. - Created another ideological campaign: Schoolchildren, college students and staff at
state factories will have to study the political ideology, which the Communist Party is
trying to portray a new chapter for modern China. - His social achievements include environmental protection and affirmed commitment to the Paris Agreement.
- He launched an elimination of poverty campaign: Bridge the wealth gap between rich and poor, which is one of the largest in the world.
- Stopped the one child policy.
- He has cracked down on the corrupt financial elements in the Chinese market, kept economic growth steady and invested heavily in technology and scientific research.
- He’s also put forth the Belt and Road initiative enabling China to connect with the rest of Asia, Africa and Europe through a unified large market through maritime and land networks. (New Silk Road version)
- Increased military spending, and expanded the Chinese Navy.
