China

Becoming Communist China

&

China’s Culture

Becoming Communist China

Nationalist People’s Party (1912) – Developed as the Chinese grew angrier at their treatment by the

Western Powers

The Party Splits

Nationalists want to develop a government based on western democratic principles

Communists are basing their government on Karl Marx’s ideas

Communist Party – Thought Karl Marx offered a way of achieving prosperity for all Chinese by defeating the imperialist powers in china through revolution led by the working class.

Japan took advantage of the fighting going on in China and invaded

Nationalists and Communists united against Japan, but after the war ended (1945) the Communists had proved to

be the strongest with the most support of the people.

Mao Zedong announced (1949) the establishment of the communist state: The People’s Republic of China

Long March (1934) - A 6000-mile march from Jiangxi to Yan’An. The march took one year. Of the 100,000 people that marched,

only 8,000 reached their goal. Many of the marchers were killed by Nationalists, others died from hunger or disease

Leadership Under Mao (1945-1976)

• 1958 – The Great Leap Forward– Leaping into communism. – All private farms become communal farms. – Mao creates 26,000 peoples communes – Life in the

communes looked like military life. – This became known as the Great Leap Backwards

• 1966 – Cultural Revolution – Smash the old order and establish a new socialist society– Red Guard – men and women whose job was to destroy

the four olds by any means (1966-1969)– Four Olds – old ideology, old thought, old habits, and

old customs

So far all of Mao’s plans have been failures.

Leadership under Deng Xiaoping (1976-1993)

The Four Modernizations1. Improve agriculture – abolished commune system. Rent

land to individual families and they decide what to produce.

2. Improve industry – change from heavy to light industry and focus more on small consumer goods

3. Improve science and technology

4. Improve defense

Deng has been successful – China is expected to have the largest economy in the world by 2025

People are now demanding the 5th Modernization – Political freedom

The 5th Modernization

• Tiananmen Square Demonstration – April 27, 1989 to June 4, 1989– 100,000 people were demanding democratic

reforms.– The government imposed Marshall Law and

ordered the people to leave.– June 3, 1989 – those that had not left were fired

upon with no warning.– 2,000 people were killed, and many more were

wounded

Repression in China has continued.

China’s People and Culture

Three Gorges Dam as of July 2003

Three Gorges Dam as of July 2003

Three Gorges Dam as of July 2003

Huge Population

• Mao Zedong– He believed that the larger the population the

stronger the country– He encouraged families to have large families

• In 1960 China’s growth rate was 2.07%

• When he figured out it was a problem he changed it to two children per family

Huge Population

• Deng Xiaoping– He called for all families to have only one

child.– Families with only one child received special

benefits• Better houses • Better jobs and pay

– Families that had more• They got fined • Wages were cut and possible lost their jobs

Huge Problem

• China’s population control programs have had mixed success– In rural areas families continued to have large

families to work the farms– In urban areas families generally complied– Altogether China’s growth rate went down to

1.1 percent but they are still estimated to hit 1.4 billion by 2010

Ethnic groups

• There are 55 ethnic minorities– Each with its own language, religion & culture– They make up 6% of the population

• 94% of the population are from the Han ethnic groups

Language

• Language is based on ideograms– An ideogram is a Picture or characters that

represents a thing or an idea– There are over 20,000 different characters in

the Chinese language– Each character is pronounced different in

different areas of the country making the Chinese language very diverse.

– With all the different dialects, Mandarin Chinese is the official language of the country

Religion

• Three main religions– Daoism– Confucianism– Buddhism

• Despite these religious philosophies, China is still primarily atheist, meaning they don’t believe in a god

• The Communist government outlaws most religious practices

Traditions

• China is very traditional– They live their lives based on traditions that

have been around for thousands of years– Medical practices are even very traditional

• Good health comes from harmony with the environment

• Acupuncture or inserting needles into specific points in the body to relieve pain is still widely used