Just another period of strong-handed unification?
Radical Reunification:
China Since 1949
Any Taoist threads here?
. . . New values were heralded: people were taught that struggle, revolution, and change were good while compromise, deference, and tradition were bad.
Imposing Control
Victory conceived as a liberation from imperialist aggressors (i.e., American, Japanese, British, etc.). China would now regain its rightful place among civilizations in the world, while putting peasants first. China is a "multi-national" country.
*The Red Army -- a moral force using "struggle sessions" to convert the peasants and sort out the social classes; against all decadence
The Hierarchy (Lenin's Democratic Centralism, but not dissimilar to the 9 Rank system, i. e., it was a pyramid structure and highly central)
party committees at the lowest levels (villages, factories, schools, army units, etc.
county level committee
provincial level committee
Central Committee (one hundred members)
Politburo (12 members)
Standing Committee
Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, and Chen Yun
Mao ZeDong
Social Controls and Campaigns
The Five-Antis campaign -- "weeding-out the least coopertive capitalists," who paid restitution if found "guilty"; inter-regional commerce defined as criminal speculation (an extreme form of capitalist exploitation)
Any other anti-capitalist/merchant precedents in the Chinese moral order?
Soviet disenchantment
Initial treaty and exchange of advisors and cooperation on Korea problem (Kim Il Song was Stalin's protigee) but fundamental differences between Stalin and Mao (Mao was offended by his lack of "proper courtesy")
Standing up to American Imperialism
2,500,000 Chinese troops hold off American invasion of N.Korea. 14,000 Chinese prisoners do not want to go back to China.
New Rural Order
Collectivization of land and new local elite of loyalists. History told as all until now a perversion of natural equality via social (class) and economic controls. All elite, including scholars were in the class conspiracy to repress the masses. Peasant associations make lists of people they resented (picture p.299). 100s of thousands to millions are summarily executed. 5 to 10 percent of grain taken as tax on the new collectives. (any precedents here?).
New Leadership and new "nations"
Because of the anti-elite nature of the peasant associations, the leaders tended to lack education. The party grows from 2.7 million in 1947 to 17 million in 1961. In 1980s only 14 percent of party members had equivalent of high school education and only 4 percent had a college education.
Common language through public schools promoted. 50 recognized minority nationalities (see p.303). Which society, pre-industrial or industrial, was more multi-ethnic? Also see the linguistic map on p.304). Multi ethnic paper money on p.306.
New National symbols/campaigns (any similarities to previous dynasties?)
Hundred Flowers Movement and the backlash "those with higher education had been put in their place." (1956)
The Great Leap Forward -- harnessing China's strength in numbers to industrialize China's way (1957) Local registration, "3 hard years," etc. What were the mistakes of this movement?
The Cultural Revolution -- reasserting party control of economic base; creation of the Red Guards, (1966) Turning on the People's Liberation Army (1967); the Lin Biao incident. Who has the moral authority?
International diplomacy
The U.S. as a counterweight to fear of Soviet invasion. Nixon visit arranged by Zhou Enlai in 1972.(how does that affect our view of the Vietnam conflict and "domino theory"?)
Post Mao China
Deng Xiaoping's Four Modernizations (agriculture, industry, technology and defence). Responsibility system, aloting land to rural households (similar to equal field system), production incentives. International trade and investment pursued. One family one child campaign. Permission from employer to get married and have a child (compare Japan see the National Geographic 2 part video on reserve in the library). 1978 not a single privately owned car; in 1993 over a million.
Recent movements: Wei Jingshen, an electrician posts the "fifth modernization" poster heralding the democracy movement in the 1980s. Tienamen Square uprising during Mikhail Gorbachev's visit, participation by many groups. Last sentence: Mao still honoured as a form of political protest -- interesting!
Epilogue -- read it, reflect on it, incorporate it into our review preview