Modern China (textbook) Flashcards

1
Q

Why was China ripe for revolution?

A
  • Foreign countries controlled its trade and economic resources
  • Modernization + nationalism = key for survival
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2
Q

Who was the Kuomintang?

A
  • Nationalist Party

- Pushed for modernization and nationalization

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3
Q

Who was Sun Yixian?

A
  • 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
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4
Q

What were the “Three Principles of the People”?

A

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

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5
Q

Who did Sun Yixian turn his presidency over to and what happened then?

A
  • Yuan Shikai
  • Betrayed the democratic ideals of the revolution- sparked revolts
  • Died in 1916- civil war broke out
  • Warlords + military leaders ruled the territories
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6
Q

What was the Versailles Treaty of WWI?

A
  • 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
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7
Q

What was the impact of the Versailles Treaty of WWI?

A
  • 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
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8
Q

Who was Mao Zedong?

A
  • 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
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9
Q

Who was Lenin and what did he believe?

A
  • Soviet communism
  • Organization in Russian cities
  • Sent military advisers + equipment to Nationalists in return for allowing Chinese Communists to join the Kuomintang
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10
Q

Why did Sun ally the Kuomintang with the newly formed Communist Party?

A
  • Both became unhappy with the Western democracies that refused to support his struggling government
  • Hoped to unite all the revolutionary groups for common action
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11
Q

Who was Jiang Jieshi? (Chiang Kai-shek)

A
  • After Sun Yixian died in 1925, headed the Kuomintang

- Son of middle-class merchant

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12
Q

Who were Jiang’s followers and what did they fear?

A
  • Bankers and business people

- Feared the Communists’ goal of creating a socialist economy modeled after the Soviet Union’s

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13
Q

Why did the peasants align with the Communists?

A
  • Jiang had promised democracy + political rights to all Chinese
  • His government became less democratic and more corrupt- did little to improve peasants’ lives
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14
Q

What were the causes and effects of the Nationalists trying to wipe out the Communists in April of 1927?

A
  • 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
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15
Q

What was the Long March?

A
  • 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
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16
Q

Why was the civil war suspended?

A
  • 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
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17
Q

How did Mao and the communists fight the Japanese?

A

Peasants used guerrilla warfare

18
Q

How did communists win the peasants loyalty under Mao?

A
  • Promoted literary

- Improved food production

19
Q

Why did the US send Nationalists money (1.5 billion)? What happened to the money?

A
  • To help them fight the Japanese

- Supplies + money often ended up in the hands of a few corrupt officers

20
Q

Why didn’t the Nationalists fight too many battles against the Japanese?

A

They saved their strength for the coming battle against Mao’s Red Army (kept fighting after Japan surrendered)

21
Q

Who had the advantage in the Civil War at first?

A
  • Nationalists- army outnumbered them 3 to 1

- US continued to provide money (2 billion)

22
Q

Why did thousands of Nationalist soldiers join the Communists?

A
  • China economy collapsing

- Inflation

23
Q

Who won the civil war in 1949 (why)? What was its new name? Where did the other side retreat to?

A
  • 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)
24
Q

What were they two Chinas and where were they located? What was the effect of this?

A
  • Nationalist China- Taiwan
  • People’s Republic of China- mainland
  • Intensified Cold War
25
Q

Which superpowers came to help out the two Chinas? How did each help?

A
  • 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

26
Q

Where did the Chinese spread to under Mao’s reign?

A

Tibet, India, and southern/ Inner Mongolia

27
Q

What was the issue between China and Tibet?

A
  • 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
28
Q

How large a percentage was the Communist Party?

A

1% (4.5 million members)

29
Q

What two organizations did Mao head until 1959?

A

The Communist party and the national government

30
Q

How did Mao transform China?

A
  • 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
31
Q

How much land did people own?

A
  • 80% lived in rural areas but owned no land

- 10% of rural population controlled 70% of the farmland

32
Q

By 1957, what products did the output increase dramatically?

A

Coal, steel, cement, and electricity

33
Q

What was the Great Leap Forward / communes?

A
  • 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
34
Q

Why was the Great Leap Forward a failure? When and how did it end?

A
  • Poor planning and inefficient home industries hampered growth
  • Program ended in 1961 after crop failures caused a famine that killed 20 million people
35
Q

What happened between China and the Soviet Union in the late 1950s?

A
  • 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
36
Q

What happened after the failure of the Great Leap Forward and the split with the Soviet Union?

A
  • 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
37
Q

Who were the Red Guards and why were they formed?

A
  • 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
38
Q

What was the goal of the Cultural Revolution?

A

To establish a society of peasants and workers in which all were equal

39
Q

Who was the new hero of the Cultural Revolution?

A

-Peasant who worked with his hands

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40
Q

What did the Red Guards do to the intelligence of the country and why?

A
  • 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
41
Q

Why did the Cultural Revolution eventually have to stop? Who was Zhou Enlai?

A
  • Chaos threatened farm production and closed down factories- civil war seemed possible
  • Zhou- Chinese Communist party founder and premier (since 1949) began restoring order