of course such a task is impossible but i thought it might help a few beginners getting a taste of some really condensed Chinese history.
it took me quite a while to write this paper as i constantly had to take out facts that i considered crucial in order to make it as short as assigned. the "china today" part is also a conclusion to the paper so it may not be as relevant.
i hope this helps a few of you guys, should you read this. and here goes the paper !!!
marie alix.
edit: i hope you guys don t get offended by some of the somewhat "ignorant" generalizations and wording. it s all done in order for people to get a glimpse of what it is and quite obviously, everything i talk about here is grotesquely exagerated or simplified.
edit2: also, i should like to stress that this paper was to be written for a class i m taking in the US. though i am not american, i still had to write this from a somewhat western/american point of view ...so again... no offense is intended and i realize the wording may be displeasing to some of you. still hope it helps.
toodles !
A historical outline of the development of politics in China.
Chinese dynasties:
a) The creation of an Empire:
For more than two Centuries, an ongoing war between seven Chinese states took place. This period is known as the Warring States period and was ended in 221 B.C. by the king of the state of Qin, who proclaimed himself China’s first emperor as he took the literal name of “beginning emperor”: Shi (begin) Huang-di (Emperor). As he tried to unify China politically, economically, and culturally, he outlawed the “Hundred Schools of Thought” (600-300) from the Zhou dynasty (1122-256 B.C.) under which the idea of Confucianism, a “Mandate of Heaven” (Mencius), and Daoism had developed. Legalism, another of the schools, that was adopted by Shi Huang di in his quest for a uniformed and united China; conveniently emphasized the rule of law and the strength of the ruler.
b ) Cyclical pattern of the dynasties
The Qin dynasty, however glorious with its conquests and fortifications (beginning of the Great Wall), was short lived due to its harshness and the cost of wealth and loss of lives it resulted in. A population insurgency led to its overthrow and Liu Bang, the rebel leader, started the Han dynasty and established Confucianism—which stresses social hierarchy, respect of your elder, merit and education—as the ideology that will have the most enduring and pervading effect on China and Chinese culture. Agrarian uprisings led to a Xin dynasty interlude; the later Han dynasty during which Buddhism arrived in China from India, another period of disunion and once again, the re-establishment of an Empire with the Sui dynasty. Under the Sui, Buddhism flourished and Confucianism, as it was at its best, was re-instated. Yet again, the Mandate of Heaven was passed on to a more meritorious rebel (Li Yuan) who started the glorious Tang dynasty; known for its international trade via the Silk Route, its prosperous life and the flourishing of arts. The period of disunion that ensued is known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and was followed by the Song dynasty that tried to rebuild the Tang dynasty at its apogee. This cyclical pattern of downfall and re-instating followed under the Ming’s.
A new era, the coming of communism:
a) The downfall of the Empire:
During the later Ming dynasty, the Portuguese claimed the trading station of Macau (1514), while in 1619, the Dutch took possession of Taiwan. The Qing dynasty increasingly dealt with foreign pressure and in 1839, the First Opium War broke out. This war was caused by the West trying to impose their trade of Indian opium in China—as they ran out of silver: their trading currency—and the Chinese authorities’ opposition to it. These conflicts resulted in the West disabling China and advancing their privileges with “Unequal Treaties.” During the 1850’s, China was badly shaken by the Taiping Rebellion that came as a forerunner of the end of a Confucian government. The latter was not compatible and on par to counter the foreign spheres of influence. In 1900, the Boxer Rebellion came as a response to foreign imperialism and reflected the anti-Western sentiment of the Chinese. The rebellion led to reform movements and sparked a revolutionary movement (under Sun Yat-sen’s leadership) from which stemmed the Republic of China in 1912, and the Kuomintang, China’s Nationalist Party held by Sun.
b ) Kuomintang versus Communism
The Treaty of Versailles that followed the first World War and resulted in handing the German concession of Shandong (China, Confucius’ birthplace) to Japan, resulted in the
nationalist May 4th Movement that sought to replace Confucian ethics with more modern concepts. In 1925, Following Sun’s death, Chiang Kai-shek took the Kuomintang’s leadership but made the grave mistake of bloodily purging it of its communist members. All wanted to rid china of Western and Japanese imperialism, and though they united against Japan in 1937; the Kuomintang and Communist party’s fight for supremacy resulted in a civil war. In 1949, The Communist party won, Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan, and Mao Tse-tung, the communist party’s chairman, became the head of state of the People’s Republic of China.
c) From the People’s Republic of China up to Tiananmen Square:
Though Mao’s plans were grand, good intentioned, and his programs started off on a successful note, Mao’s Hundred Flowers Campaign that originally encouraged criticism of the government but resulted in the imprisonment of outspoken intellectuals greatly undermined the party. Ensued the Great Leap Forward in 1958—a program designed to achieve rapid economic growth with the high and fast production of steel—causing a famine and the loss of 20 million lives. With their little red books, the young Red Guards who targeted intellectuals and culture, led the Cultural Revolution that Mao and his wife Jiang Qing launched in 1966. It took the lives of many intellectuals, and its disastrous backlash only really ended in 1976 at Mao’s death. Immediately after which the Gang of Four (Mao’s widow and 3 party leaders) were expelled from the party and tried in 1981 for the calamitous results of the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping became the new dominant figure of Chinese politics in the 1980’s as he started beneficial market economic reforms and teased China from its poverty-stricken state by enriching and strengthening her. His violent response with the intervention of the People’s Liberation Army, to the student’s call for freedom of expression at Tiananmen Square in 1989 furthermore undermined the Communist party’s credibility despite Deng’s recent achievements. Deng died in 1997 and Jiang Zemin assumed his position as party chief.
China today:
The Tiananmen Square massacre is considered to be the turning point and the entering of China into an age of realization of the problems she faces and will face, as a result of her however outstanding recovery from earlier Maoism. Since then, Jiang saw the return of Hong-Kong to its sovereignty from that of the United Kingdom in 1997 during the Asian financial crisis; as well as the Portuguese colony of Macau in 1999. China has been pressuring Taiwan to return to its motherland to accomplish a unified China as has been the goal of every Chinese leader, from Shi Huang-di—from the movie Hero: “tian xia”-sky/heaven under: united under a similar sky/heaven—to today’s Hu Jintao; Jiang’s successor since 2002. As of today, China faces many problems and numerous obstacles lie ahead of her: population growth, corruption, lack of trust in the Party, unemployment, pollution etc. We are all familiar with the Chinese pride in their culture and past, and despite her current handicaps, we remain confident in Confucius’ saying: “Study the past if you would define the future”; so that the Chinese people’s love and knowledge of their past will show them the path to as glorious a future as their dynasties were.
