THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

A BACKGROUND

CLOSED OFF FROM THE WORLD

• For much of its history China’s geography, and the attitudes of its rulers, isolated it from much of the world. The Great Wall of China was first joined together in 221BC as a way of keeping outsiders out of China

RULERS

• China is one of the world’s oldest countries. For centuries it was ruled by different families – known as dynasties • For example – the XIA dynasty – around 2000 BC – they lived in walled settlements • The Shang Dynasty – the first empire to leave written records • The Zhou Dynasty – during this time the philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism were first developed

DIFFERENT AGES

• The Golden Age lasted 400 years and during this time art, education and science became very important. The Han Dynasty developed trade and one of the most famous trade routes was known as the Silk Road. Buddhists also travelled this road and brought Buddhism into China • The Middles Age – the Han Dynasty were followed by the Sui, Tang and Song and, in 1279 a leader from Mongolia, Kublai Khan overthrew the Song Dynasty. China was now under foreign rule

• Mongolian rule was followed by the Ming Dynasty which began reaching out to other countries.

• The Ming was followed by the Manchurian • Between 1900 and 1949 China’s fortunes fell as the rest of the world industrialised and it did not • There were many attempts to start a revolution in China up until 1910 – all failed but, in 1912 the Republic of China was finally announced. Over the following decades turmoil and dissent reigned and poverty and despair spread around the country.

• Communist sympathisers then grew in popularity especially during the 1930’s when the global depression had a devastating effect on China

MAO ZEDONG

• A group of communists, led by Zedong, went on a year long march around the country and, in so doing, gathered support from millions of people.

• In October 1949 Mao announced the foundation of the PRC – People’s Republic of China – he became the most important figure in the history of modern-day China

BENEFITS

• Most Chinese welcomed the communists.

• Land reform meant land was taken from landowners and given to peasants • New rulers took over newspapers, banks, transportation and electricity services. Government cheating was wiped out • The Communist party was the only one allowed; churches were closed and foreign missionaries forced out – everyone was expected to follow the beliefs of the Communist party

THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD

• In 1958 Mao began a 3 year plan known as the Great Leap Forward, the goal being to change life dramatically in China.

• Poor planning and bad weather brought only drought and famine, however, and milions of people starved.

• By the late 1960’s it was clear his plan had been a disaster.

The Cultural Revolution

Mao believed the problems were caused by people following traditional Chinese values and attitudes.

In 1966 he set up a Cultural Revolution group to fight against these habits; his wife was in charge.

College students who agreed with him became known as the Red Guard and they began destroying anything representative of the “Four Olds” – culture, ideas, customs and habits

The Four Modernizations

• In 1976 Mao died • Deng Xiaoping was names Paramount Leader • The country was tired of fighting and conflict • Deng began a programme called the Four Modernizations which stressed the need to update industry, defence, technology and agriculture

Cat and Mouse

• Deng cared more about results than the strict following of communism.

• He once said “It doesn’t matter if a cat is black of white, so long as it catches mice” • He allowed some Chinese people to go to other countries to study and welcomed foreign businesses and advice into China

WHAT IS COMMUNISM?

• The word communism comes from a French phrase meaning “belonging to all”.

• The idea has a long history – there has always been people who believed in the simple idea of sharing ownership of society’s resources.

• Today, however, this is not how communism is practiced. • Communist governments do not like disagreement or dissent; there is usually only one party and no choice of voting; the economy is almost completely owned by the government • Other aspects of social life, such as education and entertainment are also controlled by the government • Because of advances in communication and transport, countries now interact with each other more than ever so, in order to be successful China has had to adopt some principles of capitalism