Hus on First y y y y y Communist countries did not have a regular or routine way to choose their leaders.

The consolidation of power by Hu Jinato in fall 2004 was one of the most smooth transitions by a communist regime. Named Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2002. Many observers thought that his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, would try to keep control on key decisions. Jiang kept his position as head of the Central Military Commission.

Thinking About China y The Basics o The PRCs the worlds most populous country, with nearly 1.3 billion people, or 1/5 the worlds population. o Homogenous: 92% are Han o Chinese are an nationalistic/isolationalist country. Required Confucian memorizations to enter schools, antispiritual pollution campaign that forbade rock and roll plus make-up. Key Questions o The CCP focus reforms on economic aspects. o Clamp down at first sign of protests Tiananmen Square in 1989. o Hu Jintao are referred to as the fourth generation. The Evolution of the Chinese State o The Broad Sweep of Chinese History  Chinese politics link to Confucianism.  Confucianism: a code of social conduct that revolves around a few key principles.  Qing were a Manchurian dynasty that took over in 1644. Near end of 18th, experienced decline; population was growing faster than agricultural production, leaving an overstretched peasantry and an often hungry urban population.  Early 19th century Europe invaded and incited war; started the first Opium War.  Imposed the law of extraterritoriality, they followed the European laws.  Hundred Day Reform of 1898, the emperor issued decrees designed to modernize the education system, the economy, the military, and the bureaucracy. o A Failed Revolution  Sun Yat-sen was one of the first Westernized intellectuals and one of the first Chinese people to be photographed wearing western clothes.

1905, established the Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party Sun gave way to warload, and was briefly able to bring the country together under what amounted to a personal dictatorship.  Last straw-thought the Treaty of Versailles would bring the end of imperialism. Initiated the May Fourth Movement, student protest against Confucianism, the education system, and the family. Wasnt successful. o China Stands Up  Chiang Kai-shek was trained by Soviets (Bolsheviks).  Mao Zedong, a peasant and a small party member at the time, devised a plan to thwart the KMTs offense. B/c the KMT were stationed in the cities, he advised to attacked using guerillea warfare, mobilizing in the countyside.  The Long March: A year long march of the KMT forces chasing the CCP. Although lead to a massive life count, it helped the CCP by establishing its image and developing its political platform.  January 1936, Politburo elected Mao chairman of the CCP, held until his death in `976.  Gone was the ideal that a revolution can be carried out by a small, vanguard party (Lenin).  Mass line: A system of taking unorganized ideas from the masses, concentrating them, taking those developed ideas to the masses and see their reactions, test the masses reaction to those ideas, until a rich idea becomes developed.  Late 1936, a group of disgruntled generals took Chiang Kai-Shek prisoner. CCP gained wide support for their retaliation against the Japanese in Manchuria.  October 1949, CCP achieved victory, leading the KMT to flee to Taiwan. o Factionalism  Inherited a similar blueprint like the Soviet Union. Based of democratic centralism, where there is theoretically little internal conflict.  CCP faced internal conflict, with different internal factions supporting different ideologies.  CCP announced their first 5 year plan in 1953 that channeled more than half the available investment funds into heavy industry.  Mao Zedong did not settle w/ Khrushchevs secret speech, on his attack of a cult of personality b/c Mao was seen as a political leader in China.  Sino-Soviet split occurred shortly after the speech, as each country criticized each others interpretation of Communism.  Mao initiated the Hundred Flowers Campaign in 1956. In this campaign Mao used a traditional phrase Let a hundred flower bloom and a  

     

thousand points of view contendin urging the people to speak their minds. Quickly changed in favor for the Great Leap Forward, through which the Chinese were to make rapid progress in the transition to socialism and communism. Maoist took the red side during the red-versus-expert debate. Great Leap Forward = disaster. In hard winter of 1958-59, at least a million people starved to death. Mao launched the Socialist Education Movement in 1953, which returned ideology and mobilization. University and middle school students formed groups of Red Guards to carry on the work of the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, order was restored. The Gang of Four Jiang, Zhang, Yao, and Wang, controlled cultural and educational affairs. 1973 Zhou announced that China would concentrate on four modernizationsagriculture, industry, science, and the military.