CHINA: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE AP Comparative Government

POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGE  China and Russia are similar in that they have had long periods of peace followed by great upheaval  During the 20 th century, both governments had to deal with complete regime changes  China though, has had hegemonic power for centuries, where that type of dominance was elusive for Russia throughout much of its history  Under dynastic rule, families would rise to power with a belief in the mandate of heaven  When rulers lost power and influence, another family would establish their own power  This system was interrupted by the rule of the Mongols, but was reestablished, and lasted, for hundreds of years after Mongol rule  Change in the early 20 th century was radical, violent, and chaotic, which resulted in the establishment of communism

CHANGE BEFORE 1949  The long term stability of Chinese government had many challenges to overcome. These included:  Control by Imperialistic Nations:  In the 19 th century, the Qing Dynasty fell to imperialistic nations  England, Germany, France, and Japan carved China into “spheres of influence” for their own economic gain  China eventually rebelled against this imperialistic intrusion and cast those countries out of China  This period in Chinese history led to a distrust of “foreign devils”  Revolutionary Upheavals:  Between 1911 and 1949, there were many revolutions in China. Three themes dominated this revolutionary ear  Nationalism: The Chinese wished to recapture strength and power from the imperialistic nations that dominated them during the 19 th century. The Revolution of 1911 helped reestablish the country as independent  Establishing a new political community: Multiple ideologies regarding how to run the government surfaced during the revolutionary period. One ideology came from Chiang Kai-shek who found the Nationalist party and one ideology came from Mao Zedong, who founded the Chinese Communist Party.  Socioeconomic development: When Chiang Kai-shek became president, he broke away from the Soviet model for policymaking. This pushed Mao, who sided with the Soviets, into exile. This exile pushed Mao into form forming an outlaw communist party.

LONG MARCH  Chiang and his supporters then tried to destroy Mao and the Communist Party  Mao and his party were chased across the country between 1934 and  Chiang was unable to destroy the party and had to turn his attention to the invading Japanese  Mao became a hero of the people. Many of these loyal friends became prominent leaders of the People’s Republic of China.

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  After WWII, the Japanese occupation of China ended and Mao defeated Chiang in a civil war  In 1949, Mao established the People’s Republic of China under communist rule  Mao’s government wasn’t officially recognized until 1972  Chiang had setup a headquarters in Taiwan claimed that his headquarters was the true government of China  This led foreign nations to deal with “Two Chinas”  The development of the PRC proceeded in two phases:  1) The Soviet Model: The Soviet Union fully supported Mao and with his victory started pouring money and communist expertise into the PRC. Mao then formed the Chinese Communist Party and set about reforming portions of the country  Land Reform: This campaign redistributed property from the rich to the poor and increased productivity in the countryside  Civil Reform: Women’s rights were enhanced and drug control was increased.  Five-Year Plans and 1957 the CCP launched the first soviet-style Five Year Plans to nationalize industry and collectivize agriculture, implementing steps toward socialism

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA  2) The Great Leap Forward: This movement was characterized by Mao’s desire to separate from the Soviet Union. He was also trying to implement more equality in Chinese society than existed in Soviet Russia.  All-around development: This was an emphasis on industry and agriculture  Mass mobilization: This was an effort to turn the Chinese population into an assets by encouraging better motivation, harder work, and less unemployment  Political unanimity and zeal: This was an emphasis on party workers running the government, not the bureaucrats  Cadres: Party works at the lowest levels, were expected to demonstrate their party devotion by spurring their fellow works on to work as hard as they could  Decentralization: This encouraged more government on the local level, and less central control. It was supposed to emphasize the power of the people  This movement was not successful as Mao ran into issues with the bureaucratic centralism of China and due to the lack of skilled workers

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION  Between 1960 and 1966 Mao allowed Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping to implement market-oriented policies  These policies helped bolster the Chinese economy  These policies did not go far enough for Mao, so he instituted what was referred to as a Cultural Revolution in order to promote economic and social change  The principles of these changes were:  The ethic of struggle  Mass line  Collectivism  Egalitarianism  Unstinting service to society  The goal of this cultural revolution was to get rid of the ideas of old China.  Scholars were sent into the fields to work, and universities and libraries were destroyed  It was believed that all the education someone needed was to be able to read and write  Education was believed to created inequality, and hence was targeted for destruction

THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION  After Mao’s death in 1976 his followers divided into factions  Radicals- This group supported the goals of Cultural Revolution and were led by Mao’s wife and a man named Jiang Qing  Military- The military was led by Lin Bia. The group was powerful because of the constant external military threats to China  Moderates- This group was led by Zhou Enlai. Moderates believed in economic modernization and limited contact with other countries. Enlai died shortly after Mao  These groups were strongly tied together because of the importance of personal relationships in Chinese culture.  This is known as a patron-client system

DEN XIAOPING’S MODERNIZATIONS ( )  Deng Xiaoping believed in and pushed the idea of the “Four Modernizations”  These include industry, agriculture, science, and the military  With the bolstering of these parts of Chinese society, they turned to pushing a new direction. This new direction included:  “Open Door” trade policy- Trade with everyone was encouraged, including capitalist nations like the U.S. that will boost China’s economy  Reforms in education- Higher academic standards and expansion of higher education and research reversed the policy of Cultural Revolution  Institutionalization of the Revolution- Revolutionary goals were reconciled with restoring the legal system and bureaucracy of Old China, decentralizing the government, modifying elections and infusing capitalism