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Abstract
China preoccupies us; yet its recent past is still relatively unfamiliar. No country has undergone a greater period of sustained and turbulent change than China in the twentieth century, but it has emerged again as a leading global power. It is, therefore, more important than ever to understand the society it has become and its rise to such influence. This timely study uses recent research to explore how China has been transformed from an economic and political backwater at the start of the twentieth century to its current pre-eminent position one hundred years later.
China preoccupies us; yet its recent past is still relatively unfamiliar. No country has undergone a greater period of sustained and turbulent change than China in the twentieth century, but it has emerged again as a leading global power. It is, therefore, more important than ever to understand the society it has become and its rise to such influence. This timely study uses recent research to explore how China has been transformed from an economic and political backwater at the start of the twentieth century to its current pre-eminent position one hundred years later.
During this convulsive period, China experienced a multitude of political systems: from the final years of the Qing dynasty, it entered a democratic phase in the 1920s when central government was weak and local warlords ruled supreme. As the Nationalist Government struggled to maintain control in the 1930s, the country was subject to invasion and partial occupation by Japan. At the end of the Second World War, the country was again torn apart in a struggle between the Nationalists and the Communists under Mao Zedong. Finally, a new People’s Republic of China was established in 1949, but early social and economic advances were thrown away as Mao initiated the Great Leap Forward and then the Cultural Revolution. These experiments brought the country to the brink of ruin. It was not until the death of Mao in 1976 and the subsequent reforms of Deng Xiaoping that the emphasis finally turned to practical change and the revival of the economy. Uniquely, subsequent success has been achieved through the adoption of capitalist enterprise in a one-party communist state – a fusion which has defied Western scepticism.
This study tackles all these major social, economic and political developments. In the process, it explores regional variation, cultural change and philosophy, as well as contrasting interpretations of Chinese history, the fluctuating role of women and the family and the challenges for the world’s most populous nation as it enters the twenty first century. It portrays a resilient people whom we must understand, for their future is also ours.
Iain Robertson Scott is Director of Sixth Form at Stewart’s Melville College and The Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh.
Table of Contents
| Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Front Matter | i | ||
| Half-Title | i | ||
| Series List | ii | ||
| Title | iii | ||
| Copyright | iv | ||
| Contents | v | ||
| Preface | ix | ||
| Timeline of modern Chinese history | xi | ||
| Maps | xv | ||
| Chapter (1-7) | 1 | ||
| 1. The Last of the Emperors, 1894–1912 | 1 | ||
| 1.1 The Crisis of China in the Late Qing Era | 1 | ||
| 1.2 External Threats: Foreign Intervention, 1840s–90s | 5 | ||
| 1.3 Internal Threats: Revolts and Reforms, 1850s–90s | 9 | ||
| 1.4 A Reformist Agenda, 1898–1900 | 15 | ||
| 1.5 The Boxer Rising, 1900 | 19 | ||
| 1.6 The National Momentum for Change, 1900–1910 | 22 | ||
| 1.7 The End of the Imperial System: The Events of 1911 | 28 | ||
| 1.7.1 Railways | 28 | ||
| 1.7.2 Changes in the army | 28 | ||
| 1.7.3 Economic hardship | 30 | ||
| 1.7.4 The uprising | 30 | ||
| 1.8 The Significance of the Revolution | 33 | ||
| 2. Division, Deceit and New Directions, 1912–37 | 39 | ||
| 2.1 Overview | 39 | ||
| 2.2 The New Republic, 1912–17 | 40 | ||
| 2.2.1 The constitutional experiment | 40 | ||
| 2.2.2 The ‘reign’ of Yuan Shikai | 43 | ||
| 2.3 The Era of the Warlords, 1917–27 | 47 | ||
| 2.3.1 Warlord rule | 47 | ||
| 2.3.2 The May Fourth Movement | 49 | ||
| 2.3.3 Early Communists | 58 | ||
| 2.3.4 The United Front, 1923–27 | 63 | ||
| 2.4 The Nanjing Decade, 1927–37 | 72 | ||
| 2.4.1 Internal and external opposition | 72 | ||
| 2.4.2 Nanjing’s government | 73 | ||
| 2.4.3 The Chinese Communist Party during the Nanjing decade | 80 | ||
| 2.4.4 The Long March and the Yan’an years | 84 | ||
| 3. War and Civil War, 1937–49 | 91 | ||
| 3.1 Sino-Japanese Relations | 91 | ||
| 3.2 Manchukuo, 1931–37 | 93 | ||
| 3.3 War with Japan, 1937–45 | 95 | ||
| 3.3.1 The Xi’an Incident | 95 | ||
| 3.3.2 The first phase of the war, 1937–41 | 97 | ||
| 3.3.3 China, Japan and the Second World War, 1941–45 | 101 | ||
| 3.4 Yan’an during the War Years | 107 | ||
| 3.5 The Civil War, 1946–49 | 113 | ||
| 3.5.1 Northern Manchuria, 1946–47 | 113 | ||
| 3.5.2 The struggle for the northeast, 1947–48 | 115 | ||
| 3.5.3 The final campaigns, 1948–49 | 117 | ||
| 3.6 Why Did Communism Triumph? | 121 | ||
| 3.6.1 Nationalist shortcomings | 121 | ||
| 3.6.2 Communist strengths | 127 | ||
| 4. Communism in Action, 1949–57 | 135 | ||
| 4.1 Expectations | 135 | ||
| 4.2 The System of Government in the People’s Republic of China | 136 | ||
| 4.3 Mao’s Enforcement of Power | 142 | ||
| 4.3.1 Economic priorities | 142 | ||
| 4.3.2 Regional struggles | 144 | ||
| 4.3.3 Political and domestic control | 147 | ||
| 4.4 The Korean War, 1950–53 | 153 | ||
| 4.5 The First Five-Year Plan | 156 | ||
| 4.5.1 Industrialization | 156 | ||
| 4.5.2 Collectivization | 158 | ||
| 4.6 The Hundred Flowers Campaign | 160 | ||
| 5. The Great Leap Forward, 1957–65 | 169 | ||
| 5.1 The Cult of Certainty | 169 | ||
| 5.2 The Great Leap Forward, 1957–62 | 170 | ||
| 5.2.1 Relations with the USSR | 171 | ||
| 5.2.2 Agriculture | 172 | ||
| 5.2.3 Industry | 183 | ||
| 5.2.4 Women in the years of collectivization | 188 | ||
| 5.2.5 Tibet | 191 | ||
| 5.3 Mao Resurgent, 1962–66 | 195 | ||
| 6. The Cultural Revolution, 1966–76 | 201 | ||
| 6.1 A Swimming Lesson | 201 | ||
| 6.2 A Revolution of the Young | 202 | ||
| 6.3 The Aims of the Cultural Revolution | 204 | ||
| 6.4 The Red Guards Unrestrained, 1966–67 | 209 | ||
| 6.5 The Cultural Cost of the Revolution | 220 | ||
| 6.6 Retrenchment, 1967–76 | 228 | ||
| 6.6.1 The Red Guards replaced | 228 | ||
| 6.6.2 The Lin Biao Incident | 230 | ||
| 6.6.3 The death of leaders | 234 | ||
| 6.7 Mao’s Legacy | 236 | ||
| 7. Deng Xiaoping and the Boom Years, 1976–2008 | 243 | ||
| 7.1 The Transition of Power to Deng, 1976–81 | 243 | ||
| 7.2 The Reform of Agriculture | 247 | ||
| 7.3 The 1Reform of Industry | 250 | ||
| 7.4 Political Reform Stalled | 256 | ||
| 7.4.1 Change and stasis | 256 | ||
| 7.4.2 The Democracy Movement | 265 | ||
| 7.5 The Extension of Economic Reform | 276 | ||
| 7.6 China as a Global Player | 284 | ||
| 7.7 The Challenges and Achievements of China’s New Society, 1980s–2008 | 294 | ||
| 7.8 Conclusion | 301 | ||
| End Matter | 311 | ||
| Notes | 311 | ||
| Chapter 1. The Last of the Emperors, 1894–1912 | 311 | ||
| Chapter 2. Division, Deceit and New Directions, 1912–37 | 312 | ||
| Chapter 3. War and Civil War, 1937–49 | 312 | ||
| Chapter 4. Communism in Action, 1949–57 | 314 | ||
| Chapter 5. The Great Leap Forward, 1957–65 | 315 | ||
| Chapter 6. The Cultural Revolution, 1966–76 | 316 | ||
| Chapter 7. Deng Xiaoping and the Boom Years, 1976–2008 | 318 | ||
| Select Bibliography | 321 | ||
| Primary Sources | 321 | ||
| 321 | |||
| DVD documentary | 321 | ||
| Secondary Sources | 322 | ||
| Index | 327 |