A Very Brief History of China: From Empire to Communist Nation. Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)
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Transcript of A Very Brief History of China: From Empire to Communist Nation. Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)
A Very Brief History of China:From Empire to Communist Nation.
Mao Zedong (Tse-tung)
• For thousands of years, China was ruled by emperors• 1911: Qing Dynasty (the last empire) collapsed
– (Side note: In 1917 their neighbor to the north had a communist Revolution)
• Chinese nationalists wanted a unified China• Communists also wanted imperial powers out• Shanghai Massacre: Nationalists massacre thousands of
Communists…no more alliance against warlords • Nationalists also fought Chinese warlords who wanted to
control individual parts of China (no unification)
• Nationalists asked western nations for aid• Their requests were unanswered • Soviet Union offered aid, in hopes of possibly spreading
communist ideas to China.
A Very Brief History of China:
By 1945, there were two Chinese governments
The Communist government of Mao Zedong in Northern
China
Soviet Union supported.
The Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek based in southern
and central China
United States supported.
• 1946: Civil War – Nationalists vs Communists– Peasants attracted to Communists by the promises of land
(held by • 1949: People’s Liberation Army defeats Nationalists
– commanded by Chairman Mao – Chiang Kai-shek and two million followers fled to the island
of Taiwan.
A Very Brief History of China:
Great Leap Forward1957• Great Leap Forward
– Industrial and agricultural nationalization (i.e. state or government owned industry and farming)
– Villages turned into Chinese “communes”
– Communes fail to produce resulting in famine
– Great Leap Forward = huge failure
Cultural Revolution• Mao's Cultural Revolution:
rid China of everything that reminded them a life other than pure communism– Chinese live in fear as a result
• Quotations of Chairman Mao– “Little Red Book”– A collection of speeches and
quotes by Mao for all citizens to have
• Strived for classless society (last stage or ultimate goal of
communism)“Little Red Book” as it is referred to by westerners, was carried by all citizens during Cultural Revolution
Enter Deng Xiaoping
1976• Mao dies• Deng Xiaoping to
power: allows more economic initiatives that resemble capitalism
• Deng does NOT allow democracy, however
Tiananmen SquareApril 1989• Student protests for
economic and political openness
• Desire for democracy• After 2 months of
protest, the leader of China, Deng Xiaoping, sent troops in to put down the demonstration
• Turned violent and hundreds of students were killed
Video Footage (3:30)
•Today:
•China still has a communist government
•Free-market economy (capitalist)
•Rapidly moving up in the global economy
•Communism in China
A Very Brief History of China: