Global Studies Packet
Communist
China #2
Readings
The Cultural Revolution
In the mid-1960s, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution. He claimed he wanted young
people to experience revolution first-hand, but he was driven by the desire to regain the
power he had lost after the catastrophic failure of the Great Leap Forward.
Mao called upon young Chinese to shout revolutionary slogans and to round up anyone
suspected of being "old-fashioned" or anti-Communist. Young people were urged to
leave school and to "learn revolution by making revolution." Wearing red badges on their
arms, they were known as the Red Guard. Their mission, said Mao, was to bring about a
Cultural Revolution in China by arousing people's enthusiasm for Mao's teachings.
Wherever they went, the Red Guard would hold marches, paint portraits of Mao, and
would quote from The Quotations of Chairman Mao, commonly known as The Little Red
Book.
Many of the Red Guards were former students from large cities who had left school to
live and work with the peasants in the countryside. Wherever they went, the Red Guards
acted as the eyes and ears of the government. They would accuse many of their elders of
lacking revolutionary spirit. Government officials, teachers, and other people in positions
of authority would be targeted. So would the families of people who had been landlords
before the Communist revolution. They would be arrested, denounced, and humiliated in
public. Many were sent to work camps or killed.
The upheavals of the Cultural Revolution caused immense human suffering as well as
major damage to China's economy. Mao finally called a halt to the movement in the early
1970s.
CLASS WORK
Massacre in Tiananmen Square
June 3, 1989 from the BBC News
Several hundred civilians have been shot dead by the Chinese army during a bloody
military operation to crush a democratic protest in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
Tanks rumbled through the capital's streets late on June 3rd as the army moved into the
square from several directions, randomly firing on unarmed protesters. The injured were
rushed to the hospital on bicycle rickshaws by frantic residents shocked by the army's
sudden and extreme response to the peaceful mass protest.
Demonstrators, mainly students, had occupied the square for seven weeks, refusing to
move until their demands for democratic reform were met. The protests began with a
march by students in memory of former party leader Hu Yaobang, who had died a week
before. But as the days passed, millions of people from all walks of life joined in, angered
by widespread corruption and calling for democracy.
Tonight's military offensive came after several failed attempts to persuade the protesters
to leave. Throughout the day the government warned it would do whatever it saw
necessary to clamp down on what it described as "social chaos". But even though
violence was expected, the ferocity of the attack took many by surprise, bringing
condemnation from around the world. US President George Bush said he deeply deplored
the use of force, and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she was "shocked and
appalled by the shootings".
At a nearby children's hospital operating theatres were filled with casualties with gunshot
wounds, many of them local residents who were not taking part in the protests.
Early this morning at least 30 more were killed in two volleys of gunfire, which came
without warning. Terrified crowds fled, leaving bodies in the road.
Meanwhile reports have emerged of troops searching the main Beijing university campus
for ringleaders, beating and killing those they suspect of coordinating the protests.
CLASS WORK
China's Cheerleaders
By Matthew Forney
The New York Times Upfront Magazine
September 1, 2008
China has many critics, both at home and abroad. Why aren't its own young people among
them?
Almost 20 years ago, thousands of Chinese students camped out for weeks in Beijing's
Tiananmen Square, demanding democratic reforms in a series of protests that ended on June 4,
1989, with a government massacre of hundreds of demonstrators.
This year, China's young people have again taken to the streets—but this time, in support of the
government.
Far from being embarrassed by or angry about their government's human-rights record or their
lack of political freedom, as many Americans assume, China's young people are among the most
patriotic folks around.
In their lifetimes, China has become a world power as a result of its booming economy, which
has grown at an astonishing rate since the Communist Party began experimenting with elements
of free-market capitalism in the late 1970s.
Having grown up in an era of unprecedented prosperity and opportunity for China, its young
people are rightfully proud of their country's accomplishments. That pride often takes the form
of unquestioning support of their government, which remains the authoritarian ruler of a oneparty Communist state.
Study, Then Study Some More
China's education system, which includes a good deal of indoctrination, also helps explain
young people's worldview. Textbooks dwell on China's humiliations by foreign powers in the
19th century as if they took place yesterday, yet skim over the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s
and 1970s—the social and political upheaval in which tens of thousands were killed and
millions sent to jails or work camps—as if it were ancient history.
Then there's life experience—or the lack of it—that might help young Chinese gain other
perspectives: Young urban Chinese study hard, and that's pretty much it. Volunteer work, sports,
church groups, debate teams, summer jobs—all the activities that are part of a typical American
high school experience—don't factor into Chinese college admissions, so few participate.
HOMEWORK
Once they're out of college, recent graduates are a particularly optimistic group. And why not?
The economy has grown at double-digit rates for as long as they can remember. Those who
speak English are guaranteed good jobs. A cell phone, an iPod, vacations—no problem.
As for political repression, few young Chinese experience it. China doesn't feel like a police
state, most are too young to remember the Tiananmen massacre—and odds are that nobody has
told them about it.
Over time, however, their unquestioning nationalism may soften. As graduates enter the
workforce and experience their country's corruption and inefficiency, they may grow more
critical. In fact, the Chinese say that people in their 40s are those most willing to challenge the
government.
And with more than 160 million Chinese already online, no one knows what the long-term
impact of the Internet will be. The government blocks access to some Web sites and censors
search results. (If you google "Tiananmen Square" in China, you're unlikely to see any reference
to the 1989 massacre.)
But it's unclear how long China can maintain control over the Internet, which has helped
challenge authoritarian governments in Burma and several of the former republics of the Soviet
Union. Will China's youth remain so unquestioning if the information floodgates really open—
and they begin to learn more about the negative aspects of their political system?
'No Sympathy for Tibet'
But for now, the young are Beijing's biggest cheerleaders. Last spring, when Chinese authorities
cracked down on protesters in Tibet, killing at least 20 people, the world was horrified. But most
young Chinese supported the response.
"Young Chinese have no sympathy for Tibet," says Teng Biao, a Beijing human-rights lawyer.
Most people in their 20s, he says, "believe the Dalai Lama is trying to split China."
And most young Chinese were outraged when demonstrators in London, Paris, and San
Francisco used the Olympic torch relay to protest the Chinese government's human-rights
abuses, its crackdown in Tibet, and its failure to use its influence with the government of Sudan
(which sells China a lot of oil) to stop the killings in Darfur.
So barring major changes in China's education system or the economy, Westerners are not going
to find allies anytime soon among the vast majority of Chinese on issues like Tibet, Darfur, and
the environment. Indeed, Westerners expecting the Chinese to share their own anger at Beijing
for its policies may instead find the Chinese angry at them.
HOMEWORK
HOMEWORK