Modern China (textbook) Flashcards
Why was China ripe for revolution?
- Foreign countries controlled its trade and economic resources
- Modernization + nationalism = key for survival
Who was the Kuomintang?
- Nationalist Party
- Pushed for modernization and nationalization
Who was Sun Yixian?
- Leader of Nationalist Party
- Led the overthrow of the last Chinese emperor of Qing dynasty (1911)
- Became president of the new Republic of China (1912)
- Lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity
What were the “Three Principles of the People”?
Sun Yixian hoped to establish a modern government based on:
1) nationalism- an end to foreign control
2) people’s rights- democracy
3) people’s livelihood- economic security for all Chinese
Who did Sun Yixian turn his presidency over to and what happened then?
- Yuan Shikai
- Betrayed the democratic ideals of the revolution- sparked revolts
- Died in 1916- civil war broke out
- Warlords + military leaders ruled the territories
What was the Versailles Treaty of WWI?
- Chinese government in Beijing declared war against Germany
- Some people believed that China participating would allow them to gain control of Chinese territories previously belonging to Germany
- Treaty gave Japan those territories
What was the impact of the Versailles Treaty of WWI?
- People outraged
- May Fourth Movement:
- 1919, 3,000 angry students gathered in Beijing
- Became a national movement including workers, shopkeepers, and professionals
- Showed the Chinese people’s commitment to the goal of establishing a strong, modern nation
Who was Mao Zedong?
- Assistant librarian at Beijing University
- Among the founders of the Chinese Communist Party (1921)
- Believed he could bring revolution to a rural country where peasants could be the true revolutionaries
Who was Lenin and what did he believe?
- Soviet communism
- Organization in Russian cities
- Sent military advisers + equipment to Nationalists in return for allowing Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang
Why did Sun ally the Kuomintang with the newly formed Communist Party?
- Both became unhappy with the Western democracies that refused to support his struggling government
- Hoped to unite all the revolutionary groups for common action
Who was Jiang Jieshi? (Chiang Kai-shek)
- After Sun Yixian died in 1925, headed the Kuomintang
- Son of middle-class merchant
Who were Jiang’s followers and what did they fear?
- Bankers and business people
- Feared the Communists’ goal of creating a socialist economy modeled after the Soviet Union’s
Why did the peasants align with the Communists?
- Jiang had promised democracy + political rights to all Chinese
- His government became less democratic and more corrupt- did little to improve peasants’ lives
What were the causes and effects of the Nationalists trying to wipe out the Communists in April of 1927?
- Jiang soon turned against the Communists
- Nationalist troops moved into Shanghai and killed many Communist leaders (nearly wiped out Communist Party)
- 1929 Jiang became president of Nationalist Republic of China
- Great Britain + US recognized new government
- Soviet Union did not because of the Communist slaughter
- Jiang’s treachery also led to a civil war because of Communist rage
What was the Long March?
- Jiang gathered large army of 700,000 men
- Surrounded Communists’ mountain stronghold
- Communists outnumbered- 100,000 Communists fled 6,000 miles
- Thousands died hunger, cold, exposure, battle wounds
- After more than a year, Mao + 7-8 thousand survivors settled in caves in northwestern China
- Gained new followers
Why was the civil war suspended?
- Japanese took advantage of China’s weakness/struggles
- Invaded Manchuria (industrialized province in northeast China)
- All-out invasion: bombings of villages + cities killed thousands
- Destruction of farms- starvation
- Controlled large part of China
- Threat forced uneasy truce between Jiang and Mao
- Temporarily united to fight Japanese
How did Mao and the communists fight the Japanese?
Peasants used guerrilla warfare
How did communists win the peasants loyalty under Mao?
- Promoted literary
- Improved food production
Why did the US send Nationalists money (1.5 billion)? What happened to the money?
- To help them fight the Japanese
- Supplies + money often ended up in the hands of a few corrupt officers
Why didn’t the Nationalists fight too many battles against the Japanese?
They saved their strength for the coming battle against Mao’s Red Army (kept fighting after Japan surrendered)
Who had the advantage in the Civil War at first?
- Nationalists- army outnumbered them 3 to 1
- US continued to provide money (2 billion)
Why did thousands of Nationalist soldiers join the Communists?
- China economy collapsing
- Inflation
Who won the civil war in 1949 (why)? What was its new name? Where did the other side retreat to?
- Communists enthusiastic about Mao’s promise to return land to the peasants
- Well trained Red forced gained control of major cities
- Communists called China the People’s Republic of China
- Nationalists retreated to Taiwan (Formosa)
What were they two Chinas and where were they located? What was the effect of this?
- Nationalist China- Taiwan
- People’s Republic of China- mainland
- Intensified Cold War
Which superpowers came to help out the two Chinas? How did each help?
- US helped set up Nationalist government in Taiwan
- Soviets gave financial, military, and technical aid to Communist China, and pledged to help each other when attacked
Where did the Chinese spread to under Mao’s reign?
Tibet, India, and southern/ Inner Mongolia
What was the issue between China and Tibet?
- 1950-1951 China took control of Tibet
- Offered self-government to Tibetans
- China’s control tightened, Tibet leader (Dalai Lama) fled to India- welcomed many Tibetans
- Resentment between China and India
How large a percentage was the Communist Party?
1% (4.5 million members)
What two organizations did Mao head until 1959?
The Communist party and the national government
How did Mao transform China?
- Wanted to reshape economy based on Marxist socialism
- Agrarian Reform Law of 1950- seized the holdings of landlords
- Killed more than 1 million landlords who resisted
- Divided land among peasants
- Forced peasants to join collective farms
- Private companies became nationalized (public)
- Launched 5 year plan- set high production goals for industry
How much land did people own?
- 80% lived in rural areas but owned no land
- 10% of rural population controlled 70% of the farmland
By 1957, what products did the output increase dramatically?
Coal, steel, cement, and electricity
What was the Great Leap Forward / communes?
- Called for larger collective farms- communes
- Strictly controlled life
- Peasants worked the land together
- Ate in communal dining rooms and slept in communal dormitories
- Raised children in communal nurseries
- Owned nothing
- No incentive to work hard when only the state profited from their labor
Why was the Great Leap Forward a failure? When and how did it end?
- Poor planning and inefficient home industries hampered growth
- Program ended in 1961 after crop failures caused a famine that killed 20 million people
What happened between China and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s?
- Spirit that bound them together began to fade
- Each sought to lead the worldwide Communist movement
- Shared the longest border in the world- faced territory disputes
What happened after the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the split with the Soviet Union?
- Mao reduced role in government
- Other leaders moved away from his strict socialist ideas
- Farm families could live in their own homes and could sell crops they grew on small private plots
- Factory workers could compete for wage increases and promotions
Who were the Red Guards and why were they formed?
- Mao thought China’s new economic policies weakened the Communist goal of social equality
- Mao determined to revive the revolution
- Millions of high school and college students formed militia units
- Led the Cultural Revolution
What was the goal of the Cultural Revolution?
To establish a society of peasants and workers in which all were equal
Who was the new hero of the Cultural Revolution?
-Peasant who worked with his hands
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What did the Red Guards do to the intelligence of the country and why?
- Shut down colleges and schools
- To stamp out threat of intellectual and artistic ability
- Targeted anyone who resisted the regime
- Intellectuals had to “purify” themselves by doing hard labor
- Thousands executed or imprisoned
Why did the Cultural Revolution eventually have to stop? Who was Zhou Enlai?
- Chaos threatened farm production and closed down factories- civil war seemed possible
- Zhou- Chinese Communist party founder and premier (since 1949) began restoring order
