Hist A-13: Final Study Guide
Table of Contents
Week 7 –Page 2
Week 8 – Page 19
Week 9 – Page 28
Week 10 – Page 51
Week 11 – Page 58
Week 12 – Page 65
Week 13 – Page 75
Week 14 – Page 88
Kelly’s Part of the Study Guide- Week 7
WEEK 7, LECTURE 1
The World Empire of the Mongols
Lecture begins with a discussion of the importance of the Northern Steppe. The
Northern border is not just political and economic, but also cultural. The political border
has frequently shifted over the years, but the cultural border has been more stable. The
steppe is vast, bounded by mountains. The north is an mportant route for passage from
Central Asia.
In the 12th century, the Jurchens are in the North. The Tartars, Mongols, Kereits,
Merkits are the Northern peoples. The steppe was fractured, not known as Mongolia
until after the Mongols united the tribes in the late 12th century…creating “the greatest
empire in human history.”
At the center of the unification is Chinggis Khan, born Temujin. Born to a father
(Yisugei) who was a petty chief. Mother was from a different, small tribe. His tribe
lacked a leader “Khan.” Legend is that his father saw a group of Merkits, attempts to
take their carts, horses and woman. This is how he meets his wife. Finding a wife was
obviously difficult for nomads. Yisguei makes marriage arrangement for his son, but is
killed by Tatars. Since Yisugei is dead, he can’t enforce Temujin’s marriage. Temujin
would be made a slave, so he flees from his future father-in-law. Temujin returns to his
mother and kills half-brother to claim superiority over family and tribe. Later, Temujin
shows responsibility and willingness to leave in overcoming rival tribe. After triumph,
he goes back to claim the woman he had been promised (who was from his mother’s
tribe). Shrewdly gives a valuable gift to a friend of his father, the leader of the Kereits,
who recognizes him as a vassal and legitimate leader of his own group. However, there
are many groups that dislike him, particularly the Merkits, the tribe from which his father
stole his mother. The Merkits steal his wife and with the help of the Kereits (who
recognize Temujin as a vassal), they defeat the Merkits. On the basis of their success in
defeating the Merkits, Temujin is proclaimed a khan of the Mongols (1186).
Temujin faces challenges as khan and turns to Jin dynasty. He becomes
mercenary and is victorious over the Tatars. He means to DESTROY Tatars; he is after
total victory. Next turns his attention to Kereits and Naimans. This battle unifies what
we now call Mongolia. In 1206, he summons council of all the leaders of the step to
proclaim in their one and only khan; he is now Chinggis Khan. He faces opposition from
shamans (church-state conflict) who demand that he share his power. He also becomes
suspicious of his brothers because of the shaman. He then kills the shaman, solving the
“church-state problem.”
Still, the Mongols are very tribal. They have no real government, they are
illiterate. The Mongols turn to the Uighurs to learn writing and military organization.
Mongols became very successful at raiding cities, but not successful at getting control
over northern China (Jin dynasty). They turn their attention west (Islamic cities, some of
the most civilized in the world) to expand their empire. Great lesson of Central Asia is
how to conquer a city. Key understanding was that they could allow people to submit
(reputation for terror/havoc made this possible). “The greatest delight for a man is to
inflict defeat upon his enemies…to crush in his arms the man’s daughters and wives,”
Khan stated.
Chinggis Khan’s empire was divided amongst sons after his death in 1227. The
Mongols created a tax system to maintain the empire. In the 1230’s, the Mongols move
against the West (Poland and Hungary). The Mongols were skilled horsemen and
“unstoppable on the steppe.” Mongols made it to the gates of Budapest, Europe was
going to fall (Pope wrote cease and desist letter), but left mysteriously. Why did they
leave? Leader Ogodei and general returned for power struggle. Budapest was not worth
it. Much of the 13th century was a flurry of battles—Persia, Japan, Java. By the 1270’s,
they go to conquer the Southern Song Dynasty. China becomes part of the Mongol
empire (which is split into 4 Khanates in China, Russia, Persia, and Central Asia). The
Mongols wield their influence by making the Mongols tops in the hierarchy (Mongols,
Central Asians, Northern Asians [Jurchens], and finally Southerners [Han]).
Marco Polo speaks of the land Cathay (China). He observes the use of coal and
tells other great stories. Polo commented, “The Khan is the greatest, most powerful and
richest ruler since Adam.”
WEEK 7, LECTURE 2
Social Policy and Social Practice in the Ming and Qing
Mongols conquered the Southern Song in the 1270s, a moment when Eurasia is
tied together more closely than ever in history. The tie is soon broken. When it would be
reunited, the tie would be through the sea. There is a conflict within two Mongol parties.
The steppe party wants to maintain the nomadic roots and the civil party wants a civil
order (taxes, government, etc).
Considering the rise of the Ming dynasty, there are three competing (and
according to Professor Bol, all wrong) theories. The first is the “Recovery Story.” This
theory revolves around a return to Chinese rule and consolidating everything (unlike the
Mongols who gave power on a more local level). The second theory is the “Continuity
Story,” which centered around hereditary based nobility. Lastly, the most popular is the
“Autocracy Story,” with Zhu Yuanzhang taking power that emperor is entitled to. The
story has a sharp focus on Zhu Yuanzhang’s rise from peasant to emperor. He believed
very firmly that autocrat deserved many powers and even inspired Mao to say, “I like that
guy.”
The autocracy story also talks about how Zhu Yuanzhang (became Emperor
Taizu) was very paranoid and ordered 30,000 civil bureaucrats and all their social
connections to be executed because he feared someone was trying to usurp him. In
retrospect, he may have been right to worry (however his reaction was overblown) as
evidence suggests that his prime minister was trying to overthrow him. Zhu Yuanzhang
also had many ideological statements that he thrust upon society. He thought that
religious society should center on the emperor. Also known for brutal punishments (1000
cuts until a person expires and the “boil and scrub” torture).
Despite these compelling stories, they are wrong when viewed in a historical
perspective. He touches on the fact that the Ming is the first dynasty founded with the
goal of social change. This makes the dynasty unique; it has social policy at its heart and
wants to do something with society. The village tithing system takes 10 families and
makes them a unit. Another better off family is then assigned to be the leader of this
group of 11 families. Taking 10 of these groups, they make a league (110 families).
Each league has a rotation of leaders amongst the 10 rich families. The goal of the
system is to maintain security (unarmed) and they maintain the tax system. For the first
time in history, all counties have schools that are open to everybody, not just aspiring
literati. All young males are sent to school and trained not for examinations, but the rules
of mourning, inheritance, and behavior of widows (they should stay with their husband’s
family). Elders are given legal powers to decide court cases, which takes away from the
power of local officials. Communities also have wine drinking ceremonies in which the
elders determine the best and worst people to praise/criticize. All these changes show
that the heart of the Ming social policy is not control of local people by government, but
the creation of self-supervising moral communities. The local communities have real
judicial authority.
The Ming rule is the realization of the parts of the Neo-Confucianism vision of a
good society. This is the idea of “literati voluntarism,” a series of institutions maintained
and led by local literati, not the government (all sorts of charitable groups). The
difference is that now these things are mandatory. Those who cultivate themselves are
given the opportunity/obligation to do good for their community. Zhu Yuangzhang
wants communities to be self-sufficient/supervising. Central government consequently
gets very small. The role of merchants is very small. The system of self sufficient moral
communities is challenged in the 16th century when commerce begins to return.
Rather than appointing one of his sons as a successor, Zhu Yuangzhang decides to
appoint his grandson. However, Zhu Di (son of Zhu Yuangzhang) returns from Beijing
(capitol is Nanjing) and takes power using military force. During reign (1403-1425) most
notable accomplishment was sending the seven largest wooden ships ever to Africa.
Ships had 27,000 sailors and marines. They sailed through the islands of the southeast
and to Africa. The fleet did not discover new lands (they had maps), but instead alerted
the world of the power of the Ming dynasty. They told the world that the Mongols were
gone. The fleet also brought back “unicorns” (which were symbols that there was a sage
in the world). The unicorns turned out to be giraffes. Under Zhu Di, the bureaucrats
realized that the civil budget was paying the fleet, but profits went to the emperor. After
Zhu Di’s death in 1425, there was never again a civil fleet. It may seem that this is the
moment that the expansive world is coming to an end for China.
WEEK 7, LECTURE 3
Silver and Social Change in Late Ming (1560-1644)
How to frame the end of the Ming period? The government story: Ming dynasty
has such a focus on self-sufficient social policy that the market economy and money
supply takes a substantial drop. By the late 1500s, government has weakened
institutionally. Emperor was petulant; there was tension between the emperor and his
officials. Weak emperors and eunuch dictators were common. Government could not
collect enough taxes to pay for its apparatus. Series of rebellions barely contained in
1620s. In 1640s, one rebel takes capitol—murders wealthy officials. Concurrently,
Manchus were rising and the general holding off the rebels decides to align with
Manchus (foreign invaders) rather than submitting to rule of Chinese rebels.
However, if we look beyond the failure of government, there is a more interesting
story...silver. Why is silver so important? China is not using paper money and silver is
the only option for moving lots of value around. By mid-Ming, the economy needs silver
from Japan. Ming trades silk, ceramics, and thread to China. When the Portuguese get to
East Asia, they become heavily involved in trade between China and Japan. The Spanish
opened the Potosi silver mine in Peru and established an outpost in Manila, which
became a bustling hub of trade. By the early 17th century, around 2.5 million taels of
silver (26 taels to a kg) are coming in yearly; over a 10 year period, 25 million taels
added to money supply. At least 1/3 of silver mined in Spanish possession in America is
taken to China. Corn, sweet potatoes, tobacco, and peppers are added from the Americas.
China is selling good abroad; goods are sold not just in Manila, but Chinese goods are
also available everywhere (Mexico City, Americas). World wants tea, but China only
wants silver. British raise tariffs on tea since their silver reserves are becoming
depleted…which leads to Boston Tea Party.
As economy grows, population is still mostly rural. Farmers have many
opportunities to make money. Cash crops become more important. Farmers in the
southeast can make more money growing tobacco and indigo, however, this means that
they need to depend on other farmers for sustenance. Overall, there is a boom: Chinese
McMansions, investments in trade (high yield), and land (lower yield, but safe and high
prestige). Land prices shoot up and farmers can no longer own land, but work the lands
as tenants. System actually works as all wages increase. Somewhat inexplicably
(perhaps in honor of Halloween), Professor Bol decides to play Madonna’s “Material
Girl.” He does a small shimmy, but does not fully bust a move. Merchants realize they
can buy culture. Merchants become patrons of the arts; use their wealth to get access to
officials. Government sells “honorary studentships” as titles to the newly wealthy. At
this time, there is also a pornographic novel, The Golden Lotus, which Professor Bol
apparently enjoyed.
What has happened to the literati? Ming had legislated literati voluntarism, trying
to promote ideal of self sufficient local community. However, with all the money, the
literati withdraw from their local responsibilities. At the same time, with more wealthy
people, there are also more literati (because so many can afford education). There are
nearly 800,000 legitimate literati and they feel less special.
Farmers are more and more market dependent. The farmers have to plan which
crops they will grow. Chances for gain and loss are both much greater than previously.
Government is not suited for the economic structure. Taxes were collected in
grain and cloth, but the government decides that it would prefer money. Overhaul of the
tax system means that taxes are assessed in silver. However, tax collection system is not
equitable and many people take measures to avoid taxes.
Culture makes great changes during the late Ming. Short stories and novels begin
at this period during history. There is a new idea of literature: it can be in the regular
language of the people, it can be fun/entertaining, and it can be written for a broad
audience. In philosophy, Wang Yang-ming’s theory that everyone can be a sage catches
on. Relations between men and women are allowed to be based on love rather than just
ritual/duty/obligation. Desires are not considered as evil. There is a new emphasis on
ethics as everyone, not just the educated or wealthy are to behave ethically. Ethic ledgers
(points for good deeds, deductions for bad thing) bring the merchant mentality to ethics.
Education is for everyone (including women and children). In religion, there is an
acceptance of all religions. There is a feeling that all religions have similar
theories/ideals. Jesuits are also making inroads, attempting go through literati and rise up
to court. Other Jesuits (Dominicans/Franciscans), make connections with the local
people by performing charity.
Women play much more public roles and are important actors and agents of
change. Interestingly (and somewhat counter intuitively), foot binding also appears at
this period. The story on foot binding is complex. One theory is that foot binding is a
sign of wealth, class, and toughness. Women in lower classes perceive foot binding as a
way of upward mobility. At the same time as foot binding, for the first time in Chinese
history, women are writing and publishing their work in large numbers. Women
publishing poetry, literature are great challenges to the old Neo-Confucian system.
China appears to be on the verge of a large shift. There is a constant crossing of
boundaries—across religions, sexes, and geography. At the same time, voices of
conservatism say that these liberal changes should not take root.
EBREY, CAMBRIDGE ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF CHINA- CHAPTER 7
Alien Rule The Liao, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties 907-1368
Introduction:
- Foreigners expand control over China in a gradual manner; each dynasty
builds off of the last to become stronger.
- Despite foreign rule and limitations on Chinese people and culture, Chinese
culture adapted and responded in ways that “added to the richness of the
Chinese heritage
Steppe Nomadism and the Inner Asian States:
- Geography defines differences: Since the Qin and the Han, geography
dictated the relationship between the tribes of Inner Asia(the Xiongnu), and
the Chinese. Inner Asia, not conducive to crop agriculture, was sparsely
settled and was dependent on trade with fertile China for survival. When the
Xiongnu did not get what they wanted, they often used military power. This
led to the development of a bad relationship between the Chinese farmers,
who saw the herders as bullies, while the herders saw the Chinese farmers as
weak.
- Organization of the Steppe: Although there are many different tribes, basic
tribal form of social organization remains the same. Patrilineal families, in
which all men were potential warriors, were dominant. The clans of the steppe
were constantly at war with each other, or trying to make new alliances.
Sometimes large confederations, in which a tribal leader would dominate a
group of other tribes, were formed, but ultimately could not be held together
over time.
- Frontier Zone: A frontier zone existed, between Inner Asia and China, in
which people from both groups intermingled. Some herders became
assimilated into the Chinese population, including some through
intermarriage, while others maintained tribal affiliations.
The Khitans- Liao Dynasty
- Unlike other non-Chinese regimes of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Northern
Dynasties, who came to power when the Chinese state was engulfed in Civil
War, the Khitans, Jurchen, and Mongol states beat a well-established enemy.
- The Khitans, from the border of the steppe in Manchuria, were Tang
tributaries. They were farmers and also practiced animal husbandry and
hunting.
- The Khitans set up a dual state with a distinct Chinese area with a capital at
Beijing, and a northern Khitan area. Beijing, which to that point had just been
a mere border garrison, now had new importance. The Chinese area, split into
16 sections, used leftover institutions from the Tang dynasty. However, in
some areas, Khitan rulers were given total control over their domains and did
not have to pay taxes. The Khitans rejected sinification because of the dual
nature of their state.
- The Song Dynasty, not wanting to fight the ferocious Liao, instead found it
easier to pay them off. The Liao were quick to adopt militarily. Along with
the Jurchens, they are known for developing military technology used in
advanced siege warfare.
Jurchens- Jin Dynasty
- Jurchens emerge as a confederation of tribes from eastern Manchuria. In the
early 12th century, led by Aguda, the Jurchens made a pact with the Song and
began to attack the Liao. In 1125, the Jurchens defeated the Liao and began to
fight the Song.
- Although the Song had a large army and many fortified cities, Jin technology
was advanced and overpowered the Song, taking the capital of Kaifeng. The
Jin began to incorporate Chinese officials and practices into governance,
largely because they found such practices useful in keeping their own elites in
line. 168.
- The Jurchens rapidly assimilate into Chinese culture. One Jurchen emperor is
even killed by Jurchen hardliners who saw him as too Chinese. Even despite
the attempts of subsequent rulers to protect Jurchen language and culture, by
the 13th century, all Jurchens in China were fully assimilated.
The Mongols
- In the aftermath of a cold spell that struck Inner Asia, the herders were
becoming incredibly dependent on China for sustenance.
- Chinggis(Ghengis), a tribal leader, used military force to slowly build up a
large and powerful confederation before being named “Great Khan” in 1206.
Ghengis created a new military, separate from the tribal affiliations, to assure
loyalty and to create a new set of competent officers.
- Ghengis’ tactics are legendary for their ruthlessness; when he sacked the Jin
northern capital of Beijing in 1215, it burned for more than a month. He used
human shields. Ghegis’ empire stretched from Korea to Ukraine, and he
pushed the Jurchens south of the Yellow River. When Ghengis dies in 1227,
the empire was split into four sections(See map, Ebrey 171).
-
A huge part of Mongolian success was their ability to absorb other groups,
and use Chinese technology like the catapult. The Mongol conquests also
facilitated the transfer of information between China and Europe- Marco Polo.
The Yuan Dynasty
- Ghengis Khan’s grandson, Khublai, comes to power in 1260. He has some
Chinese background after serving as an official in Heibei. He began using the Chinese
term “Yuan” to describe his dynasty and instituted Chinese court rituals.
- Conquering the Southern part of the Song was difficult for the Mongols, because
the many waterways made assault by cavalry difficult. However, Khublai builds a
massive fleet, and lays siege to the crucial river town of Xiangyang, which lasted five
years but ultimately ends in Yuan victory.
- The Mongols tried to avoid assimilating into Chinese culture. Although they
liked the material fruits of Chinese civilization, they avoided many Chinese social and
political practices, speaking the Mongol language and spent summers in Mongolia. They
discouraged intermarriage and rulers often lived in tents on the palace grounds rather than
in the large palaces themselves.
-After Khublai’s death, succession continues to be bloody, and is decided through
competition.
Life in China Under Alien Rule
-Despite political changes, Chinese cultural life continues. However, Chinese
have status as second-class citizens, and there is deep animosity that exists between
Chinese and Mongols. Complicated ethnic divisions served to preserve the privileges of
the conquerors. During the Yuan, the complicated ethnic hierarchy affected taxation, the
judicial process, and appointment to office. Such ethnic divisions served as a method to
suppress the Chinese population, which was seen as most likely to rebel. Under the Yuan,
Chinese were not allowed to gather in public, for example.
Alien Rule and the Economy: All three dynasties sought to maintain tax
revenues and allowed the economy to flourish, issuing currencies and making
infrastructure investments. The Mongols fostered north-South trade when they re-unified
the country; furthermore, they rebuilt the Grand Canal, which had previously been
inoperable. However, the impact of the conquests themselves is undeniable. The vibrant
iron industry of the Northern Song never regained its former vitality.
The Literati: In order to run huge bureaucracies, alien governments need lots of
literate employees. In the North, the literati, more accustomed to foreign rule, were quick
to help the Mongols, teaching them Chinese principles on the moral basis of politics.
Those in South, closely associated with the opposition to the Mongols, only gradually
accepted Mongol rule over a long period of time. These Southern literati became
involved in other aspects of life beyond government, and are often credited with helping
the art of drama flourish in this time period. The literati remain influential in Chinese
society, as Confucian study flourishes in non-state academies, and are seen as local
leaders.
-Examination Systems: Khitans maintain limited system, based on Tang
examinations. The Jin dynasty greatly enlarged the examination system. However, the
Mongols were more hesitant. They only re-instituted the exams in 1315, and then kept
quotas that ensured a large number of the bureaucracy would be Mongol, and only a
quarter to the former subjects of the Song(who accounted for over half the total
population). There were also regional quotas. The majority of the population entered
through the clerical ranks.
Side Box (p. 178): Demons and Demon Quellers: In the Chinese religious imagination,
demons carry out the orders of the Gods, but can be quelled by ancestors, Buddhist or
Daoist Gods, and human exorcists. Most famous demon queller is Zhong Kui. According
to legend, a demon was haunting a favorite concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang.
Zhong Kui, a larger demon, ate the smaller demon, and introduced himself to the
Emperor as Zhong Kui, a demon who had a man who, after failing the civil service
examination, had committed suicide on the palace steps. After the Tang emperor
bestowed posthumous honors on Zhong Kui, he vowed to remove all bad demons from
the world. He is usually depicted with a beard, a dark ugly face, a scholar’s robe and hat
and boots, and occasionally with a sister.
Side Box (p.181) Zhao Mengfu: Zhao Mengfu(1254-1322) was a member of the Song
imperial clan who was very young when the Song fell to the Mongols. He rose to
prominence in Khublai’s court, espousing Confucian values and opposing corrupt
politicians. He also was a painter, and used his position of authority in the North to gather
a large collection of Northern paintings, the style of which had never been seen in the
South. His wife, Guan Daosheng, was the first women in China to attain fame as a
painter.
Ethnicity, Loyalty, and Confucian Universalism
- Confucian ideology held that the ruler of China was the Son of Heaven, and that he
ruled over All Under Heaven. Those on the fringes were inferior because they were not
exposed to Chinese culture, not because they were of a different race. Therefore,
barbarians can become Chinese if they adopt Chinese values. However, still some ethnic
strains still persisted, particularly through the ideas of filial piety and loyalty to one’s
ruler.
- Foreign emperors toyed with the idea of using Chinese rituals. However, because Yuan
emperors wanted to preserve their own cultural identity, these rituals were never fully
adopted.
- Chinese Identity: The rule of foreigners over China marked the beginning of a new
sense of nation. Chinese identity is also stoked by Yuan favoritism of other ethnic groups,
like the Tibetans, who were able to turn Song palaces into Buddhist temples. However,
such identity is different from our modern notion of nationalism, as loyalty to one’s ruler
remained a high virtue.
- Differences between North and South: The North had been totally disrupted because
of constant invasion, militarization, and foreign rule over the 4 ½ centuries between the
Tang and the Ming. As a result, relatively few of the families that were eminent in the
Northern Song maintained elite status in the Ming. By contrast, the South had been under
foreign rule for just under a century, and had never really been militarized.
- Different Ways to View the Conquest Dynasties: Western historians focus on the
status of Ghengis and Khublai as fascinating conquerors. Traditional Chinese histories
have also focused on the rulers. Due to the modern Communist Party, contemporary
Chinese historians portray the Mongols and Jurchens as minority peoples of China, and
allow the Chinese to take pride in their vast conquests.
-Buddhism in the Conquest Dynasties: Although the Liao, the Jin, and the Yuan all
supported Buddhism, it did not see much growth in that time period. While it is going too
far to say that foreign support undermined Buddhism, it did not help it.
-China’s Reaction to Foreign Influence: During the Yuan Dynasty, China was exposed
to many more foreigners and foreign ideas. However, unlike the Europeans, who became
infatuated with Chinese goods and sought more interaction with China, the Chinese
sought to protect what was seen as distinctly Chinese.
Chinese Population Decline during Conquest Dynasties: The tactic of mass slaughter
utilized by the Jurchen and Mongols led to a massive population decline in China. In
addition, a number of plagues and diseases may have spread as a result of increased
interaction with the rest of the world. Also, the final years of the Yuan, which were
marked by Civil War, also had an impact. The decrease is astonishing; in 1207, the
combined population of the Jin and Southern Song empire was 120 million people; by
1290, the registered population of China was down to 60 million, and did not change for
the next 100 years.
The Jurchens and the Mongols are also blamed for bringing more authoritative styles of
government to China. Their rule was characterized by the use of terror and overwhelming
force to maintain order and rule the empire.
Despite the presence of the conquest dynasties, China continued to survive. Chinese
culture evolved, from focusing on government, instead based around the “arts of peace
and order”
Drama and the Performing Arts
-Drama as a literary art was established during the conquest dynasties. The Mongols, who
could not speak Chinese, could still enjoy the theater and were patrons of it. However, the
most likely explanation for the rise of drama is the conundrum faced by the literati, who
had worked in government but refused to aid the foreign emperors.
-Several plays survive from both the Jin and Yuan periods. One well-known artist was
Guan Hanqing, who wrote the Injustice to Dou E. Some see subtle protest of Mongol rule
in the play.
- Although Chinese loved drama, the actors were of a very low social status. The theater
was seen as a place of social laxity. Women who performed were seen as little better than
prostitutes, while men who cross-dressed to play female parts were seen as homosexual.
SOURCES OF CHINESE TRADITION: “MING FOUNDATIONS OF LATE
IMPERIAL CHINA” (779-793)
This compilation of readings describes the founding of the Ming dynasty in the
wake of Mongol rule. The readings illustrate the ways in which the builders of the Ming
considered efficiency and discipline to be ends in themselves, firmly grounded in
Confucian ethics. They describe the Ming’s foundation in a national moral crusade: the
founders of the Ming firmly believed that they possessed the Mandate of Heaven, and
that the Mandate charged them with the task not just to reunify China politically, but also
to carry out the ethical remaking of its people in the light of the Confucian ideals of
antiquity- taking the sage kings as their model, not the rule by accommodation or
expediency of the Han, Tang, and Song.
The readings describe a dynasty that laid much of the institutional and ideological
framework for later imperial China. This included the concentration of all legitimate
decision-making authority in the hands of the emperor, and the recruitment of officials
through the merit principle.
Ming Taizu: August Ming Ancestral Instruction
This reading by the Ming founder Taizu outlines the ruler’s own brand of imperial
populism. Taizu- former peasant and outlaw who was orphaned in youth and uneducatedasserts that the lawmaking function he possesses is the product of his own personal
experience of life and the need for the ruler to take personal responsibility for carrying
out the Way. Thus, we see in this reading the danger that lies in the Neo-Confucian
conception of the ruler’s iving up to the responsibilities of a sage king, directly intuiting
the Way in his own mind-and-heart.
-“I have observed that since ancient times, when states established their laws it
was always done by the ruler who first received the mandate. At that timet eh laws were
fixed and the people observed them. Thus was the imperial benevolence and authority
extended throughout he realm so that people could enjoy peace and security.”
-“Drawing on what I have seen and done, together with the officials, have fixed
the law of the land. This has eliminated the indulgent rule of the Yuan dynasty and those
who defiled the old customs”
-Taizu says that he has created this, the Ancestral Instruction to teach later
generations, to insure that his progeny may adhere to his orders and not confuse the laws
that he has fixed forever
-Taizu justifies his famous abolition of the prime ministership- an act he set into
motion after the exposure of an alleged plot by the existing prime minister to usurp the
throne. By this action, Taizu concentrated all executive power in the emperor, assisted by
a secretariat. In this way, the Ming established a system of executive power that persisted
through the late imperial period.
-Taizu outlines the need for the ruler to accord with a system of Confucian ethics
in order to maintain stability and avoid disaster
“The Ming Code and Commandments”
This reading reveals Taizu’s reaction to Mongol rule, which he felt was erratic,
arbitrary, and lax. Taizu here describes the need for law and order, and this reading
displays Taizu’s devotion to the defining and constant redefining of the law, so
thateveryone would know exactly was expected. The reading also emphasizes the Ming
emphasis on the need for education.\
-There is a running theme of simplicity for stability’s sake: if the people know the
contents of the law, they will be less likely to violate it
-Taizu describes what is essentially a moral obligation of the Chinese people to
repay the nourishment that the ruler provides with sincerity and responsibility-providing
services and paying taxes
-The reading harshly condemns rebellion
-Taizu outlines that the most important duties of officials are increasing the
population under their jurisdiction and opening up land for farming. Moreover, he
advocates a method of avoiding corruption: officials will be evaluated by investigating
censors or the provincial surveillance office
-Taizu reaffirms a cardinal principle of Chinese inheritance : a family’s property
and land are to be divided equally
-Taizu affirms that marriages should be arranged as according to tradition, and
that there are certain “violations” that can nullify an engagement or marriage
Education and Examinations
-Because Taizu saw use in both education and trained scholars, he was easily persuaded
by his advisors to reestablish state school systems and civil service examinations set up
by the Mongols during the Yuan dynasty. And in reestablishing the examinations, Taizu
acknowledges that, while it was the traditional practice to have some kind of definite
examination system, the systems used in earlier dynasties were slightly flawed. That is,
Taizu felt that the Han, Tang, and Song overemphasized literary composition, resulting in
the neglect of classical study and practical virtue.
-Here, then, we see Taizu’s attempt to return China to a system of education rooted in
Confucian ethics, rather than in the pursuit of the literary arts that became so highly
popular during the Tang and the Song. In fact, Taizu affirms that he will personally
oversee the selection of officials who possess practical virtue and understanding of the
classics. For this reason, Taizu utilized the simpler examination style used by the
Mongols, settling essentially for a curriculum of the Four Books with Zhu Xi’s
commentaries- prime Neo-Confucian texts.
-This reading outlines that, unlike Zhu Xi, who advocated a voluntaristic process of
learning for one’s self, Taizu believed that schooling was training and indoctrination. He
provided Ming china with a universal, state-funded Confucian school system, down to the
county level.
-Students, however, were forbidden to argue with their teachers, discuss public issues, or
serve as lawyers or advocates. These students constituted a pool from which the best
would eventually be chosen for positions in the bureaucracy.
-Taken as a whole, these passages suggest a Ming society that was dominated by a
system of Confucian social ethics with which the people were “indoctrinated” through the
public schooling system.
EBREY, CHINESE CIVILIZATION
Rules for the Fan Lineages Charitable Estate (155)
This chapter is about organized Chinese patriarchal kinship groups called
lineages. Specifically, it talks about the provision for property handed down in the form
of “charitable estates.” These estates were used to cover lineage expenses and material
benefits for members of the lineage. A famous statesman named Fan Zhongyan [989-
1052] was the pioneer for establishing such an estate. The remainder of the chapter
consists of listed rules and stipulations that he created to provide structure within the
lineage system. Many of rules describe the benefits for individuals within the lineage
including anything from rice, silk and grain rations to the mandate that every birth,
marriage, death or change in the number of lineage members must be recorded
immediately. Since their inception during the Song Dynasty, these rules were taken very
seriously, as the concluding line states, “All members of the branches of the lineage will
carefully comply with the above rules” (Ebrey 156).
Ancestral Rites (157)
This chapter lays out the Ancestral Rites section of the “updated” social handbook
called Family Rituals that Zhu Xi [1130-1200] established in an effort to instruct
individuals in their daily rituals. These include cappings, weddings, funerals, ancestor
worship, forms of address to be used in letters and other areas of etiquette. Zhu Xi built
his work upon Sima Guang [1019-1086]. These rules were practiced first by nobles then
grew to be a central part of religious life of common people, as they guided them in
honoring their ancestors. “Domestic ancestral rites played an important part in fostering
the solidarity of close relatives, and worship at graves or in temples became important to
the formation and coherence of descent groups” (Ebrey 157). Below are the Ancestral
Rites:
- Three days before the event practice purification.
- Inspect the animal offerings, clean the utensils, and prepare the food.
- The next day get up at daybreak and set out the dishes of vegetables, fruit, wine, and
meat.
- When the sun is fully out, take the spirit tablets to their places.
- Greet the spirits.
- Invoke the spirits.
- Present the food.
- Make the first offering.
- Make the second offering.
- Make the final offering.
- Urge the spirits to eat.
- Close the door.
- Open the door.
- Receive the sacrificed foods.
- Take leave of the spirits.
- Put the tablets back.
- Clear away the remains.
- Eat the leftovers.
Family Instructions (238)
This chapter stresses the importance of such prized virtues as filial piety,
diligence, frugality, and willingness to identity with the larger family and its long-term
survival and prosperity. Emerging during the Ming Dynasty, the Miu genealogy in
Guang-dong province introduced these guidelines. They consisted of:
- Work hard at one of the principal occupations
- Observe the rituals and properties
- Prohibit extravagance
- Exercise restraint
- Preserve the family property
All of these precepts were key factors in maintaining a solid and functional lineage.
Concubines (245), Widows Loyal unto Death (253), Genealogy Rules (326)
-These three readings serve as to provide a window into the everyday Ming social life.
-Taken together, they represent a society that highly valued social groupings and
structure, reflecting the neo-Confucian social ethics upon which the Ming built itself
-For example, the stories in the “Concubines” reading, in offering a glimpse into the
domestic realm of Ming China, illustrate a family life founded on the principles of
hierarchy: the husband is the head of the household, and his first wife has principle
authority over wives/concubines subsequently added to the family. It is expected that all
parties will obey the flow of power inherent in the hierarchy of the family, that they will
exhibit filial piety in being dutiful and obedient.
-The “Widows loyal unto death” reading represents a value system in Ming society that
praised the piety and devotion of women who, following the death of their
husband/fiancée, either refused to remarry or killed themselves in grief.
-This value system had been in place from early times, but in the Song dynasty, certain
branches of neo-Confucian scholarship declared that it was “better for a widow to starve
to death than remarry, since personal integrity was a more important matter than life”
-In the Ming dynasty, the cult of widow chastity reached extreme levels, with man young
widows not merely refusing to remarry, but committing suicide
-This reading reflects the fact that the Ming praised these women, widely celebrating
their acts of “flial piety and propriety”
-The “Genealogy rules” reading offers an example of a trend that emerged during the
Ming period: compiling huge genealogies listing thousands of past and present lineage
members. Such a trend had been exhibited in moderation since the time of the Han
dynasty, during which time men began to keep records of their ancestors’ names, dates,
and accomplishments in order to facilitate ancestor worship. Such a trend grew in the
Ming due to the flourishing of large lineages.
-The reading outlines the rules for the compilation of one family’s genealogy. The rules
not only dictate principles of family and lineage composition, but they also explain which
activities and accomplishments most enhance family honor and therefore deserve
recognition in the genealogy. In this way, the reading highlights certain ideas
characteristic of Ming society:
-First of all, neo-Confucianism forms the foundation of much of the rule system: not only
are scholars praised for their achievements, but also men who- regardless of whether they
held an office or not- possessed such virtues as loyalty, filial piety, integrity, or
righteousness; men who could be models for their descendents. In this way, we see a
demonstration of neo-Confucian values of the Ming, and we also see the Confucian
method of self-cultivation that involves applying oneself to a model of morality in order
to better oneself.
-Furthermore, the rules emphasize the need to maintain the purity of one’s ancestral line
in the genealogy itself. In such a way, the rules reflect the fact the efforts of Ming society
to re-establish and to celebrate Chinese heritage, which had been completely forgotten in
the Yuan dynasty under Mongol rule.
QINGMING SHANGHE TU SCROLL VS. PROSERPOUS SUZHOU SCROLL
The Qingming Scroll, depicting the northern, bustling city of Kaifeng in the 12th
century, and the Suzhou Scroll, illustrating the lively metropolis of Suzhou during the
18th century, display the cultural differences that exist within China’s own geographic
region at two very distinct periods during Chinese history, namely the Song Dynasty in
the 12th century and the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. The Qingming Scroll was
painted by Zhang Zeduan and the Suzhou Scroll was painted by Xu Yang. Though both
scrolls share many characteristics of ancient Chinese life, upon closer inspection, the
scenes that both artists depict display two very different cities.
Although waterways are present in both scrolls, the purpose of the rivers and
canals differ between the two pieces of work. The river in the Qingming Scroll is
primarily used for importing and exporting cargo. The ships that are portrayed are
massive vessels that carry large loads. On the other hand, the Suzhou Scroll shows a
whole network of waterways utilized by ships of various sizes. The boats in this scroll
serve a variety of purposes from human transportation to importation and exportation of
goods. Moreover, one of the main modes of transportation in Suzhou is by way of water,
primarily due to the intricate canal network that runs throughout the city. Because water
was not a popular form of transportation in Kaifeng, the Qingming Scroll depicts
animals, mainly horses, donkeys, and oxen, transporting individuals across town.
In general, the two scrolls present contrasting societal compositions. Within the
Qingming Scroll can be found a wine shop, a fortune teller, a multitude of literati,
merchants, tax officials, wooden workshops, story tellers, religious figures (specifically
Buddhist and Daoist monks), pawn shops, a doctor’s office and much more. On the
contrary, the Suzhou Scroll includes a flower market, an inn, a wedding, a tightrope
walker, officials on inspection, an entertainer, a theater, a granary, a village school just to
name a few. One of the major differences is the presence of a school that appears in the
Suzhou scroll. By this time during the Qing Dynasty, schools and education were
considered extremely important, as passing a critical set of examinations was a major step
towards a great career. On page 787 of our book, Sources of Chinese Tradition, the
historian, Qian Daxin makes a point about the everlasting importance of education. “He
notes that in the Yuan the Chinese were still expected to answer questions on the Five
Classics…” (787). Thus, the artist of the Suzhou Scroll makes a key decision to include
the village school as part of the depiction, underscoring the emphasis on education.
Week 8: The Great Qing Empire and the Beginning of Modern China
Nov. 3 Lecture: “The Defining Issues of Modern Chinese History”
- We ask the question: When does “modern history” begin for Europe? For China?
Some historians peg modern European history as perhaps beginning with the French
Revolution in 1789. For China, there could be many answers to this question. 1949 with
the founding of the PRC? One good answer could also be 1839 – the First Opium War
that resulted in the opening of the Qing against its will to foreign trade. Important to
keep in the mind between “contemporary history” and “modern history.”
“Contemporary” Chinese history could be said to have begun in 1921 – the founding of
the CCP, or even in 1949, when the Communists took over. Historian Fairbanks had an
interesting view – that problems of the 19th century directly influenced what we see in
20th century China, and that these problems had their roots in the 18th century. As a
result, he pegs the beginning of modern China around 1750. Bottom line is that there are
different views on when “modern” Chinese history starts.
-Challenge for modern times is how does the Qing keep together all the various, diverse
lands and people within its empire as it officially becomes a “state” with official
boundaries? Who is in and who is out? The lands of the empire are divided
geographically, ethnically, linguistically, culturally. Thus, a big issue and national
obsession was unity (think of how Tibet was said to be included in this nation state)
-One of China’s largest problems and challenges even up to today is its massive
population size. Pop. size figures from the past are a little hazy, as officials might likely
have fabricated the numbers for their own purposes (for example, collecting and
reporting how much tax they collected). During the 18th century the pop. size doubled, a
very significant phenomenon. Why?
- The death rate was lower, it was a century of peace and prosperity, health
advances (immunization against small pox), food (potatoes play key role – grow in soil
many other plants can’t, provide 2x as many calories per acre, allowed people to live in
areas otherwise uninhabitable and so this led to migrations of people to new areas and
relieved some pop. density pressures. People able to live deep into Sichuan)
-Traits of China’s Premodern Economy:
1) Commercialized countryside
2) Sophisticated commercial institutions
3) Competitive markets
4) Small-scale enterprise in agriculture and industry
BUT – China did not develop large-scale industrial enterprises as did Europe – Why
didn’t it become an economic powerhouse?
-One main reason is that it had a weak law system that did not protect against the
exactions of the state and did not facilitate commerce. Europe had laws protecting
industry, both local and international commerce. China also didn’t have one national
economy, but rather had a series of huge macro-regions.
-Another possible explanation is the status of women. By the 19th century, perhaps as
many as 80% of China’s women had bound feet, physically impairing them. In earlier
dynasties women could inherit land and had some rights. But attitudes towards women
changed over time. Under the Ming, chastity and virginity were national obsessions. For
example, if a women was raped the honorable thing for her to do would be to commit
suicide. The practice of foot-binding originated probably among dancing girls in the late
Tang, as a novelty and attraction. It then spread to women of the court and elite, and then
spread to commoners in Yuan/Mongol period.
-Attitudes toward the outside – until recent decades there was a prevailing feeling of
economic/cultural insecurity in modern times. This is not to say the Ming/Qing were
isolated – they were very much engaged in global flows of commerce (tea/opium). But
there was an increasing wariness of forms of interaction with foreigners, and fear of
subversion by foreign ways. The question still remains as to why the great Ming would
be so afraid of the small, bedraggled band of Europeans. This fear seems irrational and
overdone – how could they fear foreign conquest at this time?
-Why paranoia in the late 19th century? Two answers:
1) Chinese gov’ts, for all their power and funds, know they’re not all powerful. Even
with greater ideological/police control, the gov’t knows just how superficial they are.
This knowledge is responsible in part for the encouraging and pushing of national
ideologies and limits on intellectualism. Foreign traders in the Ming were sequestered to
keep them from interacting with Chinese.
2) China was faced with a challenge it had never faced before – threat of extermination
through military force of West, absolute conquest and subjugation, cultural annihilation.
*The challenge for China in this age is to achieve modernity while maintaining “Chinese
identity”
Nov. 5 Lecture: “Achievements and Limits of Manchu Rule”
1) Ming and Manchu memories
– waiting for the Mongols – Wanted to “cleanse” China of the Mongol influence (Great
Wall built, and Ming set up hundreds of thousands of soldiers to guard against the
Mongols)
- Manchus – conquered without having to breach Great Wall. But the Manchus were
reviled as barabarians, that they kept the Chinese people down, “selling out the country.”
The Last Emperor was a boy emperor, in 1924 he was thrown out of Forbidden City and
was no longer emperor. The Mongols still have Mongola today, but the Manchus have
largely faded from memory (there is no Manchuria). Manchuria settled by Han Chinese
and the Manchu language is dead. Also, its culture is difficult to distinguish from
Chinese, partly because Manchus had ruled China without changing what was “Chinese”
about it.
2) Manchu origins
-Manchu conquered Ming dynasty, of Jurchen heritage. They practiced agriculture, were
skilled horsemen, archers, and incorporated Chinese administration. They declared the
Qing dynasty in 1636. Despite being frontiers people, they were organized, movable, and
militarized society. The Ming at this time was failing – bandit leader and rebels had
taken Beijing and the emperor had committed suicide. Manchus rode through Great Wall
(someone opened gate for them – story is Wu Sangui’s concubine was Chen Yuanyuan –
Gen. Wu was guarding Wall and news came that Li made Yuanyuan his concubine so
Wu let Manchus in out of spite) and defeated rebel leader Li Zicheng.
-Conquering – extermination of Ming pretenders (Li Zicheng killed). Civil war – those
against Qing were exterminated. Zheng Chenggong tries to hold Taiwan, but in 1683
Taiwan was brought into Qing empire. Hairstyles and obedience brought in during this
time – shave head and grow queue.
-Ruling
Rulers: Kangxi (1662-1723) – conquered Tibet in 1710s and 20s. Other rulers
were Yongzheng and Qianlong. They ruled an enormous empire as “joint-venture” –
Manchus supervising Chinese – called “Man-Han” diarchy. Aspect of Manchu neotraditionalism – they viewed themselves as sage rulers of antiquity, and imposed Ming
traditions and were great encouragers of Chinese culture.
Fiscal policy and tax leniency – leads to Qing recovering faster than any other
superpower economically. Qianlong emperor – empire starts to decline, lacked huge
revenue and had stagnant growth.
-By end of 18th century, culture was really not Manchu at all
-Presiding – Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong (1736-1796) all powerful, hands-on
emperors, but in 19th century we see weak emperors. Of course, last emperor was Henry
Pu Yi the “Boy emperor.”
Nov. 7 Lecture: “Art and Local Society in Later Imperial China”
Note: This lecture was the one where the whole class consisted of Professor Bol
talking about all those numerous paintings. So, not much in terms of actual lecture
notes here.
-In 3rd/4th centuries, calligraphy was a great art. This translated into Chinese painters
focusing a lot on brush work and detail.
- in late 10th century we see many landscape paintings – some of them vast
Monumental landscapes in N. Song
Landscapes as all-encompassing, centralizing, hierarchal, integrated order
Paintings, like landscapes, have li and qi – coherence/dynamic
-In late Ming, portraiture comes back – significance on individuality
Local Society
Family culture, trade, and religion in Chinese villages
Section for week 8: Reading – “The Scholars” chapters 1-7 from coursepack
The goal of the discussion this week was to better understand the problems of late
imperial society (as the author of The Scholars portrays it), and the challenges that the
society posed towards women, merchants, and religious minorities, as well as the role of
the civil exam system in society and the author’s view of "the scholars".
-The author’s view towards the scholars and exam system could go either way depending
on how you argue it, but it seems to lean towards this notion that the exam system may
not have been as fair as it appears. Becoming an official is portrayed often as being a
function of who you know rather than what you know. Examiners would often be more
lenient towards those they could relate to or those people that knew and liked personally.
(E.g. Chou Chin re-reads Fan Chin’s paper three times until perhaps he sees something he
wants to see and decides the paper is brilliant all of a sudden). Other officials, such as Sr.
Licentiate Yen, are portrayed as downright evil and selfish, caring only about wealth and
status and really not working at all towards the betterment of the people he is supposed to
serve.
- Women are portrayed mostly as being very emotional as well as at the will of the men
in the story and not having many rights on their own. Concubine Widow Chao is the
most prominent woman in the story. When she finds out that she will not be able to
inherit the land of her late husband and dead young son, she starts flipping out, cursing
and trying to fight Sr. Licentiate Yen, who was her late husband’s brother and heir to all
his property.
- Merchants only appear once prominently in the story, when Chou Chin’s brother and
his friends, who are all merchants, take Chou Chin with them to work one time. When
they discover Chou Chin to be an aspiring scholar and observe his breakdown upon
seeing the examination rooms, they decide to loan him money to take the exams, hoping
that he’ll pass and become an official (this would help them too, as knowing an official
could greatly increase one’s status and one’s financial security as well). The one thing
we can glean from this is the merchants weren’t giving him the money out of pure
kindness, but perhaps because they wanted the benefits from Chou Chin becoming an
official. Money is important to them.
-Islam is mentioned a couple times in the story. One time, a large group of Muslims start
rioting because one of their own, a thief, was punished way too harshly and died from the
punishment. The magistrate was told to quickly and easily appease the Muslims and put
down the rebellion, leading one to believe that ethnic minority groups were looked down
upon or not taking seriously as being important. Magistrate Tang was also a Muslim in
the story, which is interesting because one wonders how many ethnic minorities had
magistrate positions at the time.
Section Reading: Chinese Civilization – “The Yangzhou Massacre”
This event occurred during the period when the Ming was falling apart and there was
warfare throughout and rebellion throughout. The Ming generals invited the Manchus to
help them retake Beijing, but the Manchus soon showed that they intended to rule
themselves. Some Ming generals continued with them, while others remained loyal and
resist the Manchus at Yangzhou. As retaliation and a warning to other cities, the
Manchus slaughtered thousands, perhaps hundres of thousands, of Yangzhou’s residents.
This is an account of one man who was there during the massacre. It is a horrific tale, in
which the author tells what he sees and hears, and of the loss of family members he
experienced firsthand.
Book:
The Scholars by Wu Ching-Tzu is a satirical novel about the Qing dynasty
finished in 1750. Scholars was important as it was one of the first novels completed in
the Chinese vernacular; previously, all written works were completed in Classical
Chinese, which few individuals outside the literati and ruling elite were able to read.
Scholars is written as a compilation of short, anecdotal stories involving a wide array of
characters and locations. The entire text contains 55 chapters, although HSA13 only
assigned seven of them.
The first chapter lays the tone for the rest of the text: “The idea expressed in this
poem is the commonplace one that in human life riches, rank, success and fame are
external things…once they have them within their grasp the taste is no better than chewed
tallow. But from ancient times till now, how many have accepted this?” Thus prefaced,
the chapter continues to tell the story of Wang Mien, a young boy taken out of schooling
by his mother to care for Old Chin’s water buffalo. Mien took up painting and reading in
his free time and soon mastered almost all academic fields. Magistrate Shih, having
heard of Mien’s accomplishments in painting flowers, sent a county runner named Chih
to commission paintings from Mien. The county Magistrate Shih sent the paintings as a
gift to his superior Mr. Wei, who enjoyed them so much that he invited Wang Mien to
visit him. After hearing news of the offer, Mien refused the invitation, citing
unworthiness but actually feeling that the atrocities Mr. Wei allowed to happen to the
common people of his village eliminated any desire Mien had to meet him. Mien was
forced to go, however, after officials were sent to fetch him, as he feared the wrath of Mr.
Wei if he refused the invitation again. Mien set out on a journey, traveling through many
cities, but heard that Mr. Wei had been promoted to a different post when he finally
reached his destination, and used this as an excuse to head home. Mien’s mother died
several years later, and her last wish was that Mien never become an official. Mien
respected her wish, and after hearing rumors that messengers were being sent to summon
him to a post, Mien fled to the mountains and died a hermit there.
Chapter two discusses the story of Chou Chin, a learned man of Hsueh Market.
Chin had never been able to pass any of the civil service exams, and thus became an ideal
candidate to serve as a teacher for the children of Hsueh Market. One day, a provincial
scholar named Mr. Wang Hui showed up at the school. While the arrogant scholar was
talking to Chin, one of the students approached and showed his assignment to Chin; the
scholar sees the name Hsun Mei on the assignment and, shocked, relays a vision he had
that Hsun Mei’s name was third on the list of metropolitan exam results. When the rest
of the community heard of the pronouncement, they refused to believe that anyone but
Chin had come up with the prophecy. They became jealous and convinced the village
head to fire him. Unemployed, Chin decided to leave on a trading journey to the capital
with his brother, acting as the accountant. The group visited an examination school, and
Chin fainted after he went inside one of the examination cells.
In chapter three, Chin regained consciousness but proceeded to run from cell to
cell, crying hysterically in each one. After witnessing the display, the merchants Chin
was traveling with agreed to buy him the rank of scholar so he could have a chance to
take the exam. Months later, Chou Chin took the provincial examination and passed with
distinction. He then took the metropolitan exam and the palace exam, and was
subsequently given an official post for passing both of them. Three years later, Chin was
placed in charge of administering exams for the Kwangtung Province, a job that led him
to encounter a man named Fan Chin who had unsuccessfully taken the exams 20 times.
Chou personally read Fan’s essays, and, on the third reading, found them suddenly
remarkable and passed him first on the list. His family celebrated, but when it was time
to take the provincial examination, his father-in-law Butcher Hu refused to provide him
with funds for the journey. Fan Chin went anyway, and then returned home. A while
later, officials came to inform him that he had passed the examination, and the news
drove Fan Chin to act in a crazed manner. Finally, Butcher Hu hit Fan Chin, and the
blow brought Fan out of his manic state. Several officials visited Chin, included Mr.
Chang Chin-chai, a member of the local gentry. Chang offered Fan Chin the use of one
of his empty houses to receive officials in. After moving into the house, Fan Chin’s wife
one day realized how much they owned, and fainted in a fit of hysteria.
Chapter four begins with the death of Mrs. Fan Chin. Butcher Hu travels to a
monastery and asks Monk Teng to say the masses at Mrs. Chin’s funeral, and Teng is
ecstatic. Teng asked the abbot to notify the other monks of their obligation, and on his
way to do so, Abbot Huei Min ran into his tenant farmer Ho Mei-chih. Mei-chih invited
him to a meal, and the abbot reluctantly agreed; however, eight men rushed in during the
meal, accused the abbot of carrying on with a woman in broad daylight, and took him to
the county court. The act was part of an attempt of Mr. Chang to steal the abbot’s land,
but it backfired when Fan Chin ordered the abbot released and Mr. Chang had to beg for
the pardoning of the very abbot he had arrested. After the funeral, Fan Chin set off to
meet Senior Licentiate Yen in hopes of procuring funds from him to offset the expenses
of the funeral. Yen was interrupted by a squabble over a pig at home, and so Fan Chin
proceeded to meet with Magistrate Tang. Tang asked Fan Chin’s traveling partner,
Chang Chin-chai, how to handle a situation in which a Muslim man had sent him fifty
catties of beef in a plea for the Magistrate to turn a blind eye to the sale of beef. Chang
suggested that Tang deny the request and execute the man by publicly suffocating him
with the beef. After Magistrate Tang followed through with Chang’s suggestion,
hundreds of Muslims protested and sought to find and murder Chang.
In chapter five, Fan Chin and Chang Chin-chai had to flee the quarters of
Magistrate Tang via a secret escape method so as to remain unharmed. The provincial
commissioner of justice summoned Tang to reprimand him for his excessive punishment,
and allowed Tang to persecute the leaders of the Muslim insurrection to save face. When
he was leaving the court, Tang encountered two men who gave detailed descriptions of
atrocities involving the stealing of a pig and the corrupt administering of a loan, both
caused by Senior Licentiate Yen. Tang sent runners to arrest Yen, but, having already
heard that they were after him, Yen had fled. The runners then went to Yen’s younger
brother’s house, Yen Ta-yu. Yen Ta-yu sent them off and then summoned his two
brothers-in-law, the scholars Wang Teh and Wang Jen. They advised Yen Ta-yu to
rectify the problem, and then Yen Ta-yu invited them to a feast to see his wife—their
sister—who was falling rather ill. While she was getting ill, Ta-yu’s second wife,
Concubine Chao, convinced her to tell Yen Ta-yu to remarry Chao if she was to die, so as
to protect Concubine Chao’s son with Yen Ta-yu from the wrath of a potential
stepmother. Yen Ta-yu agreed, and after Mrs. Yen died, he married Concubine Chao.
Soon after, Yen Ta-yu himself fell ill, and he summoned the Wang brothers to ask that
they look after his son upon his death.
In the sixth chapter, Yen Ta-yu died, and after a period of comfortable living for
Concubine Chao, her son died as well. Chao attempted to adopt one of Senior Licentiate
Yen’s sons, but Yen insisted on choosing the son and utilized it as an excuse to acquire
all of Yen Ta-yu’s property. Yen forced Concubine Chao to live in the worst quarters of
the house, and ordered that she be treated as a concubine, not a widow. Concubine Chao
appealed the decision, and Magistrate Tang upheld her appeal, effectively blocking the
actions of Senior Licentiate Yen.
Finally, the seventh chapter brings back the character of Fan Chin. Chin passed
the metropolitan exam and was promoted to the commissioner of education post in
Shantung. Vice-President Chou Chin called upon Fan to ask him to look out for a pupil
named Hsun Mei, who might be taking the exams in his province. Fan Chin searched
through all the names of those who took the exam next but could not find Hsun Mei’s; he
discovered later than Mei had already taken the exam and passed first. Hsun Mei
proceeded to take more exams and pass all of them. Mr. Wang Hui sought out Mei and
told him of the vision he had long ago, and the two began working and traveling together.
Section:
Throughout The Scholars, Wu Ching-Tzu makes several biting criticisms of the
Qing dynasty. Most notably, the entire civil service examination system is indicted.
Speaking of the exams, Wu writes that, “Those rules are not good. Future candidates,
knowing there is an easy way to high position, will look down on real scholarship and
behaviour.” Almost every scholar discussed in the novel is also riddled with personality
flaws and corruption, from Senior Licentiate Yen’s stealing of a pig to Fan Chin’s
attempt to pass Hsun Mei as a favor to the Vice-President, regardless of his talent.
The problems facing minority groups are also discussed. In The Scholars, the
Muslim religious minority sect is persecuted to such an extent that when one old man
asks for a favor, he is executed. Even the subsequent protest by the Muslim
community—seemingly justified in light of the drastically unnecessary punishment their
community member received—is quashed and castigated by the Chinese officials.
Women are equally denigrated throughout The Scholars. When Concubine
Chao’s son and husband die, she goes from being treated quite well to being dealt with as
a lowly commoner, which is indicative that a woman’s worth was solely contingent upon
the men she was affiliated with.
Week 9: Imperialism and its Discontents
November 10, Lecture 22 – “Opium and the Opium Wars”
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What is the biggest story of modern Chinese history?
o It’s not just opium and the Opium Wars
o The big story is the global, unexpected reversal of fortunes between China and
the West
 Situation moved from the Qing being one of the richest empires and
Europe a feudal backwater, to a total reversal of fortune
In some sense, Chinese history since the Opium Wars has been one of “seeking to
regain power in the world”
The Opium Wars led to a revolution in China’s foreign relations
What are foreign relations?
o Simplest definition is: the interactions between people who believe the other
is “foreign” (defined by different languages, cultures, etc.), but there’s no one
way of pursuing foreign relations
The European tradition of foreign relations is: foreign relations are between “equal
and sovereign states”
o This is the theory in which the UN exists
o This was NOT the theory of the Qing Empire. China’s theory was that there
was a hierarchy of power (from the emperor to his subjects to other powers);
 An example of this Sino-centric view is the fact that foreigners had to
travel a long way in the city to see actual Chinese officials
The Qing dealt with different peoples in different ways
o China tried to conquer the Mongols while they interacted with Korea, Japan,
and Vietnam via a tributary system
o There was no foreign ministry until 1900
o But there was no precedent for China’s coming relationship with the west
 An example of China’s misconstrued foreign policy is Lord
McCartney’s visit in 1793, after which the Qianlong emperor wrote a
poem to the British thanking for their tribute
This Chinese foreign policy was either pursued with a sense of health and power, or
with a pompous ignorance of the importance of foreign trade (tea, for example, was
becoming vital to the British)
The important question is: how much of a role did Opium play in the relations
between Britain and China – and is Opium really at the heart of this confrontation?
o One view is that Opium was just a proximate cause, and that the conflict
would have happened anyway because of different East-West concepts of
international relations, trade, diplomacy, inequality, etc., as well as the fact
that more and more Westerners were going to China
o Professor Kirby thinks that it matters, though, that the first East-West war was
called the “Opium War” – it was about Opium, afterall
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Initially Opium was used for medicinal purposes; later it was mixed with tobacco
(started in Taiwan) and this spread to Chinese coastal areas
The Chinese were initially smoking “Madak” – crude Opium dissolved in water,
mixed with shredded leaves and smoked with a pipe
o Madak yields .2% morphia (useful therapeutic – compared to taking few
inhalations of Marjhuana)
Around the turn of the 18th-19th century, the Chinese started smoking pure opium
o Pure opium is 9-10% morphia and is much more addictive and powerful
(slows down heart, bodily functions, etc.)
o Addicts can’t sleep or eat, and obtaining opium becomes matter of life/death
Why did so many Chinese become addicted?
o One view is that the social pressures of a growing population, coupled with
limited success routes in the examination system, drove people to addiction
(Professor Kirby thinks this is hard to believe)
o Another view is that the addictions were the result of the greater availability
of Opium
Opium was initially sold in Canton by the British East India Company (started in the
1770s), and then in 1796, when China reiterates restrictions on Opium, the British
East India Company began exporting via private traders
Chinese importation grows tremendously in 1800s (especially during the 1830s, when
the British East India Company looses its trade monopoly and China allows private
traders to engage in trade with China)
o Don’t know exactly what this means for individual addictions, but there was
enough opium for 1/166 people to be addicted
This presented massive problems for the Qing government
o Young middle aged men, civil servants, and soldiers were the main opium
smokers (i.e. officials in the central and civil governments)
By 1830 opium became the most important commercial crop and the single most
valuable commercial crop
Who profited?
o Western smugglers
o Chinese merchants who made the market in the inside of China (and thus
made opium a national phenomenon)
 Chinese people were selling property to engage in this trade, and
dealers organized secret societies to protect themselves against Qing
authorities
Popular opinion of the opium situation in Britain was against it, missionaries were
against it (protested it), but the dealers had powerful lobbies in Westminster (dealers
argued they were simply following the global markets, while hiding the fact that they
gave away free samples and bribed Chinese officials – “not our fault this government
is corrupt”)
The British government continued to support the British East India Company and
private entrepreneurs, with the reasoning that, “it is the opium that buys the tea, and it
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is the tea that pays the duties of the British crown and the British East India
Company’s debts
Any initial Chinese biases against westerners were furthered by the fact that opium
was the first good the West brought to the East – the Chinese took this as material
evidence of barbarian poison (some even thought it was a western conspiracy)
o Opium hurts poorer people more than rich people
o China begins to have a serious trade imbalance
 The fact that silver was leaving the country to pay for opium led to a
crisis for the government because it used a bimetallic system and silver
was leaving the country to pay for opium; thus, if a peasant paid his
taxes in copper and the value of silver increased relative to copper, that
peasant felt worse off
This was a huge problem for China (i.e. do we legalize and tax opium, or ban it
altogether?)
o This led to a big debate
The Daoguang Emperor decided to cut off all foreign supplies even if force was
necessary against the foreigners in Canton
o He sent Lin Zixu to Canton to oversee this strategy in 1839
o Lin Zixu had a 3-pronged plan to clean up the heart of the opium trade:
 1. Offer addicts cures
 2. Drug dealers had to confess, and drug rings were broken apart
 3. Foreign suppliers had to confiscate their supplies and sign bonds
agreeing that that they will never engage in the trade again
Lin Zixu achieved stunning success in first two goals, but had a problem because he
had to deal with the British Superintendant of Trade, Charles Eliot
o So Lin Zixu sends letter to Queen Victoria asking if she would like opium in
her country
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The English perspective was much different
o England was moving more and more towards conceptions of free trade
o England viewed the opium situation as an opportunity to regularize relations
between Britain and the Qing
o England viewed the situation as a broader political and moral conflict
o Voices of economic liberalism were calling for end of any restrictions on
British trade
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Lin Xizu believed that the British could not survive without tea and rhubarb, and
believed this was his biggest weapon
March 24, 1839: Chinese troops surrounded foreign factories and confiscated supplies
(21,000 chests were then burned)
o Foreigners were forced to sign bonds promising not to trade again
o Charles Eliot, as the British representative, refuses to sign
o British ships were not allowed to enter the port
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There was much discussion back in Britain over what to do
o In November it was decided to send ships
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First Opium War: 1839-1842
o Ended in the utter defeat of the Qing (humiliating for many decades
thereafter)
o The Qing was unprepared for naval warfare
o British took Ningbo, and threatened to continue onto and take Nanjing
o China didn’t think a faraway island could possibly send troops to defeat it
Treaty of Nanjing (first of what Chinese historians dubbed unequal treaties (
o Ceded Hong Kong in perpetuity to the British
o Opened 5 other ports
o China had to pay a $21 million indemnity
o Opened up cities for trade along coast
o Chinese tariffs could not be too high
o Granted the British extraterritorial rights
o Most-favored nation principle (any concessions to one country had to be
conceded to all)
o Indirectly led to the growth of Shanghai
Ultimately the Opium War was about trade, sovereignty, and opium (this is why it
was resented over generations) – but the Treaty of Nanjing doesn’t mention opium;
opium wasn’t formally legalize but importation wasn’t stopped
November 12, Lecture 23 – “Christianity and Chinese Salvation”
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Many historians consider “modern Chinese history” to have begun after the First
Opium War (1839-1842)
o One reason for this is that the First Opium War the first of a series of military
defeats for the Qing in the later 19th Century
 In the First Opium War, the British had defeated a great empire with
minimal troops – it was the worst military defeat the Qing had
experienced
 The Qing essentially had no ability or desire to mobilize their country
against the foreigners
 But the success of the British in the First Opium War was also a result
of their technology (i.e. the results of the Industrial Revolution, of
which the steamboat is a good example)
 To their credit, Manchu and Chinese officials immediately started to
try to learn about these technologies – this would be continued
throughout the 20th century
o The second reason is that the war brought the Qing Dynasty into the world
political system against its will in a manner that most Chinese saw as an
unequal relationship that would last until the end of the “unequal treaties” in
1943 with WWII
 The first of these “unequal treaties” was the Treaty of Nanjing, which
included the following:
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The perpetuity of Hong Kong, which was ultimately signed
away by the British in the 1980s, even though the British could
have kept it
 The Chinese had to reimburse the British for the burned opium
 Americans formalized the idea of “extraterritoriality” and then
the French legalized missionary work in China
 The British added the “most-favored nation clause” (i.e. the
same concessions to other foreigners must be given to the
British as well)
 This meant that China could not play the foreigners off one
another
o The third reason is that from this moment on there is a greater emphasis on the
relationship between internal and external affairs in Chinese history
 Foreign goods and ideas could now be brought into China pretty much
at will
 The Qing’s control over foreign relations weakened just as its hold on
the empire weakened, which in turn caused a string of rebellions
 From the First Opium War on, it is essentially impossible to tell what
is “foreign” and what is “Chinese”
 The Qing Dynasty was faced with multiple disasters
Some historians argue that there is a Chinese history that is separate from this foreign
influence, while others argue that the foreign influence is inseparable from Chinese
history
o Professor Kirby thinks that there is no China-centered history after about 1850
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In the mid-19th century there were two movements: 1) an effort to save the Chinese
from the Manchus and 2) a foreign crusade to save China from the Chinese and for
God
o Both of these movements were Christian, or at least thought they were
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It was obvious that there was going to be trouble after the First Opium War
o There was both a foreign problem and a domestic problem (e.g. a massively
increased population)
o The agrarian economy was living on the edge (famines, droughts, etc.) and the
government seemed unable to do anything about this
 An good example of this is the change of the course of the Yellow
River to the north that occurred in 1853
There was enormous dislocation because of all of this, primarily in Southeast Asia
o The tensions were ethnically charged: it pitted the Hakka people (“guest
people”) against the Han Chinese (“Bandi people”)
o There were armed feuds over scarce land
o The tensions became heightened in the late 1840s by the “God-Worshipping
Society” and yet the Qing did nothing
 This “God-Worshipping Society” became the heart of the Taiping
Rebellion (“Great Peace Revolution”)
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The Taiping Rebellion was a unique coming together of Western and
Eastern visions
Hong Xiuquan, the founder of the “God-Worshipping Society”, saw himself as the
younger brother of Jesus Christ
o History of Hong Xiuquan:
 He failed the examinations twice, then picked up a foreign missionary
tract, and then failed the examinations again, at which point he had a
nervous breakdown
 It was during this breakdown that he envisioned himself
interacting with a golden-bearded man (whom he later took to
be God) who gave him a sword, and a younger man (whom he
later took as Jesus Christ) who showed him how to slay spirits
o He then failed the examinations again, at which point he starts to read the
foreign missionary tracts
 He came to believe that he was sent to restore Christianity to China (he
believed China was the origin of Christianity)
 Started to believe that he had to destroy the Manchus in order to
restore Christianity (he believed that the Manchus were devils)
o All of this would have remained as nothing more than a vision if there were
not desperate people in southeast China willing to listen
o He started getting Hakka converts, and his initial success is a measurement of
the social tension that existed at this time in Southeast China
The “God-Worshipping Society” was a communalistic operation to which people
devoted their wealth and lives, and which disallowed sex (genders were segregated)
o In this way, the Taiping Rebellion is sometimes viewed as a kind of sexual
revolution in a male-dominated society
 It had many elements of a social revolution (not simply an antidynastic revolution) as it was, for example, Anti-Confucian
 This is part of the reason the rebellion was resisted so intensely –
people were protecting their way of life
The Taiping Rebellion is established relatively quickly and establishes itself in
Nanjing, which it renames “Tianjin” (“Heavenly Capital”) in 1854
o When Nanjing fell, the Manchu population was summarily executed
o Hong Xiuquan ruled his kingdom for the next 11 years
The Qing, at this point, was defeated on both the outside and the inside
o The only way the Qing could deal with this problem was with regional
Chinese armies that were raised by regional leaders who wanted to defend
traditional Chinese society
All of this was complicated in 1858 because the internal Taiping Rebellion was
various foreign influences, of which the following three were the most important:
o Foreigners forced yet another war on the Qing (Second Opium War) when the
Qing could least defend itself
 This led to the burning Yuanming Yuan (a foreign-constructed palace
for a previous Qianlong emperor)
o The presence of western missionaries, which complicated the Qing’s domestic
rule
o The fact that some western mercenaries were hired by the Qing to fight for the
Qing
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Professor Kirby focuses on the internal foreign influence: the foreign Christian
missionaries
o The missionaries went with extraterritorial abilities to convert the Chinese to
Christianity
o The missionaries made significant progress at the same time the Qing was
trying to stop the Taiping Rebellion
o This missionary movement was also the source of an enormous internal
domestic conflict
 The foreigner missionaries dressed as if they were gentry, and took on
the role of teacher and learned person in a society in which those roles
were limited – this made them seem presumptuous to the Chinese elite
 This led to a clash of social elites – the Westerners viewed the Chinese
elites as a conservative social blockade
o All of this is in general characteristic of imperialism (foreigners get very deep,
and then their governments have to come and save them)
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The Taiping Rebellion was eventually put down by the regional Chinese armies
o Tianjin, the “Heavenly Capital”, lasted 1853-1864
o The devastation from this mid-century rebellion and agrarian tensions was
tremendous
 Local populations decreased, ghost towns arose, and there were
famines and droughts
 Somewhere between 20-30 million people died during the 14 years of
the Heavenly Capital
Foreigners were optimistic that once this abomination of Christianity (the Taiping
Rebellion) was put down, the Chinese could receive true Christianity
o This is precisely what didn’t happen
o The Massacre in Tianjin in 1870 (the French missionaries were taking in sick
children, and the Chinese thought that the Catholics were eating the children
in order to survive) destroyed most of the hopes of the western missionaries
 This would have led to another war if France was not losing the
Franco-Prussian War
 This also showed that while conciliation between governments might
be possible, conciliation between individuals was harder
Empress Dowager (1860-1908) tried to save the Qing and but failed (beginning
subject of Week 10 lectures)
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November 14, Lecture 24 – “The End of Imperial Rule”
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One could argue that the Qing was on top at the time of Lord Macartney
The Qing then becomes comparatively and rapidly backward
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o Two and three generations and it (Chinese civilization) seems to be over
Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 shows that China is even inferior to Japan
China was ruled in everything but name from 1861-1908 by the Empress Dowager
(an astute, if short-sighted, politician)
o She was blamed by many Chinese historians for the late-19th Century decline
of China
o Seized power in a coup, continued to put young boys on the throne so she
could continue to rule
o She was an extraordinarily powerful emperor
o Question of how the Guangxu Emperor died (i.e. did the Empress Dowager
poison him?)
China would have completely separated if it wasn’t for the Empress Dowager
o She had the difficult task of maintaining unity while modernizing
The rest of the world is being divided up among the imperial powers in the second
half of the 19th Century – this does NOT happen to China
o It does give more and more concessions (unequal treaties) to foreign powers
o Question of where will it end?
Three ways in which the Qing tried to cope:
o 1. Self-strengthening from within
o 2. Out-and-out resistance
o 3. Fundamental reform and ultimately revolution
Concept of “ti” (Chinese learning for the essence) and “yong” (Western learning for
practical application)
o Idea that you can strengthen the Qing militarily without bringing in the cancer
of Western ideas (such as missionary Christianity)
 The Qing hired Western consultants for this; modernized examination
system to bring in foreigners with foreign expertise
o Deng Xiaoping would make the same argument in 1978
We get the sense, though, that the Western ways were about more than just guns and
military
China sent educational expeditions to the United States (specifically, Hartford, CT)
Internal weakness was externally evident in:
o War with France over Vietnam – China lost in 7 minutes
o War with Japan (Sino-Japanese War) 1894-1895 over Japan’s presence in
Korea
 This war was the single biggest disaster of the Qing – signaled the end
of the Chinese navy until, essentially, today
 The Empress Dowager was blamed for this defeat because she diverted
funds for the war to build marble boats and palaces
There was a general rush towards concessions by the foreign powers
o There was a Chinese fear of being carved up by the foreign powers
“Righteous and Harmonious Fists” (Boxers) rose up in rebellion to all of this
o Initially wanted to oust the Qing and then the foreigner, but the Qing
convinced them to just try to oust the foreigners
o The Boxers believed themselves to be immune to Western bullets
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o Western outrage over the Boxers is enormous and the Western troops enter
Peking
o The Qing was forced into an indemnity that would have lasted until the 1970s
Decade of reform that ended in revolution
o Results of this reform decade show why reform was put off for so long
o Begins a new examination system 1905 (this obviously angered a lot of
Chinese, and cut off the tie to regional provinces), creates a professional
military
Qing ends in 1911 with a military revolt in Wuhan
Thus, in the early 20th Century, the Imperial concept of China was overtaken by the
concept of a China as a nation (this partly came about with the idea that the Manchus
were not fit rulers)
o We therefore have a situation where the Manchus oversaw both the
extraordinary territorial expansion of and then complete decline of the
Chinese Empire
o Popular opinion during these times (the early 20th Century after the Qing had
fallen) was one of enormous optimism
Ebrey – Chapter 9: “Manchuse and Imperialism: The Qing Dynasty 1644-1900”
Summary
Ebrey begins with the Manchus’ victory over the Ming Dynasty and the
subsequent establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644. She goes on to note the early
successes of the Qing Dynasty (the 18th Century is considered to be one of China’s most
prosperous time-periods) and its conservative social environment. She then describes the
massive problems the Qing Dynasty faced in the 19th Century (mainly: extraordinarily
fast population growth, social unrest (and the Taiping Rebellion), the Opium Wars, and
then finally the Boxer Rebellion). She concludes by stating that, regardless of whether or
not you believe the decline of Chinese society in the 19th Century was inevitable, the 18th
Century was, by all accounts, a terrible one for China.
More Detail Outline
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The Manchus were originally engaged in a tribute system with the Ming
o This changed when the Ming appeared weak when Li Zicheng rebelled
o Wu Sangui – a Ming general – convinced the Manchus to come into China to
oust Li Zicheng, as he believed the Manchus were preferable to Li Zicheng’s
rebels
o The Manchus succeeded where Li Zicheng failed because they were able to
establish a bureaucratic, military state outside of the Chinese state (the
Manchus had made several reforms, for example: establishing the “queue” as
a standard hairstyle and organizing society into military units called
“banners”)
o After the Manchus ousted Li Zicheng, they ordered the Chinese people in
Beijing to be separated from the Manchus
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1669-1799: Rule of Kangxi, Yongzheng, and Qianlong
o These first Manchu emperors reigned over China for an unusually long time,
and each proved to be an adept manager who was good at getting things done
o Each tried to be both a protector of Chinese heritage as well as a Manchu
military leader
o Kangxi took a liking to Western civilization and learning, and tolerated
Western Christians
o Yongzheng undertook massive tax reforms and helped to stabilize the
government
o Qianlong attempted to fashion himself into the ideal sage emperor
 He did, however, viciously put down any hints of anti-Manchu
uprisings
Territorial expansion
o Modern China’s boundaries were established during the Qing (specifically,
Taiwan, Tibet, Central Asia, and Mongolia were all staked out)
Culture and Society
o Chinese Confucian culture took a conservative turn during the Qing in
reaction to 1) the success of the foreign dynasty of the Manchus and 2) the
collapse of social order in the late Ming
o People in general turned away from the free-flowing emotionalism of Wang
Yangming and back to earlier, absolute conceptions of Confucian values
o Social codes became much more strict, as homosexuality was looked down
upon, and sexual chastity and faithfulness were promoted
Trade and European Relations
o As has been mentioned earlier, the turn of the 18th-19th Century brought about
a dramatic reversal in China’s international standing
o Europeans (especially the British with the British East India Company) had
been trading with China for a while in Canton, and China’s tea exports were
becoming increasingly important for Britain
o Also, Britain’s increase in military strength made them confident enough to
send Lord Macartney to China in 1793 to request that a British trade envoy be
placed in China
o Eventually these tensions led to the Opium War of 1839-1842, the details of
which I omit here because they are included in exhaustive measure in the
lecture notes above
o The Opium War led to several “unequal treaties” that granted the European
powers various trade concessions (this started with the Treaty of Nanjing in
1942)
Taiping Rebellion
o Ebrey also notes the internal disturbance of the Taiping Rebellion to go along
with the external disturbance of the foreign powers
o Again, however, I will not go into detail here, as you can find the description
of the event in the lecture notes
Reform
o Ebrey briefly mentions that all of the above failures led China to start looking
at Western reforms (e.g. western factories, weapons, etc.)
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o Li Hongzhang is the best example of one of these reformers
Chinese Diaspora
o Ebrey briefly mentions that the social tensions and population growth of the
Qing led many Chinese to emigrate elsewhere to find labor (e.g. the “coolies”
and the Gold Rush in 1848)
Boxer Rebellion
o The Boxers (the “Harmonious Fists”) initially rebelled at foreign missionaries,
but when they began killing foreigners en masse the Western powers objected
and marched 20,000 troops to Beijing (whereupon they forced China to pay
another enormous indemnity, and Empress Dowager had already fled)
Reading: George Macartney, “Audience with Ch’ien-lung”
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Summary: there’s not really much of substance here; the reading consists of a few
pages of Macartney’s journal in which he describes his reception with the Emperor
Probably the most relevant aspect of the reading is Macartney’s description of the
Emperor’s manner as one of “Asiatic pomp,” which reflects the attitude with which
the Chinese entered the 19th Century
He also describes the ceremonies has being solemn and orderly, and describes the
Emperor as “King Solomon,” presumably because of all the luxurious excesses
Reading: Henry Dundas, “Instructions to Lord Macartney”
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Summary: this reading consists of a letter to Lord Macartney, instructing him on how
he should behave in his trade negotiations with China, what he should expect, and
what concessions he should attempt to get. The most important take-away from this
article is the complete preparation of the British (which of course relates to the idea
that late-18th Century China was fairly ignorant of the importance of global trade
while Britain had a vastly superior understanding)
Lord Macartney is instructed to try to gain concessions that would alleviate some of
the trade restrictions and barriers that the English traders experienced in Canton
o He is also instructed to ask for an area/property on which the English traders
can store their inventory, for the establishment of an English envoy in China,
and for extraterritoriality for the English traders
He is instructed to appeal to the Emperor in a thoroughly European manner: he
instructs Lord Macartney that he should ask for these concessions on the basis that
sovereign powers should protect each others’ citizens in the process of doing trade
o Here, the instructions emphasize that 1) the Emperor should not be held
responsible for the situation in Canton and 2) Lord Macartney should make it
clear that he is pursuing these concessions in the interests of both nations
The rest of the article consists primarily of contingencies, and how Lord Macartney
should act and what he should concede in certain situations
o One example is Opium: Lord Macartney is instructed to concede the subject
of Opium, should it arise, since Opium will nevertheless still be able to get
into the Chinese market
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o Another example is that Lord Macartney should protest vehemently against
the notion that the British are only interested in expanding their territory
In general, though, the various contingency plans simply illustrate the fact that the
British were very well prepared in their relations with the Chinese
Reading: George III, “Letter to the Emperor of China”
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Summary: this is a short letter from King George to the Emperor with the requisite
pleasantries and a brief description of England’s reasons/goals in sending the trade
delegation under Lord Macartney
King George plays to the Emperor’s status by repeatedly calling him a beneficent
leader of a great civilization, and so forth
He appeals to the Emperor to grant the requested trade concessions in Canton on the
basis of Britain’s cosmopolitan society, which desires not territory but knowledge of
all peoples and things
He also argues that the requested trade concessions will be mutually beneficial, just as
trade between two sovereigns is mutually beneficial
He also requests that a British envoy be stationed in China, and that a Chinese envoy
be stationed in Britain
Reading: “Two Edicts from the Ch’ien-lung Emperor to King George III”
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Summary: this is the Emperor’s written response that rejects all of King George’s
requests, largely on the basis that 1) if the Emperor granted Britain its requests, it
would have to do the same for all the other European nations and 2) Chinese
civilization is self-sufficient and its culture preclude the requests made by the British
Evident throughout this reading is the Emperor’s condescending attitude, for
example, “To manifest my indulgence…,” “…my all-embracing kindness,” and, “As
your Ambassador can see for himself, we possess all things. I set no value on objects
strange or ingenious, and have no use for your country’s manufactures.”
The Emperor rejects the request for an envoy because 1) the envoy, according to
Chinese rules, would have to adopt Chinese culture and would not be allowed to
leave Peking (making him useless) and 2) if the Emperor granted a British envoy, he
would have to grant all the Europeans envoys
The Emperor makes continual reference to the fact that Britain is surrounded by water
and thus (as he believes) is dependent upon Chinese trade
He then goes on to summarily address and reject each request of Lord Macartney (e.g.
request for other hubs in addition to Macao, for the freedom of foreign missionaries,
for lodging areas, and for reduced tariffs)
Readings from “Chinese Civilization”
Placards Posted in Guangzhou
 Consists of placards posted in Canton by Chinese after the First Opium War (posted
around 1845) stating that if the foreigners attempt to enter the city (they argue that the
foreigners have sent spies into the city for reconnaissance) they will attack them and
burn their houses
Infant Protection Society
 Consists of the description, by a member of the Chinese gentry, of his society, “The
Infant Protection Society,” which was founded to counteract infanticide
o The Infant Protection Society was run by Chinese elites and funded by
charitable contributions; its mission was to provide subsidies to poor families
and ultimately to transport poor children to orphanages if the subsidies were
not sufficient
 Simply depicts the fact that much of social welfare/charitable work during the Qing
was done by the Chinese elite, whereas during the Tang it was primarily done by
Buddhist monasteries, and during the Song it was done largely by the government
Mid-Century Rebels
 Consists of rebel accounts (confessions and secret society documents) from the “rebel
period” in China from 1850-1873
 Essentially just depicts the various social tensions that arose during the Qing Dynasty
in the mid-19th Century
 A common thread in all the documents is the rebels’ appeal to anti-Manchu concepts,
as well as to the idea that the Emperor no longer was governing with the Mandate of
Heaven
Section
Photos
 There are a variety of black-and-white images depicting the Qing’s conquest of
Turkestan, as well as a variety of Chinese export products (e.g. blue-and-white vase, a
punch bowl, a can with the Penn Family Coat of Arms, etc. – this section was called,
“My Aunt Ethel’s Ming Vase”)
Questions
 What is the British image of China at the end of 18th century? How did George III try
to tailor the presentation of British concerns to the Qing court? What particular
imagery and arguments does he use?
 What was Qianlong’s response to the letter of George III? How did he view the
embassy mission? How well does it seem to you that Qianlong has understood the
British point of view?
 From these readings what can we infer about Qing and British foreign policies?
o I think all of these questions are pretty easily answerable given the
information above, but in general, the answers revolve around the fact that
China’s foreign policy was essentially nonexistent (the Emperor thought
China to be completely self-sufficient) whereas Britain’s centered around free
trade
o Also, the British were much better prepared for their relations with China than
vice versa
Week 10
Lecture 25: Nov 17
Foreign Models for a Chinese Republic
“International”—international anthem to communism, but also
sung by socialists the world over.
 Still sung in high schools in China today.
What it means to be China in this new century that begins
with the end of the empire.
 How we go from empire to nation, and how the set of
choices are from an international and not a Chinese
historical menu.
 Pu-Yi’s fate gives some of the rhythm of the time
period, and how he moves from being someone who
wears national dress to someone more cosmopolitan.
Among the challenges facing China is to determine what it
means to be a country, and how it can maintain its unity.
 100 years ago the world was made of empires.
o Today the only one that remains is that ManchuChinese empire reincarnated as a Chinese nation
state.
o But making something Chinese is not the easiest
thing on Earth—who is Chinese? How big is
China? What kind of government?
Three elements of the first seem system were abolished:
 The examination system was done away with in 1905
and was not replaced.(bureaucracy)
 The monarchy was also done away with and not
replaced.
 And when the bureaucracy was redefined and
professionalized, and when the emperor was gone, the
third, ideology, wasn’t gone in 1911, but came into
withering attack in the first decade of the nation.
o The empire enters into a new set of
experiences.
o Around the capital of Nanjing in the 1930’s
there was a poll—what is the name of this
country? Most did not know it, the most common
answer was “da guo,” big country.
 Was making itself a new country with a
foundation of ancient civilization, and
had to make room for new classes, the
bourgeoisie.
 New group of scholars, education does not
mean to have an imperial degree or state
service, but intelligentsia; professional
intellectuals.
 This was tested by their Western
diplomas.
 Is a sense that the most learned
people should still determine China’s
path.
 Students also become a new political
force, and become an active part of the
intelligentsia and demand a say in running
the country.
 Another social group with a wider and
nationwide scope is the modern military
overseen by civilian officials.
 There is a militarization of the
people, and the soul.
China here is with a whole set of new ingredients, and one
for potential disintegration. And there is no precedence in
history for this attempt at democracy, and few attempts to
look back into history for models that will hold China
together. But China now has the world’s experience to build
on, and is influenced by foreign models.
Leaders during this time period were starting a republic,
but they had little idea of what a republic should be.
Failed democracy:
Yuan Shikai, the first president of the republic.
 He has a militaristic sensibility.
 Defined what a republic would be and would not be:
o The leader won the party, and he had the leader
murdered.
o He was a senior official in the Qing, and is
the prototypical developmental military
dictator of the 20th century.
 Believed in a highly centralized system,
and he put his military subordinates in
military command.
 His idea of a good session of parliament was to
surround it with troops.
 Yuan Shikai governed on the basis that men fear
weapons and love gold, and by 1912 he was President
for life.
o And even he believed that this would not keep
this nation unified, and sought to make himself
constitutional monarch.
Asked President of Harvard to send a constitutional advisor
to creates Chinese constitution.

He oversaw the drafting of two constitutions, one
which made president for life, and the second would
have made his emperor if he had not died in 1916:
Harvard’s contribution to democracy in modern China.
 He was overthrown by his own military subordinates
and led to period of disintegration, and Yuan’s
advisors came to govern large pieces of the Chinese
geography.
 Fairbanks: Yuan is man who strangled Chinese
democracy in the crib.
By the 19-teens, the reality of the republic was broadly
perceived not to work, and democratic republic was
discredited.
Chinese turn to Moscow:
 WWI made then think that any Western idea was a bad
one, so next government idea was anti-Western.
o Without the Soviet Union there would have been
no PRC, influence of Soviet Union on Chinese
government.
 This obviously promised significant centralization.
 Li Dajao, de facto founders of Chinese communist
party, and use the proletariat to bring communism
like a rush to China.
o But with Russian advice, you obey orders from
Moscow and not simply your own leaders. Moscow
told the Chinese to realign with Sun Yatsen
and the Guomingdang, founded along Leninist
lines, and made a powerful alliance against war
lords to unify country and throw out the
imperialists.
o Sun Yatsen was allied with Chiang Kai-shek who
was the leader of the Guomingdang’s military,
and showed that a determined group of Chinese
well-armed could in fact challenge the West.
 But West no longer had any will to
maintain imperial holdings.
 But yet it does not work very well, and went badly
wrong in 1926-27.
o Chiang, rather than waiting for his allies to
turn against him, turned against them in a
brutal massacre and forced the new Communist
Party deep underground.
 All of the Soviet advisors were thrown out
of China, and the remnant Communist Party
would flee into the countryside, and would
come to the conclusion that power does not
come from the proletariat or the laws of
history, but from the barrel of a gun.
Turning to Germany:
 Chiang Kai-shek turned to another foreign model:
Germany.
 Chinese closest international relationship from
1927-1937.
 Cooperation in this decade made cooperation with a
nation whose ethic of development was more
compatible with China.
 Chiang thought Germany was the only country they
could look to for help since they had similar
lifestyles.
o His interest and European fascism and the rise
to power of Nazism interested Chiang.
o More about moving people from below than from
on top.
 But there was no Chinese term for fascism: was a
river without a source.
Conclusion:
Here we have China with three experiments. None of these
models answered the question of how a new society could be
restructured and integrated into a political whole. And yet
at the same time at the end of the 1930’s there was still
no serious Chinese alternative to foreign models, and there
was no strong faith of Chinese historical models: “Only the
practice of self-government prepares a government for selfgovernment.”
Lec 26: Nov 19
Culture and Revolution
National anthems are a process of the world moving from
empires to nation states.
What defines culture? Values? Conduct?
Chinese term for culture has several different aspects:
 Popular culture, theater, poetry etc.
 But also culture like the culture in the ethical
make up of a people.
 You are supposed to act appropriately according to
who you are.
The problem with 20th century China after the exam period is
that there is no common text: which means the end of shared
assumptions of how people should act.
 You have a severing of the connections between state
and cult.
How dramatically culture would be change for the purpose of
nation building in China by Mao.
Mao and purpose of art and literature in a revolutionary
society: to fit it into the revolutionary machine, and to
unite and educate the people, attacking and annihilating
the enemy. Who does one serve? For the masses, and to reach
them in a direct way, for workers, peasants and soldiers
and to popularize whatever you do.
 There is no such thing as art for arts sake, or art
that runs independent from politics, was his belief.
A revolutionary China needs a proletariat culture, they
should not doll themselves up, but dress simply. One needs
to have a more and more revolutionary culture.
He was making a new culture around his centrality.
A new culture that would revolve around the culture of his
works.
A sense that the national leader is at the center of a new
national culture.
Mao’s wife takes the lead in reforming the way culture is
seen.
 Virtually all of traditional Chinese art was
withdrawn from circulation for almost ten years.
 The effort was to come up with a new set of
revolutionary dramas and ballets, the entire
previous repertoire had been taken out of
circulation.
 Many were base don anti-Japanese themes and antifeudal war lords themes.
Point is not that art should imitate life, but that life
should imitate art. From the art, people should realize how
to live.
The guidelines for political correctness was so strict,
that only a handful of dramas and films were approved in a
few years. So people had to see them again and again, and
ultimately they were not impressed. “Propaganda was not
art.”
 Most of the people hated these movies, and after
Mao’s death Mao’s wife was one of the most hated
women in China and she was exiled.
But had the Chinese people been transformed in the process?
 No, at least if we are to judge by the new Judge
Wayne movie to open in 1977.
 But what the Chinese people did do was survive this
terrible onslaught, and make the best out of this
horrible situation.
Lecture 27: Nov 21
Military Persuasion in Modern China
How China’s attempt to be made into a unified country by
the most traditional means and the most modern means by
which countries are held together—force—the modern
military.
What is the role of military in Chinese history?
 Most would not write about a highly-militaristic
culture; the assumption is that soldiering is not an
honorable career.
 Success comes through civilian service and
bureaucracy.
 There are not a few people who succeed by seizing
the throne, but you are not supposed to hope that
you can rule a vast empire by military force alone;
you need a bureaucracy.
 In China, the assumption is that the forces of
culture should be over the force of the military.
 Also, belief in China that the good men are to be
saved for government, not for the army.
 The Art of War, Sun Tzu, that you can succeed in
beating your enemy not by force, but by trickery and
not fighting them at all.
China emerging victorious in the WWII, its an enormous
reversal.
 Humiliation of Boxer Rebellion, and Chiang Kai-Shek
conquering Southern China.
One has until the beginning of the republic a sense of
military hopelessness.
 Chinese are a people not unaccustomed to bloodshed.
One should make the distinction between violence, because
they are just as violent as any other people, and a selforganized violent state.
 Of all of the Western exports to China by far the
most successful was the concept of modern
militarism.
o Part of their modernity.
 Part of it is just guns, China was by far the
biggest arms market in the world.
o Also one of the most militarized places on
Earth.
 Every major turning point in modern Chinese history
was determined by violence.
How do we think of this enormous phenomenon in relation to
the 20th century?
Society since Qing was becoming militarized at a local
level, and existed before the armies of nation state.
 Also because of they live in a world of predators.
 You don’t seize power by peace, but by the barrel of
a gun.
Regional militarism in late Imperial China
If people are going to resist Qin they use local militias.
A Manchu official set out a code of military law for a
modern professional military that would be separate from
civil law—soldiers were outside of civil jurisdiction.
 You begin to have an army of professionals.
 They had to cut the haircut to have a modern army,
“cue.”
 One of the interesting things about Yuan Shikai is
that he seems to understand that being president for
life and having military control its not enough.
o You need something more than the military, and
its why he seeks to crown himself as a
constitutional monarch, and he ends up
alienating the people he relies for support.
War lord era, from1916-1928
 What is a warlord?
o Someone who rules primarily through force and
weapons, and implies a certain level of
authority. But you have hierarchies of
military.
o In China, its this unified army of Chiang
Shikai. The commanders of an army who seek to
rule territory more or less independently, and
you might get your autonomy tempered by having
to report to a more powerful warlord.
 1916-1927, several political murders.
 At the same time warlordism goes against the
unification of China.
o But its not wrong to think that regions were
ruled by militaristic Neanderthals.
 The misgovernance brought about its demise, and a
reaction for a new centralized government, KMT, that
sets itself up in the capital in 1928.
o Sense of tragedy, Chinese vs. Chinese when they
should be fighting the imperialists and
increasingly the Japanese.
But warlordism doesn’t die with the end of the war lord
era.
 Sun Yatsen as a regional militarist in China.
o Seeks to unify through Soviet Union

It has Chiang Kai-Shek, a regional militarist form
South China.
o Does succeed, and turns against his Soviet
allies and forces them underground.
 And Mao Zedong, who seeks power through military
conquest, and does so in a military general from
Henan.
o Whoever is in charge is the head of the
military commission.
 Seek unification of country through
military means.
Sun Yatsen sought to rule the party by Leninist means, but
above all if one things of what distinguished his rule, it
was an attempt to rule through military means, and set up
his national army so it could be strong enough to defeat
the Japanese and take back land from them.
 Wanted to present the military as an image, and
militarize the morals as well.
o Cult of the leader begins during his time.
 Also wanted to combine the military with some
Ancient Chinese values.
 Idea that you could emulate these models, but it
didn’t change the way average Chinese understood
their lives.
Fundamental difference between Chiang Kaishek and Mao
Zedong would be that Mao would take Sun Tze further by
immering soldiers in the people.
 Chiang had a very professional military approach.
 Mao had an army that lived off the people.
Chiang Kaishek did not do badly in his efforts of
militarization, he would defeat the communists in 1935.
 No one thought that Chiang would’ve been able to
unify the country.
Mao Zedong actually militarized the Chinese people, and
becomes a highly militarized society in a way that Chiang
Kaishek could have never imagined.
 Economy remains very militarized in making armament.
 It does not demilitarize until the 1970s.
 Chiang Kai-shek wanted people to be like soldiers
and to obey orders.
Every political movement is a campaign, taking a military
turn, every production effort was a battle.
 Whole villages were sent to work in huge fields and
treated like an army.
o Everyone was a worker, everyone was a solider.
There is also Lei Feng, a Chinese soldier recently
deceased. His diary was uncovered and was almost surely
written before his death.
 You can learn from the army.
 In the 1980s during Deng Xiaoping, the role of the
military seemed to have receded.
o The army was more professional and back in its
barracks.
 And yet in the greatest confrontation
between people and government, you have a
fundamental reassertion of the military,
with a brutal and public use of force.
o For the octogenarians who still ruled China in
1989, they knew they had spent half their lives
as revolutionaries out of power and fighting a
military regime, and they also remember how
they came to power.

The communist leaders knew they had won
the Chinese civil war in the battlefield
and nowhere else.
 When Deng called the troops he said to
have said, “even one million casualties
would be a small number from China.”
Person in charge in China is the leader of the
army.
What is missing here? The role of the civilian. The Chinese
government had not shown that they could civilize in that
they could establish a self-replicating form of civil
government, and standing for something enduring in civil
value.
Bound Feet and Western Dress by Pang-Mei Natasha Chang
Bound Feet and Western Dress is a dual memoir. The novel
chronicles the lives of Chang Yu-I and Pang-Mei Natasha
Chang. Chang Yu-I went through the first modern Chinese
divorce in 1922. Chang Yu-I is Natasha Chang's great aunt.
Natasha was born in America to Chinese parents. Several
themes appear through both women's lives. The themes
include womanhood, marriage, Westernization, and success.
Chang Yu-I starts the memoir with explaining the role of
women in China. She says, "in China, a woman is nothing.
When she is born, she must obey her father. When she is
married, she must obey her husband. And when she is
widowed, she must obey her son" (6). Chang Yu-I feels the
effects of this throughout her life. She experiences the
incapacitation of foot binding, is expected to follow the
rules of filial piety, is largely ignored in school and
never feels support from any of the men in her life.
Chang Yu-I describes the pains of foot binding in detail.
She explains the breaking of the bones in the foot, the
removal of bloody bandages, the soaking, the rewrapping and
tightening of the bandages. The process begins when Chang
Yu-I is three years old. When her brother sees the pain
Chang Yu-I is in, he insists that his mother stop the
painful binding. Chang Yu-I's mother is worried that
without bound feet, no man would marry Chang Yui. Bound feet are not only considered beautiful like a
lotus flower, but they also serve to control women and keep
them confined to their houses.
Another way to control women is to keep them ignorant.
Chang Yu-I finds few opportunities to gain an education.
Out of the four girls in her family, Chang Yu-I is the most
inspired and determined to learn. Even this determination
cannot give her the education she wants. The tutors that
come to her home to work with her brothers occasionally
help Chang Yu-i. Chang Yu-I wants more education and
arranges to attend a boarding school for teacher training.
Her parents realize it will be a less expensive option to
have Chang Yu-I at school as opposed to home, so they allow
her to attend. Being at school is a valuable experience for
Chang Yu-I until she becomes engaged and her professors
give up on her education. Chang Yu-I tries once again to
learn when she moves to France. There she hires a tutor to
teach her the language, but she gives up when her husband
asks her to. Chang Yu-I's husband, Hsu Chi-Mo, has ultimate
authority in the marriage.
Hsu Chi-Mo's control over Chang Yu-I begins before they
even meet. Chang Yu-I's brother, who is impressed by Hsu
Chi-Mo's intellect, arranges the marriage. Chang Yu-I does
not meet Hsu Chi-Mo until her wedding night. From the
moment they meet, Chang Yu-I is subject to scrutiny, not
only from Hsu Chi-Mo, but also from his colleagues. On
their wedding night, Hsu Chi-Mo's friends stand around
Chang Yu-I and criticize and tease her to no end. From that
time on, Chang Yu-I can do no right by her husband.
Though Chang Yu-I is unable to please her husband, her inlaws think she is the ideal daughter-in-law. Her duties to
the extended family include keeping her mother-in-law
company during the day, greeting her in-laws in the morning
and seeing them off to bed at night. These responsibilities
mean confinement to the house and very little rest. Even
after Chang Yu-I and Hsu Chi-Mo are divorced, Chang Yu-I
continues in her duties to her ex-in-laws.
Chang Yu-I is held strongly to Chinese tradition. This
creates tension between Hsu Chi-Mo and her. Hsu Chi-Mo
wants the unattainable. He wants a Western woman with
modern ideals, who will remain subservient. This leads to
the destruction of their marriage. When Chang Yu-I comments
about a guest that "bound feet and Western dress do not go
together," Hsu Chi-Mo screams, "I know that...That's why I
want a divorce" (122). This is symbolic of the struggles of
the time in trying to incorporate Western ideals with
traditional Chinese values.
This contrast of Western
of the novel. Chang Yu-I
lifestyles and becomes a
daughter-in-law, mother,
and Eastern values is the essence
finds the strength in both
success as a daughter, student,
and businesswoman.
Ebrey
1900-1949 was a period of intense effort to turn China into
a powerful, modern state.
After the Qing was undermined by its defeat by Japan,
Empress Dowager’s coup, and the Boxer Rebellion, a more
activist local elite was emerged attempting to refashion a
new political order. The overthrow of China’s 2,000 years
of monarchial rule is largely told as a story of
revolutionaries inspired from abroad—Yan Fu, who studied in
England, argued that western forms of government freed the
energy of the individual which could them be channeled
toward collective goals, the Chinese way discouraged the
development of people’s capabilities, and most Chinese
problems came from within. Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao
were the most famous reformers who realized China’s
backwardness after living in Japan. Attempts were made at
parliamentary government and constitutionalism in 1905. The
death of Emperor Guanxu and Dowager left an infant on the
thrown. Although many attempts at reform and overthrow of
the imperial system were made, success came when a bomb
accidentally explored in the headquarters of a
revolutionary group in Wuchang. Army officers, fearful that
their connections to the group would be exposed, took over
the city in a day, and asked all the provinces to declare
their independence—within six weeks fifteen had seceded.
The courts turned in desperation to their top general, Yuan
Shikai who negotiated with the revolutionaries, and a
republic was established with Yuan as president. “The speed
with which the Qing was ousted is evidence of how much
Chinese society had changed since the Taiping rebellion
when the educated class had rallied behind the
throne(266).”
Parliamentary elections were held in 1913, but Yuan
had the opposition leader murderd when they won, he also
made himself emperor in 1916, but his reign ended shortly
after when he died. In the absence of a strong central
power, commanders in Yuan’s old army, governors of
provinces, local strongmen, and gangsters busied themselves
building up power bases. Bandit gangs appeared everywhere,
often causing more disruption to everyday life even than
the warlord armies and forced villages to form local
defense forces. While this was going, young intellectuals
were waging war against the old. Chen Duxiu, the founder
of the periodical “New Youth” felt he had an obligation
because of his modern education to ‘save’ China. Chen had
studied in Germany and Japan, and was a zealous advocate of
individual freedom and celebrated youth. Intellectuals in
China began to look at the works of Trotsky, Lenin and
Marx. Li Dazhao organized a Marxists study group in Beijing
to which Mao Zedong attended. Chen became less interested
in the West and its talk of democracy—he also turned to
Marxism. The Russian-led organization, Comintern helped to
create political cells over China and helped bolster the
groups legitimacy. Asserting the primacy of class struggle,
the Chinese Communist Party constituted itself as a secret,
exclusive party trying to obtain power.
Little of what China experienced in the first half of
the twentieth century was unique to China, indeed, many
Asian nations struggled with the clash of modernity and
nationalism.
Week 11
Lecture 11/24/2008, Monday
Against the Empire of the Sun: The United States and China in War and Revolution
This lecture overall is about the nature of Chinese-American relations and concludes
that before World War II, the relationship was marginal at best. It was only the presence of a
common enemy in Japan that led to the first substantial political interaction between the two
nations and once that enemy was defeated, the tensions in the relationship began to undermine
the rapport.
The professor begins by noting that WWII brought incredible, lasting changes to the
world. For the US, the war saw the buildup of a huge military and industrial establishment,
which was never really dissolved after the war, leading to a permanent militarization of
economy and society. Furthermore, the war saw the US grow into a Pacific power where it had
little presence before. Most importantly for this class, however, the war brought the US into the
drama of Chinese domestic politics.
For China, the war was devastating. Prior to the war, the Nationalist government under
Chiang Kai Shek oversaw increasing normalization of life and a decrease in domestic strife. A
national currency was implemented and the government was renegotiating the treaties to
assert Chinese sovereignty. Furthermore, the Communists had just been defeated and it was
inconceivable in 1937 that in 1949, they would conquer the country.
The war was catastrophic for the nascent country and led directly to the post war crisis
in industry and agriculture.. Between 15-20 million Chinese were killed. Inflation made the new
currency increasingly worthless. Agriculture suffers from a lack of labor as a result of wide
conscription of the peasant class. In combination with natural disasters, China saw a wide
spread famine after the war. After 8 years of war, the Chinese are left in a state of utter
confusion and chaos.
The war officially began in the summer of 1937, when Chinese troops attacked Japanese
positions and resisted a Japanese incursion in Shanghai. Though they resisted the Japanese in
Shanghai, China lost 70% of its officer corp in the first months of the war. The “heart” of the
army was destroyed.
The war was a particularly ferocious war because of overwhelming Japanese firepower.
There was a brutalization of the civilian population, with the most terrible example being the
Rape of Nanking. In December of 1937, Japanese enter the city to almost no resistance and the
civilian population becomes at the mercy of the foreign army. There were many foreign
observers in the city because Nanking was the capital at the time. These foreign observers
estimated that there were 20,000 rape victims, 30,000 nationalist soldiers killed, and another
20,000 thousand civilians murdered. The event turned foreign opinion against Japan, and made
Japan and by proxy, Nazi Germany seem like co-conspirators in crimes against humanity.
The US-China alliance was one born strictly out of a common enemy. Prior to the war,
there had been minimal trade relations and some cultural cooperation (Harvard Yenching
exchange) between the two countries but no official political relationship. Even after Pearl
Harbor, there was no treaty of alliance between the China and the US. The professor referred to
the relationship as basically a “shotgun wedding.” Thus, because there was no precedent for
interaction, soon after the war ended, the tensions between the two countries began to show
and undermine their relationship.
The two countries shared different visions of China. The US were intent on keeping an
open door and maintaining extraterritoriality rights while the Chinese wanted to restrict foreign
influence and strengthen Chinese sovereignty.
Americans sent General Stilwell and subsequently Patrick Hurley to unify the national
and communist government to ensure a democracy where the citizens would be pro-American
by reflex. All these attempts failed as Chiang Kai Shek had an entirely different vision. He
wanted a post war military-industrial economy led by the state and eventually becoming
increasingly socialist. Thus, the paradox in this war is that once the common enemy was
defeated, Americans and Chinese realized how little in common they had.
Lecture 11/26/2008, Monday
Consolidation and Continuity on Taiwan
The lecture is about how the Nationalists, who came out of the war victorious, found
itself on the island of Taiwan. Resettling Taiwan was a monumental task because of the unique
separation from the mainland that the island had. Even as the Nationalists sought to
consolidate control over the island, they had another goal of using Taiwan as the model of
Nationalist policies, in contrast to the communist model of the Mainland.
Though Taiwan was a Chinese island with an ethnically Han population, it has remained
separate from the mainland since 1895, missing out on developments in the mainland like the
rise of Chinese nationalism. In fact, Taiwan fought on the Japanese side in the Sino-Japanese
War. When the Nationalists arrived on the island, it was their goal to enforce a Chinese identity
on the island.
For most of history, this is an unclaimed island but in the 17th century, there was large
scale migration from the mainland, particularly Fujian, as a result of the Chinese driving out the
Dutch. In 1895, the Qing loses the war with Japan and Taiwan is ceded to Japan. It develops
under a rather brutal Japanese rule, and the Japanese oversee a major industrialization of the
island and construction of infrastructure, leading to economic development. Although, Chinese
lived as second class citizens, in material terms, they often lived better than many 1st class
citizens on the mainland.
The Nationalists had a very chaotic transition at the War’s end. No one was prepared
for the war to end so early as a result of the atom bomb, so the retaking of Japanese land by the
government was “helter skelter.” The Nationalists retook Taiwain in 1945 and 1946, but the
Taiwanese revolted against Nationalist rule. This sentiment of revolt probably grew out of the
vast cultural differences between the mainland and Taiwan. For example, the Taiwanese spoke
Japanese and a dialect of Chinese, but almost overnight, they had to learn Mandarin.
Government ban on cigarettes sparked series of island wide riots that were put down brutally by
tens of thousands of troops. 10 thousand Taiwanese were executed, creating a legacy of
tension between mainlanders and Taiwanese. Additionally, the economy of the mainland was in
ruins as a result of the large amounts of money printed to fund the war effort. Inflation was
endemic and took an enormous political toll. The official exchange rate in January of 1948 was 4
CNC to 1 US dollar but the actual exchange rate was 179,000 CNC to 1 US dollar. Chiang Kai
Shek tried to start the Gold Yuan reform, where people would turn over their gold to set a basis
for the currency. Those who didn’t give up their gold were shot, a policy that was not
particularly popular and only successful in isolated parts of Shanghai. By May of 1949, the
exchange rate was 20 million to 1 US dollar, reaching a point where the government had
effectively ceased to govern.
Chiang Kai Shek was a brilliant politician but an awful tactician. He gained and lost more
territory than any leader in Chinese history. After WWII, at the beginning of the Chinese civil
war between the Nationalists and the Communists, the Nationalists had an enormous
advantage. They had the only air force and controlled most of the mechanized weaponry, but
they frittered away these advantages with alarming speed.
The US tentatively supported the Nationalist government and sent supplies and
armaments, but there was enormous American disaffection with the Nationalist government.
Harry Truman said of US assistance to the Nationalists: “It’s all money down a rat hole.” The US
gradually began to abandon the island, although a portion of the American government,
including young senator JFK, vocally supported the Nationalists and blamed Truman and his
policies for losing China to communism. In 1949, The Nationalists are defeated and exiled to
Taiwan.
Taiwan was not taken by the Communists thanks to Kim Il Song, who invaded South
Korea. This forced America to intervene in East Asian affairs and fight in the Korean War. While
in the region, they also intervened in the Chinese civil war, and sent a naval fleet between the
waters separating Taiwan and the mainland. The US even signs a defense treaty with Taiwan as
a result of their anti-communist campaign.
When the Nationalist government was exiled to Taiwan in 1949, there were effectively 3
groups of people, the Taiwanese, the Nationalist army, and a group of highly educated
technocrats who had been sent abroad in hopes that they would come back to help China’s
postwar economic development. The last group would be the architects of the Taiwanese
economic miracle.
The key goal of the Taiwanese government Chiang Kai Shek was to retake the mainland
but the opportunity never arose. The Nationalist government reformed the civil structure of the
island to tighten political control and enforce a dictatorial government, including a strong police
apparatus and censor ship of the press. The exiled Mainlanders controlled everything and saw
the island as another chance to carry out their plans for Chinese democracy and capitalist
economic development. They set up one of the best land reform system in the world and
increasingly became an export economy. These policies served as the foundation of the
Taiwanese economic miracle.
READINGS
Liang QiChao on his Trip to America
This is an account of Liang QiChao in his travels in the United States in 1903. He is
astounded by the wealth of the American democracy, the inequality of said wealth, the
convenience of libraries, and the brutality of lynching. Although he respects American
democracy, he doesn’t think it is appropriate for the Chinese and criticizes his countrymen in the
San Francisco Chinatown (an Chinese society in general) as vulgar, disorganized, and
unproductive.
Liang QiChao begins by marveling at the sheer height of American skyscrapers and the
size of Central Park. He is astounded that such a large open area would be in the middle of the
city, especially since the land is worth so much, but he notes the benefits of having an open park
in clearing one’s head. Though America is prosperous, he notes that most of the prosperity is in
the hands of a wealthy few while the majority live in poverty. This poverty leads to the
degradation of society, such as an abundance of crime among the poor. He also recounts his 3
minute meeting with JP Morgan, who he notes is a very powerful and influential capitalist.
Next, he conveys his alarm by the practice of lynching, asking why there’s such a lawless form of
punishment when there is a strong judiciary. He considers it savage and a giant hypocrisy of
American democracy, which was supposedly founded on the idea of everyone being equal and
free. Finally, he recounts how the libraries here operate on trust, an example of the general
level of public morality that he finds lacking in Chinese society.
Next, he proceeds with his criticism of Chinese society. First, Chinese social organization
is based on the family rather than the individual, precluding the sense of citizenship that allows
a strong American democracy. This leads into his next point that the Chinese don’t have a
strong sense of nationalism. He also believes that Chinese in general like to be governed and
cannot enjoy freedom, citing the utter disorganization in the San Francisco Chinatown as an
example. Finally, the last major difference between the Chinese and Americans is that the
Chinese lack lofty objectives. Overall, he concludes that the American democracy would not
work very well in China, mainly as a result of aforementioned cultural differences.
Quotes:
“The park is in the middle of the city; if it were changed into a commercial area, the land would
sell for three or four times the annual revenue of the Chinese government” (335).
“I look at the slums of New York and think with a sigh that socialism cannot be avoided” (336)
“Freedom, constitutionalism, and republicanism would be like hempen clothes in winter or furs
in summer; it is not that they are not beautiful, they are just not suitable for us” (339).
Generalissimo Jiang on National Identity
This is a set of two speeches Jiang Kai Shek gave to high level officials in the Nationalist
government. The first one, given in 1939, appeals to anti-imperialist sentiment and Chinese
nationalism to arouse determination to defeat Japan. He touts anti-imperialist fervor, strong
natural defenses, and productive agricultural economy as the main reasons that Japan can never
take China. The second speech, given in 1945 after the defeat of Japan, advocates Chinese
acceptance of minority groups, such as the Tibetans and the Mongolians, if they wanted to form
their own independent state. He notes that to not do so would be contradictory to the antiimperialist history and ideals of Chinese society. If China were to enforce its rule over these
minority groups, they would become like Japan in WWII. He does add the caveat that
independence only be allowed when the minority group has shown a clear competence to run
its own country.
Quotes:
“The only question is whether we have the strength of will to continue resistance, and whether
our unity and determination will increase with every day of the struggle…” (404)
“The Chiense government and people should resolve with noble, sincere, and firm
determination enver to imitate the way of Japan toward Korea. We should honestly aid all
ethnic groups which have given evidence of their capacity for self-government and have shown
a spirit of independence. We should help them achieve national independence through selfdetermination, freedom and equality” (405)
Tibet: Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation
This is a long white paper published by the Chinese government giving a very slanted
view on the issue of Tibetan independence. We only had to read the first three chapters, which
primarily deal with Tibetan ownership and the history of Chinese rule over Tibet.
In the first section, the paper outlines the historical precedent of Chinese rule over
Tibet. It claims that the Tibetans and the Hans have had close economic, cultural and political
relations since the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century. Tibet first became part of China during the
Yuan dynasty, when the Tibetans submitted to the rule of the Mongolian rulers of the Yuan
dynasty. The central government performed many administrative tasks such as setting up post
stations and conducting censuses. This rule was inherited by the Ming dynasty. The paper
notes that the Ming government had to approve the title of religious leaders, implying that
Chinese society was the force that originally legitimized the now-influential religious sects of
Tibet. The Qing dynasty afterwards also claimed sovereignty over Tibet and strengthened the
administration of Tibet. After the fall of the Qing, it notes that Tibet was included in the
formation of the new Republic of China. The central government maintained administrative
control and the Dalai Lama even professed his desire to be part of China. Finally, it describes
how the People’s Republic of China “liberated” Tibet in the 50s with widespread support from
the Tibetan people. Thus, this section claims Chinese sovereignty over Tibet by citing historical
precedent.
The next section tries to explain the origins of the call for Tibetan Independence. It first
traces the beginnings of the concept of independence to British imperialists during the early
1900s. After the British failed in their military takeover of Tibet, they plotted to impose their
sphere of influence by separating Tibet from China. The British plotted with the Tibetan
leadership to deny Chinese sovereignty and was never really successful. However, this first
started the idea of Tibetan Independence whereas before, Tibetans assumed Tibet to just be a
part of China. Aside from the ambitions of imperialists, Tibetan Independence was also inspired
by the desire of Tibetan nobility to maintain the system of serfdom that kept them wealthy.
They resisted the communist reforms of the PRC and intensified their efforts to split from China
to maintain their own vested interests. It further documents US attempts to stir Tibet’s desire
for independence, including sending supplies and weaponry.
The final section documents the active attempts of the Dalai Lama to push for
independence, refuting his assertion that he’s only the religious leader and not the political
leader of Tibet. His transgressions include public advocating that Tibet is an independent state,
setting up a government in exile, reorganizing the armed rebel forces, and generally “spreading
rumors and calumnies and plotting riots.” It ends by declaring that Chinese sovereignty over
China is not up for debate.
Quotes:
“Historical facts over more than a century clearly demonstrate that so-called "Tibetan
independence" was, in reality, cooked up by old and new imperialists out of their crave to wrest
Tibet from China.”
“With the collusion of the Tibetan serf-owners bent on retaining serfdom and the foreign antiChina forces, the rebellious activities soon became rampant.”
WEBSITE
Mapping China
Looking at the different maps of China, it’s readily apparent that the borders of China have
never really stayed constant. This is especially evident in the Northern and Western borders,
which fluctuates wildly. The border to the South and East has always reached the Ocean. As a
result, the Chinese never really considered their coastal border to be under threat and directed
their attention largely to the North and West. This is probably a reason the Chinese were caught
off-guard by the aggression of the European powers during the 1800s, since they assumed that
the coastal border would never be contested. There’s probably more to say about this but I
can’t think of anything else.
1910 Map
1790 Map
Qing Era Map, 1600s
Section
1. How does Liang Qichao describe Chinese national characteristics in his travel account about
the US? What did he see is the major obstacle to nation-building?
He thinks that the Chinese lack a sense of nationalism. Instead, the Chinese are more local, with
a “village mentality” instead of a “national mentality.” Furthermore, the Chinese nature is to be
governed autocratically and they do not do well when given freedom, as exemplified by the
chaos of the San Francisco Chinatown. Liang Qichao believes that the Chinese “can accept only
despotism and cannot enjoy freedom” and he thinks that this is the largest obstacle to nation
building.
2. What was the position of KMT (Nationalist) Government toward the issue of multi-ethnicity of
China and its territorial integrity?
The KMT believed that China should allow ethnic minorities in the border regions the ability to
gain independence should they wish to do so. He defends this position by saying that forcing
these groups to be part of the motherland would constitute imperialism and China would be
acting as the Japanese aggressors had in World War 2. As for other ethnic minorities, the
government should accord them legal and political equality as well as unhindered economic and
religious freedom.
3. How successful is the document "Tibet--Its Ownership and Human Rights Situation" in
supporting PRC's argument that Tibet is an integral part of its national territory?
This is more personal opinion but to me, the document was fairly ineffective since it reeked of
propaganda. Its main point is that Tibet has been in Chinese possession for 700 years and
China has claim to the territory almost by heredity. It tries to make the relationship seem
peaceful by citing isolated anecdotes of cooperation among the two governments, but it doesn’t
really dispel the feeling that those 700 years of rule were probably not that rosy for Tibet. Also,
the paper tries to tap into anti-imperialist sentiment by associating the origins of Tibetan
independence with British imperialism during the 1900s. The main point seems to be that the
quest for Tibetan independence is largely a foreign attempt to undermine the Chinese state.
Overall, it just seemed like the paper did not really assert any substantive arguments for
ownership of Tibet besides simple heredity, which is a pretty weak ideological foundation.
Week 12
December 1, 2008
Communist ‘Liberation’
A. Points of Departure: the communist conquest of China
There is one enduring ideal of Communists in China. The one enduring idea is to
hold power, and hold it for a long time. This beginning era of the Communists in 1921 is
known as the Comintern and the orthodox stage. The Communists first started in
Shanghai in an area near present day Xintiandi.
The experimentation era wished to employ the peasants in the revolution. Mao
wanted to define the Chinese revolution as being different than other revolutions had
been defined. Thus, he said a revolution “is not a dinner party, or writing an essay or
painting a picture, it cannot be refined, leisurely….it is a resurrection, an act of violence
by which one class will overthrow another. A world revolution is when the peasants
overthrow the land-holding class.”
Voluntarism is the idea in political science that will power is just as important or
more important than other types of power such as gun power. It says history is made by
the specific people without who events may not have happened. This was the attitude of
the Communists as they established themselves in Yanan (northern area) in 1927-35. The
Communists let the Nationalists fight the Japanese, and made the best of their situation
by mobilizing the poor country around them. They did this with 2 principles 1) antiJapanese nationalism- a bedrock for Communism for the future 2) social revolutionencouraging peasants to attack/kill their landlords in a form of land reform. They
encouraged these actions to be points of no-return- either you are with us or you’re
against us. The Communists basically ended up winning against the Nationalists because
they had much better generals. Mao knew he didn’t have very much military acumen and
decided to leave military decisions to another general.
What do the Communists stand for when they come to power?
They stand for the liberation of the Chinese people. Mao tries very hard to make it
seem as though he is in line with the world Communist movement (although it seems as
though he really wasn’t). “Heresy in act, not in theory.” There was a large debate whether
Mao was a Marxist at all. If you take Marxism at its very base level, then perhaps Mao’s
revolution can be considered as aspiring to Marxism. If not that, we can at least say he is
a Leninist. Leninism is a way of seizing and using power under circumstances- Mao was
a good Leninist.
B. ‘New China’ and a new world order
China was open to much of the world after 1949, just not America. China is in
fact central to world evens during this time. A defining feature of the PRC is its
communist nature and its alternative path to capitalism. Nations all around the world
seeking to modernize without going the route of capitalism were excited about this
prospect. The alliance with the Soviet Union was one of the closest unions China has ever
had with any other nation. When the Communists were battling the KMT, coming down
from Manchuria, Stalin advised Mao to stop at the Yangze River. China was “leaning to
one sun”- to the Soviets. Mao said that he did not have enough experience so they ought
to pay attention and learn from the Soviet Union. During this time virtually every arm of
government is influenced by Soviet advisers and Soviet methods of doing things. Police
systems, school systems, economy- all of it is reorganized as Stalin. China at this time
has a Stalin DNA.
Stalinism means some degree of uniformity. It means the absolute rule of the
communist party, the oligarch rule of the Politburo. It means the emergence of a leader
with large personality. There were little Stalin’s everywhere. It means state control of
business and giving preference to heavy industry and army. Heavy industry was favored
since Stalin believed it was the path to industrialization. Soviet assistance was essential to
what became the industrial base of China.
In late 1949 the central Chinese Communists wrote to the central Soviet
Communist rulers to ask for 50 suits. This was the end of the popular Shanghai suit, even
though the suits made by Shanghainese were some of the best in the world.
C. China and the Socialist World Economy
How does the new socialist world economy work? Khrushchev’s dreams for
National Socialism: in the future all socialist nations will be interconnected and must rely
on one another. Then we will become not International Communists but rather National
Socialists. There was a great promise to China of what it could attain by integrating with
the Socialist world economy. The Socialist countries are not the richest part in the world
however, they were the most devastate by WWII. The opportunity was not an easy one
for China however. The Prime Minister Zhou Enlai often struggled with figuring out
prices for China imports and exports. China did not have any alternative to Soviet aid at
the time. The concept of being Communist comrades would eventually be dropped by
Mao but not by most of his party nor the Soviets. In 1953, China even sent food aid to
Eastern Germany at the same time that China was in a food famine during their Great
Leap Forward. Zhou Enlai said it was an honor to send their aid to Germany.
At the end of the day, this was really an alliance that worked for China. It gave a
foundation of national security to a new country that was being threatened by the USA
with atomic bombs. It made a foundation for an industrial revolution. So, given all these
benefits, why did this relationship that worked so well for China fall apart? It really all
comes down to people that couldn’t get along.
D. The Primacy of Policies
After Stalin’s death, Mao increasingly saw himself as the successor to Stalin as
the world’s Communist leader. These parties are large in number but very small in their
number of cliques. The relationship begins to break down in the 1956 when Khrushchev
criticizes Stalin and begins reforms in the Soviet that Mao and China were not willing to
adopt. When Khrushchev came to China in 1958 to negotiate, Mao was downright rude to
him, smoking in his face and swimming when Khrushchev hated smoke and could not
swim. This was an instance of “thuggish” personal behavior. They were acting more like
the leaders of gangs than as leaders of nations. These tensions emerged in politics for
various reasons. Khrushchev acted like a buffoon and Mao’s beliefs that he was the
successor to Stalin and his positive stance towards capitalism. The moment of no return
was in July 1960 when the Soviets announced they would pull all their aid, experts, and
troops from China. They said they first wanted to help all socialist countries, but in
reality it was more complicated than just ideology.
December 3, 2008
Experiments: The Maoist Leap Forward into Communism
A. “Swimming against the tide”: Mao Zedong’s world view
“Socialism is good, it has already been victorious and we are already entering
Communist society”- song that was played at the beginning of class. Mao was very
central the success of the PRC in the 1940s. Just as you cannot imagine Stalinsim without
Stalin, or Nazism without Hitler, you can’t imagine Communism in China without Mao
Zedong. Mao attempted to organize people outside of the traditional party lines. This first
happened with the “100 Flowers”- a period where intellectuals were encouraged to speak
out against the Chinese government. So many spoke out however that eventually the
government cracked down these intellectuals and any intellectual movements.
“The Morning Sun”- a film about what happened to youth during the enormous
upheaval of politics in China during the 1960s. The movie is approximately 80 min long.
Watch it over break!
What is Chinese about Chinese business? The lecture next Friday will be taught
as if it is a Harvard business course. The cases that will be discussed are dorm99 and
Wanxiang.
By 1957, Mao seemed a different man. He brooded more and reminisced often.
He was impatient and nostalgic all at once. He was upset with the regularization of the
revolution that was supported by the Soviet concept that you could plan a revolution for
years in advance. A sort of technocracy of revolution. Mao did not like this “planned
idea” of revolution, even before the break with Krusheuv. Mao said that when he was in
Beijing, he had nothing in his mind. Only when he left Beijing could he think.
Mao used swimming as a metaphor for revolution. He said “no one ever learned
to swim by standing on the bank and watching”. Mao encouraged youth to swim against
the current. Swimming is actually an elite sport which most poor people, even sailors, did
not partake in. There was also a very strong idea among the gentry in China that your
body belongs to your parents and to do dangerous activities like swimming is very dumb
and un-filial. Health really begins as a young Europe movement (from the Germans?).
In Mao’s own biological references, he reminisced with the journalist Edgar
Snow. Mao told Snow that when he was young his father had over guests and told them
he was lazy and bad. Mao ran out and threatened suicide in the lake in front of their
house. Mao’s father eventually conceded not to beat him if Mao would kotow (only on
one knee though). From this, Mao learned that rebellion was more effective in not getting
himself hurt than meek submission (because otherwise his father would have just beat
him if Mao had not defended himself). Mao eventually became an avid fitness nut. Mao’s
first publication was “A study of physical education”. Physical education was a means of
developing physical and political stamina: will power for China’s problems. Any
exercise, if continued in earnest, will develop perseverance.
40 million Chinese are in “reform through labor camps” by 1950. Mao believed
hard physical work would cure ails in a person’s character. Mao mastered swimming in
1954. He learned to swim by going to Qinghua University every day for 3months to learn
about water. He learned that water is scared of people. People could learn how to swim in
any type of water except for a few conditions (sharks, freezing, whirlpools). The Yangtze
in Wuhan is where Mao famously swam (when others said ew that is gross). If you are
resolute, if you only have the will, I am convinced that all things are possible. Swimming
is a struggle, just as a revolution is not a dinner party.
B. The concept of a “Great Leap”
The conception of the Great Leap is as China’s second 5 year plan which seeks to
overcome problems from the first 5 year plan. China’s industrial development during the
first 5 years (under Soviet guidance) grew at a rate of 20% a year. Agricultural
development was neglected however, and the second Great Leap needed to fix this. There
was a debate about whether to slow down industrial growth in order to keep up
agricultural development or to let industrial development grow at the expense of
agriculture. Mao would not slow down, said both could be done. Three basic elements of
the Great Leap Forward:
1.
Continued industrial growth (the aim was to have a major industrial center in every
province)
2.
Allow for the intersection of agriculture and industrial sector by having the local
government monitor agricultural growth – everyone can be a farmer
3.
The massive collection of personal savings, production. The massive mobilization
of the countryside to “leap” into modernity
This plan placed an enormous task on self-reliance at the local and provincial level. Its
professed aims were very ambitious: in 15 years. They included that China would
overtake Britain as an industrial power and steel output would increase 8-fold in 5 years.
Mao likened China to an atom that was ready to explode in prosperous growth.
Mao wanted to eliminate the “four pests” (flies, mosquitoes, sparrows and rats).
Mao compared himself to Confucius by saying not anyone in the last millennium had
dared to try and eliminate the four pests.
C. The Great Leap Forward, 1958-61
Goals for the Great Leap forward were set by local political officials, not by
economists. The need to achieve higher and higher made the goals extremely illusory. In
1958 there was a great increase in agricultural production. This led officials to say that
same advancement needed to be achieved every year. In Chinese language, there is a
large misuse/metaphorical use of statistics. Thus when Mao cited statistics or set goals
with numbers, they weren’t actually thought out very well.
University students were even encouraged to participate in steel production. All
areas were involved in the steel battle. There was a problem of transporting steel which
not many seemed to think about. Mao’s idea was that if millions of people attack the
problem of how to create their own steel, then everyone will understand how things are
produced. This is why even students and farmers were included in the battle for steel.
The People’s Communes: The idea was to put lots of people from different
classes, social groups into one under coordinated command. The idea was a spontaneous
commission of the masses. People would band together to achieve considerable goals.
These smaller communes would join together to form larger, regional communes. People
were not grouped as families, but would work in large groups. The largest was around
60,000 people.
Collected ownership now included private lots, kitchen tools, furniture, even pets.
Industrial hours, not working hours meant the Chinese were working 12 hour days for 28
days a month. Meals would be taken together, nurseries were put together. Houses were
rebuilt, and families might be separated into gendered barracks. Material possessions
were downplayed. People were given compensation according to their need. Another
national project was to build a national building for the PRC’s national day. It was built
in ten months. Mao extorted the virtue of the people who built this building, they didn’t
even want extra compensation for working 48 hours straight!
D. Catastrophe
Mao said in 1958 is that even if the Great Leap failed, that would be ok because
they could just start over. The worst thing that could happen would be that the world
would get a good laugh out of it. When it all started to go downhill, industrial and
agricutlrual production decreased by 15-20% a year. Economic production was down by
1/3 by 1962. Why this downfall?
The downfall occurred because all areas of the economy were disrupted. The
battle for steel led peasants to tear up railroad lines and not harvest their agriculture.
Central political guidance was also very low. There was enormous discontent in the
countryside from communal eating, loss of public/private space, caring for children. This
led to the largest famine in world history. The death rate from famine was as high as 90%
in the Anhui province. The south and eastern provinces were disproportionately affected
because of their reliance on rice production.
The greatest damage of all was to China’s people. The population was extremely
hard working and put much faith in the Communist party. “Seldom has faith been
frustrated on so vast a scale” (John Fairbank). The countryside became to harbor and
apathetic people, exhausted and de-politicized. Acts of resistance and insurrection begin
to spark up in the 1960s.
How did the four pests’ campaign turn out? Let’s look at the sparrows. How to
kill sparrows? Make them fly around by clanging pots and pans until they drop from
exhaustion out of the air. It turned out that sparrows ate insects which also destroyed the
crops. So, the fourth pest was changed from being the sparrow to being the bedbug. All
the while, millions of Chinese were dying from famine.
December 5, 2009
Movie: Morning Sun
**Note: I just took the summary from the Morning Sun website. Check it our for further
information on the film (we only saw 1 hour of the 2 hour movie in class)
The film Morning Sun attempts in the space of a two-hour documentary film to create an
inner history of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (c.1964-1976). It provides a
multi-perspective view of a tumultuous period as seen through the eyes—and reflected in
the hearts and minds—of members of the high-school generation that was born around
the time of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and that came of age
in the 1960s. Others join them in creating in the film’s conversation about the period and
the psycho-emotional topography of high-Maoist China, as well as the enduring legacy of
that period.
Morning Sun is not a comprehensive or chronological history of the Cultural Revolution
as such; nor is it a study of elite politics or of student factionalism. The film essays rather
a psychological history. It attempts a cinematic account of experiences and emotions as
reflected on by historical actors who themselves were enacting a history that they had
learned and wished to recreate in their own lives. It is also a film about the cultures and
convictions, as well as the historical events, that created the impetus, language, style and
content of the period—the films and plays, the music and ideas, the rhetoric and
ideologies, the education and the aspirations, the frustrations and fantasies, as well as the
realities and ardor, that a new revolution that attempted to remake revolution itself
entailed.
http://www.morningsun.org/film/index.html - Documentary site
http://www.morningsun.org/film/reviews/excerpts.html - Reviews of the movie- give a
good idea what they were about and what they were trying to convey
Section Readings
Chinese Civilizations by Ebrey
“Hu Feng and Mao Zedong” (422)
This reading relates Mao’s disdain for and treatment of intellectuals. Many
intellectuals were attracted to Marixism and thought they could contribute to society
through Communism. Mao did not trust intellectuals however and declared that the work
of all artists and writers had to serve the revolution; they could not just do art for art’s
sake. Hu Feng was a Marxist writer who rebelled against official orders and publicly
criticized officials. He wanted more freedom for writers. His letters to family and friends
were intercepted by the police and he was eventually imprisoned. Mao wrote public
responses to Hu’s letters, using him as an example of counterrevolutionary ideology.
*Letters from Hu Feng to his family that were published in newspapers to display
his counterrevolutionary ideals were included in this reading. Also Mao’s editorial
comments/responses to Hu Feng’s letters are included in the reading. Read pages 423428 for exact wording. Below are some excerpts:
Hu Feng:
“In Shanghai the field of literature is dominated by several big names, so we can hardly
publish any boos or periodicals there.” (423)
“First of all, with the ‘public opinion’ standardized, the average reader finds it difficult to
discern what is right. Second, the great majority of readers live in organized groups in a
suffocating atmosphere of pressure. Third, in matters of literature and art, the easiest way
out is allegiance to ‘mechanism’.” (423)
“The struggle between writers and their adversaries in the creative process is indicative, I
think, of the difference between genuine and false realism.” (424)
Mao Zedong:
“Because their conspiracy was exposed, the Hu Feng clique is not able to retreat under
pressure, but this sort of reactionary clique whose hatred for the party, the people, and the
revolution has reached such a crazy degree have not truly laid down its weapons, but is
plotting to continue using two-faced tactics to preserve their strength and wait for an
opportune time to stage a comeback.” (427)
"A New Young Man Arrives at the Organization Department" (429)
This reading is an excerpt from Wang Meng’s story published in 1956 and a
parody describing the ineffectual leadership style of the Communist party. Wang Meng
was eventually criticized as being a rightist and counterrevolutionary, thus he was sent to
the far northwest. Story synopsis follows:
A young man, Lin Zhen, joins the Communist party and is assigned to inspect a
factory to look into the conditions of party recruitment there and general progress. The
man he speaks to, Wei Heming, is unhappy that his manager is ineffective and that the
manager blames Wei for many problems. Wei has tried speaking to his manager and
other higher officials but the manager does not change his behavior. Lin is unable to
decipher much information about the conditions of the factory however. When Lin
reports to his higher ups, they dismiss the situation. They conduct the inspection of the
factory and allow Lin to come along to learn how to correctly do so. Later, when Lin’s
supervisor writes the report, Lin notices that many of the facts in the document are not
actually true and questions him. Lin had also encouraged Wei to organize a discussion
group to confront his and other workers’ problems with their supervisor. At a party
meeting later on, Lin is criticized for spurring dissention among the factory workers as
well as questioning higher officials. Lin responds, “But I do not understand why we not
only fail to investigate spontaneously the view so the masses but on the contrary prevent
the lower levels from putting forth their views!” (433) Lin also yells at the officials
saying, “In control but making no effort to solve the problem; that’s what’s so painful!
The party constitution says the party members must struggle against anything that works
against the interest of the party…” (434). In the end, Lin is interrupted by an older party
official who says Lin is too inexperienced and doesn’t understand the ways of the party.
"Peng Dehuai's Critique of the Great Leap Forward" (435)
Peng Dehuai was the minister of defense and a military hero who criticized the
Great Leap forward at a party meeting in 1959. Mao was very offended by Peng’s
criticisms and declared that the party had to choose between Peng and Mao. Peng was
eventually removed from his post as minister and treated harshly during the Cultural
Revolution which led to his death in 1974.
Peng’s criticisms focused on the fast pace of the Great Leap forward and how
unrealistic the goals were. He starts the four page long letter by acknowledging the
successes of the Great Leap Forward which include reducing unemployment, conducting
a geological survey of the country, training many technicians, and the increases in
production. However he notes that these accomplishments have come at a great monetary
cost to China and that the whole process was very “hastily started”. He laments that some
projects had to be postponed and that says that officials should have reduced the pace of
production. For Peng, the two largest problems were the “growing tendency towards
boasting and exaggeration on a fairly extensive scale” and the “petty-bourgeois
fanaticism which makes us vulnerable to ‘left’ errors”. Peng says the reasons for these
problems include that “we are unfamiliar with socialist construction and do not have a
comprehensive knowledge based on experience” and that “in handling problems in
economic construction, we are not as competent as we are in dealing with political
problems…” Further criticisms that Peng gave are as follows:
“In our way of thinking, we have often muddled up the relationship between
strategic goals and concrete measures between long-term principles and immediate steps,
between the whole situation and part of it.”
"Developing Agricultural Production" (440)
This reading was actually an article which was published in the People’s Daily (a
prominent national Chinese newspaper) in 1965. Written by a party secretary, it describes
strategies party members used in the south of China to motivate peasants to work hard on
the collectivized agricultural farming. The party leaders down there, or the brigade
cadres, first tried to promote production by offering material incentives to the workers.
This just led to poor quality works being produced. Next they tried laissez-faire
leadership which led to production becoming even worse. Finally they were successful in
improving the quality of production when they organized youths and commune members
to study Mao’s works. This worked because people raised their “ideological
consciousness and became more enthusiastic about production.”
“Lei Feng, Chairman Mao’s Good Fighter” (442)
In China, stories of individuals exemplifying great moral behavior have
been models with which teachers and parents have taught children how to behave for
centuries. During the Communist era, party officials employed this idea to showcase the
ideal actions/mind of an utmost Communist party member. The campaign to “learn from
Lei Feng” was started in 1963 and was very successful, becoming the most well known
of such campaigns.
The campaign to “learn from Lei Feng” set in motion by Lin Biao and leaders of
the Communist Party was successful for several reasons. Many poor peasants in China at
the time could relate to Lei in that they might have had harsh lives just as Lei did. Lei’s
life was tragic early on with the deaths of multiple family members, yet he still strove to
become a good person and excel later on in life. Lei’s immersion into the Communist
party shows how an orphan or any other person who feel slightly neglected can carry on
with their lives and find a family or home in the Communist party. Lei affirmed the
ability of the Communist party and Mao’s ideology to become familial when he said
“The party has rescued me from the depths of misery and enabled me to lead such a
comfortable life”. (443).
Another way in which Lei Feng’s story appeals to the masses is in the way that is
shows that diligence pays off. Lei had to dedicate much of his time to reading all the
teachings and words of Mao, but once he had done so he had gained such great insight as
to make the effort worth the time. Many of the peasants in China had to work extremely
hard just to sustain themselves, so the message that hard work will be rewarded later on
was an extremely appealing one. Not only did Lei receive personal rewards from
studying Mao’s teachings, such as a better understanding of things and greater patience,
but Lei was highly regarded by many people for his virtuous actions.
“Housing in Shanghai” (447)
Before the Communists took over in 1949, most urban dwellings in Shanghai
were owned by wealthy landlords who rented out apartments. By 1966, the Communist
government had taken control of over 80% of all dwelling units. The article that is
included in this reading was published in a Shanghai newspaper and describes the
bureaucratic problems that could arise from having such a huge task of managing and
maintaining such a large number of apartment houses in Shanghai. The story is kind of
pointless (I think). Basically there are two families, Family Wu and Family Zhang. The
Wus have two homes and find it very inconvenient to shuttle all their relatives and
children back and forth between the two homes. The Zhang family lived very far from
where the Zhang husband worked. When the housing administration became aware of the
fact that both were trying to move, they tried to arrange a swap. The swap took a long
time and since Zhang’s wife did not want to move. Both families delayed moving for
several months because the Zhangs stopped communicating with the housing authority.
Eventually the matter was resolved after the factory authorities at Zhang’s workplace told
them they shouldn’t miss such an opportunity.
“Red Guards” (449)
This reading has several articles within it which all explain different aspects of the
Red Guard experience. The Red Guards were the youth army that was created by Maoist
leaders who encouraged middle, high school and college kids to organize themselves and
combat counterrevolutionary actions. It was intended to allow the youth to experience
revolution culture. The Cultural Revolution campaign was a turbulent time which lasted
form 1966-1969 and eventually became the largest campaign.
The following quote exemplifies the sentiment of most young Red Guard
members and conveys what they wanted to accomplish: “You say we are too one-sided?
What kind of all-sidedness is it that suits you? ....You say we are too arrogant? Arrogant
is just what we want to be. Chairman Mao says, ‘And those in high positions we counted
as no more than dust.’ We are bent on striking down not only the reactionaries in our
school, but the reactionaries all over the world. Revolutionaries take it as their task to
transform the world. How can we not be ‘arrogant’?”
One article recounts the march a Red Guard group took to Beijing. They were
trying to emulate the march the Red Army took from southeast to northwest China in
1934-35. Along the way the group would do revolutionary demonstrations in towns. They
sang while they walked and would read excerpts from Mao’s little Red Book when they
became tired and weary in order to bolster their spirits. The students who took the march
said it helped them learn a lot of things they could not have learned form a book such as
tempering their proletarian ideology, steeling their willpower, and revolutionizing their
thinking.
“Victims” (458)
This is a story named “Melody in Dreams” which was written by the daughter of
a well-known professor who suffered persecution during the Cultural Revolution. During
this period college professors, middle school teachers and other educated persons were
often attacked as being counterrevolutionary. After the Cultural Revolution the
government blamed the Gang of Four for immense negative effect the Cultural
Revolution had on China and encouraged people to expose the harm the Gang had
inflicted. Most people did this through writing fictional stories such as this one.
In this story, there is a young girl, Liang Xia, whose father was killed during the
Cultural Revolution for being a counterrevolutionary. Her mother later died of illness.
Now an orphan, Liang Xia goes to take cello lesson from her parents’ good friend
Yuejun, who will watch over her. Liang eventually comes to live with Yuejun, preferring
living with her to living with her aunt whom she does not like. Liang Xia is very flippant
towards strangers and sarcastic about the Cultural Revolution. She makes light of her
future plans, saying she’ll fool around until her aunt throws her out. Liang has a very
negative view on life in general and does not seem to take her studies seriously,
constantly mocking them. Liang eventually up and leaves one day, never returning to
Yuejun.
The story reflected the harm that Cultural Revolution had done to the children of
those that were accused of being counterrevolutionary. Liang was not patriotic and
became a very sarcastic, negative person after her father was killed. She was pessimistic
about the future of China as well. Liang Xia’s involvement in a reactionary group also
suggested that the Communist party was building a group of people who would make
trouble for the party later on in life.
WEEK 13, LECTURE 1
Introduction to the 1970s
Although the 1970s are a forgotten decade, they are still very important.
1970s represent a turning point in Chinese history. They represent the end of Maoism,
and possibility of returning to the path of wealth and power of Qing governments.
Mao remains indispensable leader- no one can truly successfully challenge him. Remains
a guerilla warrior, experimenter.
First part of the 1970s is consolidation domestically and internationally.
China begins to lean back towards the US and against China in 1969 in the wake of
China-USSR conflict. Furthermore, there is a reluctance to engage in world revolution- a
policy championed by Lin Biao.
This conflict led to serious political instability, as Communist Party leaders jockeyed to
become Mao’s successor. China is on the brink of Civil War when Nixon comes to visit
in 1972. Mao was incredibly drugged when he met Nixon and very out of it; still, he was
the ultimate ruler.
The Fall of Lin Biao
In 1969, Lin Biao was formally named as the successor to Chairman Mao. Clearly
marked as 2nd in command and given important post in charge of the armed forces, and
labeled Mao’s “closest comrade in arms”
On September 12 1971, date of his fall and possible death, People’s Daily writes a
glowing editorial praising Lin Biao. Lin Biao would not be mentioned again in the
Chinese media until 2 years later, when he was publicly denounced in 1973. So-called
“anti-party clique” denounced for its crimes.
Lin Biao labeled a pseudo-Marxist opportunist bourgeois, seemingly improbable for such
an advocate of world revolution. He dies on airplane crash after fleeing Beijing after
failed coup. Revealed “documents” show his plot is the “571 Plan” with “B-52”
designated as a code name for Mao. The documents paint a picture of greed and power
hunger.
Zhou Enlai, Deng Xiaoping, and the Four Modernizations
In the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, moderates like Deng Xiaoping and Zhou
Enlai begin to call for reforms, particularly in the economic sector. Zhou Enlai authors a
1975 report that calls for Four Political modernizations. This becomes the blueprint for
Deng Xiaoping’s reforms of 1978. However, blueprint not acted on immediately, because
China is not distant from Cultural Revolution.
New Foreign Policy- Accomodation with America
In 1970, Zhou Enlai invites journalist Edgar Snow to come to China- tells Edgar Snow
that Nixon is invited to come as a President or a tourist.
In July of 1971, before the Lin Biao incident, Kissinger visited China, sets up in secret a
visit by Nixon for the following February. In between that, there is attempted coup d’etat,
of which the Americans do not have sufficient information. Had the US truly known how
unstable China actually was, Nixon would have never made the trip.
China and US begin cautious rapproachement overseen by Zhou Wen Lai(Foreign
Minister)- Mao places the future of China with the Americans.
Nixon goes to China in 1972. Gives domestic legitimacy to government that is not far
from the ropes. Provides China with UN seat that Taiwan that had long held. The
agreement between the US and China is known as the Shanghai Communique. Nixon’s
trip legitimizes Mao, and Nixon uses it to sweep 1972 elections. Fundamental and cynical
foreign relations shifts.
Death Watch: Succession Politics in the Communist Party
After Lin Biao is gone, domestic policy is very confused. Campaign of 1974 to criticize
Lin Biao and Confucius; targets the continuing influence of Lin Biao who was “an ultrarightist careerist who harbored Confucian values.” The main question this propaganda
effort focuses on is whether the Cultural Revolution will be repudiated or re-engaged in
another revolutionary cycle.
This was spearheaded by the Gang of Four, the group closest to Mao and the Cultural
Revolution. They sought to maintain their influence at the expense of Deng Xiaoping;
essentially, this is a fight about Mao’s successor. Elites are speaking to each other in
language no one can understand.
Gang of Four(Politburo members close to Mao)
Jiang Qing- Mao’s wife, mistress of the arts
Yao Wenyuan- writer and essayist
Zhang Chunqiao- Shanghai party chief of the 1960s
Wang Hongwan- former model worker- known as the “helicopter” because he moves so
fast to the top.
President Ford visits in 1975- did not have much authority to pursue process of
normalization. Meeting with Mao goes absolutely nowhere. Mao looked heavily
medicated and is totally out of it. Only one translator claims to able to understand what
he could say; otherwise, Mao is incomprehensible.
1975 also a time of enormous domestic struggle. Zhou wen Lai goes into the hospital
with terminal cancer, and radicals take the advantage and get things done their way. Jiang
Qing starts receiving foreign visitors. In an attempt to legitimize her, media begin
praising vigorously Empress Wu of the 7th Century. At the same time, beginning of
modernizations of Zhou wen Lai becomes government policy in January 1975.
Foundation of de-communization of agriculture. Modernize national defense rather than a
People’s Army, enormous investment into science and technology.
Those in favor of it talk about doubling or tripling output by the end of the century. Those
against it talk about selling out China’s natural resources and making it the workplace of
the Capitalist work.
Mao’s Last Year
When Chancellor Schmidt visits Chairman Mao in 1975, describes him as a wasted men.
Comments to Premier in Thailand that Watergate scandal is a result of the freedom of
expression.
Where he stood in relation to any successor is unclear. He visited Zhou wen Lai’s
deathbed but does not attend his funeral. Did not appoint Deng Xiaoping as successor,
but instead appoints little known leader from Hunan- Hua Guo Feng. Appointment made
directly by Mao ze Dong without ratification. Open political struggle between left and
modernization reach peak on April 5th, 1976, when riots break out in memory of Zhou
wen Lai to support moderates like Deng Xiaoping. The riots are put down with force and
Deng Xiaoping is purged again.
Mao is not dead yet. In June 1976, has last meeting with party leaders. He says he wants
a tripartite leadership, and that it is up to the Politburo to see if his wife should be
included. Basically, Mao leaves a whole bunch of different statements that can be used to
promote different leaders.
Premonitions of Mao’s Death:
In March, a shower of meteorites hits China. In July, devastating earthquake strikes
Tangshan- traditional sign that a great death is at hand. In September, Mao is failing
rapidly. He writes on a small piece of paper a note to Hua Guofeng, his appointed
successor: “With you in charge, I’m at ease”. At 10 minutes past midnight on September
9 1976 Mao dies.
3 weeks later, Gang of Four are arrested with enormous public celebration and a new
period of Chinese history began.
Hua Guofeng derives his only political legitimacy is from Mao’s legacy; he also had
control of the body of the dead emperor. Mao had wanted to be cremated. However, this
would greatly hurt Hua Guofeng’s standing. Because if Mao himself could not be alive,
his body could be preserved forever. Quickly build memorial to house his body in the
middle of Tiananmen. Idea of physical preservation in order to preserve values. No
technical assistance available for any of these guys. Goes to the library and takes out a
book on how to preserve a body.
Despite all efforts, Deng Xiaoping returns from the dead to rule. Hua Gua Feng is kicked
out.
Dec. 10 Lecture (Wednesday lecture for week 13): “Greater China”?
The PRC and Taiwan since 1980
- Post-Mao era – trying to revert to earlier aspirations of socialism of the 1950s. Policies
headed by Deng Xiaoping. From 1978 on we see a breaking up of the large agricultural
communes and Chinese family farming (which was highly productive) reinstituted. Now
that farmers could privately reap more immediate benefits of their hard work, we see a
large-scale modernization of agriculture and more personal investment. During the postMao era over 400 million Chinese lifted out of poverty.
- The 1980s saw the occurrence of massive, unruly student demonstrations for a more
democratic political system.
-Tiananmen Square incident of 1989 – Thousands of student demonstrators. On May 20,
martial law declared in Beijing – first time martial law needed to be declared in Beijing.
But this only encouraged the demonstrators to grow larger, and they blockaded incoming
troops. Eventually, the streets “were cleared,” as the troops beat down the little rebellion.
The exact numbers of dead were never released or known – could be hundreds or
thousands. This incident ended the most public set of aspirations for democracy in the
history of post-imperial China, and it stabilized the CCP’s control over China.
- But, there are some exceptions in Chinese rule in places like Hong Kong, which was
ceded to the British and developed under a system much different than the rest of China.
In 1997, China regained Hong Kong, but it has maintained a kind of dual system that has
enabled Hong Kong to flourish under a more capitalistic system. Most of the
administration was selected, with a Beijing-appointed chief executive (that does not have
as much power over things).
-Taiwan
-Chiang Kai-Shek ruled until his death in 1975. His son, Zhang Jingguo then took
over until 1988. Zhang moved toward a more open system of government, for example,
he allowed opposition parties and lifted martial law. There was pressure from the US as
well for Taiwan to abandon any kind of dictatorship-type system that might have formed
if Kai-Sheks relatives would continue to pass down control through the family line.
Zhang chose Li Dengwei as his VP and political heir. Li presided over the very first
multi-party system and is sometimes known as the Father of the first democratic state in
Chinese history. In the year 2000, it was the first time a ruling party lost, and the first
peaceable transfer of power.
-Many on the mainland thought it was only a matter of time until economic integration
inevitably led to political integration – first for Hong Kong, then for Taiwan. Between
1949-1987 there is virtually no contact at all between mainland and Taiwan, and this
leads to years worth of growing differences between the two. But now, over 100 million
Taiwanese living on mainland, and communication between two is increasing. But
although China may be now united economically, political unification may be harder, if
not impossible, to attain. Sovereignty matters for Taiwan, and integration would be a big
political risk. The key thing is that both have their own systems, and neither is showing
signs of changing to accommodate the other.
December 12, 2008: Two HBS Cases
Dorm 99
A social networking website (facebook)
Strategy: address all college students in China. Do this through english language exam.
Why target students? This market is growing faster than any other group in world. 23 million
students vs U.S. which has about 15 million. Advertising fees nothing, but People will be able to
advertise to students. Also tried a word of mouth strategy.
Point of English language exam: so that Chinese students can know their percentile.
Big Day
What happens on the day the test scores get reported: First 2 hours: TERRIBLE. Miss 1 million hits.
Next few hours=they get hundreds, thousands of hits (signing up for information govt wont give em).
Situation by noon: rich!
2pm: ministry of education calls and says …does ministry have another bidder? Ministry receives a
lot of complaints from parents. “how dare this website tell my son what score he got.” Ministry of
education wants to “shut it down.” Ministry gives certain amount out about these exams but afraid
to give too much info out. The one thing that ppl still believe in is that these scores are accurate…a
way for ministry to maintain control. All this website is doing is give ppl greater information about
how they do comparatively to their classmates.
What are the lessons from Dorm 99?
--HBS guys have close relations with government. Good set of networks from business school.
--dont put all eggs in one basket, one ministry. Plan b was nonexistent. They have enormous
confidence that they will succeed and were stunned when ministry says to shut down.
--one lesson is that you just don’t know who can shut you down. Might get support from ministry A,
B but chance that other ministry C could shut you down. This is particularly likely when permission is
state controlled. Dorm 99 made the problem of shooting first and asking permission later which in
china is not such a bad way to do business because sometimes you can get overlooked.
--Did Dorm99 successfully identify their market?
Wanxiang
--What is Wanxiang today? Billion dollar company of auto-parts. Multinational, huge. Based in
Hangzhou.
--What’s it strategy? “produce at Chinese costs and sell at U.S. prices.” Wanxiang literally means
universal joint. They want to become a global player. They acquire other American auto-parts
companies but remain behind the scenes. Own 15 U.S. companies but allow local management.
Don’t change these companies’ names. How many Chinese overseeing this? Only 15. So it wants to
be truly multinational.
--Why this strategy? gain efficiency. Build off of well-established American brands. Political aspect:
don’t want to get congressmen against them. Want to be seen as asset, not a threat (china as a
threat because buying up struggling American companies)
Ex: gave Kirby the company’s history in a comic book 
What do we learn about Chinese history from Wanxiang?
1959, Lu Guanqiu was an apprentice in steel plan during great leap forward…most steel plans fail
1962: tries something that fails
1969: Company started, not a good year to start a business…height of the cultural revolution and in
aftermath of great leap forward. Lin Biao still in charge. Company originally starts as a
CBE=commune and brigade enterprise. They are not an SOE (state owned enterprise) so they do not
receive govt financial support and can’t recruit from universities.
1973: Company starts to have success when it gets a government permit.
1975: economy closed down again
1979: becomes a T.V.E.=township and village enterprise: owned by township and village (in
principle)…
1989: Tianenman square…Ni Pin (guy who marries manager’s daughter). As a result of 1989, he
decides to join family business and becomes head of Wanxiang America. Still a T.V.E
1999: it’s multinational, small part of it is a shareholding company, but mostly it’s a private familyheld Chinese company –this is very contradictory to the ideology in which the company was founded.
Question to focus on:
--Were you always really a private company under the guise of socialism? Or did you run this as a
collective enterprise as things in china were supposed to be and just “steal the assets” OR were you
just so successful at producing that you got better share of market?
we’re dealing here with a really unusual phenomenon: the great success of Chinese
entrepreneurialism. To explain this company, you have to understand that there is some
entrepreneurial spirit that CCP in 1960s was not able to kill. Look at the amount of hands on
leadership by Lu Guanqiu. He builds up the company until it is legal again. We see the Chinese
entrepreneurial spirit surviving the worst times to be an entrepreneur. Also, city of Zhejiang where
Lu from, is a capitalist, entrepreneurial center.
SLIDES in lecture
Remember the great entrepreneurial spirit of those who would market opium or silk.
Traits of premodern China
--Commercialized country side
--Sophisticated commercial institutions
--Competitive markets
--small scale enterprise in agriculture and industry
Evolution of modern Chinese capitalism
--rapid growth in light industry, banking, services, 1900-37
-Chinese networks and western management
-Close relations with foreign and overseas Chinese capital
-dominance of state-owned enterprises
--“’reform and opening up” after 1978
--return of Chinese entrepreneurialism and foreign investment
--enduring role of the state.
Another lesson to be learned here is that dorm 99 didn’t know about properly relating to chinese
authorities…Lu (from Wanxiang) always managed relations with political officials very well. They
made sure to still show they were fulfilling a public service, they “gave back” to community which
solidified its position.
What is the relation between entrepreneurs, state and society: the long term contract?
--the idea that you can have private enterprise but you must in some sense still serve a public
service.
Aka, “corporate social responsibility.”
--don’t want to be seen as in business only for the money.
-these business men failed because not the right spirit or political connections…
--Lu is 6th richest man in china…”we can get benefits from the preferential policy provided by the
state. The state’s support is absolutely a great treasure in Wanxiang’s future development.” he has
the vision of saving environment by building electric cars. Or is he being unrealistic?—well, let us not
doubt his entrepreneurial capabilities.
Section Reading: Chinese Civilization
“The Changing Course of Courtship”
The CCP saw the old family structure as oppressive to youth and to women, and passed
policies that prohibited parents from forcing their children to marry against their will,
encouraged youth from not marrying at too young an age, and enabled women to attend
schools in larger numbers than ever. These passages deal with the CCP’s aim at erasing
old notions of love, relationships, and marriage, spreading that men and women are
equal, one should balance love and work, and one should find his own spouse and
develop healthy relationships through common struggle and commonalities.
“The One-Child Family”
This reading is about how the CCP enacted the one-child policy to curb population
growth, and it is about birth planning and penalties for not following the plan. No
unmarried couples are to have babies, and married couples’ birth should always occur in
a planned manner.
In addition, this reading gives accounts of rural women’s plight to produce sons and not
daughters, and the cold-shoulder that would get turned to them if they did not succeed in
doing this. Some were beaten by their husbands, humiliated and scorned by family. As
this was part of a survey of women done by man concerned on the issue, he suggested
that people be educated concerning their attitudes towards baby girls, leadership show
concern, and women’s schools be set up.
“Economic Liberalization and New Policies For Women”
In the 1980s, political control over the workplace slacked. As a result, many rural
families pulled their girls out of schools to work in workshops. Also, many employers
wanted to hire only males, or if they did hire women, pressured them to work extended
hours if they had been asked to be more efficient. This reading includes a piece of
writing urging that the rejection of female college graduates in hiring be stopped, an
investigation of rural household-run enterprises that used child labor (a big problem to
the children’s health and education), an article about a middle-aged women concerned
about why she couldn’t find a job even though she held a university degree, and an article
about an illegal business of selling women workers in a county.
“Peasants in the Cities”
When restrictions on travel and residency were eased, thousands of rural peasants flocked
to the cities in search of better paying work. This reading is an interview between one
young man who left his rural town to find work in the city, conducted by a Chinese
reporter. The man criticizes the agricultural production policies that didn’t allow many
peasants to earn a lot (too little land to work), and so he studied tailoring and now works
in Shanghai as a tailor, making a nice amount. The second article in this reading is about
the problem of the massive migration of rural workers to cities – there was too many
laborers and not enough jobs. Also, there were problems with transporting all of these
workers in and out of the cities.
“Posters Calling for Democracy”
These are posters hung by students upset with government policies to gain popular
support in Beijing. Some of the issues students raise include the unfairness of the
privileged class and elite in terms of sending their children to good universities who
didn’t earn their way in, reform, and appealing to CCP members to support them in
pushing for democratization.
“Defending China’s Socialist Democracy”
In the aftermath of Tiananmen Square incident, many articles appeared to restore
confidence in China’s socialist political system. In this reading, the writer argues against
capitalistic democracy, citing problems he sees within the United States, such as that only
the wealthy become politicians and that there is deep class division between the rich and
poor, as well as pointing out examples of human rights violations. It then expounds upon
the real democracy offered by Socialist China, and how the people are the masters of
their country and future. Any attempt to bring Western ideas to China will ultimately fail
in the eyes of the author.
Coursepack readings:
“Buying Mao: Then and Now”
This is a pretty useless article. It’s about the marketing of Mao during the Cultural
Revolution and during today. It’s about people buying, selling, trading, and collecting
Mao badges. Also, it is about many people wanting portraits of Mao in their homes, cars,
etc. Apparently he’s a pretty popular guy. That’s about it.
“Interviews with the ‘Badge Masters’ Wang Anting and Dang Miao”
Dang Miao was a small time Mao badge collector and seller. When he heard about Wang
Anting, a very fervent collector of Mao memorabilia, he decided to join in Wang’s small
museum of Mao venture. This is an interview of both of them. Wang also produces a
small newsletter.
Two HBS Cases in Coursepack
Since this was required reading for everyone, I will not be redundant and state summaries
for each one again – I am sure everyone already read them.
Section –Sorry but I missed section this week so cannot provide discussion notes
This week’s section was based around watching the Beijing opening ceremonies again
online and discussing questions such as: How have the economic changes since 1979
changed people’s lives (impact on diff. social groups)? What is presented and what is
missing in the Olympic display of Chinese history? Why do you think is Chinese history
depicted in this manner in the year of 2008? Based on what you have learned in this
class, discuss the following: where is China going? What is China’s future role in the
world in the 21st century? If you are to give one piece of advice to Hu Jintao, the current
president of PRC, what will it be, and why?
Readings
In Patricia Buckley Ebrey Chinese Civilization
Themes: down with old feudal order and the ideology of the bourgeoisie, the young enlightening the
old, changing attitudes toward love and marriage;
“The Changing Course of Courtship” (470)
Leaders of the Communist party saw the old family system as oppressive to youth and women. They
enacted the 1950 Marriage Reform Law which prohibited parents from forcing their children to
marry against their will. The result was that more women were mobilized to work outside the home.
New patterns of courtship and new attitudes toward love and marriage developed.
The first passage is from a 1964 handbook for rural cadres on what advice they should give young
people falling in love. Says that men and women may date each other in public bc it encourages
progress and advices solidarity. Addresses the problems of “unrequited love,” “Fickleness in love”—
shows that there is a tension between new and old thinking, but to correctly deal with problems of
love and marriage, must just oppose the ideology of the bourgeoisie. Passage calls for people to clear
away from the remnants of feudal ideology and to treat the relationship between the sexes correctly
so that men and women relations are not scandalized. No gossip or interference. Love must also not
interfere with work. Love should encourage work, education, and progress.
The Second passage is from a 1975 newspaper and is an example of trying to promote new types of
thinking during Cult Rev. Announces that a poor peasant finally gets to have a son in law that instead
of taking his daughter away, will come and live with him and take care of the old man. Those with old
feudal ideas criticized. The young couple make the older parents realize that times have changed,
that men and women are equal. They don’t spend a lot on the marriage because “indulging in
extravagance and waste is an old habit of exploiting the classes.” Make weddings in the form of
standards of the proletariat. No feast, no gifts, and no following of feudal superstitious customs.
Last passage: shows that advertising for spouses has become more popular since 1981. 1981
Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China: stipulated that men could marry at age 22 and
women at age 20. Lot of people during the ten yr turmoil of the cultural revolution plunged
themselves into the movement and studies…they found it hard to meet a mate. Whole society
showed concerns for the marriage prospects of these ppl.
“The One-Child Family” (478)
Policy requires young people to get permission from their units to get marriage and then permission
to have a child.
Late 1980s: fines and other economic penalties are the main means listed for fostering compliance
with the regulations. The rules prohibit the abandoning or killing or selling of baby girls… but this still
happens.
Problems created by the pressure to keep families small=wives in rural areas get insulted for bearing
a girl “devil that extinguishes the family.”
Potential remedies: leadership at all levels should pay attention to educating families with only baby
girls and also show a concern for women giving birth to baby girls, women schools should be set up.
“Economic Liberalization and New Problems for Women” (482)
During period when state controlled most the economy, women’s participation in school and work
steadily increased. With the relaxing of this control in 1980s, women suffered…rural families could
now engage in sideline businesses and pulled girls out of school to work in rural workshops;
employers reduced their work force to become more efficient and more often laid off women. Freer
markets often led to renewed traffic in women as wives.
Ex of problems: rejection of female college graduates from jobs, employment of child labor by
family-run enterprises—more often girls, employees attracted to having child labor because wages
are lower, the work is harmful to their healthy growth, physically and mentally. Women get paid 80%
of their full time wage to stay homehouse wife syndrome of doing nothing and lose respect of the
public. Women not able to compete against men in the workplace bc must shoulder the heavy resp
of bring up children. Ex of women being kidnapped and sold as wives.
“Peasants in the Cities” (488)
The rural population makes up abut 75% of China’s population. Peasants benefited from the 1980s
economic reforms which allowed them to sell for a profit whatever extra they produced after
contracted state amount. Still, many rural residents still flock to the cities to see if they can find
better paying work. Ex: of a peasant who learned the skill of tailoring and was able to make a lot of
money. Needs to avoid being labeled one of the “four bads” (landlords, rich peasants,
counterrevolutionaries, and bad elements) or a member of the “new bourgeoisie.
The influx of workers into cities has also created a problem…not enough jobs. Everyone wants to
leave the country bc the countryside is greatly restricted by resources and there are limited
opportunities. But when everyone wants to do this, there is a great surplus of workers in the cities.
“Posters Calling for Democracy” (496)
Different examples of the educated elite in China pointing out the errors of the government:
Tianenmen Square in 1976, Talks about the Democracy Wall in 1978 , early June 1989. Popular way
to publicize criticism was to post a “big character” poster. This passage lists some of the character
posters placed by students on the wall in spring of 1989 leading up to student killings in Tiananmen
Square.
Quotes from the posters: “The privileged clas, “officials of the people...Not bothering to separate
official business from private affairs. “All we want is to do our best to push forward the process of
reform and democratization” “Down with bureaucracy!” “The government will not allow the people
to speak the truth.” “Lei Feng, who always served the people, was a Communist party member…the
honor of the communist party for which the older generation traded their lives and bood has been
sullied today by their opposition to democratization and the installation of a rule of law”
“Defending China’s Socialist Democracy” (501)
The aftermath of the Tiananmen protests included arrest, trials and also efforts to reeducate those
who had been attracted to the ideas espoused by the protestors. Articles appeared in the press
designed to restore confidence in the superiority of China’s political system. March 1990: “Bourgeois
and Socialist Democracies Compared.”—argues that capitalism is characterized by exploitation,
oppression and dictatorship. U.S. elections are elections of money and US Congress the “club of the
rich.” In contrast, the socialist democracy means the democratic rights enjoyed by the broad masses
of the workers, peasants, intellectuals, and all the people who love their socialist motherland. Nature
of a socialist democracy is that people act as the masters of their country. Talks about how in China,
the people have the ultimate say in administration and management of the state.
Liu Xin and Zhou Jihou: “Buying Mao: Then and Now” (in reader)
3 ways to acquire the Mao badge: 1) get it from yoru work unit. 2) purchase it 3) exchange.
Many ppl became avid collectors. Notably, to say you wanted to ‘buy a bade’ was a display of low
level consciousness. Instead you had to ‘request a bade.’
There were badges to commemorate special events, badges that glowed in the dark, with a 3d
design…
shows that Mao is still has a popular presence. Hanging Charman Mao’s portrait I the car is gaining
in popularity. Chairman Mao is a symbol of stability for those were offered homes and other
subsidizations by the communist party’s socialist policies.
“Interviews with the Bad Masters Wang Anting and Dang Miao (in reader)
Wang Anting owns a museum of Mao badges. 57,000 mao badges with 17000 differen types.
Purpose: “I hope to spread the word of the Mao to the young people who do not know about it and
have not heard of him. In this way, I am able to commemorate the 20,000 oldd people who died for
the revolution.
Wang thinks that the current Party’s position on Mao is wrong…”Mao was not 70% right, Mao was a
person of such greatness that he made very few errors.” He doesn’t think the errors of the Cultural
Rev were moa’s faults, instead Wang blames lower level officials.
HBS CASES
(See my lecture notes from Dec 12th to know about Dorm99 and Wanxiang.—note are very
thorough)
China’s Environmental Challenge
 Pressures on China’s natural resources began as early as 1st millennium BCE with the transition
to settled farming and an economy based on agriculture. Forests were cleared for farmland and
grasslands converted into agric fields. Massive irrigation projects undertaken.
 Pressure on the env from the sheer number of people.
 Widespread soil exhaustion and erosion.
 The environment under Mao: “Man must conquer nature!” slogan. Great Leap Forward 19586000>grain was planted on all cultivated land regardless of its suitability, famous struggle against
the Four Pests tried to eliminate sparrows, flies, mice and mosquitoes. But this let cropdestroying pests be free to roam. Mao urged construction of backyard steel smelters which
consumed enormous amounts of fuel and polluted the air.
 Water: china has one of the lowest per capita water supplies in the world. Two thirds of its cities
lack sufficient water resources to support further growth. Some of China’s wealthiest cities are
sinking, like Shanghai. Also, much of the water that needs to be diverted South-North is already
polluted. Yangzi is now among the world’s direist river. The unregulated, unchecked industrial
dumping of toxins into local water sources poses a huge human health concern.
 Land: in first seven years of China’s economic reforms, about 19 million acres of arable land
were lost under the combined assault of soil erosion, urbanization, and industrialization. Less
than 10% of the land in China is suitable for agriculture. Big problem for China’ s large rural
population. Desertification is the process by which human actions result in wind erosion and the
spreading of desert sands in arid, sub-humid regions. Hastened by over-cultivation,
deforestation, overgrazing, over-use of groundwater reserves. The Gobi Desert is expanding.
 Air: industrial and automobile pollutants in the air. An average motor vehicle in Beijing emits
four times as much Carbon monoxide and seven times as much NOx as an avg vehicle in Tokyo.
Air pollution also linked to China’ s heavy reliance on coal as a source of energy. acid rain
 Energy: coal provides 70% of china’s energy. Also demand for oil. China trying to promote
renewable energy, but the social and environmental consequences of hydropower projects, like
the Three Gorges Dam, are huge. The construction of the dam requires the flooding of 13 cities,
displacing two million ppl from their homes without adequate compensation, the main reservoir
also threatens to become a cesspool of chemical pollutants and garbage. Dam could also trigger
an earthquake.
 Huge effects on public health: 400,000 premature deaths in China. Thousands are developing
black lung, malignant skin lesions, limb deformities, abdominal cancers, intestinal ailments from
polluted water and contaminated crops. Contradiction to Mao’s famous slogan of a government
that “serves the people.”
 could affect social stability.
Section #13: Enduring Problems for Modern China
SECTION NOTES
1. How have the economic changes since 1979 changed people’s lives? Think about the different
impact on different social groups.
increased choice, consumerism, and material wealth for urban dwellers on eastern coast of china.
However, life in countryside is a left out from a lot of the benefits of modernization. No longer
guaranteed govt health care or services. They are often forced to pay heavy taxes. Little opportunity
in the countryside to make a living off the landmove to the cities, work in factories, and send
money home. This breaks up family units. Also, there is pressure to become more han, in order to
get an education or a job. Also, the one child policy has strained rural families where man power is
necessary to work the fields.
2. Watch the ’08 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony videos, and think: What is presented and what
is missing in this display of Chinese history. Why do you think is Chinese history depicted in this
manner in the year of 2008?
How did the Beijing Olympics ceremony portray China
--portrayed China from antiquity
--showed its multi-culturalness, that it has regionalism but is all unified
--peace, ethnic harmony
--technology
-did NOT show its military presence, poverty, Chairman Mao, ideology of communism, discrepancy of
wealth, social stratification, regional rivalry.
Ex: Some class struggles are built into the law, like children of officials having extra privileges.
Ex: Household registry system (China stopped doing this in 90s)—if don’t have registry, then you
can’t get health care into a different city, your kids can’t get into schools.
3. Based on what you have learned in this class, discuss the following: where is China going? What is
China’s future role in the world in the 21st century? If you are to give one piece of advice to Hu
Jintao, the current president of PRC, what will it be, and why?
Issues of Modern Day China
 Environmental
o Desertification, pollution and high rates of cancer, diminishing agriculture output,
o Can China sustain its economic growth if the environment is being degraded so much?
o Water problems, limited supply
o Tension between development and saving the environment
o Govt tries to deal with this problem by taking resources from other areas=a short
sighted approach.
 Compounding all of these problems is China’s 1.3 billion population
Example of other answers: the environment, its large population, govt corruption, women’s rights
issues, economic inequality, economic disparity between country side and urban population.
Website Images—watch the Beijing Olympics ceremony
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Ethnic minority children walking in holding the national flag.
Retrospect of China’s contributions to the world such as woodblock printing. China’s
inventions such as maritime compass.
The display of the huge character “harmony (he)”. China’s astronautical achievements in
recent years. Image of dove as the symbol of peace among all humans.
traditional opera scenes with young literati (shih) holding a huge brush pen. Hundreds of
women in Tang garment. Artists performing traditional arts.
Hundreds of people doing Taiji martial art. Note the amazing precision. Almost scaring how
precise—hints at the military culture, the obedience.
Week 14
December 15, 2008
China’s Future in Light of its Past
Are there enduring features of this thing we call China? Think back the first class.
Remember that changing map? All the different countries? They are actually one nation,
China, but in some ways the old dynasties can be considered many different countries
which Chinese history has adopted. There is something central that endures throughout
all of Chinese history. What are the commonalities that you see? What is the cultural
DNA of China?
**Preparation for final exam** After a semester of this class, what things do you think
are commonalities in Chinese history?
Student answers:
- the ability of dynastic rulers to bring all the regions together—the idea of
unity
- The founding of every dynasty is by a ruler through military force/ seizing
power
- Dynastic states that have territories who vary
- Antiquity as a model- the Chinese often thought that the current age they were
in were pagan-like times.
- Notion of the centrality of China—they view themselves as the center of the
world- the tension they had with Buddhism showcased how they thought they
were the correct model
- China always wants to be on the leading edge of things, including
technology—this doesn’t necessarily mean they are always on the forefront,
but they would like to be. We can tell this because of their Olympic display
last summer.
Professor Kirby writes on board:
- Ability to achieve unity
- Unity through force
- The legitimization of power
- Writing and education as cultural
- The past as a model – Antiquity as a model
- Social hierarchies
Professor Bol’s musings:
Why does education become so important in China? How does the current
Chinese party legitimize itself? It often looks at the historic times in Yenan and the
resistance it put up against the Japanese back in the 1930s.
Is race an issue in Chinese history? Yes, in some ways. The idea of the Han
Chinese people, that they are separate from the rest of the races in China, is quite new. It
is part of the racial dialogue that the West forced on the rest of the world during
imperialism.
Very few cultures from the Neolithic era ever become great civilizations that
sustain themselves and expand. There are the Mediterranean, South Asian,
Mesopotamian, etc. civilizations but out of those only two of those are very steeped in
China.
One way to think of a civilization over time is to think of enduring questions they
have that have typical different answers. For example: Should government be constituted
by the worthy or a self-perpetuating elite? Throughout Chinese history we find different
answers. The idea of government by the worthy comes in early on in the Zhou Dynasty.
Later on in the Tang Dynasty the elite aristocracy gain control. Then later again in the
Ming dynasty the examinations become popular again. May 1st-3rd : Is the PRC here for
the dynastic long-haul? This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Communist Party in
China.
Universality vs. Uniqueness: Is China providing something that is acceptable for
everybody? There is always the question that Mencius asks: Do we do things because
they are profitable or because they are right?
Family. Westerners tend to look at families as biological. This might not be the
most important thing however- in China the idea of continuity is important so adoptions
are common. There is a tension between the idea of nuclear families and the extended
family as a community.
What gives someone elite status? Is it education or wealth? For many, education
is about how we translate wealth into power. Is education something that is top-down and
imposed? Or is education more about learning for oneself? Both ideas have come up in
Chinese history between government imposed education and also Confucian-style
learning.
Professor Kirby’s musings:
There is an effort in China to have universities that will be the absolute best in the
world. Harvard has a reputation that is much higher than it deserves in China. Harvard
became a decent university by emulating English schools. Only in the second half of the
18th century did Harvard become somewhat decent. Even then it was behind John
Hopkins, University of Chicago, and at those times all the American schools were
stealing from the Berlin University/German school models. Today, some of China’s best
universities are only a hundred years old, but they certainly could become perceived as
the greatest universities in the world, as Harvard now is, in the coming centuries.
Over the course of the 20th century, China has been developing great universities
by paying great attention to science and engineering. By the end of the Nationalist period,
only 10% of graduates were “Humanities” majors. The idea about education in China
used to be that you studied the Classics in order to become a good person who does good
works and makes society better. This idea was absolutely and totally abandoned over the
course of the 20th century. The tragedy of much of China’s 20th century then became the
result of what happened when they lost their traditional culture, or confused their culture.
The problem came when China focused on what made wealth and power rather than what
created civil service. Technocracy- the dictatorship of the engineers. Only in China could
you get the combination of Communist power and engineering elitism that has produced
the great bridges, dam projects and highways that are there today. The terrible tragedy of
the middle period of Chinese history showcases what happens when a country loses their
culture and focuses solely on gaining wealth and power.
Today the reality is very different. China now has general education and focuses
on a more liberal style than they previously did. Quote from President Kennedy that
describes the conflict in China: “When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry
reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry
reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry
cleanses.”
China Road:
In his novel China Road, Rob Gifford travels across China by bus, car, and taxi to
try and discern the sentiment of the Chinese people and ultimately, to assess whether the
current state of affairs is putting China on the path toward greatness that they so greatly
desire. In interviews with local farmers, radio talk-show hosts, monks, and many others,
Gifford continually asks what locals think of the current economic boom and the
possibility of China becoming a world superpower. Many are optimistic and proudly
speak of China’s growth and achievements without reservation. However, these optimists
are mostly young or Han Chinese. It is from conversations with aged farmers and ethnic
minority Uighurs that Gifford solicits sentiments which do not present China as a happy,
growing nation. It is these sentiments which cause Gifford to question the portrayal of
China as the unified, competent nation they presented themselves as to the world at the
2008 Beijing Olympics. In questioning this portrayal, Gifford uses Route 312 as a
metaphor to explain the expansion and modernization of the West as well as the
migration of western minorities eastward in search of jobs and better opportunities.
However, Gifford’s real thematic focus throughout the novel is on the political
mismanagement he believes China’s current Communist party has overseen in last half
century. His concluding statements address what will become of the Chinese government.
In order to allow the reader to make their own assessment on China, or perhaps in just a
fit of indecision, Gifford does not conclusively state what he thinks the future will hold
for China but rather puts forth several possibilities. In exploring the theme of political
mismanagement Gifford concludes that China will either implode, transition into a
modern state, or perhaps simply stagnate. To support his opinions, Gifford utilizes not
only interviews and personal observations but historical facts as well.
Gifford builds his case from an assumption that the current leaders of the
Communist party are conducting affairs in the same way as every dynasty that has ever
ruled China. “It is still the same kind of imperial, one-party government that the First
Emperor from two thousand years ago would recognize” Gifford claims. The problem
with this type of government, according to Gifford, is that it lacks checks and balances.
Throughout the novel, Gifford uses the lack a system of checks and balances as a
subtheme of political mismanagement to explain countless social, political and economic
ills. To explain how China failed to adopt any such system Gifford reaches far back in
history, to the Qin Dynasty of 221 B.C.
Ultimately, although Gifford missed out on several key underlying factors, the
Legalist tendencies of the first Qin emperor, the decline of the aristocracy, and the fusion
of Confucianism and state are all insightful and accurate reasons in explaining why China
failed to ever develop a system of checks and balances. Given that this system never
developed in China, Gifford’s argument that China’s leaders are still ruling in much the
same way as they have for centuries is fairly plausible and contributes to his overarching
theme of political mismanagement.
From Rob Gifford’s website:
Route 312 is the Chinese Route 66. It flows three-thousand miles from east to
west, passing through the factory towns of the coastal areas, through the rural heart of
China, then up into the Gobi Desert, where it merges with the old Silk Road. The
highway witnesses every part of the social and economic revolution that is turning China
upside down.
In this utterly surprising and deeply personal book, acclaimed NPR reporter Rob
Gifford, a fluent Mandarin speaker, takes the dramatic journey along Route 312 from its
start in the boomtown of Shanghai to its end on the border with Kazakhstan. Expanding
on his popular eight-part series for Morning Edition , Gifford reveals the rich mosaic of
modern Chinese life in all its contradictions, as he poses the crucial questions that all of
us are asking about China: Will it really be the next global superpower? Is it as solid and
as powerful as it looks from the outside? And who are the ordinary Chinese people, to
whom the twenty-first century is supposed to belong?
Gifford is not alone on his journey. The largest migration in human history is
taking place along highways such as Route 312, as tens of millions of people leave their
homes in search of work. He sees everywhere the signs of the booming urban economy,
but he also uncovers many of the country’s frailties, and some of the deep-seated
problems that could derail China’s rise.
The whole compelling adventure is told through the cast of colourful characters
who Gifford meets: garrulous talk show hosts and ambitious yuppies, impoverished
peasants and tragic prostitutes, cellphone salesmen, AIDS patients and Tibetan monks.
He rides with members of a Shanghai jeep club, hitch-hikes across the Gobi desert, and
sings karaoke with migrant workers at truck-stops along the way.
By travelling Route 312, Rob Gifford gives a face to what has historically been a
faceless country for Westerners, and breathes life into a nation that is so often reduced to
economic statistics. Finally, he sounds a warning that all is not well in the Chinese
heartlands, that serious problems lie ahead for China, and that the future of the West has
become inextricably linked with the fate of 1.3 billion Chinese people.