Download The Chinese Revolution (1911-1989)

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Period 4
CMM CONTINUED: The Chinese Revolution (1911-1989)
Program Overview
China’s political history has been characterized by long periods of stability alternating
with periods of competing clans battling for control. For many year, the country was kept largely
isolated by imperial rulers who regarded the rest of the world as inferior. European merchants
and then warships fought to open China and, in the aftermath of the Opium Wars in the 19th
century, subjected the country to increasing foreign domination. Failed rebellions against the
western powers and against China’s own backward imperial rulers came to a head in 1911 when
Sun Yat-sen led a revolution to establish a western-style government, an effort that was largely
thwarted by the power of local warlords. After Sun’s death, Chiang Kai-shek took control and
soon turned on his communist allies, led by Mao Zedong.
In 1934, Mao and 100,000 associates embarked on the epic Long March to the remote
mountains of northern China, where they began formulating the communist revolution. After
World War II, Mao’s communist forces defeated Chiang’s Nationalist army and established the
People’s Republic of China. The new regime set up a communist society that sought to rapidly
transform China’s industry and agriculture to improve the lives of millions of poor peasants;
however, Mao’s Great Leap Forward was largely a disaster and forced him to relinquish power.
Mao returned in the mid-1960s to launch the Cultural Revolution with the aim of squelching
anti-communist thought and behavior - a catastrophe that caused thousands of deaths and tore
apart the social fabric of China. Despite these failures, Mao remained a flawed but powerful
symbol of the high ideals of the revolution. In the post-Mao period, market socialism has vastly
improved the economy, but democratic reforms have been violently suppressed.
Despite the world’s condemnation of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989 and
China’s continuing social and environmental challenges, the focus has been more on China’s
huge economic potential, which may make it the world’s richest country in the near future.
Timeline
1840 - 1842: Great Britain defeats China in the First Opium War.
1851 - 1864: The Chinese Empire is besieged in the Taiping Rebellion.
1856 - 1860: European powers defeat China in the Second Opium War.
1900: Foreigners are attacked in the Boxer Rebellion.
1911: Sun Yat-sen topples the Ching Dynasty in the Republican Revolution.
1925: Sun Yat-sen dies.
1927: The Chinese Civil War begins.
1934: Mao leads communist associates on the epic Long March.
1937: China is invaded by Japan.
1945: Japan surrenders and the Chinese Civil War continues.
1949: Nationalist China is established on the is land of Taiwan.
1949: The People’s Republic of China is established on the mainland of China.
1950s: Mao embarks on the Great Leap Forward.
1960s: Mao initiates the Cultural Revolution.
1976: Mao dies.
1978: Deng Xiaoping leads China’s shift to market socialism.
1989: Pro-democracy demonstrators are attacked in and around Tiananmen Square.
Vocabulary
Chinese Communists political party led by Mao Zedong that was victorious in the 1949 Chinese
Revolution
Chinese Nationalists political party founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 that was later led by
Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang was defeated during the 1949 Chinese Revolution and established a
government on the island of Taiwan
The Long March an epic trek made in 1934–5 by Chinese Communists to the remote parts of
northern China to keep their movement alive
Ch’in Dynasty: dynasty that was the first to unite China’s warring factions
Monarchy a government in which a single person is the hereditary ruler
Opium Wars aars from 1839 to 1860 in which China was forced to accept imports of
opium from Great Britain and was subjected to increasing foreign domination
Taiping Rebellion a major mid -19th century rebellion against the Ching Dynasty that was
brutally crushed
Boxer Rebellion A 1900 uprising by nationalists in China seeking to rid the country of foreign
influence
Reparations compensation payments made by a defeated nation to a victorious nation
Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925 a Chinese revolutionary and first president
and founding father of the Republic of China ("Nationalist China")
Ching Dynasty last imperial dynasty to rule China, from 1644 to 1911. It is also known as
the Manchu dynasty
Warlords In China, local military rulers who exercised control over their particular territories.
Guomindang Party the Nationalist Party founded in 1912 by Sun Yat-sen
World War II second major war of the 20th century that involved the Allied Powers of
England, France, the Soviet Union and the United States against the Axis Powers of Germany,
Japan and Italy
Guerrilla an independent fighter who is not part of a regular military force but engages
in warfare
Zhou Enlai follower of Mao and the first premier of communist China
Great Leap Forward Mao’s largely failed attempt to rapidly industrialize factories and
collectivize agriculture in China
Cultural Revolution a movement led by Mao in the 1960s to reinforce communism as the focus
of Chinese society
Red Guards Groups of armed university and high school students formed to enforce the ideals
of the Cultural Revolution.
Little Red Book A communist primer of collected quotations by Mao.
Focus Questions: Respond to the following questions as you watch the video.
1. What was the Long March?
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2. What was Mao’s opinion of Chinese peasants?
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3. Why did China try to remain is isolated from the rest of the world?
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4. What were the Opium Wars?
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5. What was the result of the Boxer Rebellion?
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6. On what three principles did Sun Yat-sen base his 1911 Revolution?
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7. Who was Chiang Kai-shek?
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8. What happened when Japan invaded China?
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9. Where did Chiang Kai-shek go when he left mainland China? Why?
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10. Who was the first premier of Communist China?
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11. What were the aims and the results of the Great Leap Forward?
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12. What was the purpose of the Cultural Revolution?
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13. What policy change did Deng Xiaoping introduce?
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14. Why did soldiers attack protestors around Tiananmen Square?
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