Who was the first President of the Republic of China? Sun Yatsen

What political party did he create? Republic of China

What aspect of Communist ideology did Mao Zedong change? Mao believed that peasants, not workers, should lead the revolution

What were the two sides of the Chinese Civil War? Communist (Mao Zedong) Funded by the Soviet Union VS Nationalists (Chiang Kai-Shek) Funded by America

Who were the leaders of each side? Mao Zedong (Communist) and Chiang Kai-Shek (Nationalist)

Who won? The Communists

What does R.O.C stand for? Republic of China

Today, where is the ROC? Taiwan

What does P.R.C. stand for? People’s Republic of China

Today, where is the P.R.C.? Mainland China

Why is Taiwan’s independence controversial and what role does the US play in the PRC vs. ROC saga?  Why are we involved?

After World War II, the UN was established in 1947, and China was known as ROC, China got a permanent seat in the UN, Mao and the Communists won the Chinese civil war in 1949 and China became PRC, but ROC was in the UN so there was no technical end of Chinese Civil war, even though Mao won, we didn’t like the communists, so we refused to let them sit in the UN, and recognized ROC as China until 1972 when Nixon visited China and PRC was given the seat in the UN. ON THE OTHER HAND, we have continually sold arms to Taiwan and have promised to defend her militarily AND we do not recognize China’s authority over Taiwan.  Basically- the USA says Taiwan is not its own country… But it’s not part of China either. 

Why is Tibetan independence controversial? (Tibetan’s POV vs. China’s POV) Tibet has been part of China TO SOME DEGREE for hundreds of years

1244- Tibet was conquered by the Yuan Dynasty BUT maintained a lot of autonomy

1600s Qing Dynasty took more control over Tibet… As the Qing government weakened, Tibetans gained more freedom

1911- Most Western countries recognized Tibet’s freedom

1950-  Communists invade and take over the Tibet

1959- The Dalai Lama denounces the PRC and is forced into exile

Today- Many Tibetans want independence 

Who is the spiritual leader of Tibet? Dalai Lama

How did the women’s lives improve under the communists? Women were promoted in the workplace and had the same rights as men under the communists.

Why did China follow the lead of the Soviet Union between 1949 and 1957?  The Soviet Union funded them during the Chinese Civil War and were forced to do whatever they wanted them to do

What campaign was launched in 1958? Great Leap Forward

What was the Great Leap Forward? Launched by Mao Zedong, used to organize the population and get everyone under a single communist society, and industrialize everyone.

Why did Mao create the Great Leap Forward? (two reasons)

• Create Mao’s vision of a truly communist society (Different from the Soviet system of Communism)

• Industrialize the country by putting the peasants to work on backyard furnaces.

What are three reasons it failed?  

• People lied about how much they could produce

• bad weather

• backyard furnaces

What happened to Mao as a result? He stepped down from being the face of the country but still kept some power

Who ran the country between 1960-66? Deng Xiaoping

Who did Mao call on to bring about this revolution?  the peasants

What two leaders were attacked?  Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi

What is the “Cult of Mao?”  Give 2 specific examples that prove China created a “Cult of Mao” during the Cultural Revolution.

• Mao’s marvelous mangoes

• Mao going for a swim