History of China

1
History of China

• Imperial to Socialist to . . . . ?

2
The Power of Imperial China

• 14th century
• Largest Empire in the World in 1300
• Agriculture rice, later corn, sweet potatoes
  peanuts
• Mining salt, silver, tin, iron , jobs
  products
• Industry silk, cotton, porcelain, black powder

3
Marco Polo

• Chinese culture was revered, respected by the
  west.
• Establishes Silk Road giving Europeans access to
  prized Chinese goods
• Silk
• Cotton
• Porcelain
• Black powder

4
Isolationism

• China becomes increasingly isolationist and
  elitist.
• China turned its back on the world
• Chinese culture becomes stagnant conservative.
  
• China fails to keep up with the west.

5
Industrial Era

• China fails to industrialize.
• Industrial Britain reigns supreme in the west
• British build their empire all the way to India.
  
• British replace Spanish Portuguese as primary
  traders

6
Opium Wars

• 1800s Brits run out
• of silver replace it
• w/trading Opium (from India)
• Rates of Opium addiction
• in China skyrocket Opium
• use becomes a Chinese
• epidemic.
• China bans Opium
• Opium wars (1848) fought over British right to
  sell Opium in China.
• British win lead to British extraterritorial
  rights

7
China is a Paper Tiger

• Chinese defeat in the
• Opium Wars exposes
• an outdated military
• China is un-industrialized,
• fails to keep up with the
• west.
• Others gain spheres of
• influence in Chinese ports
• US
• Russia
• Portugal
• Germany

8
Boxer Rebellion

• 1899 Open Door Policy creates resentment for
  Westerners.
• Society for Harmonious Fists (Boxers)
  established to combat Western Influence
• Stages anti foreign rebellions in Tianjin
  Beijing killed over 200 westerners.
• Empress Cixi (SU-shi) voices support for
  rebellion but fails to act.
• Combined western armies crush rebellion.

9
Government corruption leads to failed reform
attempts

• Empress Cixi resists change
• One summer while she is away her nephew tries to
  make changes, hes thrown out upon her return.
• 1902 Empress Cixi promises to study western
  countries, create a fully constitutional gov. in
  15 years (by 1917).

10
Revolution!

• 1912 Sun Yixians
• Nationalist movement
• overthrows Monarchy
• Sun turns control over
• to General Yuan Shikai
• China enters WWI
• 1916, General Shikai
• dies (civil war ensues)
• 1919 Versailles treaty
• 1925 Sun Yixian dies, succeeded by Chang Kai Shek

11
Nationalists vs. Communists

• communists (who are aided by Lenin) are a
  significant portion of the Chinese nationalist
  movement.
• At first, Chiang Kai Shek promises to give them a
  voice in the movement.
• Shek (supported by Western capitalists) sees
  communists as a threat tries to eliminate from
  Membership in the nationalist movement.

12
Civil war

• Chiang Kai Sheks nationalists vs. Mao Zedongs
  communists (1918-1949)Nationalists are better
  organized and have better financial backing
  (West), score initial victories.
• WWII puts fighting on hold.
• Japanese Rape of Nanking

13
Communists turn the tide

• Mao takes his communists on the Long March
  across China, engaging Chiangs nationalists
  strategically in guerilla warfare
• With further aid from Stalin, Maos communists
  defeat Chiangs nationalists.
• Chiang Kai Shek flees to Taiwan.
• Emergence of Socialist rule The Peoples
  Republic of China

14
MaoRules

• Collectivizes Agriculture
• http//web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/video_archive/jwjo
  nes/world/china/ChinaLandReform.rm?cloakport8554,
  554,7070
• 5 million landlords undesirables were killed
  in the collectivization process
• 40 of Chinese land changed hands during the
  early 1950s.

http//web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/china/u1/lesson1pa
rt3.asp
15
The Peoples Republic?

• Early economic successes Soviet assistance lead
  to increases in quality of life (qol)
• Production is back at pre-war levels.
• Mao decides to open the government to public
  feedback.
• 100 flowers campaign backfires.
• Mao is scarred

16
Economic Changes Continue

• Private businesses entrepreneurial activities
  were gradually eliminated.
• GREAT LEAP FORWARD (farming)
• Mao orders all peasants organized in to communes
• All food was for the state
• Peasants were required to form cottage industries
  smelting iron.
• GLF is a miserable failure results in 40
  million of deaths and useless/wasted iron.

http//web.uncg.edu/dcl/courses/video_archive/jwjo
nes/world/china/ChinaWorkers.rm?cloakport8554,554
,7070
17
Foreign Relations

• Stalin Snubs Mao
• Soviets continue to give Chinese military
  financial aid
• Chinese criticize Soviet softness with the west
  in 1960s, sever ties

18
Cultural revolution

• Mao wanted to unify China in a communist culture
• Elimination of anti-communists rightists in
  Chinese culture
• Focused on youth Red guards
• Witch hunts targeted
• Intellectuals
• Journalists
• Teachers
• Artists
• priests.

19
President Nixon Visits China (72)

• Nixon called it The week that changed the
  world
• 1st American TV images of China in decades
• Nixon quoted from Mao "Seize the hour! Seize the
  day! . . . . for our two peoples to rise to the
  heights of greatness which can build a new and
  better world
• Sent a clear and dramatic message to everyone
  watching that a new relationship was being forged.

20
Maos Demise

• Suffered a serious stroke in 1972
• Paranoia led to massive purges of party
  leadership, including future party chairman Deng
  Xiaoping
• Died in 1976

21
Deng Xiaoping (76-81)

• Likeable
• moderate fought against radicals in communist
  party
• Intelligent
• Practical
• Likeable
• Tried to help rehabilitate victims of the
  Cultural Revolution

22
Deng spearheads reforms

• Deng sought (with the support of party
  leadership) to put the 4 Modernizations at the
  top of China's agenda
• Agriculture
• Industry
• science and technology
• defense

23
Deng spearheads reforms

• Ended class labels discrimination based on
  class
• Promotion within the party based more on rank
  than loyalty (switch from Maos era)
• Created a new state constitution that emphasized
  the rule of law under which even party leaders
  are theoretically held accountable

24
Reforms continue in the 80s

• Open Door Policy
• Allowed foreign investment in China foreign
  exchange
• U.S. grants China More favored nation trade
  status
• Rural Reform
• Decollectivization
• Allowing rural urban markets
• Creation of new farming businesses (privatizing?)
• Industrial reforms
• Relaxing of central government controls
• Allow businesses to retain profits
• Banking reforms

25
Tiananmen Square

• April 22 - 100,000 students gather in the square
  to petition the government for change democracy

26
Tiananmen square

• June 3 After weeks of failed negotiations with
  students, Chinese army uses tanks armored
  vehicles to re-take Tiananmen square by force,
  killing over 1,000 students.

27
Backlash

• International community ( U.S.) expressed
  concern over Chinese actions
• China fails to acknowledge any mis-handling of
  the protests

28
Modern China

• 1992 China announces a move to a Socialist
  Market economy (?) abandoning traditional
  communist goals.
• Opened State controlled businesses (SOEs) to
  open to the stock exchange (the state would
  always retain the majority)
• Admitted to the World Trade Organization (WTO)
  and agreed to open telecommunications banking
  sectors to foreign competition investment
  (http//www.coba.unr.edu/faculty/parker/econ305/ec
  on305f04lec5a.pdf)
• China has the largest trade surplus with the US
  of any country in the world, but also has
  millions unemployed.

29
Modern China