a diverse political landscape: republic china

founding of the republic

-after xinhai revolution: the Qing Dynasty abdicated in 1912

-sun yat sen was briefly president, yuan shikai, a qing general became the first full president (beiyang regime)

-suns revolutionary league evolved in GMD/nationalist party

yuan shikai rule

-promoted republic of five nations: Han, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan, Muslim => symbolized in the five colored flag

-disagreements about: unitary/federal and republic/monarchical republic

-yuan wanted centralized power and suppressed opposition: 1913 —> gmd was outlawed despite strong election result, GMD leader song jiaoren was assassinated (probably Yuan Orders)

-yuan shikai declared himself emperor but faced backlash

warlord era

-after Yuan Shikais death: military warlords took control

-between 1916-1926: 6 presidents and 25 governments

-opium cultivation expanded to fund their regimes

-some warlords uses foreign loans to implement limited reforms

decline of the beiyang regime

-infighting and loss of foreign support

-chiang kai shek led GMD troops to victory over Beiyang warlords raking shanghai with help from CCP and workers union

split between GMD and CCP

-after joint succes in shanghai, tensions rose

-in 1927 Chiang launched a violent purge against communist and leftist: the 12 april purge/white terror

-results: GMD split, leftist wing under wang jingwei allied with CCP, CCP shifted its focus to building support in the countryside

weakness beiyang regime

-personal connections shaped how leaders dealt with foreign powers and finance

-internal government relations were also driven by personal loyalties rather than institutions

-there was constant conflict between central leaders in beiping/tianjin and provincial warlords

=> meanwhile Chiang Kai Shek consolidated power as head of state, president of guomindang, army commander, he was backed by Whampoa clique (favored fascist ideology)

nationalist republic of china

-after defeating Beiyang regime, Chiang Kai Shek unifies china and makes nanjing the capital => reference to the Ming dynasty (last Han ruled dynasty)

-3 priorities: efficient military spending, functional revenue generating administration, effective legal system

structure of the nationalist government

-Chiang Kai checks vision: five branches of government

1) executive yuan (cabinet, issued laws)

=> 11 ministries and 4 commissions

2) legislative yuan (reviewed laws and approved the budget)

3) judicial yuan (oversaw law enforcement and constitutional interpretation)

4) control yuan (supervised finances and officials (like the old imperial censorate)

5) examination yuan (recruited civil servants (a continuation of the imperial exam system)

-in practice: power was centralized in Chiang Kai Shek and GMD in nanjing, military dominated the legislature and personal ties still heavily influenced politics, chiang suppressed rivals like hu hanmin, who pushed for local self-governance (should come after strengthening china economically and militarily under GMD )

efforts en failures van nationalists aan de countryside

-movement for a new life: confucianistische values promoten (tongzhi restoration achtig) —> alienated intellectuals die CCP gingen supporten

-CCP (supported door Peng Dehuai) actively engaged in peasant movements and even allied with secret societies (gelaohui)

nationalists attempts at reform

-some efforts to improve agriculture, education, health care and communications

-new constitution drafted in 1937 promising elections

-industry showed signs of recovery

problems and weaknesses

-nationalists had little control at the village level

-key issues: over reliance on military spending, weak tax system, corruption and internal GMD conflicts, hyperinflation

foreign policy and japanese aggression

-foreign powers (except japan) abandoned territorial claims in china

-japan invadeed manchuria in 1931 and installed the last Qing emperor as head of manzhouguo, chiang responded weakly to weaken local warlords —> caused public backclash

-intellectuals lost confidence in Chiang and saw CCP as better

war with japan and decline

-luguoqiao incident (1937) caused a full war with japan

-GMD and CCP temporarily united against the japanese

-nationalist government retreated to Chongqing

-after WWII the government returned to nanjing but was overwhelmed with civil war with CCP

background western influence in transition empire to PRC

-unequal treaties and western concessions:

-after opium war: china forced to sign a series of unequal treaties, giving the west special priveleges in coastal cities

-these concessions became quasi independent western zones

-Zongli Yamen: created by China to manage foreign relations

=> western intrusion is seen as a key to chinas imperial decline but internal factors also played a role

western economic presence in china

-foreign investment by 1931: britain, japan, russia, usa controlled 86 percent of foreign investment, britain and japan investments were dominant

-western firms grew fast in early 20th century

geographic distribution

british capital: most in shanghai, then hong kong

russian capital: manchuria and inner mongolia

japanese capital: mostly in manchuria and then shanghai

=> around 30s most foreign investments were in shanghai and manchuria

western presence per capita

-1914: total foreign investment in china: 1.6 billion

-much lower per capita than indonesia, phillipines, congo

-China attracted less investment due to later development compared to africa

western investment by sector

-1930: foreign investment was 1 percent of chinas GNP

-BUT 20 percent of investement in Modern sector

-modern sector made up 13 percent of Chinas GNP by 1933

=> western powers had a significant commercial and geographic presence but their economic footprint was limited, foreign influence was concentrated and tied to specific sectors and regions (shanghai and manchuria)

use of foreign loans

first foreign loan: 1861 (due to taiping rebellion military costs)

-1861-1937: 44 percent of loans were military expenses and compensation (ex. for WWI) only 5 percent were for industrial development

internal change: demographic growth vs. agricultural production

-population grew 31 percent but agricultural area remained unchanged

-result: strain on food supply

-wheat and rice field sizes shruunk indicating growing land pressure

internal change: negative trade balance

-trade deficits increased sharply

-imports consistently exceeded exports, worsening chinas economic dependence

internal change: increasing number of bad harvests

-bad harvests became more frequent

-in 1821: 2 percent of harvest were below average

-in 1910: 57 percent

internal change: growth of the gentry

-after taiping rebellion: percentage of gentry increased

-dramatic increases in some regions, indicating a shift in social hierarchy and land control

internal change: labor unions and strikes

-rapid growth in unions

-massive increase in strikes

-worker consciousness rises

internal change: establishment of political parties

-post 1919: 10 political parties

-key parties: GMD, CCP, various democratic and worker peasant oriented parties

China's transition from empire to PRC was shaped by

• Foreign influence (loans, trade deficits)

• Internal demographic and agricultural imbalances

• Growing class tension (gentry, labor unrest)

• Emergence of new political ideologies and mass movements