Issues Flashcards
1
Q
Opium War
A
- The Opium War marked the state’s history due to abusive European approaches and opium’s corrosive effects on its population.
- 10% of China’s population smoked opium, fifteen million people lost their lives over the narcotic effects it possessed.
- Established through the East India Company, the sale of opium guaranteed huge profitability for British merchants, Chinese smugglers and criminal gangs. The British gained strength and used their military dominance as a means of manipulation.
- The Qing dynasty was forced to provide the British with extraterritorial advantages, granting skewed treaties to the nation and other imperialist powers.
- Shift within the balance of power in the 19th century, exhibiting the western world as the most resourceful in material culture, technology and commerce.
- Chinese authority was undermined and toward the end of the century foreign industries opened factories in the country.
- Christian missionaries were enabled to preach across the state overstepping the principles of China’s traditional culture.
- Even one century later, leaders like Mao Zedong were forced to impose controls and cleanups of society to deal with opium doers.
2
Q
Collectivisation
A
- Agricultural Collectivisation was Mao’s idea to eliminate the landlords and redistribute lands to the peasants who were loyal to him in the Chinese Civil War. This encouraged peasants to work together and peasants were arranged into land communes which were land owned by the government. This now meant that all of the production was controlled by the government and companies could no longer make profits and wages were fixed.
- By the end of 1956, 90% of peasants had been organised into farms.
-Within a single commune could be up to 20,000 people.
Certain benefits did come along with the collectivisation, such as certain services which would only be reserved for normal city residents, such as electricity, along with mechanical devices to help speed up agricultural production.
-On the whole this was viewed as a huge failure.
3
Q
The Long March
A
- A military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party to evade the pursuit of the Nationalist Party’s army (KMT) during the Chinese Civil War.
- The KMT’s leader Chiang Kai Shek attempted to encircle the Jangxi province and strangle land with soldiers in order to weaken the Red Army.
- This led 86,000 soldiers and 1500 administrative officers into the Shaanxi province to escape the Kuomintang and lasted over a year.
- The Red Army went into the countryside in order to win the support of the peasants.
- Peasants attempted to escape Nationalists, leaving many people, women and children behind. After this event, half of the peasants had left their lands.
- Communist forces were harassed by the KMT and experienced rough climatic conditions and shortages of food and supplies.
- Around 8,000 people made it and settled in the north (only 10%). Many of them remained loyal to Mao for a lifetime.
4
Q
Chiang Kai-Shek
A
- He was a military commander and received the presidency from Sun Yat-sen, becoming the KMT (Nationalist Party) leader.
- He created a military academy and led the National Revolutionary Army which were instrumental in reuniting China through the First United Front by fighting wiht the CCP against northern warlords.
- He opposed the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and this led to an internal revolution. He led a violent purge of communist officials, which led to the CCP fleeing towards the countryside during the Chinese Civil War.
- 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. This led to a truce with communists to fight Japanese out of China in the Second United Front. After Japan withdrew its troops, the KMT was defeated by the CCP since Mao gained control over mainland China once he strangled Chiang’s supplies from the countryside and Chiang Kai Shek fled to Taiwan.
- He began to rule Taiwan as the Republic of China under Martial Law and a One-Party State, the exact same way Mao Zedong set up the People’s Republic of China. Chiang Kai Shek ruled Taiwan up until his death in 1975. The reason that China never took advantage of conquering Taiwan is that under Chiang Kai Shek’s rule, Taiwan had a superior Airforce and Navy, due to their American backing.
5
Q
Democratic Centralism
A
- This is the idea of being united. When the Chinese communist party proposes something, and there is a majority, the rest who did not vote yes for it have to practice it as if they have said yes. As if they agree and think it is a good choice.
- It is not anything new. This has been going on since the Communist party of china was born.
- This had a big impact in the beginnings of the party in the 50’s.
- Part of the series of Lenin.
- Mao Zedong once emphasized that without democratic centralism it would be impossible to consolidate the dictatorship of the proletariat.
- Deng Xiaoping referred to seeking truth from facts, the mass line, and democratic centralism as the three major traditions of the Party
6
Q
Tiananmen Square Massacre
A
- Tiananmen Square was a student protest movement that was hastily stopped by the Chinese government in June 1989. This was all triggered by the death of the former General Secretary of the Communist party, Hu Yaobang, he was very much loved by the people as he was viewed as someone who could reform the party, and once he died, he was mourned by many university students on the streets in Beijing. This soon led the students to use the occasion as an opportunity to protest for a crackdown on corruption and freedom of press.
- This angered hard core conservatives within the party, who vowed to take a stand against anyone who opposed the government. The students demanded
more political liberalization and economic reform. The protested against nepotism and corruption. Students then began to camp in the Square and soon was followed by a hunger strike, which led the general population of Beijing to start to show support for the students. - Eventually, the Premier agreed to meet with the students, however, this did not go well. This led the government to deploy 200,000 soldiers onto Tiananmen Square to force an eviction and began to shoot and kill students.
- It marked the end of Deng’s legitimacy and the party blamed the west.
- Today, China has blocked any images, videos or information regarding the protests in 1989.
7
Q
Women’s Liberation Under Mao
A
- Women’s inclusion and participation in society came about under Mao’s social reforms in the early 20th century.
- Before, women had to take care of their mothers in law, and owed obedience to their parents and their husband’s family. Arranged marriages were the norm and they used to get married at a young age by their families, no right to choose their husband.
- Social changes allowed for women to marry and divorce whom they wanted, to work, to study and to receive equal pay. They fostered equal rights.
- Parental authority and women’s proper roles in society mostly changed in the educated class, but the rural areas experienced little impact.
- Women from the countryside would be sent to work in the cities as prostitutes or would work in industrial activities such as cotton mills, but found little liberation from these employment “opportunities”.
8
Q
Uyghur Question in China (Human Rights)
A
- China’s religious persecution targets those of every faith (christians, muslims, buddhist, etc.)
- The Uyghurs are one of a number of persecuted muslims minorities. Cultural genocide: transformation of all basic Uyghur society institutions, re-education centers where they reap all threads of identity (removal students from their homes and placed in boarding schools).
- Educated in the Communist Party of China beliefs
- China interested in moulding Uyghurs into these perfect Chinese Citizens. Taught to read and write Mandarin, discouraged from practicing Islam
- Forced labour; some factories appear to be using Uyghur workers sent from re-education camps. Some factories, they pay less than their Han counterparts.
9
Q
Cultural Revolution
A
- This movement came about in 1966 and paved the way for Mao Zedong’s return to power through a series of mass demonstrations, violent armed struggles and state-instigated terror. Lasted ten years.
- Mao attempted to rekindle his revolutionary ideologies and instigated revenge among the country’s urban youths, which organized a mass student-led paramilitary group to suppress foreign influence, traditional Chinese culture and bourgeois intellectual figures.
- China’s educational institutions were shut to further fuel the revolution, disrupting learning and inflicting the promotion of violence and terror among children. Soon, society was factionalized, having the working class be referred to as the ‘good class’, once again ridiculing intellectuals by regarding them as the ‘bad class’.
- The movement quickly escalated and resulted in anarchy and terror subjecting the educated to physical and verbal mistreatment.
- Worse still, progress within China’s urban economy was obstructed since the revolution’s most violent stage led to a halt in communications, transport and distribution of consumer goods. Rural areas faced difficulties as all sideline activities such as raising animals were considered capitalistic and antithetical to the revolution.
- Mao’s successor Lin Biao pursued to assassinate him, but died after the failed attempt.
- Radicalism continued through Jiang Qing’s succeeding oppressive mandate and an exclusive devotion towards the restriction of capitalist and revisionist ideas in art and culture came about.
- After this revolution turned fruitless and Mao died, Jiang Qing was convicted of the barbaric acts committed throughout one of the most inhumane events in China’s history.
- Participants in this movement found themselves guilty and got sent to live in the countryside under appalling and hostile conditions.
- Nonetheless, the deep psychological scars left on victims would not suffice to remind China of the harmful effects generated by assaulting the established order.
- Similarly today, the country is found in situations of oppression and injustice under Xi Jinping’s administration, fuelled by loyalists and twisted propaganda ruling in his favor.
10
Q
The Great Leap Forward
A
- Economic and social campaign which sought to industrialize China over the course of fifteen years adopted to accelerate production and enrich the country at a faster pace than already developed western nations.
- This objective led to a process of collectivization which consisted in the redistribution of land confiscated from landlords and reorganized into communes. There everything was shared among people within plots of land, divorcing the working class from their right to ownership of the means of production.
- In return, schools and hospitals were built to convince peasants of a promising future in which national production would be the answer to China’s troubles.
- However, projects began to fail due to the lack of technical knowledge from peasants. Mistakes ranged from ploughing the wrong way to failures in metallurgy, leading to inefficiency and low-quality results in production. These errors ended steel production which was viewed as one of the key pillars for economic development according to Mao.
- Harvest failure caused by agricultural mismanagement led to widespread famine across the country. Peasants were obliged to report gains to the central government through requisitions, having large shares of food supply removed from the countryside leaving millions starving to death. Fear of execution or possible loss of government support drove farmers to lie further about the actual number of crops that were being produced.
- Thus, this spiral of problems led to a proofless man-made disaster that consequently sidelined Mao from power.
- Long-term consequences evidently stained the countryside for years given that peasants had now lost all of their land, property and basic needs, relying on their declining agricultural productivity to subsist. More tragically, this event would serve as the thorn in Mao’s flesh that instigated a sequel for revolution, bringing about the injurious Cultural Revolution.
11
Q
The First United Front
A
- The CCP joined the National Revolutionary Army of the KMT and fought against northern warlords to reunite China.
- Chiang Kai-Shek, the KMT’s leader, improved the Whampoa military academy where professional soldiers aimed to reunite China with the help of the Soviets by creating a well organized army with an idelogy.
- After Chiang was successful and eliminated provinicial warlords through the Northen Expedition, he began a purge against Communists.
- Chiang was still not addressing the political and social problems of China including peasant famine, using nepotism and only addressing urban problems.
- He was busy attacking the communists while Japan invaded China.
- This obviously brought to an end the First United Front.
12
Q
Deng Xiapoing and the Reform Program
A
- When Deng Xiaoping gained back power by 1978 he desired to impose economic democracy within China but keep the country’s ideals.
- He maintained the Four Cardinal Principles which were retaining the socialist path, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Communist Party and the ideology of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.
- However he reestructured China’s economy through the Four Modernizations of agriculture, industry, technology and defence.
- Agriculturally speaking, he established a responsibility system in the countryside where workers were given land for them to farm in exchange for a set percentage of their crops. Peasants were allowed to own farms and sell their surplus.
- Industrially speaking, he decentralized industry management, and began privatizing businesses. He also attractedforeign investors through low labor costs. Commercial relations deepened and manufacturers from around the world came to China and businesses began thriving again.
- In terms of defence, he upgraded Chinaps defense forces and modernized training tactics for his soldiers.
- With regards to science and technology, Deng fostered the production of consumer goods and relations with the international community in order to modernize the country. He requested a reformation of educational systems, promoting study abroad programs for students. He also brought back college exams.
- The emphasis of Deng was on expertise rather than ideological purity.
- Around 170 million peasants escaped extreme poverty.
- China’s GDP increased tremendously after this decade. Eventually these economic policies allowed China to join the WTO and exports quadrupled ranking the country second in world trade exports. Since opening up to foreign trade and investment and implementing free-market reforms in 1979, China has been among the world’s fastest-growing economies.
13
Q
Zhu Rongji
A
- His family descended from Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty.
- Persecuted twice in his lifetime due to his “rightist” ideologies (1958 and 1970). Thrown out twice from CCP (communist party of China)
- Shanghai Mayor in 1988. It was during his time as Mayor of Shanghai that he developed a public reputation as a strong opponent of corruption, and a talented economic reformer.
- In 1989, when large-scale protests broke out in numerous cities around China (June Fourth Incident), there were also large, well-organized protests in Shanghai. Unlike the government’s violent crackdown of protesters in Beijing, Zhu was able to peacefully resolve the local situation.
- Called by Deng to lead the economy. Supported Deng’s economic reform ideas, but slowed the pace, thus gaining the trust of the conservatives in Beijing (Banking Reform and Financial Reform).
- Became Premier in 1998, largely due to his success in managing the development of Shanghai. WTO membership in 2001.
- Joining the WTO opened China to increased foreign investment, but also required it to conform to international conventions of trade, intellectual property, and environmental management.
14
Q
The Taiping Rebellion
A
- The rebellion began under the leadership of Hong Xiuquan in 1850.
He was a disappointed civil service examination candidate who was influenced by Christian teachings and believed he was God’s son and Jesus’s brother, sent to reform China. - He turned into a Christian missionary to learn how to baptize, pray, and sing hymns.
- He instructed his followers to destroy idols and ancestral temples, give up opium and alcohol, and end footbinding and prostitution. He also included propaganda against the foreign rulers of Manchu believing these oppressors were the devils that God had commanded him to destroy.
- He gained thousands of followers who started to clash with the imperial forces. Eventually, he declared Himself King of the Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace. (Taiping)
- As they captured cities across China, Taipings earned government weapons and cash.
- They reached the Yangzi river and took over Nanjing by defeating the Manchus, setting up a government for over a decade.
- In order to regain their strength the Taipings tried to take Shanghai but they were attacked by westerners. Under the leadership of Chinese official Zeng Guofana, the Taipings were finally defeated after ten years.
- Zeng claimed that the Taipings were so fanatical that they all took their lives.
15
Q
Mao Zedong
A
- The ultimate leader and most important figure in the history of the Chinese Communist Party. Along with Lenin and Marx, they are the most relevant communist leaders of the 20th century.
- He grew up in Hunan, living the peasant life and acquired Confucius education. After being forced to work at his family’s farm, he left home.
- He was a soldier while the revolution against the Qing dynasty was taking place. He learned about Marxism and Leninism at the university of Peking in Beijing where he used to work.
- He started a branch of the Socialist Youth League at the school where he was a principal. In 1921 he attended the First Congress of the Chinese Communist Party together with representatives from other communist groups in China. After working for many years, he started climbing his way to power.
- After becoming the leader, he started his reforms and plans for the People’s Republic of China.
- The first one was the Great Leap Forward which led to 45 million deaths due to famine and Mao did not take responsibility for his failures, blaming peasants, bad weather and officials. Then he returned to power through the Cultural Revolution in 1966 and rekindled his revolutionary ideas to eradicate the higher classes. It was only successful through violent approaches.
- He later died after this fruitless revolution.
Some say he is a great man because he brought millions of people out of poverty, and others say he is a dictator that killed millions of people.
