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Short essay china history
Political life in China
Short essay china history
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Thesis:
In viewing China’s political background, as well as the current state of affairs, it is reasonable to predict that China will eventually become a democracy.
History
Looking back in history, one of the most dominant figures in Chinese politics in the 1930’s was Mao Zedong. Mao is very well known as the leader of the CCP as well as a dictator. Mao was inspired by revolutionary potential of peasantry and wanted to create a revolutionary strategy that would rely on their strength. During the First Five-Year Plan, a period between 1953 and 1957, some of the goals of the communist Chinese government were to increase heavy industrial production, collectivize light industry and retail enterprises, and create agricultural communes. These goals seemed to be set forth to create a more collectivized culture with a single ideology. And although there was resistance, most of these goals were achieved by 1957. But once those goals were realized, moderates within the CCP were beginning to grow tired of Mao and his ideas, and wanted to overthrow him. Mao fought back his opponents with the Hundred Flowers Campaign.
The idea of the campaign, was intended to calm down his challengers by allowing free speech, as the campaign stated “let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” This lasted for a very brief period of time, because soon after, Mao went after those who had seized this opportunity to criticize the government, party and policies, and imprisoned them. Because of the failure of the 100 Flowers campaign, Mao introduced the “Great leap forward.”
A young Chinese student regarding his parents stated, "They would often bring up the topic of the Great Leap famine and tell how bad things were during that ...
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...hts Foundation). But it isn’t enough to rely merely on theory. Some strategies seem to have already placed a seed for the birth of democracy.
Strategies already taking place…
One of the strategies to democratize China relies on moving China’s democratization efforts in Asia. Asia Times, points out that the main drive for democratization in China lies in the hands of activists. Japan has helped become a part of this movement by hosting and holding a number of China-related democracy activities such as the GSDCA as pointed earlier. Currently, much of the “support” for China-related democracy activities comes from individuals in Non-governmental Organizations (NGO’s) governments, and parliaments (Dr. Gomez). With more continued support in Asia and China’s close surrounding areas, it is quite true to believe that democracy does in fact have a place in China.
Mao Zedong was a very influential man in history. He forever changed the face of Chinese politics and life as a whole. His communist views and efforts to modernize China still resonate in the country today. Jonathan Spence’s book titled Mao Zedong is a biography of the great Chinese leader. Spence aims to show how Mao evolved from a poor child in a small rural village, to the leader of a communist nation. The biography is an amazing story of a person’s self determination and the predictability of human nature. The book depicts how a persuasive voice can shape the minds of millions and of people. It also shows the power and strength that a movement in history can make. This biography tells an important part of world history-the communist takeover of China.
Following the Chinese Revolution of 1949, China’s economy was in ruin. The new leader, Mao Zedong, was responsible for pulling the economy out of the economic depression. The problems he faced included the low gross domestic product, high inflation, high unemployment, and high prices on goods. In order to solve these issues, Mao sought to follow a more Marxist model, similar to that of the Soviet Union. This was to use government intervention to develop industry in China. In Jan Wong’s Red China Blues, discusses Maoism and how Mao’s policies changed China’s economy for the worse. While some of Mao’s early domestic policies had some positive effects on China’s economy, many of his later policies caused China’s economy to regress.
Democracy may be the best foundation on which to build a society, but to glorify it
Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the International Herald Tribune, a prestigious scholar claimed that all of China’s tragedies are ‘sustained by a mistaken belief in the correctness of the 1949 revolution’ and that the future progress of China depends on the recognition that the revolution was a failure. However, the CCP government was certainly not perfect and its most significant failures were its political failures such as the Anti-rightist movement and the Cultural Revolution and also economic failures such as the great leap forward. Millions of peoples were falsely accused and persecuted during the political movements of the Mao period as the CCP focused on class struggle instead of economic development during the period and tens of Millions of peoples died due to starvation as there were widespread food shortages during the great leap forward movement.
...tical freedom, especially the freedom to participate in and influence the government, have been on the rise all over the world since the 1990’s but it worthy to note that democracy and economic success do not always go hand in hand, China has shown that there is no need for democracy in order to experience economic growth and prosperity it has simply taken the idea that works best for them from the liberal ideologies and applied it to their system. Has history ended? It hasn’t, as societies, even those as advanced as those in the U.S still hasn’t found the right balance to prosper globally and for individuals to proper at home. What will continue to happen, is we will continue to learning, to debate, to argue and to find solutions as a global community, a community that is more integrated and more connected that it was when Fukuyama believed that history had ended.
...e up with his Five Year Plan to try to create more of a world power by increasing China’s industry. At the beginning of the Revolution, China had been receiving money from the Soviet Union because they signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance. This money allowed China to start to actually modernize its industries. Mao’s Five Year Plan’s main goal was to create better industry but also create more and better production of steel, coal, and iron. TO achieve these goals factories and mines were given specific goals to achieve and if they did not meet these goals, the factory believed they were failing its own people. Because of Mao’s Plan, the economic growth rose and most of the goals set were accomplished. The only problem was that the success of it was because there were a lot of Soviet Union advisers that helped China through the Plan.
...) and bring China under uniform thought as well. Thus, in his attempt to accomplish his goals he placed less emphasis on freedom and more on developing a sturdy political backbone. Deng, on the other hand, wanted to thrust China in the global community for economic fortune at the expense of everything Mao had established. In the process, he brought a freedom and wave of democracy to the People's Republic, endowing the Chinese citizens with dreams of wealth and prosperity that were never even considered in the time of Mao. As China, progresses further into the twenty first century, its role seems quite unclear. A return to Post-revolutionary authoritarian communism seems unlikely, as does the institution of a true democracy but perhaps a new form of stability will arise to grant greater liberty to individuals or possibly even another Tiannenmen lurking in the future.
In 1949 China became a Communist nation the leader Mao Zedong had idea on how he wanted China to be runned. Mao Zedong liked the idea of having a big nation . Zedong wanted a big population because that meant he would how more young workers than old retired people in his nation. Zedong told all the couples to have lots of babies to make the population grow but once he had seen how fast it was growing he want to go back and never said what he said. After he already had a big population he had to think of how he was going to provide clothes and food for everyone . He came up with this policy to try to fix his problem.
Throughout, 1900- 1950 there were a number of changes and continuities in China. From the fall of the dynasties to the rise of the Communist Party, these changes shaped China’s government and society. Although, many political changes were made multiple continuities were held constant such as, consistent rebellions and the lack of democracy.
Overview the history timeline, Mao Zedong made the cultural revolution because he wanted to remove all capitalism in the country to consolidate his party. In other words, he tried to firm his stage and power in the country, remove capitalism maybe just is an excuse of his hunger. Because a lot of evidences show that before he made this revolution, a lot of people was not side with him. Furthermore, his party do not had a lot of fund to support the party work well. Red Guard may could be considered as the way to obtain more money to build up the party (Knight). In the Western, Religion leaders also wanted people to be loyal. They were fear someone would overthrow them. To prevent it happen, Mao abuse the violent and punishment to firm communism. It caused by personal desire. Nevertheless, this way could control people in short time but not forever. Moreover, people’s beliefs also can determine the fate of a country. Because of that, Chinese leaders spent a lot of energy to unity people’s mind. First, they print out “Mao Zedong’s Quotation” and require everyone must read it and study it (Knight). It is the reason why no one tried to say no to Mao’s direction. Second, the party controlled all kind of publication, that make people can just obtain the information that the party want people to get (Princeton University). A good modern
This essay has critically analysed and examined the effect of Communism on the Chinese Society during the period of 1946-1964. The overall conclusion that can be drawn is that the Chinese Communist Party managed to defeat the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party and achieve victory in the Civil War, in spite of alienation by the Soviet Union and opposition from the U.S. This was primarily because of the superior military strategy employed by the Communists and the economic and political reforms introduced by this party which brought more equality to the peasants in the form of land ownership and better public services. This increased China’s production and manufacturing which not only boosted the country’s economy but also provided a more sustainable supply of food, goods and services for the Chinese people.
In deciphering what constitutes the brilliance of democracy then, we find that it is not citizens’ ability to make informed decisions or an unflawed and subtly manipulated election process, but the unapparent way in which democracy persuades citizens – informed or not - and leaders – corrupt or not – toward working to build better, more prosperous societies.
The topic of democracy in China is a highly controversial topic. Although China has not democratised, it has done well in the global situation amongst its democratic competitors. Since the path to democracy is different for each country, we cannot expect that China would follow the same path or same model of democracy as the western nations. This essay will look at what democracy is and how it can be placed in a Chinese context as well as looking at the proponents and opponents of democracy in China. It will also look at whether China is democratising by focusing on village elections, globalisation and the emergence of a civil society. These specific topics were chosen because they will help provide good evidence and arguments to the topic of democratisation in China. The main argument in this essay will be that although China is implementing some changes that can be seen as the beginning of a road to democracy, there contribution should not be over estimated. China still has a long way to go before it can be considered that it is democratising. The small changes are good but China still has a long road ahead of itself to achieve democracy.
Mao resigned as president of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) in April 1959 , after the Great Leap Forward, planning for Chinese production to “overtake Britain in 15 years”, failed and caused a widespread famine in China, where 20-30 million people starved. President Liu and General Secretary Deng began to restore China , while Mao remained ceremonial head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Liu and Deng introduced many liberal and effective policies , which involved stepping back from communist ideals. Collectivisation and communal cafeterias were abandoned and peasants recommenced private, “capitalist” farming. They even rehabi...
In the race to be the best, China is clearly outperforming the United States. China has strong economic fundamentals¬ such as “a high savings rate, huge labor pool, and powerful work ethic” (Rachman, Gideon. "Think Again: American Decline). Their economy has grown an astonishing 9-10% over the past thirty years; almost double of what it used to be decades ago. China is also the “world’s greatest manufacturer and its greatest market” (Rachman). The continuing growth of China's economy is a source of concern for not only the U.S. but surrounding nations as well. One could argue that the U.S. need not worry about China’s growth because of the spread of globalization and that western ideologies would influence China to turn to democracy. Yet China has still managed to “incorporate censorship and one party rule with continuing economic success” (Rachman) and remains a communist country. Hypothetically, even if China does resort to a democratic state, this does not gua...