Assessing China’s History – Debunking Myths of China

Urbanization: Chinese Cultural Revolution

cmathon / April 7, 2014May 6, 2015 / Cultural Revolution, Urbanization

By Claire Mathon, Tommy Hauver and Michael Tan

Many societies undergo events that have profound effects on their culture. In China, this event is regarded as the Cultural Revolution. Between 1965 and 1976, Mao attempted to reassert his authority over China through implementation of his beliefs because he feared that China was moving in an inegalitarian direction. Mao was heavily influenced by similar events in the Soviet Union and made the decision to move toward a more ideologically pure society, as the Soviets did. (Cultural).

The objective of the Cultural Revolution was to get rid of old ideas and customs in order to make education, art, and literature more in line with Communist ideology. Anything that displayed feudal or bourgeois ideals was destroyed. Mao was essentially attempting to create a society in which there was no gap between urban and rural, rich and poor, and laborers and intellectuals. (Cultural Revolution)

In an effort to close this gap, many young Chinese were sent from cities to work in the countryside. In fact, the Chinese government ordered that one teenager from every urban household move to the countryside to work on the farms. (CNN: Tracy You) This deprived many young people from receiving educations in the city. Interestingly enough, this period of time in China showed an extreme urban-to-rural migration, or reverse migration, for the Chinese youth. However, soon after the Cultural Revolution, urban populations began to increase again due to an increase in employment opportunities in cities. (Britannica: Consequences of the Cultural Revolution)

This photo was taken in 1967 and shows two Chinese citizens being branded as “Capitalist Roader” and subjected to physical abuse in front of the public. Source

Photo taken by 蒋少武 (translation: Shaowu Jiang)

It is estimated that 1.5 million people were killed during the Cultural Revolution and millions of others suffered from imprisonment, torture, and humiliation. (Cultural) The long-term effects of the Revolution are still prevalent in China today, particularly in Chinese villages. The traditional village social structure was severely affected. Peasants were encouraged to seize landlords’ fields and other property, which was an effort by the government to strengthen support from the poor. Land was distributed equally among all social classes, and in the process, all traditions of the villages’ social structure were lost. The Cultural Revolution paved the way for urbanization, which ultimately transformed village culture. People were forced to move to cities because they could no longer sustain themselves in the villages. They left behind their history, their tradition, and their legacy because the country made such a dramatic shift toward a more urbanized society.

Remnants of a banner from the Cultural Revolution in Anhui Province. Photo taken by: Chang Liu

The Ten-Year Long Nightmare: The Cultural Revolution

yhu / November 30, 2012May 6, 2015 / Cultural Revolution

By A. Nichols

On March 15^th 2012, when Xinhua released the news that the political superstar, Party chief of Chongqing Bo Xilai was replaced by Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, many people felt relieved. He was believed to be one of the most radical Maoist members in the Political Bureau, and his political moves in Chongqing indicated the resurgence of the Neo-Cultural Revolution. Chinese people are afraid of any signs of the Cultural Revolution in the 21^st century because of what they learned from the ten-year long Cultural Revolution under Mao’s iron fist.

All classes of people suffered during the Cultural Revolution, including the Red Guards who almost took control of China’s cities from 1966 through 1968. The Red Guards were formed under Mao’s order and dismissed for the same reason. They were mainly teenagers who came from high schools and colleges, because the government abolished the higher education system, the Red Guards became the only occupation available to them. Schools became their battlefield: they humiliated their teachers, assaulted the “Five Black Categories”, smashed the “Four Olds”, and many innocent people lost their lives. The casualties also included many Red Guards who died in the “violence struggles” with other Red Guard “gangs”. After 1968, again, under Mao’s order, many of those young Red Guards turned into Rusticated Youth of China and went to the countryside to help build infrastructure and agriculture system. Far away from Beijing and other big cities, they were forced to stay in the countryside once they were married to the locals. Peasants and soldiers,who had highest social classes according to Mao, turned against these Rusticated Youths. They were used as laborers and many girls were raped by the officials. The trauma caused by this movement remained in their minds forever.

People Demonstrating Their Love Toward Mao Zedong, Photo By Yohei Yamashita

Ordinary people did not have a good time during the Cultural Revolution either. The unfortunate ones, who had connections with Taiwan or the United States, were likely to go to Struggle Meetings in their work units. These usually lasted for five hours daily according to Nian Cheng’s experiences. Some of them would go to prison, and others committed suicide in order to let their relatives survive. Cheng’s grandparents’ monthly salary remained at 105 yuan for ten years, but the price for livestock kept climbing. But it is still better than most of the families who lost their beloved during this nightmare.

Street view during the Cultural Revolution photo by Yohei Yamashita

There were some high level Communist officials who didn’t escape from the terror of the Cultural Revolution, either. President Liu Shaoqi and Vice President He Long died in prison just because they had some opposite political views with Mao Zedong. Mao’s bootlickers, including the Gang of Four, used this opportunity to gain their political capital, while others like Zhou Enlai and Chen Boda were tried their best to save historical relics from the Red Guards’ destructions.

There are reasons why people are afraid of another Cultural Revolution, because the only ones who will gain benefits from the disaster are Opportunists while other people suffer. May this day never come.

The Rise of China During the Soviet Demise

akaonga / November 30, 2012May 6, 2015 / Assessing China's History, Cultural Revolution, Economics, Politics

By A. Nichols

In the 1900’s, the USSR’s GDP was higher than that of China. Today, however, it is China’s GDP which is higher. The swap was due to a multitude of reasons including better reform decisions and work culture in China than in the USSR. Furthermore, the USSR used prisoners of war as mass laborers, who did shabby work because they resented it. China’s mass laborers (who were Chinese), on the other hand, felt obliged to work for their motherland, and thus did better work.

Photo of Sputnik, the first satellite in space. By Cliff1066

The Soviet Union spent a huge proportion of its GDP on the military, reducing funding to other sectors of the economy. This reduced economic growth. China comparatively spent a small proportion of its GDP on its military. China, therefore, had enough left to spend on other economic activities, thus burgeoning economic growth. In the 1970’s, China allowed some level of capitalism in its economy and individuals set up companies, thereby expanding growth. The USSR didn’t allow any individual to establish a company, and so did not get the benefit that comes from an increase in companies: higher revenue. Also, the abundance of cheap labor in China attracted foreign investment, further expanding job creation and growth. Russia at that time lacked, and still lacks, abundant cheap labor. This discouraged foreign investment, leaving investment largely to the sole local investor, the state.

When both countries reformed in the 1980’s, China opened up to general ideas from the West about economic reform, and these copious ideas led to a greater understanding of how the economy works. China then used these to properly rearrange its economy in a way that has now made the country prosperous.

Chengdu, China. Photo by jdklub.

Russia, on the other hand, believing that the West had nothing to teach them, utterly rejected reform ideas from the West, thus, limiting the reform options that the Soviets could have had. This led to poor reform decisions, which consequently led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also dismissed globalization, equating it to Americanization. This meant that Russia did not get the benefit of trade, more income. China, on the other hand, opened up to globalization, exporting numerous goods, and is now enjoying a high rate of growth due to the exports.

A human rights protest. Photo by hunxue-er.

However, China might collapse just like the Soviet Union did. Many Chinese citizens now resent their government for its repression, brutality, and high corruption. If these vices of the government accelerate, people could revolt. A specific example would be the repression of the Tibetans, and the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province. Just like the Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine started to demand secession from the Union, residents of Tibet and Xinjiang are also demanding secession from China. Simply put, despite China having achieved more than the Soviet Union, it could end up disintegrating just like it.

The High Socialist Period

khammett / November 30, 2012May 6, 2015 / Assessing China's History, Cultural Revolution, Politics

By A. Nichols

Socialist Revolution — http://www.rationalrevolution.net/images/maopla51.jpg

When first introduced to China at the end of the 1940’s, socialism seemed like a good idea.[1] During the first decade of the revolution, beneficial reforms were made on behalf of the working class in China. In the wake of these reforms came a reign of terror and death that claimed the lives of millions. In hindsight we must ask ourselves if the High Socialist Period in China ultimately benefited the country.

During the early years of the Mao Zedong’s leadership, beneficial reforms were made in the areas of new marriage laws and land redistribution. In China women were treated little better than servants. Recognizing that women were a key part of his revolutionary society, Mao Zedong “outlawed arranged marriages.”[2]

Mao Zedong also instituted land reforms that greatly benefited the Chinese people. In the early 1950’s, rural land reforms were achieved by passing rent reductions for farmers and workers, which allowed them to increase the productivity of their land.

Child of the Revolution — http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/expression-during-great-proletarian-cultural-revolutin-in-tibet.jpg

Many believed that the social reforms and changes Mao Zedong put in place would last and would ultimately benefit China. The myth of the new socialist order was finally exposed in 1956 and 1957 with the Anti-Rightist and Hundred Flowers movements.

During the Anti-Rightist campaign, large numbers of arrest warrants were distributed.[3] In the 1958, the Anhui province was given an arrest quota of 45,000 people. “Officials surpassed the quota with 101,000 arrests.”[4]

Following the Anti-Rightist movement came the Great Leap Forward. Ordered to produce enough iron to meet district’s quotas, communes would melt down all their kitchen and farm implements into useless lumps of iron. Communities also had grain quotas they had to meet for the Party. To gain favor, officials would exaggerate the quantity of grain their district produced. As a result, communities were left without food.

Drought, flooding, and exhausted resources led to a famine that ravaged China until 1962. At least twenty million died from starvation in what became known as the largest famine in history.

http://blstb.msn.com/i/58/DDB5C63AE123D0294BCF3B4AAA3E1E.jpg

No one can deny that during the first few years of the revolution progress was made in raising the quality of life for the men and women of the working class. However, Mao Zedong’s drive to create a Communist state led to a catastrophe in China, claiming the lives of over forty-five million people.[5] The implementation of Mao’s well-intentioned reforms resulted in the death of millions and brought untold suffering to the Chinese people.

[1] China: A Century of Revolution (Three Disc Set). DVD. Directed by Sue Williams. Toronto: Zeitgeist Films, 2007.

[2] Spence. The search for modern China, 376.

[3] Wasserstrom. China in the 21st century: what everyone needs to know.

[4] Michael Fathers. “A Most Secret Tragedy The Great Leap Forward aimed to make China an industrial giant—instead it killed 45 million.” Wall Street Journal (New York City), October 16, 2012, U.S. edition, sec. Life and Culture. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444180004578015170039623486.html?KEYWORDS=michael+father+great+leap+forward.

[5] Fathers. “A Most Secret Tragedy The Great Leap Forward aimed to make China an industrial giant—instead it killed 45 million.”

The Cultural Revolution: A Grand Revamp of China or Mao’s Greatest Mess

cstachurski / November 29, 2012May 6, 2015 / Assessing China's History, Cultural Revolution

By A. Nichols

Throughout the history of the world each country experiences some number of powerful, influential events that become known for drastically changing societies for better or for worse. These types of events can take many shapes and forms, such as wars or revolutions, and often leave marks that last for decades if not longer in the culture and lives of the people. In the recent history of China the Cultural Revolution had a huge impact, albeit one damaging to the Chinese way of life. Unfortunately, instead of constructively building Chinese society and education system, the Cultural Revolution under Mao Zedong only caused a great deal of suffering for the people of China.

Mao’s intentions for starting the Cultural Revolution might have been pure at first, but what really happened caused much more harm and destruction to Chinese society then help. Take the inception of the Red Guard, for example. The Red Guard had the potential to serve as a transition from the ancient Chinese way of life filled with traditions and the ways of the past to a more modern China. In reality, the Red Guard corrupted centuries of tradition and respect with modern language, attire, and actions in ways reflected in Elizabeth Perry and Li Xun’s chapter “Revolutionary Rudeness” of the book Twentieth-Century China.

The physical and social changes accompanying the formation of the Red Guard may not have been entirely negative, due to the rapid and moderately radical social changes seen in societies all over the world. However, physical changes introduced with the formation of the “new class” in Chinese society were accompanied with a strong new sense of seeking out and correcting the enemies of Communism. This lead to “an era when children turned on their parents and friends betrayed friends,” as noted by Wasserstrom in his book that addresses China both in the present day and during the period that molded the nation into what it is today.

China: Neighbours are Watching by Sylvain Labeste

In addition to bringing about more harm than help to China socially, the education system also served as the target for change provoked by the Cultural Revolution. According to the ideas on which the Cultural Revolution was built upon, citizens should work for the commune however assigned to them in addition to becoming strong and ideal citizens. “The new intellectuals must be able to wield a hoe as well as a pen,” and in order to insure that this happened students were sent out to work on farms while their universities became open and available to all through the elimination of entrance exams. Author Jan Wong in her memoir Red China Blues retells her experience of this era, demonstrating the true chaos that ran society during the 1960’s and 70’s under Mao.

It does not take much to see the Cultural Revolution was more harm than help. Be it the nature of Communism or the manner in which it was instituted in China, Mao’s Cultural Revolution only placed China farther behind in modernization.

The Chinese Cultural Revolution to the Citizens

bkreutzberg / November 29, 2012May 6, 2015 / Cultural Revolution

By A. Nichols

The Great Proletarian Revolution took place, under Mao Zedong’s rule, around 1966 and ended around 1976. He wanted to establish a more effective bureaucracy for his nation but also to keep a nation plunged in chaos. Mao organized a group of young people whose goal was to spread the idea of socialism around China. This was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China which aimed to use China’s vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of rapid industrialization and collectivization. It resulted, however, in millions of Chinese dead and came to be a heavy financial cost to China. The Cultural Revolution, instead of creating a better China, left a negative impact on the people and the economy of China.

The focus of my research on this time period is placed on how the treatment of people changed over the political course that was taken during the Cultural Revolution. The Revolution can be described as a time where young Chinese citizens, or Red Guards, united for a democratic society. One main idea of the Revolution was the belief that school should be simpler. The thought was that the more books a person read, the more unintelligent they became. Mao’s goal was to brainwash Chinese society and create Chinese citizens that would grow up to be mindless and uneducated. Chinese youths were encouraged to openly criticize the liberals in the Chinese Communist Party, and the government also began to require that the values of the Cultural Revolution be taught in all schools. Many students were forced into work in the countryside in order to gain the viewpoints and ideals of the hardworking Chinese citizens. Four million college graduates and sixteen million students ended up on farms to perform manual labor during this era. China wasted many talented individuals this way.

In order to be successful, the Communist Party officials had to be good at discovering and separating the reactionary rightists from the revolutionary leftists in the community. The Party strengthened and developed the ranks of leftists, thus displaying a perk to being on the side of the revolution. They then said to concentrate all forces to strike on the handful of ultra-reactionary bourgeois rightists and counter-revolutionary revisionists. The purpose was to expose and criticize their crimes against the Party, against socialism and against Mao Tse-tung’s thought, so as to isolate them to the fullest. During this time, there was no interpersonal trust between citizens. Family members would even turn in one another to authorities over a comment that may have seemed to have a rightist viewpoint. These Anti-Rightist campaigns were instigated by Chairman Mao Zedong and saw to the political persecution of an estimated 550,000 Chinese citizens.

Gangs of hundreds and sometimes thousands of citizens (students) began to multiply around China from so many disagreements around the nation and often led to violent encounters. In the city of Changsha, one gang that had failed to dislodge their rivals from within a building returned with anti-aircraft missiles.

One former Red Guard described Changsha at the time as,

“… absolutely terrifying. Bullets whistled in the streets, and the roar of a motorcycle or the wail of a siren meant violence and tragedy. There was a 9 p.m. curfew and no one wanted to go out during the day unless he had to; there were many reports of the deaths of innocent vegetable buyers by stray bullets” (Hore).

Unfortunately, while they did move their economy forward slightly through the course of Revolution, China’s government did not manage to escape the corruption that has plagued their citizens since the Communist Party began. Until citizens are given full freedom and the ability to comfortably speak out against the government without being interfered with, they will continue to have internal problems and issues with living satisfaction from the people.