Modern China Second Midterm - Part 3

Invasion of China

Seeking raw materials to fuel its growing industries, Japan invaded the province of Manchuria and committed further atrocities against the Chinese people, resulting in the Second Sino-Japanese War

China in WWII (1937 - 1945)

China was a key ally of the United States and Britain during WWII, and saw support with the defeat of Japan by Allied forced at the end of WWII

China suffered massive destruction of its industrial infrastructure and agricultural production due to the Second Sino-Japanese War and WWII. The country also suffered major population losses, and hurt the modernization begun by the Nationalist government

Nanjing Massacre (Dec. 1937)

A.k.a. Rape of Nanjing

Mass murder of Chinese civilians by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanjing and retreat of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Estimate of the death toll vary from 40,000 to 300,000 and estimates of rapes range from 20,000 to over 80,000

Chongqing

Wartime capital for the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War

Yan’an

The capital of the Chinese Communist Party after the Xi’an Incident

Wang Jingwei (1883 - 1944)

Chinese politician who was president of the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China, a puppet state of the Empire of Japan

Burma Road

Road linking Burma with southwest China that began construction after the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War

Functioned as a vital supply route to the interior of China from the outside world, carrying war goods

Civil War (1945 - 1949)

Major military conflict between the Chinese Communist Party (Mao Zedong) and the Nationalist Party (Guomindang/Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-sek)

Took place after WWII and resulted in the Chinese Communist Party taking control of mainland China and establishing the People’s Republic of China while the Nationalist Party retreated to Taiwain

Zhou Enlai (1898 - 1976)

Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the inaugural premier of the People’s Republic of China until his death

People’s Liberation Army

The military of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Republic of China

People’s Republic of China (est. 1949)

Communists led by Mao Zedong founded the People’s Republic of China with Chiang Kai-sek and the Nationalist Movement fleeing to Taiwan

Ding Ling (1904-1986)

Chinese female author known for socialist and feminist literature

Marriage Law (1950)

Outlawed arranged marriages, concubinage, and child marriages, both parties had to consent to marriage

Invasion of Tibet (1950)

People’s Republic of China saw Tibet as an area to be incorporated into the PRC, ended in the capture of Chamdo and the Seventeen Point Agreement

Korean War (1950 - 1953)

China intervened in the war to support North Korea

Three-Anti Campaign (1951)

Launched in Northeast China with the three antis being anti-corruption, anti-waste, and anti-bureaucratism

Grew into the five-anti campaign

Five-Anti Campaign (1952)

Key campaign effort to eliminate private property during China’s involvement in the Korean War

Encouraged spying on the business operations of fellow citizens and encouraged confessions of business owners to seem cooperative with the government

Five-Year Plans

Series of social and economic development initiatives issued by the Chinese Communist Party to raise the country’s efficiency in rapid economic growth

Danwei (Work Units)

Workplaces provide housing, social services, and other benefits

Hundred Flowers Movement (1957)

Government led campaign to allow citizens to offer criticism and advice to the government and Chinese Communist Party, offering a brief moment of relaxation in ideological and cultural control

Anti-Rightist Campaign (1957)

Political campaign to purge alleged “Rightists” within the Chinese Communist Party and country as a whole, significantly damaging democracy in the country and turning China into a one-party state

Great Leap Forward (1958-1961)

Economic and social campaign led by Mao Zedong to transform the country from an agrarian society into an industrialized society through the formation of people’s communes

Millions died, including those purged for being “too-educated radicals” and the resulting famine

Peng Duhuai (1898 - 1974)

Chinese general who operated as the Minister of National Defense

Flight of Dalai Lama (1959)

Dalai Lama fled Tibet to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule

Sino-Soviet Split (1960)

Gradual decline of relations between the People’s Republic of China and the Union of Society Socialist Republics due to differences in interpretations of Marxism and Leninism as influenced by their respective geopolitics