FROM REVOLUTION TO REFORM IN CHINA COMMUNIST CONTROL

FROM REVOLUTION TO REFORM IN CHINA

COMMUNIST CONTROL OF CHINA BACKGROUND – AFTER WWII CIVIL WAR RESUMED BETWEEN MAO ZEDONG’S (COMMUNISM) AND JIANG JIESHI’S (NATIONALISTS) MAO’S FORCES WON AND SET UP THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA JIANG JIESHI AND HIS

REASONS FOR VICTORY MAO WON SUPPORT OF A HUGE PEASANT POPULATION COMMUNIST PLEDGED TO REDISTRIBUTE LAND TO POOR PEASANTS AND END OPPRESSION BY LANDLORDS MANY WOMEN BACKED MAO THE COMMUNIST REJECTED THE INEQUALITIES OF THE OLD CONFUCIAN ORDER

REORGANIZING THE ECONOMY WANTED TO MOVE TO AN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY BUILD SOCIALISM AND REPAIR THE ECONOMY GOVERNMENT DREW UP 5 YEAR PLANS TO DEVELOP AGRICULTURE AND HEAVY INDUSTRY MAO CALLED FOR COLLECTIVIZATION

REMOLDING SOCIETY MAO BUILT A ONE PARTY TOTALITARIAN STATE, WITH COMMUNIST PARTY SUPREME COMMUNISM REPLACED TRADITIONAL THOUGHT AND RELIGIONS ENDED OLD LANDLORD AND BUSINESS CLASSES – IN PLACE PEASANTS AND WORKERS WERE HONORED – THOUSANDS OF LANDLORDS AND MIDDLE CLASS PEOPLE WERE BEATEN AND KILLED TO INCREASE LITERACY THEY SIMPLIFIED CHINESE CHARACTERS READING AND WRITING WERE MIXED WITH POLITICAL EDUCATION WHERE STUDENTS

CHANGES FOR WOMEN WON EQUALITY UNDER THE LAW THEY WERE EXPECTED TO WORK ALONGSIDE MEN IN FIELDS AND FACTORIES STATE RUN NURSERIES WERE SET UP TO CARE FOR THE CHILDREN ONLY A FEW WOMEN WON PROMOTION TO TOP JOBS IN GOVERNMENT AND INDUSTRY WOMEN WERE OFTEN PAID LESS THAN MEN FOR THE SAME WORK

ECONOMIC DISASTERS UNDER MAO GREAT LEAP FORWARD – 1958 – URGED PEOPLE TO MAKE A SUPERHUMAN EFFORT TO INCREASE FARM AND INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT HE CREATED COMMUNES – SEVERAL VILLAGES, THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF LAND, AND UP TO 25, 000 PEOPLE HAD ITS OWN SCHOOLS, FACTORIES, HOUSING, AND DINING HALLS EACH COMMUNE HAD A PRODUCTION QUOTA IT WAS A HUGE FAILURE – THE COMMUNE SYSTEM SLOWED FOOD OUTPUT BAD WEATHER AND DECLINING FOOD PRODUCTION LEAD TO A TERRIBLE FAMINE

CHINA AND THE COLD WAR THE US REFUSED TO RECOGNIZE THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA 1971 – CHINA WON ADMISSION INTO THE UNITED NATIONS A YEAR LATER NIXON VISITED MAO IN BEIJING 1979 THE US SET UP FORMAL DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH CHINA

SPLIT WITH SOVIET UNION STALIN AND MAO DISAGREED ON MANY ISSUES MAO HAD ADAPTED MARXISM TO CHINESE CONDITIONS MAO’S REVOLUTION RELIED ON PEASANTS RATHER THAN FACTORY WORKERS AS MARX PREFERED

REFORM AND REPRESSION MAO ZEDONG DIED IN 1976 1981 DENG XIAOPING TAKES OVER MORE INTERESTED IN RAISING OUTPUT THAN IN POLITICAL PURITY “I DON’T CARE IF A CAT IS BLACK OR WHITE AS LONG AS IT CATCHES MICE. ”

ECONOMIC REFORM FOUR MODERNIZATIONS – AGRICULTURE, INDUSTRY, SCIENCE, AND DEFENSE INTRODUCED SOME PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY AND FREE MARKET POLICIES IN AGRICULTURES, THE RESPONSIBILITY SYSTEM REPLACED THE COMMUNES GOVERNMENT TOOK A SHARE OF THEIR CROPS, BUT THE FAMILY COULD SELL THE REST ON THE FREE MARKET MANAGERS OF STATE RUN FACTORIES WERE GIVEN MORE FREEDOM DENG WELCOMED FOREIGN CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY

CONTINUED JOINT VENTURES – FOREIGN COMPANIES WOULD ORGANIZE A BUSINESS WITH CHINESE FIRMS, WITH PROFITS SHARED BY BOTH PARTICIPANTS SET UP SPEICAL ENTERPRISE ZONES – FOREIGNERS COULD OWN AND OPERATE INDUSTRIES REFORMS LEAD TO GROWTH AND A BETTER STANDARD OF LIVING FOR SOME CHINESE DOWNSIDE – CRIME AND CORRUPTION GREW INEQUALITIES INCREASED AS A NEW WEALTHY CLASS EMERGED

TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE BY THE LATE 1980’S CHINESE WERE DEMANDING MORE POLITICAL FREEDOM AS WELL AS ECONOMIC REFORM THEY WANTED A DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT DENG HOWEVER DIDN’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT POLITICAL REFORM MAY 1989 TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DEMONSTRATORS OCCUPIED TIANANMEN SQUARE CALLING FOR DEMOCRACY DEMONSTRATORS REFUSED TO DISPERSE AND THE GOVERNMENT SENT IN TROOPS AND TANKS THOUSANDS WERE KILLED WHILE MANY OTHERS WERE ARRESTED AND TORTURED

CHALLENGES TODAY China’s population 1. 339 BILLION 1980’S CHINA ESTABLISHED A ONE CHILD POLICY TO LIMIT THE POPULATION IF YOU HAD ONE CHILD YOU WERE GIVEN REWARDS SUCH AS BETTER HOUSING OR IMPROVED MEDICAL BENEFITS IF YOU HAD MORE THAN ONE CHILD YOU FACED FINED AND OTHER PENALTIES THIS POLICY WORKED BETTER IN CITIES THAN IT DID IN RURAL AREAS WHY?

ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL ISSUES DENG XIAOPING DIED IN 1997 BETWEEN 1978 AND 2000 CHINA’S GDP QUADRUPLED WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST ECONOMY BEHIND THE UNITED STATES PROBLEMS STATE RUN INDUSTRIES WERE INEFFICIENT COULD NOT CLOSE BECAUSE THEY WOULD RISK HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT CITIES WERE OVERFLOWING WITH MILLIONS OF PEASANTS EAGER FOR NEW OPPORTUNITIES INEQUALITIES BETWEEN RICH AND POOR COMMUNIST IDEOLOGY WEAKENED PEOPLE WANTED PROFIT MORE THAN THEY WANTED SOCIALISM

HUMAN RIGHTS ISSUES THE GOVERNMENT JAILED CRITICS CHINA USED PRISON LABOR TO PRODUCE CHEAP GOODS FOR EXPORT CHINESE SUPRESSED THE TIBETAN BUDDHIST CULTURE AS WELL AS THE FALUN GONG THE GOVERNEMNT VIEWED THE FALUN GONG AS A POLITICAL THREAT