THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA
A
BACKGROUND
CLOSED OFF FROM THE
WORLD
• For much of its history China’s geography,
and the attitudes of its rulers, isolated it
from much of the world. The Great Wall of
China was first joined together in 221BC
as a way of keeping outsiders out of China
RULERS
• China is one of the world’s oldest countries. For
centuries it was ruled by different families –
known as dynasties
• For example – the XIA dynasty – around 2000
BC – they lived in walled settlements
• The Shang Dynasty – the first empire to leave
written records
• The Zhou Dynasty – during this time the
philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism were
first developed
DIFFERENT AGES
• The Golden Age lasted 400 years and during
this time art, education and science became
very important. The Han Dynasty developed
trade and one of the most famous trade routes
was known as the Silk Road. Buddhists also
travelled this road and brought Buddhism into
China
• The Middles Age – the Han Dynasty were
followed by the Sui, Tang and Song and, in 1279
a leader from Mongolia, Kublai Khan overthrew
the Song Dynasty. China was now under foreign
rule
• Mongolian rule was
followed by the Ming
Dynasty which began
reaching out to other
countries.
• The Ming was followed by
the Manchurian
• Between 1900 and 1949
China’s fortunes fell as
the rest of the world
industrialised and it did
not
• There were many
attempts to start a
revolution in China up
until 1910 – all failed but,
in 1912 the Republic of
China was finally
announced. Over the
following decades turmoil
and dissent reigned and
poverty and despair
spread around the
country.
• Communist sympathisers
then grew in popularity
especially during the
1930’s when the global
depression had a
devastating effect on
China
MAO ZEDONG
• A group of communists, led by Zedong,
went on a year long march around the
country and, in so doing, gathered support
from millions of people.
• In October 1949 Mao announced the
foundation of the PRC – People’s Republic
of China – he became the most important
figure in the history of modern-day China
BENEFITS
• Most Chinese welcomed the communists.
• Land reform meant land was taken from
landowners and given to peasants
• New rulers took over newspapers, banks,
transportation and electricity services.
Government cheating was wiped out
• The Communist party was the only one allowed;
churches were closed and foreign missionaries
forced out – everyone was expected to follow
the beliefs of the Communist party
THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD
• In 1958 Mao began a 3 year plan known
as the Great Leap Forward, the goal being
to change life dramatically in China.
• Poor planning and bad weather brought
only drought and famine, however, and
milions of people starved.
• By the late 1960’s it was clear his plan had
been a disaster.
The Cultural Revolution
Mao believed the problems were caused by people
following traditional Chinese values and
attitudes.
In 1966 he set up a Cultural Revolution group to
fight against these habits; his wife was in
charge.
College students who agreed with him became
known as the Red Guard and they began
destroying anything representative of the “Four
Olds” – culture, ideas, customs and habits
The Four Modernizations
• In 1976 Mao died
• Deng Xiaoping was names Paramount
Leader
• The country was tired of fighting and
conflict
• Deng began a programme called the Four
Modernizations which stressed the need to
update industry, defence, technology and
agriculture
Cat and Mouse
• Deng cared more about results than the
strict following of communism.
• He once said “It doesn’t matter if a cat is
black of white, so long as it catches mice”
• He allowed some Chinese people to go to
other countries to study and welcomed
foreign businesses and advice into China
WHAT IS COMMUNISM?
• The word communism comes from a French phrase meaning
“belonging to all”.
• The idea has a long history – there has always been people who
believed in the simple idea of sharing ownership of society’s
resources.
• Today, however, this is not how communism is practiced.
• Communist governments do not like disagreement or dissent; there
is usually only one party and no choice of voting; the economy is
almost completely owned by the government
• Other aspects of social life, such as education and entertainment
are also controlled by the government
• Because of advances in communication and transport, countries
now interact with each other more than ever so, in order to be
successful China has had to adopt some principles of capitalism