The Rise Of China

China has changed dramatically over the past hundred years. It was once a fractured state, stuck, living in the past. Since then, China has evolved into a politically stable and economically powerful modern nation. Mao Zedong led the Communist party in China. Although many things that Mao did were not good, his efforts helped make China into the nation that it is today.

Prior to Mao Zedong, China was in a terrible state. In 1911, the Chinese Revolution overthrew the Manchu dynasty. In January 1913, Sun Yixian was elected president of China. Sun Yixian created the “Three Principles”- Nationalism, Democracy, and Socialism. These beliefs formed the background to the League of Common Alliance. This party eventually became the Guomindang. This seemed more acceptable to the Chinese Communist Party. In 1918, after World War I, China believed that they would be given back territories occupied by Germany in present-day Shandong Province. However, the Allies recognized Japan’s territorial claims in China. In 1919, when China found out that the Treaty of Versailles did not favor their claims, the people became angry and started a revolutionary movement. This became known as the May Fourth Movement. Approximately five thousand students from Peking University protested against this, and it ended up becoming more than just a demonstration against the Treaty of Versailles. They also protested against old Chinese traditions. They wanted to put arranged marriages and foot bindings to an end. In 1925, Sun Yixian died, and China was ruled by warlords. Jiang Jieshi was a Chinese military and political leader who led the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalistic Party, also known as the KMT) for five decades and was the head of the Chines...

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... a leader that had ideas for an organized government system. Although Communism controls most aspects of people’s lives, some feel it is a better form of organization than the Chinese Nationalistic Party called for. Mao Zedong also encouraged agricultural and industrial output. Even though the ‘Great Leap Forward’ slowed this down for China, it was able to recover. China is now the home of one of the most powerful and important economies and manufacturing centers in the entire world. If Mao Zedong had never come to power, China may have never become unified.

Mao Zedong failed many times and made some bad decisions throughout his time as leader. However, these failures and the few successes that Mao Zedong had only helped to make China more unified. Even though China’s government is still nondemocratic today, some feel it is becoming better as each day passes.