BLOCK 1 ASSIGNMENT
We have discussed several characteristics common to political systems in ancient China. What did China’s revolutionaries – the reformers, reactionaries, and revolutionaries -- reject about previous political systems? What major figures, ideas and events help explain the evolution of China’s revolution? What gave rise to nationalism? Communism? Was the revolution a complete repudiation of the old system? If not, what characteristics of the old persisted? Why? How closely did China’s communist revolution track the communist revolution in the Soviet Union?
Develop a well-argued essay to address these questions and your classmates as they respond. Post your argument as a comment to this post.
posted by Prof Benson @ 8:39 AM
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4 Comments:
Throughout Chinese history there have been a number of significant changes that lead to the system that is in place today. However, the climax to all of this came about with the arrival of the western powers of Chinese shores.
Almost all major political figures to be discussed had some sort of reform on their agenda, the question then was to the extremes that each of them would carry the concept.
Among the movers and shakers of the 19th and 20th century, one of the most influential was Kang Youwei. His calls for change and eventual infiltration into the imperial court could perhaps be seen as a final warning for China’s archaic imperial system. Rather than the reactionary ideal of a Golden Age Kang implemented the idea that the Golden Age was something to be progressed toward. Abandoning Confucian dogma altogether was, without a doubt, risky; however, the inability to compete with western influence both economically and militarily on their level offered a number of problems as well.
China's infrastructure was falling apart, the effects of the defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war only added insult to injury. The fusion of westernization and Confucian thinking was rejected by the remaining imperials and not until the violence of the Boxer rebellion were there any offensive moves by the Chinese against western governments. The boxers were in every sense of the word reactionaries, rejection of the former political system came about in the form of extreme anti-foreign sentiments. Harmony was no longer an option. The flight of the empress from the imperial palace eventually brought about minor attempts at merging the two contradictory philosophies.
Eventually Sun Yat-sen became the focus of attention. Similar to the warring states period after the fall of the Qing dynasty, the revolution of 1911 resulted in a multitude of warlords competing for control of the mainland. Sun rejected the idea that education was a privilege of the noble, and pushed for public education. Interestingly enough, in what may be seen as a bit of a correlation between Confucian thought and his own, was to dictate to the civilians what constituted the ideal citizen, the modern twist is the utilization of newspapers to do so. Furthermore Sun was one of the first to see the essential need for industry.
The most testing factor at the time was the fact that in the absence of a solid interior, lacking the integration of western technology and governing ideology, China would be left in the dust, or what is more likely, conquered or coerced into submission to foreign powers. With the aide of foreign figures such as Japan’s Miyazaki Touten, Sun was able to dodge any significant consequence of law or competing warlord, and thereby begin the footsteps to revolution.
At the time Miyazaki was convinced that in order to preserve Asia, China must be restored to its former glory. Sun used this common threat to Chinese culture as a means to unify China around him by first ousting the Manchu government and finally aiming nationalism against foreign “invasion”. His focus during the founding of the KMT was toward that of the people’s nationalism, sovereignty, and livelihood.
Soviet involvement with the KMT was initially an attempt at gaining favor within the KMT itself. Ideology and progress came about so slowly however that the CCP formed as a separate entity and the battle for control of China commenced via sporadic guerilla warfare and the attrition of faith in the more traditional KMT government under Chiang Kai Shek.
The CCP’s rise to power was no doubt facilitated by the KMT. In essence the Chinese communist revolution mimicked that of its soviet cousin in its ability to seize control of a weak government in the midst of national disunity. Just as the Czar’s defeats against Germany paved the way for the Decembrist revolt and eventual overthrow of Czarist imperialism, so did a long-fought over power vacuum allow for the CCP to organize an uneducated agricultural society into an anti-KMT faction.
All three of the major groups of reformers agreed that something needed to be done to save China from foreign encroachment. The reactionaries wanted to discard everything foreign and become even more isolationist. The reformers wanted to preserve the system and culture, while making a few modifications to the present system to help it compete with the West. The revolutionaries had the most drastic vision of the three. They felt that Confucianism and the Chinese culture at large was the source of their present plight, and that system needed to be totally repudiated in order to progress and compete with the West.
Sun Yat-sen was the leader of the revolutionary movement. He was sent to Hawaii to study in a prestigious Western university, and there became converted to Christianity and Western ideas of government. Upon returning to China he began to preach rebellion against the Qing government, and organized the “Revive China Society.” He officially founded the Nationalist Party or KuoMinTang (KMT) in 1905.
Sun advocated the formation of a democratic republic, and also pushed for land reform. He also wanted to remove the Manchus from power, who he saw outsiders, and return the Han to rule.
After Sun’s death in 1925 Chiang Kai-shek became the KMT’s leader. Chiang ended the union with the Soviets, who had been aiding the revolution until that time. He discarded the more left-wing aspects of the revolution. He also rehabilitated Confucius.
By rejecting the more part of the principles of Confucianism, which meant the revolution needed to look for something else to unite the people. This partly explains the drive for nationalism. Other factors were the uniting of the Han Chinese against the Manchus, and the disgust of foreign encroachment in China.
Many of the Chinese felt that they had been exploited and abused by the West. They found a common enemy of the West in the teachings of Karl Marx. They also liked the fact that Marxism was supposed to be culturally neutral. They also wanted a quick revolution, like Marxism offered, as opposed to the painfully slow solutions offered by Dewey.
The communist revolution in the beginning attempted to closely model the Soviet revolution; however it soon became apparent that it needed to be adapted for China. For one, according to communist theory the revolution was supposed to be led by urban workers in an industrialized society. In China this obviously would not work because it was still largely an agricultural society. The Chinese revolution, therefore, had its roots in the peasant/farmer class of the rural society, which constituted the majority of the Chinese population.
The beginning years of Chinese Communism closely followed the Soviet system, but after time there was a large movement of economic pragmatism within the government, led by reformers like Deng Xiaoping. The Mao years were characterized by a battle between anti-Soviet hard-liners like Mao, and the more pro-Soviet, economic pragmatists like Deng Xiaoping.
The Communists were able to capitalize on some of the Confucian traditions already institutionalized in the society. For example, Communism claims to be a government that will take care of the people in theory at least, if not in fact. The revolution also used the principle that teaches that revolution is necessary and just when a leader not taking care of the people, thereby justifying the overthrow of Chiang Kai-shek’s government.
No matter what nation we belong to, we know that political systems are always changing and people do not always agree with what should be happening within their country. Following the decline of the Qin dynasty in China, there were three groups who had their ideals of what China should become.
First, there were the selective modernizers. They believe only certain changes needed to be made within government. The leader of this group, Kang Youwei, believed five things needed to happen to improve China: revise the civil service exam, make China progressive, tighten the bureaucracy, embrace commerce, and develop a foreign affairs office. While these ideas may have seemed promising, Youwei’s plan did not work. They tried some aspects of the plan, but it ended up falling through.
The next group was the reactionaries. They were led by the Boxers, a.k.a. Righteous and Harmonious Fists. They basically hated foreign control and ended up assassinating foreigners. They believed China should have no ties to foreign countries.
The third group was the Revolutionaries. They believed in ending the Qin dynasty, resisting foreign encroachment (much like the reactionaries), establishing a republic and beginning land reform. This group brought about the Nationalist movement which pledged resistance to the Manchu’s and foreigners.
A major figure in the revolution in China (aside from the group leaders mentioned above) is Cixi. She essentially took over the country and embraced some of Youwei’s ideals. She eliminated the civil service exam all together, which actually brought about more corruption. People considering being civil service leaders could be just because they had the desire. They lost their status and superiority.
At this point, there was definitely division in the nation. Sun Yat Sen took over China and tried to establish a new dynasty. He believed in three principles: nationalism, democracy, and people’s livelihood. Unfortunately, this further divided the Chinese people. Soon, the CCP came about and people started to take a look at communism. Mao Zedong soon became the Communist leader.
It is not uncommon when there is a widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo. Those who wished to change it, in this case, divided into three broad categories: the reformers, the reactionaries, and the revolutionaries. Reformers such as Kong Youwei spearheaded the reformist movement. His technique for reforming China was to reinterpret Confucius. The revolutionaries (boxers), on the other hand, desired to put an end to the existing dynasty, the Manchu’s, and divide China through force. Lastly, the revolutionaries wanted to reform China from within. Lead by Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionist movement evolved into the “Kuomintank” (KMT) or the “Nationalist party.”
The main reason why the Communists came to power in China was because of the failing policies and actions used by the Kuomintang, of which the CCP took advantage of. In addition to that, there were also significant factors such as the poor conditions during the beginning of the twentieth century. The Republic of China and the Japanese War led to the insufficiency and weakness of the Chinese Democratic Party during the Civil War. Chiang Kai-Shek lost the support of the majority, mainly peasants and intellectuals, to the CCP, which contributed to their success in war. In addition to Democratic Party’s actions, Mao Zedong, the communist leader, was able to take over and declare the Peoples Republic of China (PRC).
China has its own form of communism, Maoism. The Soviet Union applies the Marxist model. It also has many characteristics that distinguish it from the Soviet Union making economic comparisons difficult. As much as the socialist economic model remained similar between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, there were key economic and political differences that make any analysis of relationships between Chinese communism and Soviet communism difficult.
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