Chinese history final

Malthusian theory

Resources increase ilneraly, population increase exponentially and outstrips resources, unpopular during CR bc china wanted more workers but later led to fertility control

Taiwan as Japanese colony

(1895–1945) period of modernization, economic and infrastructure developments with cultural assimilation of taiwan to japan, colonial period is reason taiwan separate from china

Tibet

(long-standing region/conflict), buffer between china and other countries, area is 90% tibetan, have lived in a larger area than what is considered tibet,

Tibetan Buddhism

idea of reincarnation, dalai lama lineage ending soon with current lama saying after his death the reincarnation may not be in tibet.

KMT (Nationalist Party) – founded 1912

post civil war fled to taiwan and ruled under martial law for decades

Chiang Kai-shek

(active 1920s–40s) KMT leader who shaped Taiwan politics,

February 28th Incident

(1947 – Taiwan) violent uprising in taiwan against KMT because of corruption, brutal crackdown kills thousands

On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship

(1949) foundational mao essay that declared china would be ruled by the proletariat (workers) under CCP leadership, justified suppressing the “enemies of the people”

People’s Liberation Army (PLA)

military of the CCP, key role in civil war victory, deployed in tiananmen incident

CCP

(Chinese Communist Party – in power 1949) continues to rule today, one party state that dominates government, military, and media

Martial law in Taiwan

(1949–1987) imposed martial law after retreating to taiwan, banned political opposition and restricted civil rights, white terror killed and imprisoned thousands, one of the longest modern periods of martial law

“Lean to one side”

(early PRC foreign policy) written in Maos on the peoples democratic dictatorship, china will align with the socialist bloc led by the USSR and oppose imperialist bloc led by US

Danwei system

(begins late 1940s) work unit, controlled housing, healthcare, ad social life, control met with stability, life for the individual was centered around the danwei

Korean War

Civil war that ended in country split, China enters war on NK side and pushes UN troops back to south korea,

“Resist America, Aid Korea”

(1950–53) mass campaign that targeted foreigners during Korean war, strengthened nationalist unity under Mao

38th Parallel

SK NK division,

First Five-Year Plan

(1953–57) rapid industrialization with state ownership based on USSR economic system, prioritized steel and coal industry and neglected agriculture

Land reform & collectivization

collectivised land from landlords and redistributed to peasants, later combined into units controlled by state

Soviet advisors

early prc china relied on USSR, helped with factories, railroads, and military organization.

Hukou system

(1950s) required peasants to stay fixed to rural locales, divided china population into urban and rural residents, broke down in 1980s

Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich

(influence on agri-science) soviet scientist who promoted false agricultural theories adopted by Mao that worsened chinese famine (plants and animals would not compete and planting more and more is fine)

Ma Yinchu

(population theory, 1950s) argues that continued population growth would impede economic growth and china needs to control fertility (malthus theory)

Barefoot doctors

(developing mid–1950s) rural healthcare initiative, trained peasants to provide medical services, focused on disease prevention and public health

Hundred Flowers Campaign

(1956) mao encouraged intellectuals to criticize party problems but when criticism grew he reversed this thought

Anti-Rightist Campaign

(1957) people who spoke out during hundred flowers campaign labled as rightists and punished, destroyed trust and intellectual freedom

Great Leap Forward

(1958–1962) peasants forced into communes and required to produce steel instead of food, failed and caused famine

GLF agricultural policies

deep plowing and close planting inspired by soviet thinkers that damaged soil, reduced crop yield, and caused food shortages

Backyard steel furnaces

citizens were told to melt metal down in backyard ovens to increase steel production, household items were destroyed to meet quotas but steel produced was mostly useless

Communal kitchens

peasants were forced to eat in shared kitchens, supplies often ran out and hunger became extreme, one benefit was freeing women of domestic labor so they could work in fields

Second Five-Year Plan

(1958–62) targeted increase in agricultural production and steel production, connected to great leap forward, officials would lie about production to please mao which made famine even worse

Sino-Soviet Split

(late 1950s–early 60s) Khrushchev criticized Stalin which shocked Mao, China and USSR broke alliance and soviet advisors left china

“Three years of natural disasters”

CCP explanation of famine, in reality it was poor policies and fake production reports, propoganda to avoid blaming Mao

Peng Dehuai

(criticized GLF) criticized the great leap forward and impacts of GLF on his home province at a party meeting, mao saw it as a betrayal and purged peng from party

Cultural Revolution

(1966–1976) mass movement to remove bourgeois enemies from society and persecuted millions

Mao’s cult of personality

seen as a god like figure through propaganda in schools, homes, and the workplace, loyalty mattered over truth or expertise

Mao badges

things people wore to show support for mao

Red Guards

students who followed mao and attacked teachers, intellectuals, and officials. Destroyed cultural artifacts and beat “enemies of the people”

Big character posters

handwritten posters sometimes used in protest or used to publicly denounce people which encouraged humiliation and chaos

“Bombard the Headquarters!”

mao encouraged young people to attack party leaders and this sentiment triggered mass violene turning citizens against each other

Black classes / red classes

black was bad red was good, black class is impossible to get out of (landlords, counterrevolutionaries, capitalists, intellectuals)

Struggle sessions

people were humiliatedand beaten in front of crowds and forced to confess fake crimes

Self-criticism

people were encouraged to see if they are straying from the party, black classes forced to confess fake crimes

Sent-down youth

urban students forced to move to rural areas to be reeducated through labor

Iron Girls

young women promoted as symbols of communist gender equality who took on physically intense labor and rejected traditional femininity

Factionalism

government and red guards split between factions, often put red groups against black groups

Eight Model Plays and operas

approved viewigs by government that created correct way to think about history, used founding stories of CCP and communist topics

Jiang Qing

Mao’s wife head of many parts of government and promoter of revolution, member of the gang of four who took fall for CR

Lin Biao

created little red book, took charge of PLA, dies in plane crash trying to oust Mao

Hai Rui

famous in 1500’s for attempting to remonstrate emperor, example of integrity used in CR and play was made “Hai Rui Dismissed from Office” that was seen as Mao criticism

Propaganda posters

spread maoist ideologies and used to control public thought

Quotations of Chairman Mao

known as little red book, compilatiosn of mao quotes used to mobilize masses and shape ideology

Ping-pong Diplomacy

(1971) 9 members of US table tennis team go to china to thaw diplomatic relationship between US and China

UN recognition of the PRC

(1971) China replaced Taiwan for representative of China and taiwan not seen as own country internationally

Nixon’s visit

(1972) visits china and begins normalization of US and mainland China relations

Shanghai Communique

(1972) framework for normalized US China relations, recognized “one China” including taiwan

Zhou Enlai

premier and foreign minister of china, mass grief for Zhou and people blamed gang of four/mao for his death, epicenter for critiques and GO4 wanted to ban grieving for him

Gang of Four

Took fall for the CR and were arrested after Mao’s death

Tiananmen Incident

(April 5, 1976) Death of Zhou Enlai turned into protesst to criticize Go4 and was suppressed by CCP

Deng Xiaoping

took control after Mao and introduced economic reforms, moved china toward capitalism while keeping CCP control

Reform and Opening policies

(Post Mao reform 1978–) shift from planned to market economy, encouraged private business in trade, increased wealth but also inequality

Democracy Wall

(1978) where people posted big character posters with criticisms of government, eventually shut down

Wei Jingsheng

writes fifth modernization of government about how democracy is precondition for progress, not the result of it

Four Modernizations

agriculture, defense, science, industry. Central to deng’s plans

Technocrats vs. ideologues

technocrats favored planning and expertise while ideologues favored maos ideas over science, technocrats attacked by mao and his followers

Special Economic Zones

(1979) Shenzhen and other cities made into areas of foreign investment and capitalism, concept of “let some get rich first”, caused regional disparities

Shenzhen

first special economic zone grew into massive tech hub

US recognition of the PRC

(1979) US officially recognized Communist china over taiwan

Taiwan Relations Act

(1979) passed by US congress after recognizing PRC, allowed US to maintain unofficial ties with Taiwan and committed to helping Taiwan defend itself

One-Child Policy begins

(1979) term for variety of population control policies targeted mostly at urban couples

Hu Yaobang

gave speech on failed policies and wants to return to earlier exceptionalism, death in 1989 sparks student protest that led to June 4th incident

Zhao Ziyang

pleaded with june 4th student protesters to end hunger strike

Li Peng

imposed martial law and suppressed 1989 Tiananmen protests when he was Premier

Joint Sino-British Declaration

(1984) Britain and China agreed Hong Kong would be handed back to china in 1997 under principle of “one country, two systems” and China promised to maintain HK economic and social freedoms for 50 years

99-year lease

(ends 1997) British leased chinese territory for 99 years and grew HK during time as colony

June 4th, 1989

(Tiananmen) after student protests wanting democracy had been going on for about a month martial law was declared and on June 4th armed forces expell students killing 200-3000

Tank Man

famous picture from tiannanmen protests, man stood in front of tanks trying to come into square and shows a resistance to terror, key background for how west sees China today

Tiananmen Square

historical site of many mass deomstrations, may fourth, red guards, gathering space for young people, shifted from symbol of imperial power to symbol of party state

Tiananmen student protestors

students gather to petition for changes they want to see and go on hunger strikes

Liu Xiaobo

(later Nobel) professor of literature, was visiting columbia university butreturned to participate in tiananmen protests, in prison for many years, nobel prize winner 2010 but no one was allowed to collect award

Hong Kong handover

(1997) Britain officially returned hong kong to chinese rule and became special adminstrative region with own legal and economic systems

One Country, Two Systems

(in practice) Deng Xiaoping promise that Hong Kong and Macau could keep its different economic and political system but application is source of tension with china encroaching on rights

Hong Kong identity

strong identity of being from hong kong distinct from chinese identity because of speaking cantonese and having more freedoms

Foxconn

(expands in 2000s) taiwanese owned company with production facilities in mainland china, builds 4% of worlds consumer electronics, many factory workers in Shenzhen and guangdong

GDP per capita

used to be very low but is rising rapidly with fewer chinese citizens in poverty than before, still some inequality

Migrant workers surge

people move from rural areas to work in urban factories with people living very far from home began in 1980’s

Supply chains

china controls a lot of rare earth metals and technology with many countries depending on chinas production

iPhone lifecycle

produced and recycled in china

Rare earth mining

china has most productive rare earth mines and controls 70% of global rare earth metals

Xi Jinping

comes to power (2012) strengthens authoritarian control, known as “chairman of everything” grew up around elites and climbed ranks after being rejected and later accepted into CCP

Xi Jinping Thought

mix of supremacy of communist party with socialist core values and improving development and the peoples livelihood

Umbrella Movement

(2014) mass protests broke out in Hong Kong demanding democratic elections and greater autonomy, protesters used umbrellas to protect from tear gas (unsuccesful politically)

Joshua Wong

hong kong activist and politician, leader of umbrella movement and promoted peaceful protest and civil disobedience, arrested for his involvement

Feminist Five

(2015) women planned to hand out stickers about sexual harrassment on public transportation but were arrested and detained for a month, released because of global outcry

Environmental concerns

heavy pollution in water and air caused by rapid industrial growth

E-waste recycling

china recycles 90% of north american e-waste, Guiyu disposal city where workers pull out valuable elements to resell

Made in China 2025

initiative announced in 2015 to move to manufacturing quality over quantity with investments in research and development set to surpass US

Belt and Road Initiative

Xi Jinping policy linking 65+ countries through trade and infrastructure investments, belt is updated silkroad and road is network of maritime trade routs from SE coast to rest of world

Hong Kong National Security Law

(2020) china imposed law on HK to punish “secession, subversion, terrorism, and foreign interference” reduced freedom of speech, press, and protest and weaked HK autonomy

White Paper Protests

(2022) anti lockdown protests using blank sheets of paper to protect protesters from arrests, symbol of all the things they cannot say

Xinjiang “re-education camps”

Uyghur muslims detained in camps established by Xi and said to counter extremism and terrorism, mistreatement rape and torture in camps