MIDLANDS STATE UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORICAL STUDIES
MODULE CODE:
HISH 231
MODULE TITLE:
CHINA SINCE THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION
Module Outline
China is a country which at the onset of the 20th Century could be described as a
decaying empire. She was bedevilled with the socio-political and economic ills
common to most developing countries. However by the onset of the 21st century she
had cast off this image and reclaimed her position among the global power-houses.
She is an example to many Developing Countries of how through a combination
pragmatism, self-sacrifice, determination, good domestic and foreign policies a
country can rise from obscurity to a power to reckon with. Thus the subject of this
module is China's evolution from a decaying nation into a rapidly modernising nation
by the 21st century. It examines the people, events, movements and ideas that shaped
China's destiny since the Communist Revolution of 1949. Two individuals, Mao
Zedong and Deng Xiaoping whose policies helped create modern day China will
feature most in the module. China's foreign policy and relations with the superpowers as she sought her place in the global village will also be examined in detail.
The last section focuses on China's vastly increased involvement in Africa which has
serious implications for the continent and the global balance of power at large. To
heighten the relevance of the module to the students a closer analysis of the SinoZimbabwean relations will be done.
Background Information
 Rise of the Communist party in China.
 War against the KMT and the Long March.
 Communist victory in 1949.
Mao Zedong and The Re-Organisation Of Chinese Life and Society Along The Communist
Ideology.
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The new republic’s economic, social and political challenges.
Dealing with the challenges.
The Agrarian reform and transformation of rural life.
The First Five Year plan.
The Hundred Flowers Campaign.
The Great Leap Forward and its aftermath: A leap foward or a Leap Backward?
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution; its achievements and impact on international
relations.
 Communism and Chinese Tradition- Emancipation of women.
The Maoist Ideology and Global Influence
 Principles of Maoism:
 Populism, mind over matter, mass mobilisation, xenophobia, guerrila-warfare, anticapitalism etc.
 Influence in Asia and Africa.
From Ideological Dogma to Pragmatism: A New Beginning For China.
[Ideologies control fools but guide the wise]
- The power struggle in China: 'Reformists' against against the Ideologues (Gang of Four).
 The Reformists Victory: rise of Deng Xiaoping and the reshaping of Chinese society and
economy.
 Deng Xiaoping's Reforms;
 Agriculture and Industry
 Science and Technology
 Foreing Affairs under Deng.
 Social and political reforms and the Tiananmen Square Massacres.
China's Foreign Policy: China and The International Community Since 1949.
A. Re-Claiming Lost Territories.
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The One-China Policy and the attempt to reclaim lost territories; Hong- Kong and Macau.
Taiwanese Sovereignty and the One China Policy.
Sino-Taiwanese competition for influence in Africa.
Tibetan autonomy question and the international community.
B. China’s Relations With the Soviet Union/ Russia.
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Years of friendship 1949-1956.
Causes of the Sino-Soviet Split;
Rise of Nikita Khruschev and the ideological differences between USSR and China.
Factors worsening the rift between the USSR and China.
China’s relations with Russia in the 21st Century.
C. China’s Relations With the USA
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Years of hostility 1949-1970
President Nixon and the Normalisation of relations with China.
Rapprochement
Sino-American Relations in the 21st Century
China and the rest of the Western Community.
D. China and Africa
 China's early contacts with Africa
 African perception of Chinese activities in Africa; 'The all-weather Friend”.
 Strategic elements and importance of China's policy towards Africa: Chinese interests in
Africa.
 Comparison of Chinese and Western interests in Africa: A review of the concept of neo-
colonialism
 Consequences of Chinese involvement in Africa.
E. China and Zimbabwe
 China and the liberation of Zimbabwe.
 Establishment of diplomatic relations after Zimbabwean independence.
 Chinese economic and political pursuits in Zimbabwe.
READING LIST
NB. Students are strongly advised to make use of internet sources.
Alden, C. “China in Africa”, Survival, 47, 3, 2005.
Barber, N. The Fall of Shanghai: The Communist Takeover of 1949, Macmillan, London, 1979.
Beauvoir, S., The Long March, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London,
Benewick, R. & P. Wingrove., China in the 1990s, Macmillan, London, 1995.
Blackwood, A., A Spotlight on the Rise of Modern China, Wayland Publishers Ltd, Sussex ,1986.
Bonavia, D., The Chinese, A. Lane, London, 1981.
Brautigam, D. “Close Encounters: Chinese Business Networks as Industrial Catalysts in SubSaharan Africa,” African Affairs 102, 408, 2003.
Ch’en, J. & M. Bullock, Mao and the Chinese Revolution, OUP, London, 1965.
Chiang Kaishek, M., China in Peace and War, Hurst and Blackett, 1940.
Cotterell, L. &Y. Yong, Chinese Civilisation: From the Ming Revival to Chairman Mao, Weidenfeld
and Nicholson, London, 1977.
Dallin, D.J., Soviet Russia and The Far East, Hollis Carter, 1949.
Davies, J.P., Dragon By the Tail: American, British, Japanese and Russian Encounters with China
and One Another, Robson Books, London, 1974.
Ebenhard, W., A History of China, Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1960.
Fitzgerald, C. P., The Birth Of Communist China, Penguin Books 1964.
Fitzgerald, C.P. The Horizon History of China, American Heritage, New York, 1969.
Fitzgerald, C.P. & M. Roper, China and a World So Changed, Heinemann Educational Books,
London, 1975.
Fraser, J., The Chinese: Portrait of a People, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. Glasgow, 1980.
Gelder, S., Long March to Freedom, Hutchinson & Co. London, 1962.
Frierich-Ebert-Foundation (FES), The 'Look-East' Policy of Zimbabwe Now Focuses on China,
Harare, 2004.
Goodrich, L.C., A Short History Of The Chinese People, George Allen & Unwin Ltd, London,1957.
Han, S. Eldest Son: Zhou Enlai and the Making of Modern China, Pimlico, London, 1994.
Han, S., The Morning Deluge, Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese Revolution, Vol, 1:1893-1935,
Panther Books, 1976.
Hutchings, G., Modern China, Penguin Books, London, 2000.
Johnson, D.H., The Root Causes Of Sudan's Civil War, Oxford, James Currey, 2003.
Lattourette, K.S., The Chinese: Their History and Culture, Macmillan, New York, 1964.
Loescher, G and A.D. Loescher, The Chinese Way: Life in the People;s Republic of China, Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, New York and London, 1974.
Long-Suen, H., History of Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945.
McAleavy, H., The Modern History of China, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1967.
Medeiros, E.S. And M. Taylor Fravel, 'China's New Diplomacy', Foreign Affairs, 82, 6, 2003.
Medvedev, R., China and the Superpowers, Basil Blackwell Ltd. New York, 1986.
Mehnert, K., Peking and Moscow, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, Ltd, Bristol, 1963.
Mehnert, K., China Today, Thames and Hudson, London, 1972.
Mitchinson, L., China in the Twentieth Century, OUP, London, 1970.
Mitchinson, L., China, Thames and Hudson, London, 1966.
Muekalia, D.J. “Africa and China's Strategic Partnership', African Security Review, 13, 1, 2004.
Paloczi-Hovarth,G., Mao Tse-tung: Emperor of the Blue Ants, Secker and Warburg, London, 1962.
Payne, R., China Awake, Heinemann, London,1947.
Pye, L.W, China: An Introduction, Little, Brown and Company, Boston/ Toronto, 1984.
Rodzinski, W., The Walled Kingdom: A History of China from 2000BC to the Present, Fontana,
!984.
Snow, E., The Long Revolution, Hutchinson,1973.
Snow, E., Red Star Over China,1927-1937, Gollancz, New York, 1937.
Snow, P., The Star Raft: China's Encounter with Africa, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1989.
Taylor, I, 'The 'all-weather friend'? Sino-African Interactionin the 21st Century', in I. Taylor and P.
Williams (eds) Africa in International Politics: External Involvement on the Continent, London,
Routledge, 2004.
Tull, D.M., “China's Engagement in Africa: Scope, Significance and Consequences', in J.W.
Harbeson and D. Rothchild, Africa in World Politics: Reforming Political Order, Boulder/
Philadelphia, Westview Press, 2009.
Whiting A.S & R.F. Denberger, China’s Future: Foreign Policy and Economic Development in The
Post-Mao Era, New York, 1977.
Zweig, D. and B. Janhai, “China's Global Hunt for Energy', Foreign Affairs, 84, 5, 2005.