1. China

2. Language Mandarin Chinese – most commonly spoken language
Ideograms, not phonetic, symbols represent ideas or things
2,000-3,000 symbols to master to read a newspaper
20,000+ to master the language
Symbols are pronounced differently in parts of China

3. Ancient History Ancient Civilization developed along Huang He River
Most advanced country in the world by 1000 ad – gun powder, printing, compass
Developed an inward looking, closed society
Emperors ruled China until 1900s, dynastic cycle

4. Colonial Spheres
By 1800s, European technology surpassed China’s, divided China into spheres of influence
Forced China to trade with the west
Western influences and natural disasters caused Chinese to rebel.

5. Government Emperor abdicates on Feb. 12, 1912
Sun Yat-sen becomes president and Nationalists gain control of China by defeating local warlords
Nationalists wanted a government based on Western democratic principles.

6. 1920s Civil War
Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek wanted to modernize and westernize China
Communists wanted to give more power to the workers and land to the landless peasants
Mao Zedong became the new leader of the Communists.
Long March in 1935, communists fled Nationalist troops by moving northward 6,000 miles .
8,000/100,000 survived
Rallied support for the Communists

7. WWII Japan invaded China
Communists and Nationalists joined together to fight Japan
After war ended in 1945, civil war broke out again
Nationalists defeated in 1949
Chiang Kai-shek and followers fled to Taiwan

8. Great Leap Forward into Communism
Mao Zedong – China’s most important Communist leader,
Wanted to change China into a modern industrial country
Increase the population
Increase production of steel, capital goods with heavy manufacturing
Wanted to increase agricultural productivity by forming collective farms and people’s communes

9. Great Leap Forward into Communism
“Great Leap Forward” became a “serious step backward”
China’s population more than doubled in 40 years
55 million people in 1950 to 1.1 billion in 1990
In 1958, severe droughts across China led to widespread famines
20 million people died between 1958 and 1962
Production did not increase and China could not support a population that big

10. Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution of 1966 Red Guards were sent out to destroy old ideology, old thought, old habits, old customs
Hundreds of thousands of people who disagreed with Mao were imprisoned, beaten, executed, silenced
Production fell in farms and factories, schools closed, economy almost ruined, a generation uneducated

11. Four Modernizations
Established by Deng Xiaoping after Mao died in 1979
Improve agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defense
Was willing to consider free enterprise ideas
Government rented land to families who had freedom to plant what they wanted, in 8 years, farmers income tripled
Switched from heavy industry to light industry, rewarded managers who found ways to produce more
Special economic zones on SE coast to attract foreign companies, technology, capital, enormously successful

12. Results Uneven growth, income gap Urbanization
Urban poor, crime, corrupt police
China’s economy has quadrupled
Daily life improved

13. Challenges Today Feeding an immense population Providing jobs
Providing enough energy