Download Thinking About China…

Thinking About China…
• Size Matters
– Most populist country, 1/5 of world’s pop.
– Natural resources are stretched
• Limited arable land, water shortage
• New housing and industry competes for land/water
– Population is relatively homogeneous, with the
exception of Tibet minority nationalities aren’t
important
• Written Chinese is uniform. Spoken is not
• Chinese Nationalism (this is on steroids…superiority
complex)
• China closed itself off for most of the last 1000 yrs.
– Economically
• One of the world’s top economies,Per capita still
very poor
• Rapid economic, but not political change
• Economic Change
– People used to making choices in the
marketplace
– Signs that CCP is having trouble
recruiting talented young commies
for future govt. jobs
• Evolution of the Chinese State
– Confucianism-code of conduct.
Respect and accept place in the
social order
– First Centralized State-built canals,
roads, and parts of the Great Wall
(221 BC)
– Good emperors, things went well.
– Went through cycles of one dynasty
to another
– End of 18th century,
China not doing well.
Victims of bad
governance, and belief
in own superiority
• 19th century victims of
Western Imperialism.
China is humiliated
• Japan joins in defacto control of
China after C. loses
Sino-Japanese war
• Chinese nationalism
grows.
• Sun Yat-Sen=1880’s started a
political group aimed at
overthrowing monarchy (weak
Manchu dynasty). 1911 successful
revolt, Sun was chosen as president.
Problems warlords, monarchists, etc.
Organizes the Guomintang
(Nationalist Party) to fight against
monarchists
• Chiang Kai-Shek=Joins Guomintang.
Sun’s death assumes control of it.
Needs help against warlords. Uses
Soviet help. Chiang begins to purge
Commies from Guomintang. 1934
Long March 100, 000 Commies on
the run, 10,000 survive. Gain
support of peasants…
• WWII= US attempts to aid
Guomintang to fight
Japanese. American $
benefits government and
party elites and fight
Commies rather then
Japanese. Commies fight
Japanese. Peasants see
Commies as patriots. CCP
got credit. More support
for Commies among the
people
• After WWII, full Civil War
breaks out btwn. Commies
and Guomintang. Chiang’s
military skills are no match
for commies and loyal
peasants
• Mao
– Peasant background
– WWII ends and Guomintang
forced south, forced to
Taiwan. 1949 Peoples
Republic of China=mainland
China
– 1936 chairman of CCP, hold
this post for 40 yrs.
– “Mass Line”=from the masses
to the masses, Take the ideas
of the masses , distil and
concentrate them, give them
back to the masses and
explain them until the masses
embrace them
Factionalism
• From time of rev it took 30 yrs for China to attain stability CCP
has a legal monopoly on political power and dominates policy
making and implementation.
• “Democratic Centralism”- internal disagreements kept
to a minimum, power in the hands of the party elite
• Factionalism- DC is an ideal. Always had factions
within the party
– Sino-Soviet split-Stalin criticized, Mao didn’t like
– Hundred Flowers Campaign- speak your mind. Uh oh! (don’t
like what people had to say)
– Great Leap Forward-Rapidly move to collective ag and
industrialize. “Red v Expert”. Million + die
– Cultural Revolution- used students “Red Guard” attack
anyone who wasn’t loyal to Mao. All Western ideas attacked
– 4 Modernizations=agriculture, science, industry, and military
– Currently ideology minimized. Efforts focus on economy.
Political system still closed.