Modern China

Chapter 16
 Secti on 1: The
Pe op les Rep ubli c
of Chi na
Nationalists VS. Communists

Chiang Kai-shek Mao Zedong

 Nationalists
-Kuomintang (KMT), Chinese Nationalist Party, Republic of China
-About 1928 to 1949
-Pushed for more Democratic China
-More Western Ideas and Influence
-War Against Japanese in 1930; fight occupation
-After 1945; Civil War with the Communist Party
-KMT reduce their military power (lay off soldiers)…Consequence?
-Could not manage the economy
-Defended only urban areas during Civil War…Problem?
-Retreat to Taiwan
 Communists
-People’s Republic of China
-Appeals to the peasants; who else?
-Promised an end to oppression by landlords and government officials
-Land Reform
-Want to industrialize
-“Dictatorship of the People”
-Promise of becoming a world power
-Kick out Imperial Powers
Who Would You Support?
 Mao Zedong
-Influenced by Karl Marx
-Ideas of Class Struggle
-Proletariat: industrial working class
-What were Marx’s theories?
-Classless Society
-Who is Mao’s proletariat?
-Russian Revolution of 1917: Strong
Communist Party can lead the people
-Use of Propaganda

Why Mao?
Mao Zedong Propaganda

“Quotations of
Chairman Mao” or the
Little Red Book

Where else
have you seen
Propaganda?
 Other Propaganda

Is Propaganda Still Present

Today?
 Recent Propaganda

Is Propaganda Effective?
China as a Totalitarian State
-Government controls every aspect of citizen’s lives through a one-party
dictatorship
-Prior to 1949 there were years of Civil War
-What would Civil War do to a country?
-Economic and Social issues
-Starvation throughout the whole country
-Name other Totalitarian Leaders…
 Some of Mao’s Accomplishments

-He fulfilled many of his promises

-Ended foreign influence
-Initially brought an end to much starvation
-United China and ended Unrest
-Built schools and extended healthcare
-More on this later in the week
 New Leadership: Deng
Xiaoping
-Introduced some
Democratic-looking
reforms
-Loosened the
government’s hold on the
economy
-Sent students abroad to
study
-How are these things
different from Mao
Zedong’s policies?
-Resigns in 1989
 Tiananmen Square
-April and June of 1989, June 4th Incident
-Many college students Gathered to mourn the loss of Hu Yaobang,
government official who urged Capitalist and Democratic reform in
China
-He was forced to resign because of his political beliefs (freedom of
speech and freedom of press)
-Students begin protesting the Chinese Government
-They wanted a government that was more Democratic
-When told to go home they refused
-Chinese Government sent the army to control the crowds
-What do you think happens next?
Tiananmen Square
 Aftermath
-Death Toll: Civilians Near 1000, Chinese Red Cross over 2000
-Injured: Highest estimate 10,000
-Political Response: Any Democratic propositions for reform were forgotten
about; the government had displayed it’s ruthlessness
-Protestors and Democratic leaders imprisoned and some executed
-The event has all but been erased from Chinese history
-Significance of 1989…
Compared to the Events at
Kent State University in
1970…
Section 2: Economic
Development
 Review: What had Mao Zedong
promised to accomplish as China’s
leader?
 Beginning With Agriculture and Land Reform

-Mao redistributed land; no more private ownership, Landlords?

-Government controlled the means of production
-No land ownership; No Inequality
-Classless society…Whose Ideas?
-Work from the ground up…literally
-Landless given land
-Collective Farms: worked for the state
and received a portion of the harvest
-Why does the government believe that
Collective Farms will be effective?
 The Great Leap Forward
-Modernization through agriculture from
1958-1961

-Use the enormous population

-Goal: Transition China from agrarian

society to modern industrial society

-Break up rural China into Communes

-25,000 Communes containing 5,000

households each
Communes

-Why would a commune be

unsuccessful in producing more in
China?
-Incentive to work hard?
-People assigned to build dams,
bridges, irrigation systems
-Everyone on the commune is
given food and shelter
-People did resist the commune
system
 Outcomes of the Great Leap Forward
-This program is most remembered for
the death it brought to China
-As people are moved to the production
of steel…
-Exaggerated output figures…why?
-To make up for the exaggeration, crops
that were meant for the peasant workers
were sent to the state to be exported…
-Famine sets in
-1959: Yellow River Floods, kills 2
million people
-Locust destroy crops
-1960: Widespread Drought
 Cultural Revolution 1966-1969
-Unrest within China…why?
-Mao wants to renew the spirit of revolution
-Eliminate proletariat and rid China of anything
Capitalist…creating an enemy?
-Who would Mao look to in order to carry out
the revolution?
-The Red Guards
-Who are the targets?

What if you did not join

the Red Guard?
 Effects
-Production essentially halted
-Many schools closed
-Children sent to rural camps to learn ideals
of Communism
-Destroyed temples; anything that
represented an old way of life…
-Millions persecuted; about 500,000 dead
-Official number hard to come by…why?
-World Reaction?
-What would this event do to Communism
in China?
-How is Mao viewed after this?
Leadership of Deng
Xiaoping

What do we know about

his policies already?
 Four Modernizations
-Goals are similar to Mao; but uses a different approach
-No emphasize on a class struggle
-Four Modernizations program called for: modernizing agriculture,
expanding industry, developing science/technology, and upgrading
defenses
-Wants more mechanized farming…what would be the result?
-Where do you get up to date farming equipment in 1970s and 1980s
-Make China self-sufficient in food production…what would be the result?
 Responsibility System
-Families lease land from the government to farm; private ownership?
-They must sell a portion of their harvest to the government at a set price
-And they must grow enough to support themselves

-Also farmers are permitted to sell surpluses on the open market

for profit, Is there incentive to produce more?
-What does this mean for China’s Government?
-How might the rest of the world view the responsibility system?
-Is Capitalism coming to China?
 Industry
-Mao relied on commune system to build
industry
-Deng extends the responsibility system
to factories
-Shifts to light industry…
-Allow some private entrepreneurs to
operate businesses
Special Economic Zones
(SEZ)
-An attempt to bring foreign capital into China
-Deng ends isolationism…what benefits will China see?
-Free Enterprise regions of China
-Encourage trade and foreign investment
-Economy dictated by the market…what do you call an
economy like this?
-Why has China not loosened it’s hold on the overall
economy after seeing how well the SEZs have done?
Section 3: Changing Patterns of
Life
 Education
-Simplified their written language

-Raising literacy rate

-Why are Chinese pushing

education now more than ever?

-How is the Chinese attitude

about education different from
our own?

-Do you think this attitude is

changing?
 New Social Class
-As a result of Communism who has
emerged as the new elite class?

-Who is the lower class?

-How might education contribute to a new

class system?

-Is China truly Communist?

 Families In China
-De-Emphasize the role of the family…
why?
-Cultural Revolution as example
-Changes in Funeral practices
-Need for land
-Why are Chinese not supposed to
honor their dead?
-Who might still practice traditional
funerals?
 Weddings and Children
-Prior to 1949; parents chose marriage
partner
-How might this practice change after
1949?
-Have people in China held on to their
traditional customs of marriage?
-Mixed Ceremonies
-What is significant about children in
China?
-Who may want more than one child?
-Why limit children?
-Effects…
 Women Before 1949
-Inferior to men
-Could not own property
-Expected to stay inside the home
-Expected to be obedient to their
husbands
-Foot Binding…
 Women After 1949
-How might women’s roles change
under Communism?

-Equality under the law

-Still some pay issues?

Section 4: China and the World
 Relations with the Soviet Union

-What would you expect?

-Both Communist…Some support
-Differences between Stalin and Mao
-Who would lead the Communist world?
-Policies of Khrushchev…Cuban Missile
Crisis
-Indirect conflicts…(Afghanistan)

Why would the collapse of the Soviet Union

concern China?
 U.S.A and China
-What policies of China may have
hindered relations with the US?
-UN recognizes the Peoples Republic of
China in 1971
-1972: Richard Nixon visits China
-1979: US recognizes China
-How has the United States benefited
from China?
 Vietnam and Korea
-Chinese influence in Vietnam
-Many border disputes
-China in the Vietnam War…
-Under what circumstances do
you think the Chinese would
have gotten directly involved?
-Fighting in 1979…

-Involvement in the Korean War…

-Why support North Korea?

Would China influence a U.S. decision to

invade North Korea?
 Japan
-Occupation in the 1930’s and 1940’s
-Nanking violence in 1937
-Ends in 1945…
-What can Japan give to China?
-What does China have that Japan can
use?
-Where might there be a source of
tension between China and Japan?
 Issues in Hong Kong
-Controlled by the British
until 1997
-Importance to the British…
-What type of economy?
-Concerns when returning
to Chinese rule…
-Special Administrative
Region of China
-Promise of maintaining the
market economy and the
rights of the people within
the region
-China will control foreign
relations and defense
- “One Country, Two
Systems”
 Confusion of Taiwan
-Whose government fled to Taiwan in
1949?
-How does China view Taiwan?
-How does the United States view
Taiwan?
-Taiwan has become a very successful
and wealthy nation