Figure 1.--This is a scene from China during the Cultural Revolution taken in 1974. I do not know where it was taken. It might be a scene from a movie, but I am not sure of that. Notice the baggy jackets and trousers for both boys and girls. |
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China's experiece in the 20th century was the most turbulant of any great power.
China at the beginning of the 20th century wasa backward almpst medieval society.
The 20th century in Chima began with the Boxer Rebellion (1900) which exposed the weakeness of decadent Manchu dynasty. The European rescue force and the reparations and concessions involved descredited the Manchus and led to the overthrow of the monarch (1912) and estanlishment of the Chinese Republic (1913). The Guomindang led by Chaing Kai-check fought a campaign with war lords to unify the country (1910s). After World War I a civil war broke out with the Communists (1920s). Japan invaded China in the 1930s. The Japanese first seized Manchuria (1931) and then attacked China proper (1937). Some historians consider the Sino-Japanese War to be the beginning of World War II. The Japanese waged a war un unbelievable brutality, occupying much of the country. No country suffered more in World War II than China. The losses were enormous, even greater than Soviet losses. The enormity of the Japanese crimes in China still cloud their bilateral relationship. The Jspanese were, however, unable to defeat the Chinese.
The war with Japan lasted until the Japanese surrendered to the Allies (1945). The Chinese Civil War began before the Japanese invasion and continued even longer, finally ending with the Communist victory (1949). The victory of the Communists meant massive social change. The Communists iniitated radical reforms aimed at bringing China into the 20th century. Some efforts were effective, others caused imense sufferung. Millions of Chinese died in the famine resulting from Mao's Great Leap Forward. Developments in China in fact involve much more than the War and thus require separate treatment. The Cultural Revolution is a case in point. School children and youth were both at the front of the Cultural Revolution and greatly affected by it it. China after the Cultural Revolution embraced free-market economic reforms. Modern China has embraced economic market reforms, but has not yet moved toward political liberalization. China by the end of the century had the world's fastest growing economy. The Communist Party has, however, continued to limit free expression and maintains a party dictatorship.
The Ming in 1643 employed the war-like Manchus from the northeast to defend China from the Central Asian Tatars. A Manchu prince established himself in Peking, and, in 1644, on the suicide of the last Ming emperor, took the imperial throne, founding the last royal dynasty of China. The first Manchu emperor, Shunzhi, only 1 year after bevoming emperor in 1645 ordered that pigtails (queues) should be worn in the style of the Manchu. This was seen as a sign of submission to Manchu rule. [Chang] The enforced adoption by the Chinese of the plaited queue of the Manchus at first produced friction between the two peoples, but this gradually disappeared, and Manchus and Chinese assumed harmonious relations, but the Manchus remained a destinct warrior and official class. The huge Chinese population and culture gradually engulfed the numerically small invaders who adopted Chinese language and culture. The Manchus conqured Mongolia and ruled Manchuria. The gratest Manchu emperor was K'ang Hsi (1662-1722). He conquered Tibet. He promoted sciemce and the arts. The Central Asian states of Turkestan and Kashgaria were conquered by Ch'ien Lung (1736-96). Burma was penetrated and Cochin China (Vienam) and Korea were forced to pay tribute. After Ch'ien subsequent Machu emperors encountered increasingly difficulty suppressing rebellions. The Chinese tendency to turn inward and failure to pursue modern science and industry made it increasingly difficult to contend with the growing power of European nations intent on entering the China trade. The Manchus, who found it difficult, to descriminate among Europeans found it difficult to understand the national rivalries as well as the avarice of the Europeans. Trade florished even under restructions imposed by the Manchus. Europeans had difficulty, however, in delivering products of interest to the Chinese, until the British and other foreign merchants i the 19th century began selling increasing quantities of opium which was illegal in China. The increasing tendency of Eurropean governments to intervene to protect their traders and the desire to maintain the lucrative opium trade led to Opium War which began in 1840. A naval task force by 1842 had forced China to make major concessions including ceeding Hong Kong as a British enclave. Other European powers also demanded similar enclaves. This generally took the form of areas of cities, but the French seized Tonkin expanding control of Indo-China (1884) and Japan, which did embrace modern technology, seized control of Korea (1894) and Taiwan (1895). Two elements emerged in China to contend with the Europeans. The first was traditionalist reactionary force inspired by the Emperess to exterminate the foreigners. Nationalist reformers desiring to modernize China were persecuted. The Boxers with their primitives weapons and with them the Emperess were humiliated by a foreign military expediton in 1900-01. Gradually the reformers grew in strength.
China's experiece in the 20th century was the most turbulant of any great power. It began with the Boxer Rebellion (1900) which exposed the weakeness of decadent Manchu dynasty. China had viewed itself as the greatest world power and other countries of little importance. Growing European power by the 19th century had enforced many indignaties on China, begnning in particular with the Opium Wars. European countries enforced inequitable treties and carved out treaty ports. Japan even seized Formosa (1895). There were two major responses. One was a desire by progressive reformers to modernize China by adopting modern technology and institutions along the lines being persued in Japan. The other was a desire to drive out all foreign influence and maintain traditional culture. Dowager Empress Cixi suppressed the progressive reformers . Unable to resist the European powers openly, Emperess Cixi secretly promoted the traditionalist faction. The most important traditionalist faction was the Society of Harmonious Fists which in the West became known as the Boxers. The Boxers began attacking foreigners, especially isolated foreigners living outside the treaty ports. Here the most vuunerable were the foreign missionaries living among the Chinese. The missionaries were espec=ially hated by the Boxers. Gradually attackd on foreigners and Chinese associated with them increased, especially in north China. Open fighting began when a British force moving to Peking to protect the forign community there came under fire--something the regular Chinese Army was afraid to do. Full scale revolt broke out in Peking. The Boxers killed the German ambassador and beseigned the foreign embassies. Attacks on foreigners and foreign property occurred all over north China. Six fireign govern,ents (America, Austria-Hungary?, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan) organized a relief mission. The European rescue force and the reparations and concessions imposed on China under the Peking Protocol descredited the Manchus and led to the overthrow of the monarch (1912).
Puyi was born in 1906 and and on the death of his uncle Guangxu became the last emperor of China. We have noted various spellings, P'u-i, Puyi, Pu-Yi, and Buyi. Unlike his newphew, he did not have the Dowager Empress as regent. Pu Yi's father, Prince Ch'un, served as his son's regent. The prince, however, disliked politics and court officials conducted givernment affairs. Reformers in China demanded change and action aginst the Europeans. They considered Prince Ch'un weak and the imperial regime corrupt and backward--incapable of challenging the Europeans. Puyi was raised by court officials who taught him to leave a desolate life. A Scottish tutor, Reginald Johnston, was hired for him. Puyi was forced to abdiagate in 1912 after the 1911 Republican Revolution. He was permitted to live in the Forbidden City until 1924. He was courted by the Japanese who had acquired the former German concessions in Manchuria. Puyi took up residence in the Japanese concession at Tientsin. The Japanese gradually expanded their control of Manchuria. They installed him in 1933 as Emperor of the puppet state of Manchoukuo. He met with Emperor Hirohito. We do not know the nature of their discussions. Puyi was surprised to learn that he had no real authority. The Soviet invaded Manchuria in the final weeks of World War II and turned him over to the Chinese for trial as a war criminal. The Chinese pardoned him in 1959. He returned to Beijing where he worked in the mechanical repair shop of a botanical garden and died in 1967. Puyi's life was beautifully told in the film, "The Last Emperor".
Agitation for a Chinese republic was led by Dr. Sun Yat-sen. A rebellion broke out ino October 10, 1911 that led to the over throw of the Manchus. The Imperial Army garrison at Wuchang rebelled on October 10, 1911, and declared China to be a republic. Other garrisons joined them. Within 2 months thirteen of China's eighteen provinces had joined the rebellion. The Imperial Government was unable to supress the rebellion because by this time, many military commanders were allied with the republicans. The republicans occupied Beijing in 1912 and demanded Puyi abdicate. The last emperor, Hsuan Pu-yi, a small boy, abdicated February 7, 1912.This ended the imperial system that had dominated China for four millenia. Prince Chun, the regent, was offered an arrangement that guaranteed Puyi's title, safety, income, and continued possession of the Forbidden City. The National Assesmbly dominated by the Kuomintang/Guomindang met (February 1913). Sun proved to be an idealistic, but ineffectual leader and China descended into rule by war lords and increased penetration by foreign powers. A wave of rising national sentiment spread over China in the 1920s in reaction to both the war lords the foreign concessions.
China was not a factor in World War I. Japan did enter the war on the Allied side. As a result after the War, Japan was awarded German concessions in China and former German islands in the Pacific.
This weakness of Sun and the Republic set in motion a struggle for power among warlords, Nationalists and Communists. This allowed a Kuomintang general Chang Kai-shek, with the assistance of the Communists, to defeat the warlords in the 1920s and unite China. He also seized many foreign concessions.
After World War I Chang finally defeated the war lords.
Chang fell out with the Communists, launching a civil war (1927). The Communists were almost completely defeated. Suronded by Kuomintang forces, Mao led the Long March and established the Communists in northwestern China.
Chang also had to contend with the Japanese who proved even more of a threat and in the 1930s a long war with Japan began. The Japanese inherited many of the concessions of the German and Austrains, including extensive concessions in Manchuria. The Japanese army in Manchuria seized the province (1931). The Nationalists did not contest this action militarily. They did protest diplomatically and took Japan to the League of Nations. The Japanese invaded China proper from Manchurian bases (1937). This was the begining of a long dreadful war. Japan occupied Chinese coastal areas and important cities, except for the European concessions. The Jpanese persued the War with unbelievable brutality. The Rape of Nanking was one of the most barabarous attrocities of modern times. China fought the Japanese alone for several years. American support for China was limited by isolationist sentiment and American neutrality laws. President Roosevelt guiding public opinion managed to provide some support including the Flying Tigers in 1941. It was American insistence that Japan end its aggression in China and opposition to other incursions in the Pacific that convinced the Japanese that war with America was necessary. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought America into the War (1941). After America entered the War, more substantial support flowed to China. The Japanese occupied areas of China were only liberated after the Japanese surrender in World War II (1945).
The Nationalists and Communists renewed the civil war after the Japanese surendered. The Soviets smashed the Japanese army in Manchuria and turned massive quantities of arms over to the Communists. America tried to mediate the war, but this was a pipe dream evolving from a limited knowledge of China. The corrupt Natioanlist Government suffered major defeats in northern battles and Communist armies swept south. Chang and the Natioanlists retired to Taiwan.
The success of the Communist Revolution led by Mao-Tse-Tung in 1949 brough a massive social change. The Communists iniitated radical reforms aimed at bringing China into the 20th century. Some efforts were effective, others caused imense suffering. Contacts with the West, however, were curtailed as China looked to the Soviet Union and state planning to run their economy. Businesses and private land holdings were nationalized. Everyone was incouraged to think alike and dress alike. The desire was to put everyone on an equal footing.
China after the victory of the Communists became a closed society. Information about China was essentially closed to the West. Effort by the CIA to penetrate the Bamboo Curtain were decidely unsuccessful. Agents droped by air or inserted along the coast simply disappeared. CIA military efforts with the Kuomintang failed. The British forbade the CIA to use Hong Kong to penetrate China until 1968. Taiwanese intelligence was thoroughly penetrated. [Lilley] As a result, until Nixon's opening to China, the CIA had little more reliable information on China and Communist leaders than what might be found in the newspaper. This lack of information was first notable in the failure to appreciate the potential for Chinese intervention in Korea (1950).
Since the spectacular voyages of Cheng Ho (Zheng He) in the 15th century, China showed little interest in the sea. This extended even to Taiwan whuch became know as Formosa during the Portuguese period. The Chinese made no effort to interfere with the piracy that developed from the island in the 19th century. Mariners from many countries (American, Btitain, French, Japanese, and others) complained to the Imperial government they received no satisfaction (1870s). The Manchu Emperor told them that "Taiwan is beyond our territory." The French launched an expedition to attack the pirates and occupied much of the norther part of the island (1884-85). Only with the rise of Japanese power did the Imperial Government begin to take an interest. The Emperor declared Taiwan to be a "province" of the Empire (1887). The First Sino-Japanese War was fought in part over Taiwan (1895). The Imperial Government in the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ceded Taiwan to Japan in perpetuity. The Taiwanese with some Manchu support declared independence (May 25, 1895). Yje Japanese landed 12,000 soldiers in the north (May 29). The Taiwanese firces were crushed and and Japan quickly seized control of their new possession. Japanese forces entered Tainan in the south (October 21). The Japanese occupation regime was was harsh. Unlike the Manchus, however, they were not corrupt. They supressed piracy. They founded a modern educational system. Classes were taught in Japanese.
The Japanese made important investments in infrastructure, communications, trains, roads, and industry. [Kerr]
The Japanese remained firmly in control of Taiwan throughout World war II. The Allies at the Cairo Conference accepted Chiang Kai-shek's request that Taiwan be "returned to China." American planners considered an invasion of the island, but the Philippines and Okinawa were selected instead. The Allies agreed to allow that Chiang's troops to "temporarily occupy Taiwan, on behalf of the Allied forces."
The Taiwanese welcomed the Chinese troops, glad to be finally rid of the Japanese. The Taiwanese whole finding the Chinese at first to be less brutal than the Japanese, found the Chinese to be repressive and corrupt. A series of incidents occurred. An incident in Taipei led to a massive demonstration (February 28, 1947). Chinese authorities were surprised and brought in additional troops from China. Taiwanese leaders, students, professionals, and community leades were arrested. Large numbers were executed. Some reports suggest that about 28,000 people were killed. Scholars describe what follows as the White Terror and thousands more were arrested and tortured and many executed by the Taiwan Garrison Command.
The Kuomintang (KMT) was defeated by the Communists in the Civil War on the Mainland (1949). Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to Taiwan where he declared martial Law. This was necessary in part because the Chinese population that escaped to Taiwan was only about 15 percent of the populatiojn. There he was protected by the American 6th Fleet. Taiwan thus became a flash point in the Cold war. Martial Law and dictatorial KMT rule continued for four decades. The islands of Quemoy and Matsu were an issue in the 1960 presidential election. The KMT maintained the fiction that Nationalist China was the legitimate government of China and some day they would recover the Mainland. .
The Allies and Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty ending World War II. Japan ceded Taiwan in the Treaty, but the future id the island was left up to the United Nations. While the KNT tightly controlled Taiwan politically, the island made considrable economic progress, becoming one of the Asian Tigers. Here the educated population and infrastructure left by the Japanese were an importnt factor. Nixon and Kissinger made their "opening" to China (1971). Beijing was awarded Taiwan's seat in the United Nations. The United States and China agreed to the Shanghai Communiqué (1972). The Communique is the basis for the United States "One China" policy.
Millions of Chinese died in the famine resulting from Mao's Great Leap Forward.
Another major even more radical change occurred during the Cultural Revolutuion (1966-76), one of the most violent and tragic episodes in modern Chinese history. Major Chinese traditions such as respect for ones's elders were attacked. It was inspied by China's leader Mao Tse Tung and known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Mao thought that the Chinese people were losing their revolutionary zeal. He this conceived of a cutural revolution to destroy once and for all the culture of pre-Communist China. Children were often forced to renounce their own parents. Mao sought to reinvigirate party
cadre with a revolutionay commitment, to replace many in positions of rank and privilege who were no sufficently inspired, to punish the cadre for the criticisms that
were lodged against Mao's disastrous Great Leap Forward experiment, and to continue attacks against the intelligentia who he thought were not sufficently committed to the Revolution. Important leaders including Peng Zhen to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping who were not sufficently loyal to Mao suffered during the Cultural Revolution, now just as the intelligentia and those who hadn't embraced Mao's grand plan. Mao's power reached unprecedent levels during this period in a xenephobic and often irrational cult of personality, symbolized by a Little Red Book consisting of his quotations, ubiquitous buttons that bore his portrait, and statues virtually deifying him that were raised near any buildings of social significance throughout China. The attacks on people made during the Cultural Revolution were all done in Mao's name.
President Nixon's opening to China had a major impact on international relations (1972). His ambassador to China was George H.W. Bush. President Regan's communiqué with Deng Xiaoping agreeded to limit arms sales to Taiwan (August 1982). This was, however, rendered essebntialy inoperative with Regan's simulatenous "six assurances" to Taiwan designed to insure that Taiwan would not be forced to negotiate with Beijing. [Lilley]
Gradually the Cultural Revolution played itself out. China embarked on a radical change in policy through its door open to the outside world in 1978.
The Communist Party used the Army to supress the student-le demoracy movement in Tenamen Square.
China has made enormous economic progress. The market reforms have been the chief driving force. China now has the world's fastest groweing ecnomy. The Communist Party has relinquished control over many aspects of the lives of ordinary Chinese people that it had once sougt to control. The accomplishments jhave been enormous and scarely imaginable to the generation of the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese have made major progress in the effort both to develop decent living standards and obtaining individual freedom. One question that has to be asked, and rarely is raised, is could so much progress have been achieved if the Democracy Movement had succeeded. Despite the enormous progress, however, the Party has failed to deliver other promised reforms. Chief amongst these are honest government and the rule of law. These are not minor matters. It is the rule of law that arguably proved to be the key factor at the heart of Britain's (and later America's) success. The failure of the rule of law permitted the disent to barbarity in NAZI Germany and Soviet Russia. There are today in China brave nen and women struggling to achieve both honest government and the rule of law and in many instances have faced dreadful consequences. [Johnson] The Communist Party has, however, continued to limit free expression and maintained a party dictatorship. It remains to be seen how China will develop until these remaing issues are addressed. The chief question is China's future development without the rule of law.
Johnson, Ian. Wild Grass: Three Stories of Change in Modern China (Pantheon, 2004), 324p.
Kerr, George. Formosan Home Rule Movement.
Lilly, James with Jeffrery Lilly. China Hands: Nine Decades od Adventure, Espionage, and Diplomacy in Asia (Public Affairs, 2004), 417p.
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