China Study guide I
13-25 pages
1. 2 important developments are population growth and arrival of western traders
2. Nurhachi- early in the 17th century a minor chieftain named Nurhachi brought several tribes
under his jurisdiction and established his capital at Shenyang. (Manchuria)
Dorgon- younger brother of Nurhachi assumed as regent. Chaos in Beijing, Dorgon takes
advantage of this and sends in armies between the great wall and the coast and into China plain,
first occupying Beijing in June and then proceeding to the rest of China in spite of resistance
forces loyal to Ming.
Qing- “Pure or clear”
3. 1644-Rebels enter the city, the Ming emperor walked into his garden into his garden hanged
himself from a tree
Rebels enter the city Dorgon took advantage of the ensuing confusion to send his armies
through a gap between the Great Wall and the coast and into china plain. First occupying bejing
and then the rest of the nation..
Banner Units- The military units were designated by specific colored banners and leaders had
civil as well as military powers over the troop and their families who made up each unit. As
Manchu power grew so did the size of the banner units.
4. They closed Manchuria for Chinese immigration, forbade intermarriage between Chinese and
Manchu, and required Chinese males to shave their foreheads and braid their hair in a pigtail
after the Manchu fashion as a token of submission.
5. One of his most difficult challenges was restoring imperial rule in south china. Pacification of the
southern regions and southwestern regions had been left to Chinese commanders who had
been given such broad powers that they threatened to become independent. When one general
set himself up as ruler of a new dynasty, Kangxi was forced to act. In the ensuing War of the
three Feudatories ending in 1681, the young emperor was victorious, consolidating Qing
authority in the south and allowing him to turn his attention to other areas. In 1683 the Qing
annexed the island of Taiwan., previously occupied by Dutch traders, as a part of the mainland
province of Taiwan. Manchuria of course remained and the peripheral regions of Korea, Burma,
Nepal and sections of Indo china were lind as tributary dependencies. 1696 Outer Mongolia
1720 installed Dali Lama in Tibet.
Kangxi not only promptly reinstated the civil service examinations but also schooled himself in
the Chinese classics. He patronized learning, sponsoring the compellation of a dictionary still
used by students of classical Chinese as well as an encyclopedia comprosing over 5,000 volumes.
Qianlong 1736-1799-Qing forces conquered a vast nomadic area in the Northwest, incorpored
as the New Dominion or Xinjiang, which virtually doubled the state’s area.
6. Population- Gov’t Failed to expand the bureaucracy and provide adequate services for the
growing numbers of people. As time passed, the more comfortably situated landed gentry found
opportunities for state employment narrowing because the government neglected to enlarge
the examination system or create new posts to keep pace with the population. That left
generations of well-educated literati without jobs or a traditional outlet for their talents.
Absence of of a central agency to regulate trade and collect customs duties. In addition, Kangxi’s
1712 ceiling on tax quotas prevented the government from increasing revenue from agriculture
thus depriving it of an adequate share of the nation’s income. As in the Ming, the failure of the
Qing to develops a sound tax structure was an important cause of the dynasty’s eventual
decline.
7. Women’s position remained inferior to men’s. The cruel and crippling custom of female foot binding
became more prevalent in spite of efforts of Qing emperors to stamp it out. Some sources estimate that
by the middle of the Qing more than half the women in China had their feet bound. The Manchus, for
their part did not allow Manchu women to bind their feet.
8. Jesuits: Matteo Ricci 1582. The Chinese emperor, impressed by the abilities of the Jesuits, put them in
charge of the Bureau of Astronomy where they published a number of influential scientific works in
Chinese. Brought maps, Ferdinand Verbiest updated maps in 1674. Made clocks and hydraulic
equipment, information on artillery Adam Schall, became close to the first tow emperors but the
promise of a fruitful dialogue between East and West was destroyed by other orders in the Catholic
Church jealous of Jesuit powers. By the end of the Kangxi reign, the Jesuit experiment was over and
from that time on Christianity played a diminished role
9. A compilation of Chinese history and literature prepared for Qianlong, known as the Four Treasuries,
filled 36,000 manuscript volumes. In selecting titles for this compendium, the emperor imposed what
amounted to a literary inquisition, searching libraries and private collections to remove and destroy
works considered anti Manchu or dangerous to his authority.
The Dream of the Red Chamber-is generally regarded as China’s greatest novel, and was composed in
the middle of Qianlong’s reign. The novel chronicles the decline of a wealthy and powerful family as
seen thought the eyes of the son. Tragic love story questions human existence.
10. The Ming government in 1557 allowed the Portuguese to maintain a trading center and settlement
at Macao in the far south. As a security measure the local officials constructed a wall blocking off the
Portuguese settlement of the island of Macao and imposed rigid restrictions upon the activities of
Europeans.
Lord George Macartney dispatched in 1792 by the British East India Company on an armed naval vessel,
was received courteously in Beijing as a “tribute emissary” but the emperor Qianlong denied his request
for a permanent diplomatic residency, writing the British King that the “Celestial Empire possesses all
things in prolific abundance and lacks no product within its borders. There is therefore no need to
import the manufactures of outside barbarians in exchange for our own produce.” Statement was Made
for domestic consumption.
11. The Treaty of Nerchinsk-Russians signed in 1689 acknowledging China’s sovergnity and fixing its
northern border approximately as it had remained to the present. That treaty negotiated with the help
of Jesuits from the emperors court well versed in Chinese as well as European languages was an
example of successful Chinese diplomacy with the west.
Pages: 487-507
1. Foreign as well as domestic factors contributed to the collapse of the dynasty. The arrival in
force of a commercially expansive and military aggressive west took the Chinese by surprise. The
Manchu court suffered from a failure of leadership and judgment at the center that crippled the
efforts of many reform minded officials at modernizing china’s basic intuitions. The Opium War
(1839-1842) with Britain was followed by the catastrophic Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864) which
devastated central China and cost 20 million Chinese their lives. Central authority collapsed
and china descended into civil war that lasted in form or another until 1949.
2. Besides the Portuguese settlement oat Macao, the only authorized port of exchange was
Guangzhou or Canton along the southern coast, more than 1,400 miles south of the capital of
Beijing.
3. Officials in Beijing were too far away to understand the opportunities inherent in world trade
and the seriousness of western challenge. Foreign trade at Guangzhou was under the
supervision of a Manchu named “Hoppo” and handled through a guild of Chinese merchants call
Co-hong. While the Co-hong merchants enjoyed a monopoly of foreign trade, they were taxed
and squeezed by numerous officials and held personally responsible for the conduct of the
foreigners with whom they dealt.
There were wide gaps between the western and Chinese concepts of justice and legal
procedure. In the Western tradition individuals were held legally responsible for their own
actions whereas the Chinese fixed responsibility not only on the individual but also on his or her
immediate groups. With these and other differences in jurisprudence, Western authorities
began to demand that any of their nationals accused of crimes in China be tried according to
their own laws, not Chinese law. The Chinese resented this demand for extraterritoriality and
clashes multiplied.
4. Since Chinese merchants paid for the opium in hard currency, the balance of trade shifted to
China’s disadvantage. As silver flowed out of the country its value rose, in effect raising taxes on
the peasants, who had to pay their taxes in silver. Because the opium trade was illegal it brought
no revenue to the state while lining the pockets of smugglers and conniving officials.
5. Lin Zexu- A formidable bureaucrat known for his adherence to Confucian values, Lin was sent to
Guangdong as imperial commissioner by the emperor in late 1838 to halt the illegal importation
of opium by the British. He arrived in March 1839 and made a huge impact on the opium trade
within a matter of months. He initially attempted to get foreign companies to forfeit their opium
stores in exchange for tea, but this ultimately failed and Lin resorted to using force in the
merchants' enclave despite previous agreements and understandings. It took Lin a month and a
half before the merchants gave up nearly 2.6 million pounds) of opium. Beginning 3 June
1839,500 workers labored for 23 days in order to destroy all.
Co-Hongs- through a guild of Chinese merchants call Co-hong. While the Co-hong merchants
enjoyed a monopoly of foreign trade, they were taxed and squeezed by numerous officials and
held personally responsible for the conduct of the foreigners with whom they dealt.
Opium War of 1839-1842- Lin confiscated around 20,000 chests of opium (approximately 1210
tons or 2.66 million pounds) without offering compensation, blockaded trade, and confined
foreign merchants to their quarters. The British government, although not officially denying
China's right to control imports of the drug, objected to this arbitrary seizure and used its naval
and gunnery power to inflict quick and decisive defeat
Arrow War of 1856-60- was a war pitting the British Empire and the Second French Empire
against the Qing dynasty of China, lasting from 1856 to 1860. It was fought over similar issues as
the First Opium War.
6. Treaty of Nanjing- Trade- Four additional "Treaty ports" opened for foreign trade alongside
Canton (Shameen Island from 1859 until 1943): Amoy (Xiamen until 1930), Foochowfoo
(Fuzhou), Ningpo (Ningbo) and Shanghai (until 1943), where foreign merchants were to be
allowed to trade with anyone they wished. Reparations- The total sum of 21 million dollars was
to be paid in installments over three years and the Qing government would be charged an
annual interest rate of 5 percent for the money that was not paid in a timely manner. Hong
Kong.
Treaty of Tianjin- ending the first part of the Second Opium War (1856–1860). The Second
French Empire, United Kingdom, Russian Empire, and the United States were the parties
involved. These unequal treaties opened more Chinese ports to the foreigners, permitted
foreign legations in the Chinese capital Beijing, allowed Christian missionary activity, and
legalized the import of opium.
Treaty of Beijing- In the Convention, the Emperor of China ratified the Treaty of Tientsin (1858).
Convention between China and the United Kingdom stipulated that China was to cede the part
of Kowloon Peninsula south of present day Boundary Street, Kowloon, and Hong Kong (including
Stonecutters Island) in perpetuity to Britain.
The Convention between China and France stipulated that "the religious and charitable
establishments which were confiscated from Christians during the persecutions of which they
were victims shall be returned to their owners through the French Minister in China" The treaty
also ceded parts of Outer Manchuria to the Russian Empire
7. Hong Xiuquan led the Taiping Rebellion against the Qing Dynasty, establishing the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom over varying portions of southern China, with himself as the "Heavenly King"
and self-proclaimed brother of Jesus Christ.
Taiping Rebellion- was a massive civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, against the
ruling Manchu Qing dynasty. It was a millenarian movement led by Hong Xiuquan. At least 20
million people died, mainly civilians, in one of the deadliest military conflicts in history.
Hong established the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom with its capital at Nanjing. The Kingdom's army
controlled large parts of southern China, at its height ruling about 30 million people. The rebel
agenda included social reforms such as shared "property in common", equality for women and
the replacement of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Chinese folk religion with their form of
Christianity. Because of their refusal to wear the queue, Taiping combatants were nicknamed
"Longhairs by the Qing government, which besieged the Taiping armies throughout the
rebellion. The Qing government eventually crushed the rebellion with the aid of French and
British forces.
8. Taiping rebellion-600 cities destroyed more than 20 million dead, the Taiping rebellion was the
most destructive uprising in human history. Anti-dynastic and a religious crusade. New exams
for civil service based on bible.
Failed because- Leaders self-indulgent, alienated land owners and peasants. Factional in
fighting. Xiuqauan never extended beyond the regions under his control and were not fully
carried out within them. Did not ally themselves with other movements opposing the dynasty.
Did not win any forgien power support. Westerners indirectly aided Manchus even while French
and British were at war with Qing.
9. The Empresses Dowager CI Xi enabling a capable, strong willed and extravagant Manchu
Concubine emerges as the main power broker. She dominated the court from 1861-1908 by
exploiting factions within the court to her own advantage, preventing any of them including the
reformers from gaining a position of ascendancy that might threaten her power.
Li Hongzhang-the leading figure of Self-Strengthening movement. He repressed the Taipings. Li
formed his own provincial army, navy, built arsenals, founded a naval and military academy. In
spite of his efforts the movement lost credibility when China was defeated in the Sino-Japanese
war. Li thus had to bear the responsibility ofr a deafeat that could have been acoided if the
government had followed his advice.
Self-Strengthening movementPhase 1- The first lasted from 1861 to 1872, emphasized the adoption of Western firearms,
machines, scientific knowledge and training of technical and diplomatic personnel through the
establishment of a diplomatic office and a college.
Phase 2- commerce, industry, and agriculture received increasing attention. Attention was also
given to the creation of wealth in order to strengthen the country. This was a new idea for the
Chinese, who had always been uncomfortable with activities which create wealth from anything
other than land. The development of profit-oriented industries such as shipping, railways,
mining, and telegraphy were therefore rather new ventures for the Chinese government.
Phase 3- 1885-1895 While the emphasis on building tall structures and industries continued, the
idea of enriching the country through the textile industry gained the court's favor; thus
industries like textiles and cotton-weaving developed rapidly.
New types of enterprises sprouted in this period: joint government and merchant enterprises,
even incipient "private enterprises". Whereas the Chinese government had traditionally
discriminated against private merchants, all the initial encouragement of private enterprises
seemed to mark a change in the government's attitude. However, the government was only
interested in getting capital from private enterprises; the government was still not ready to let
them take an active role in economic development. Thus, the private enterprises failed to
flourish and control of such enterprises remained firmly in government's hands.
10. Sino-Japanese War-1894-1895 started over Korea. A Japanese army landed in Korea and
defeated Li Hongzhang’s provincial army in short order. Within weeks a Japanese naval force
had also defeated Li’s fleet in a 5 hour battle. Some advanced Chinese ships did not cooperated
with Li
Treaty of Shimonoseki-that in 1895 both Korea and Taiwan fell under the control of the
Japanese. Concessions to European powers as well.
11. Kang Youwei- a vigorous and original thinker with progressive ideas. Willing to compromise for
the present and push for modest reforms.
100 days reform-sweeping reforms in commerce, industry, agriculture and the military, and
proposing Western learning and vocational training in place of the traditional focus on classical
studies.
Failed- Dowager Ci Xi saw as threat and came back out of retirement to nullify reforms From
that point.
12. Boxer Rebellion-“Society of Harmonious Fists” Dowager declared war to driver foreigners inot
the sea, the Boxers unleashed a violent attack on Christians and foreigners in Shandong
Boxer Protocol- Westerners extracting certain guarantees of good behavior for the future. By
the terms of the settlement China as assessed a huge indemnity equal to about twice the annual
income of the empire, to be paid in gold over a 40 year period at 4 % interest Western powers
received permission to maintain military units in the Beijing area.
13. Double 10 revolution-In the fall of 1911, with outbreaks of violence occurring widely in china, a
bomb explosion in the strategically important city of Hankou touched off a general uprising in
the Yangtze valley cities. October 10th the commander of a rebellious imperial garrison cast his
lot with the revolutionaries and the double ten day was thereafter celebrated as the end of the
Manchu dynasty and the beginning of the republic.
Sun Yet-sen-Lived in Hawaii got western education and was exposed to Western democratic
ideals. He converted to Christianity in Hong Kong where he got his medical degree. He wanted
western Ideals used in China.
In China his work was carried forward by a secret “Revolutionary Alliance” which attracted
various disaffected elements in the period preceding the 1911 outbreak.
14. Yuan Shikai- an able bureaucrat who had successfully reorganized the military forces in
northern China. Keenly apprising the domestic situation, Yuan proceeded to perform a balancing
act between the imperial government and the revolutionary forces. While he welcomed
progressive reform, Yuan had no sympathy with demands for radical change. Yet his
demonstrated ability, which made him the Manchu government’s last hope, also appealed to
liberals and revolutionaries who were far from united and felt the need for an effective leader.
His role in ending the Revolution-When the parliament met in Beijing in April 1913 to draw up a
constitution, he coerced the member into elelcting him president for 5 years. He then disbanded the
Guomindang and expelled its representatives from parliament which dissolved. Dr. Sun fled to
Japan. Yuan Shikai then proceeded to rule as a military dictator from 1914 to his death 2 years later.
15. Shanghai-Shanghai soon became the most cosmopolitan city in China. British and American and
French settlement zones. “Paris of the East” Business center of China, people sold,
Compradors who were the middlemen between foreign merchants who spoke no Chinese and
Chinese merchants who spoke no foregin languages. The compradors became immensely
wealthy and in many cases were first generation of Chinese investement capitalist.
16. Education-growing importance of missionary schools, which offered Western secular and
religious education all the way from primary to university. Men and women. Science and tech as
well as foreign languages.
Civil service-abolition of the 2,000 year old civil service examination in 1905, encouraging
broader curriculum of study and opening up advancement to a wider circle of potential talent.
17. Liang Qichao- became early champion of women’s rights, publishing two essays in 1896 one in
favor of women’s education and the other to condemn foot binding. Champion of women’s
education
18. Social Darwinism-added urgency to the mission of the reformers making a successful response
to the challenge of the moment a matter of historical life and deaths. These ideas also offered a
positive dimension to the struggle and conflict in a country where Confucian ideology had
always stressed the virtue of harmony. So Social Darwinism, invoked by Europeans at the end of
the 19th century to justify imperialism became a tool of the victims of imperialism in their
attempts to defend their sovereignty.
Classical Liberalism-Equality appeared to challenge Confucian assumptions of hierarchy; classical
liberalism, Confucian assumptions of state dominance over an agrarian based economy and law.
Confucian assumptions of the priority of moral judgement over popular sovereignty, over legal
precedent. Top down not bottom up.
The Scientific Revolution and Enlightenment 145-165
1. First
Whereas medieval, renaissance, and Reformation thinkers all assumed that past knowledge was
the most reliable source of wisdom the greatest thinkers from the 17th century onward rejected
any obeisance to ancient authority and resolved to rely on their own intellects to see where
knowledge would lead them. Making their motto “dare to know” they stressed the autonomy of
science and the free play of the mind in ways unheard of in the west since the golden age of
Greece. Second, the new breed of thinkers believed strongly that knowledge was valueless if it
could not be put to use. All knowledge without practical value was belittled and thinkers from
every realm of intellectual endeavor aimed directly or indirectly at achieving the “relief of man’s
estate.” Finally demystification of the universe. Around 1660 a mechanistic worldview swept aya
occultism . Thereafter nature was believed to work like the finest mechanical clock
consummately predictable and fully open to human understanding.
2. Causes- twin challenges to conventional assumptions introduced in the 16th century by the
discovery of the new world and the realization that the earth revolves around the sun.
3. Francis Bacon- English philosopher of science. Science could not advance unless it departed
entirely from the inherited error of the past and established “progressive stages of certainty”
For Bacon this meant proceeding strictly on the basis of empirical knowledge and by means of
the inductive method meaning the arrival at truth by proceeding upward from particular
observations to generalizations. Insisting that the “corruption of philosophy by superstition and
an admixture of theology…does the greatest harm.” Bacon advocated the advancement of
learning as a cooperative venture proceeding by means of meticulously recorded empirical
experiments. Unlike the arid speculations of the past collective scientific research and
observation would produce useful knowledge and result in bettering the human lot.
4. Rene Descartes 1596 –1650-French-cogito ergo sum. I think therefore I am. All past
knowledge should be discarded, and that the worth of any idea depended on its usefulness.
Systematic doubling, taking as his first rule “never to receive anything as a truth which did not
clearly know to be such,” he found himself doubting everything until he can to the recognition
that his mere process of thought proved his own existence. The highest principles of human
rationality as expressed in the laws of mathematics. That most of his theories were not
empirically verifiable did not trouble him at all, because he was confident that “natural
processes almost always depend on parts so small they utterly elude our senses.”
5. Sir Isaac Newton-supreme accomplishment lay in his formulation of the law of universal
gravitation. “the most stupendous single achievement of the human mind,” finding that “no
other work in the whole history of science equals the Principa either in originality and power of
thought.” Laws of motion proven correct. Less of a doubter than Descartes.
6. 3 principals of the enlightenment1. the entire universe is fully intelligible and governed by natural rather than
supernatural forces
2. Rigorous application of the scientific method can answer fundamental questions in all
area of inquiry
3. the human race can be educated to achieve nearly infinite improvement. –John
Locke
7. Philosophe- most were practically oriented publicists who aimed to reform society by
popularizing the new scientific interpretation of the universes and applying dispassionate “scientific
method” to a host of contemporary problems.
8. John Locke-epistemology, Locke rejected the assumption that ideas are innate, maintaining
instead that all knowledge originates from sense perception. According to Locke the human mind at
birth is a blank slate or tabula rasa, upon which nothing is inscribed, not until the infant begins to
experience things that are to perceive the external world with its sense is anything registered on its
mind.
Voltaire-English empiricism in Cartesian France. Crush all forms of oppression Voltaire critized
the arbitrary use of power by the state
Barron Montesquieu-the greatest strength of the english system was that it consisted of
separate and balanced powers thus guarnanteed liberty in as much as no absolute sovereignty
was given to any single governing individual or group. The idealization of checks and balances
subsequently influenced US constitution
Denis Diderot –encyclopedia, combat superstition on the broadest front aid the further advance
of science and thereby help alleviate all forms of human misery. Attacks the Church
Jean-Jacques Rousseasu reform of society, the dissemination of useful knowledge, the search
for freedom. He despised inherited privilege and believed optimistically that a just and moral
society could be created by crushing the infamy of tyrannical and repressive governments.
Education and political theory. In nature all men are born free and equal except women
Social contract- foundations of political rights based on unlimited popular sovereignty. Although
Rousseau wrote that the British were perhaps at the time the freest people on earth, he did not
approve of their representative government. Rousseau believed that liberty was possible only
where there was direct rule by the people as a whole in lawmaking, where popular sovereignty
was indivisible and inalienable
Edward Gibbon-decline and fall of the Roman Empire-brought down by “the triumph of the
Barbarian” Germanic invasion and Christianity. Christianity bad bc- “the servile and
pusillanimous regin of the monks” replaced roman philosophy and science with a credulity that
debased and vitied the faculties of the mind. Anti-religious extremist
Adam Smith-1723-1790-prosperity of all could best be obtained by allowing individauls to
pursue their own interests without competition form state owned enterprises or legal restraints.
Lasissez faire
Immanuel Kant- existence of a realm of absolute reality consisting of what he termed things in
themselves cannot be doubted even though this realm remains unknowable to humans Kant’s
assumption of absolute but unknowable truth. Counter to skeptism and David Hume.
Sciences:
Electricity, Georges Buffon- pre cursor to Darwin, Vaccines, Chemistry
China Ch 41 794-805
Yuan Shikai-the general who had helped to engineer the fall of the Manchu dynasty in 1911 only
to declare himself emperor five years later died in 1916.
Regional leaders more interested in furthering own power and not the nation’s. Land tax did not
bring in enough to central government. Indemnities forced on central government by boxer
rebellion.
At the urging of Allied powers China declared war on Germany in 1917. Sent laborers to front
lines. Hoping to gain advantages at the peace summit.
At the treaty of Versailles japan made demands for Chinese territory which the allies supported.
The requests of the Chinese delegation were completely disregarded.
May 4, 1919-storm of resentment of the West, people poured into Tiananmen Square in Beijing
to protest. That demonstration marked the birth of modern Chinese nationalism.
Sun Yat-Sen-foremost leader of the movement to re unify China under a modern government.
Sun’s part in the beginning of the republic in 1912 had been a brief one, but after returning to
Guangzhou (Canton) where his following was strongest he began to organize a national party.
Guomindang (Kuomintang) or nationalist party:
Why did Lenin help? The Russians wanted a unified China capable of protecting itself and the
USSR
Michael Borodin-a seasoned revolutionary helping the Communist
Sun’s 3 principles of the People-nationalism, democracy and people’s livelihood
Nationalism-the freeing of China from Foreign interference and, second, the development of
loyalty to the state instead of to the family or the province.
(Democracy) In the second principle, Sun focused on popular sovereignty unequal in capacity, he
believed that the chief political problem, and the ideal of representative government.
The principle of livelihood referred to the necessity for social reform, rejecting Marxism but
failing to outline any specific program. Sun’s ideas as a whole were neither very original nor very
radical not even very clear.
Whampoa-military academy
1925-Sun dies of liver cancer
Chiang Kai-Shek-young general began the northern expedition to reunify China. In less than 6
months they overran half the provinces of China and established the Goumindang as the
effective government of the country.
In April of 1927 Chiang, convinced that the radical faction lead by leftist and communist
organizers was about to overthrow him, struck first. With the cooperation of both the police and
the leader of the Shanghai underworld, he arrested and summarily executed hundreds of
radicals in Shanghai and other major cities.
In 1928 Chiang rapidly consolidated his power and the Nationalist resumed the campaign to
extend their authority nationwide.
New Capital in Nanking
He had to consolidate the Guomindang’s own military control of civilian bureaucracy from the
ground up; establish a modern financial, educational, legal, and commercial system virtually
from scratch. And defend the entire country from the threat and after 1931 the reality of foreign
aggression.
Zhang Xueliang- murdered war lord’s son promised the Japanese to maintain the autonomy of
Manchuria but he raised the nationalist flag at Shenyang and worked against further Japanese
encroachment until Japan occupied Manchuria.
Japan attacked Chinese outposts in Manchuria and proceeded to occupy the entire province.
On July 7, 1937 the Japanese forces launched and attack in the Beijing area, beginning the
Second World War in Asia.
Nanjing-7 weeks of murder and rape 100,000 civilians are dead and 20,000 rapes
15-20 million Chinese died in the war
The Japanese are a disease of the skin. The Communists are a disease of the heart.
The Chinese Communist Party-formed in Shanghai in 1921
Mao Zedong was founding member of CCP and son of a well to do peasant.
Mao concentrated on the peasants unlike Lenin and the Soviets
The Long March-a mass trek across 6,000 miles of difficult terrain and one of the most exploits
in military history. Of the 80,000 men not more than 9,000 reached Yan’an in northern Shaanxi
province
Nationalist are fighting both Japanese and Communist CCP
Holding much of the countryside the communists had also secured bases in northern Manchuria
and they seized stores of Japanese arms and ammunition conveniently left behind by Russian
troops withdrawing from Manchuria. Chiang made the strategic mistake of trying to dislodge
the communists form their northern strong hold before he had consolidated his own positon in
central China. Far more serious was his failure to win the confidence of the civilian population.
Chiang made conditions worse for the average peasant by inflation.
On October 1, 1949 Mao proclaimed the establishment of the people’s republic of China with its
capital in Beijing. The first challenge of the new leadership was to consolidate their military and
political power over the whole country.
The Era of Communism pg 805-824
Mass campaigns-intellectual were subjected to a vigorous process of thought reform that
included constant and public confessions of their previous mistakes and expressions of eternal
gratitude to the communist party.
Early achievements of CRP-The economy was stabilized, inflation controlled, land redistributed.
The blatant corruptions was ended and with it narcotic trade, prostitution and gambling. Public
health and sanitation were implemented.
Farming: Party cadres confiscating the land just redistributed to the peasants and organizing
them into cooperatives and then collective farms. Land ownership by families was abolished.
The great leap forward-1958 Mao had decided to accelerate the process and herded the
peasants into 26,000 communes across China in a mass campaign that became known as the
Great Leap Forward. Overriding the doubts of his cautious administrators, Mao believed that he
could whip the Chinese people into a frenzied devotion to production the way he had motivated
his soldiers during the war. It was an economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of
China (CPC) from 1958 to 1961. The campaign was led by Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly
transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid
industrialization and collectivization. The campaign caused the Great Chinese Famine.
20-30 million people died during the great leap forward due to starvation.
Attempt to depose Mao as leader by Central Committee at Lushan 1959. Although the attempt
failed, Mao was removed from daily control of the party and government and was replaced by
Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. They dismantled his radical polices.
Lin Bao-defense minister and head of the People’s Liberation Army, who shared Mao’s extreme
radicalism and injected it into the army. In 1963 Lin published Quotations from Chairman Mao
or the Little Red Book propaganda in Army and in China. 1966 Mao felt strong enough to use his
power base in the military to destroy his opponents in the Party. Mao initiated the Cultural
Revolution a crusade that kept China in frenzy for years and was not finally ended until after
Mao’s death in 1976.
Mao’s revenge-Scores of party officials were arrested, demoted or forced to make public
confessions. The purge numbered high personnel among its targets, including Liu Shaoqi,
President of the Republic since 1959. Liu’s death in prison in 1969 removed a rival to Mao.
Youth denounced their elders sometimes attacked them. Up to 20 million young people were
sent from the cities to the countryside to purify themselves by association with the peasants.
Thousands of intellectuals were beaten to death by Red guards. Valuable libraries were
destroyed no art or books. When revolutionary violence lead to the outbreak of civil war in
some provinces, Mao called upon the PLA to restore order. Lin Biao disappears killed by Mao.
Sino-Soviet dispute-Krushchev’s denouncing Stalin and his collectivization policies. Mao visited
Moscow and hinted to Khrushchev that the “East wind will prevail over the West wind” and that
there were ever a nuclear exchange between the capitalist and the socialist they were not to
worry because Chia would get busy and make more socialist babies for the future. When the
Great Leap forward failed the soviets publicly ridiculed the Chinese and in 1960 the Soviets
withdrew all their advisers, some of them taking with them the blueprints for dams and other
construction projects not completed. Northern border dispute. Large numbers of troops
deployed on both sides. But a truce was reached.
Jiang Qing-Mao’s wife, leader of the gang of four, responsible for cutuarl matters including
education which now became an exercise in memorizing Mao’s works.
Gang of four- The Gang of Four controlled the power organs of the Communist Party of China
through the latter stages of the Cultural Revolution, although it remains unclear which major
decisions were made by Mao Zedong and carried out by the Gang, and which were the result of
the Gang of Four's own planning.
The Gang of Four, together with disgraced general Lin Biao, were labeled the two major
"counter-revolutionary forces" of the Cultural Revolution and officially blamed by the Chinese
government for the worst excesses of the societal chaos that ensued during the ten years of
turmoil. Their downfall on October 6, 1976, a mere month after Mao's death, brought about
major celebrations on the streets of Beijing and marked the end of a turbulent political era in
China.
Hua Guofeng- was Mao Zedong's designated successor as the paramount leader of the People's
Republic of China and Chairman of the Communist Party of China.
On 6 October 1976, Hua brought the Cultural Revolution to an end and ousted the Gang of Four
from political power by arranging for their arrests in Beijing. He attempted moderate reforms
and reversing some of the excesses of Cultural Revolution-era policies. However, because of his
insistence on continuing the Maoist line, he was himself outmaneuvered in December 1978 by
Deng Xiaoping, a pragmatic reformer, who forced Hua into early retirement. As Hua faded into
political obscurity, he continued to insist on the correctness of Maoist principles
In 1981 Deng put eh Gang of four on trial, accusing them of torturing and persecuting hundreds
of thousands of people during the Cultural Revolution.
The economy-grew at a rapid rate in the mid 1980s that the demand for raw materials and
energy outstripped the supply, producing an inflation rate reaching 20% by 1988.
1989 Tiananmen Square- peaceful thousands of protestors to a million. After declaring martial
law Deng Xiaoping surrounded the city with seasoned troops in under orders to suppress the
demonstrations, which they did with lethal force killing hundreds and wounding thousands on
June 4, 1989. ON TV WEST PISSED at Chinese.
Following the massacre of June 4, the government arrested leaders of the pro-democracy
movement and executed many. Scorned Gorbachev’s reforms in the Soviet Union as well as the
Western style democracy the Beijing government continued to persecute dissenters, tightened
party discipline and announced plans to restrict access to higher education and send students to
military training.
1979-China and USA established formal diplomatic relations and within a short time most of the
world diplomatic community followed. Alarmed by Soviets in Vietnam, supported Marxist
doctrine in Cambodia the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. After Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1978
china attacked northern Vietnam in Feburary 1979. The result was a fiasco for the Chinese. Not
only did the Chinese lose the war but they also brought about an increase in the Soviet influence
in Vietnam as well as the expulsion from Vietnam of more than a million ethnic Chinese.
Hong Kong treaty with brits now Chinese again. 1997
Taiwan-
Part 1: on target – I am assuming that you will go into even more horrendous details
Part 2: Other Japanese Generals?
Senior members of the Japanese high command bearing direct responsibility for the mass atrocities in
China included the Emperor Hirohito, who made all major military decisions, including the one to invade
China in 1937; Hirohito's uncle, Prince Asaka, who issued the order to "Kill all captives" and was thus the
main architect of the gendercide against Nanjing's men; General Yanagawa Heisuke; and Lieut. General
th
Nakajima Kesago, commander of the 16 division, who "supervised the beheading of two prisoners-ofwar to test his new sword, thus setting an example for his troops in mass-scale killing in Nanking" (Yin
and Young, The Rape of Nanking, p. 284).
How about the local Chinese Commander? Chiang, however, had become increasingly agitated over the
course of the Battle of Shanghai, even angrily declaring that he would stay behind in Nanking alone and
command the defense personally. But just when Chiang believed himself completely isolated, General
Tang Shengzhi, an ambitious senior member of the Military Affairs Commission, spoke out in defense of
Chiang's position, although the accounts vary on whether Tang vociferously jumped to Chiang's aid or
whether he only reluctantly stepped up the plate. Seizing the opportunity Tang had given him, Chiang
responded by organizing the Nanking Garrison Force on November 20 and officially making Tang its
commander on November 25.The orders Tang received from Chiang Kai-shek on November 30 were to
"defend the established defense lines at any cost and destroy the enemy’s besieging force"
Part 3 – very good on those 3, but what about some of the others? John Magee, etc.
John Magee was performing missionary work in Nanking and was at the same time the chairman
of Nanking Committee of the International Red Cross Organization. During the dark period
when hundreds of thousands of defenseless Chinese were slaughtered by the Japanese army,
Magee was appalled by the atrocity of the Japanese invaders.
Disregarding his own safety, Magee ran out of the Nanking Safety Zone, going through streets
and lanes, and took part in rescuing more than 200,000 Chinese soldiers and civilians who were
facing being slaughtered. Magee shot several hundred minutes of film
Part 4 – on target – but what about indirect U.S. complicity due to Hirohito, War Crimes Trials, Cold War,
etc
The Rape of Nanking
1. Scope 100,000 to 300,000 dead 20,000 – 80,000 women, girls raped. Nanking destroyed and
burnt by Japanese. River flows red with blood. Small ponds littered with bodies so that John
Rabe could not see the water anymore. POWS and civilians dead filled ditches so tanks could
drive through city.
2. Japanese army, Prince Asaka "kill all captives” order either given by him or by Isamu Cho, aid
to the prince but if the Cho gave the order then Asaka could have withdrawn the order.
Tsuyoshi Noda and Toshiaki Mukai killing contest.
th
General Yanagawa Heisuke; and Lieut. General Nakajima Kesago, commander of the 16
division, who "supervised the beheading of two prisoners-of-war to test his new sword, thus
setting an example for his troops in mass-scale killing in Nanking"
Tani Hisao-LT General of the 6th division responsible for the atrocities in Nanking. War
crimes sentenced to death by Firing squad.
General Matsui - Conflicted ashamed of result of military rape and killing but responsible
and was hanged by war tribunal.
Poor defense of Nanking by Chinese Army mostly peasants, veterans too exhausted from
battle of Shanghai to do anything to prepare for invasion
Chinese General Tang Shengzhi after city falls is ordered to abandon city but doesn’t go.
Hides in house with brick covered doorway. Leaves to see Japanese in person, and is caught
fiends death to while waiting for execution falls into pit of bodies and is stabbed but
survives.
Chiang Kai-shek ordered Tang to continue the hopeless fight for long enough to save face
and then Tang would have the prerogative to decide to withdraw. Tang was now in the very
difficult position of trying to conduct a defense he knew was futile and that he knew he
would abandon in the near future.
3. American Dr Wilson-1 of 2 Western surgeons left in Nanking other dr had 102f fever. Shell
lands in hospital as he is removing an eye from a man. When asked by nurse to quit he says
no but quickly removed the eye. Worked until he couldn’t work anymore.
Leader of Safety zone-John Rabe-Nazi-Seimans Company wrote to Hitler, afterward
Japanese bombing military targets not just random bombing across city. Personally stopped
rapes in his own backyard by running out and chasing Japanese away. Went into city and
stopped rapes as well. Wrote to embassy in Japan and Germany direct appeal to authority
but told to be patient and cooperate with the military.
Flew Nazi flag and wore Nazi arm band to show he was ally of Japanese and they could not
kill him.
Minnie Vautrin-USA- School for girls protected them from army. Flew American flag and
stood up to Japanese soldiers. She was slapped in the face and forced to watch as some girls
were taken as prostitutes and comfort women. She patrolled the campus grounds and
repels incursions of Japanese soldiers into the College and rescue and care for refugees. Has
nervous breakdown.
4. Cover up- Communist China allies itself with Soviets and Japan becomes strategic partner for
USA in Capitalism vs Communism. Chang asserted that the politics of the Cold War
encouraged Mao to stay relatively silent about Nanking in order to keep a trade relationship
with Japan. In turn, China and Japan occasionally used Nanking as an opportunity to
demonize one another. Ultra nationalist in Japan deny scope of genocide and academics
don’t want to study it bc not enough time has gone by.
Japanese Gov ‘t says numbers are much lower of deaths than China. Some in Japan deny it
even happened.
Japan media covers up blames on “Hoodlums”
PM Murayama publicly apologizes Chang not good enough because no written apology She
said that the people of China "don't believe that an... unequivocal and sincere apology has
ever been made by Japan to China" and that a written apology from Japan would send a
better message to the international community.
History of China (1912--1966)
Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by China's weakness, young officials,
military officers, and students began to advocate the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the
creation of a republic. They were inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun Yat-sen.
A revolutionary military uprising, the Wuchang Uprising, began on 10 October 1911. The
provisional government of the Republic of China was formed in Nanjing on 12 March 1912. Sun
Yat-sen was declared President, but Sun was forced to turn power over to Yuan Shikai, who
commanded the New Army and was Prime Minister under the Qing government. Yuan declared
himself emperor in late 1915. His ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates; faced
with the prospect of rebellion, he abdicated in March 1916, and died in June of that year.
Yuan death in 1916 left a power vacuum in China. This ushered in the warlord Era, during which
much of the country was ruled by shifting coalitions of provincial military leaders.
In 1919, the May Fourth Movement began as a response to the terms imposed on China by the
Treaty of Versailles ending World War I, but quickly became a protest movement about the
domestic situation in China. The discrediting of liberal Western philosophy amongst Chinese
intellectuals was followed by the adoption of more radical lines of thought. This in turn planted
the seeds for the irreconcilable conflict between the left and right in China.
In the 1920s, Sun Yat-sen established a revolutionary base in south China, and set out to unite
the fragmented nation. With assistance from the Soviet Union, he entered into an alliance with
the Communist Party of China. After Sun's death in 1925, one of his protégés, Chiang Kai-shek,
seized control of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party or KMT) and succeeded in bringing most of
south and central China under its rule in a military campaign known as the Northern Expedition
(1926--1927). In 1927, Chiang turned on the CPC and relentlessly chased the CPC armies and its
leaders from their bases in southern and eastern China. In 1934, driven from their mountain
bases such as the Chinese Soviet Republic, the CPC forces embarked on the Long March across
China's most desolate terrain to the northwest, where they established a guerrilla base. During
the Long March, the communists reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung).
The bitter struggle between the KMT and the CPC continued through the 14-year long Japanese
occupation of various parts of the country (1931--1945). The two Chinese parties nominally
formed a united front to oppose the Japanese in 1937, during the Sino-Japanese War (19371945), which became a part of World War II.
Following the defeat of Japan in 1945, the war between the KMT and the CPC resumed. By
1949, the CPC had established control over most of the country. When Chiang was defeated by
CPC forces in mainland China in 1949, he retreated to Taiwan with his government and his
troops. The Communist Party of China was left in control of mainland China. On 1 October
1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China.
The PRC was shaped by a series of campaigns and five-year plans, with mixed success. The
economic and social plan known as the Great Leap Forward resulted in an estimated 45 million
deaths. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched the Cultural Revolution, which would last until
Mao's death a decade later. The Cultural Revolution, motivated by power struggles within the
Party and a fear of the Soviet Union, led to a major upheaval in Chinese society.