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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > China Revision Notes
Conditions after Mao’s Death
- Mao died 1976 : China lost direction, poor, isolated
- Communism failed to bring prosperity
- Cultural Revolution failed utterly; Sent-Down Youths from Cul Rev. were “The changed generation”
- ‘Rightists’(who were purged) came back to consolidate power
Power Struggle
- ‘Gang of 4’ (Jiang Qing(Mao’s widow), Yao Wenyuan, Zhang Chunqiao, Wang Hongwen)
- pushed cultural revolution to extreme, extremely powerful
- blamed everyone else for Mao’s mistakes
- They were a threat to Hua, he arrest them, put on Show Trial; the people were happy
- ‘The “Whatever” faction’ Hua Goufeng (Mao’s successor) and moderate leftists
- Hua was not a secure leader
- He tried to take Mao’s place
- Have people love him like Mao; didn’t work
- ‘Rightists’ Deng Xiaoping (the young of the old : youngest who went through Long March)
- Long standing experience
- Responsible for supplies during civil war
- Pragmatist: economic comes before socialism ideology
- “whether the cat is black or white, if it catches mice, it is a good cat”
- Resilient (purged several times and still came back)
Deng’s Rise to Power
- Overtook Hua in terms of support
- Positive character: good listener, dress casually, get closer to people he talks to and accept point of views when said to him directly
- Supported movements criticizing Maoist Policies
- Putting up posters on the Democracy Wall 1978-9
- However, when Rightist control was firm and criticism went too far, this wall was put down –(like Mao did with Hundred Flowers)
“Four Modernizations” – agriculture, industry, science and technology, defense
- People, food and jobs (socialism only ‘just’ allowed them to survive, had to do better)
- Control population: 1978 one-child policy [widely ignored or evaded in rural areas]
- 1979 Household Responsibility System – each family could lease an area of land, surplus production could be sold for profit…by1985 this began to be publicized for others to copy
- Same principle as HRS : Managerial responsibility system.
- Small-scale private businesses and worker co-operatives were allowed
- ‘Open door’ Trade relations
- Improved trade with Western nations and Japan rapidly
- Was first Chinese leader to visit USA
*Had fun at NASA and Rodeo Show!
- ‘Special Economic Zones’ – for foreigners to set up joint ventures w/ Chinese local authorities
*Improved electricity, roads, buildings
- Living standards increased
- Capitalists attracted from overseas: low rent, low tax, low wage
- 1987 in the new SEZ in Hainan island, south of HK, foreigners will be able to BUY land, set up factories w/o Chinese supervision
- Complete u-turn
- Focus on skilled people instead of number of illiterates
- Resources concentrated on higher education and ‘key schools’ for selected children.
- Most successful went to study abroad; by 1985 about 30,000 students went to study abroad
Trouble of Hong Kong lease w/ Britain ending
- Deng proposed “one country, two systems”
- Return HK to China, retain capitalist system
- Gaining back HK signaled China’s presence/importance in the world
- 1984 a treaty was signed that HK will be returned to China in 1997
Results of Deng’s policies
- Young people in SEZs didn’t care about country, just to get rich
- Idea of “spiritual pollution” caused by foreign influence
- A campaign set up to discourage
* people didn’t take seriously
- Outside cities, peasants fared better
- Economy booming
- Reappearance of markets
- Rural factories fueled country Economy
- Villagers had leisure times
- Return to Religious practices (in Mao’s time this was banned)
Student Protests for Democracy 1986-87
- During Mao’s time communism were taught since primary school
- 1980s see constant change and flux: students begin to question communism
- Increased enthusiasm of foreign art/literature; “Cultural Fever”
- People’s focus switch from political to personal
- Hu Yaobang is Deng Xiaoping’s successor: radical, opposed by veteran revolutionaries
- Students began to demand rights to elect leader
- Staged demonstrations in Shanghai; which the government banned
- In Beijing, students marched to Tien’anmen Square; police vs civilian confrontation
- Hu Yaobang tried to help students
- Conservatives forced Hu out
- All other oppositions were fired
June Forth Movement 1989
- April 1989- Hu Yaobang died
- Over night students fluxed to Tien’anmen; demand for freedom of speech
- Students handed a petition
- Deng warned them to stop, but they refused and went on a hunger strike
- Students all over the country marched to support Beijing
- The whole civilian population supported students: teachers, doctors, everyone
- Rise in anti-Communist feelings which once happened to Nationalists
- Worker’s union formed
- June 4th 1989 Hunger Strike went on for 5 days before talks were made
- Government declared Martial Law
- Soldiers went in and open fire
- Students shot and ran over by tanks: deaths figures vary from 200-300 (PRC gov’t figures), 400-500 (New York Times), 2000-3000 (Chinese students association and Chinese Red Cross)
- Many young leaders went abroad, some stayed and were put to prison
- Foreign governments condemned the crack-down
- Businesses withdrew investment
