Modern World HistoryChina and Globalization

Assign. #6-4

The Great Leap Forward (#1)

• After the success of the first Five-Year Plan, Mao proclaimed the “Great Leap Forward” program in 1958

• Collective farms were expanded into communes that supported over 25,000 people– People shared dining rooms,

dormitories, and nurseries for children– No one could own private items– They were governed by strict rules

• Results:– Crop failures caused a famine which

killed 20 million people and the program was ended in 1961

– Industrial declines– Mao lost influence

The Cultural Revolution (#1)– Cultural Revolution—an uprising movement

led by the Red Guards to build society of peasants and workers in which all were equal

– Red Guards (groups of violent and radical youth) closed schools, and executed or imprisoned many intellectuals, factory managers, professors, and others thought to be resisting

– Chaos threatened farm and factory production and set China backwards

– Finally in 1968, the Chinese army was ordered to imprison, execute, or exile most of the Red Guards to stop the violence and chaos

– Results: Purges and conflicts among leaders created economic, social, and political chaos

China and the West (#2)

• China had nearly no role in world affairs during the Cultural Revolution

• Zhou Enlai led China in the early 1970s as Mao Zedong’s health was failing

• Zhou ended China’s isolationism• An American table tennis team visited in

1971 (first official visit by Americans since 1949 – before communism)

• US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972 and opened relations with China

Post-Mao China (#3)

• Deng Xiaoping – Mao’s successor• Four Modernizations – set of goals that

sought progress in the following areas:– Agriculture– Industry – Defense– Science and technology

• Led “Deng’s Revolution” – movement that moderated Mao’s strict communism and isolation by doing the following:– Oversaw the beginnings of the

“modern China” we see today– Brought China into international

markets and trading again– Opened China to foreign capitalists– Sent Chinese students to foreign

universities (needed to rebuild intellectual class)

Results of Deng’s Economic Reforms (#4)• As incomes increased people began to buy more appliances and TVs• Chinese youth began to wear more Western styled clothes and

listen to Western music• Foreign tourism in China increased• Unexpected problems:– As living standards increased, so did a gap between the rich and

poor– People began to believe that the communist party officials

unfairly profited from their political positions– With Western economic investment, tourism, and cultural

influences also came Western political ideas of democracy– Chinese young people began to more openly question the

communist party leadership and their lack of political freedom

Tiananmen Square (#5)

• Thousands of Chinese students organized pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989

• Influenced by pro-democracy movements at end of Cold War

• Student protest in the capitol gained widespread support, and spread to hundreds of cities across the country

• Deng approved bloody crackdown – thousands killed/imprisoned “Tank Man” defies Chinese military heading

to put down the Tiananmen Square protests

Questions Following Deng’s Death (#6)• Deng Xiaoping died in 1997 and

was replaced by Jiang Zemin• Questions for China at this time

included:– Would Zemin be able to hold

onto power (a non-military man in control of the Chinese military)?

– Would China hang onto control of Tibet despite pressure from the rest of the world?

– Would China improve its human rights record (known for holding a large number of political prisoners)?

Zemin with US President Bill Clinton

China Today• Central Question: How does

China reap the benefits of the global economy and world capitalism/trade without sacrificing their Communist principles?

• Deng clearly had to walk a fine line in that effort (opened up Chinese markets, used capitalism to bring economy back – but cracked down on democracy at Tiananmen)

Chances of Greater Democracy in China? (#7)• China has continued to have a growing

economy despite the recent global recession

• A growing middle class means greater demands by people with money to have more say in political decisions

• As countries get linked together through technology and trade, they will have the power to influence each other politically

• The question is will China’s communist government make political reforms in the same way it has made economic reforms

• If it doesn’t there could be problems in China in the future as people demand these political reforms

U.S. and China Trade• There is a growing gap in the amount of

goods purchased by the U.S. from China and the amount China buys from the U.S.

• This is because China is able to produce goods that Americans want at the lowest cost

• China has a lower standard of living, which allows companies in China to pay lower wages to workers

• American companies can't compete with China's low costs, and many jobs are lost

• If tariffs on Chinese goods were enacted, However, U.S. consumers would have to pay higher prices for their "Made in America" goods

China and U.S. Debt

• One third of our U.S. Debt is owned by foreign nations• China owns one fifth of that foreign debt ($1.2 trillion)