Introduction:-
Everything in China seems larger than life, and perceptions of the country must be adjusted to its enormous scale. Its culture and its civilization go back thousands of years. Its vast area of more than 3,690,000 square miles (9,560,000 square kilometers) is the third largest in the world, after Russia and Canada. With a population of more than 1.2 billion, it is Earth’s most populated country.
The Himalayas along China’s southwestern frontier with India are the world’s tallest mountains. China’s greatest river, the Yangtze, is the world’s fourth longest. The Taklimakan Desert, in western Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, is one of the driest spots on Earth. The area of loessic soil (fine, siltlike soil created by wind action in dry regions) in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces is probably more extensive thanin any other place.
China has a great wealth of mineral and natural resources. Reserves of coal, petroleum, iron ore, tungsten, tin, bauxite, copper, limestone, and many other minerals needed in modern industry are abundant. Used in domestic manufacturing and exported to obtain money, these resources provide China with a solid foundation for rapid industrial growth.
Another significant aspect of China is its long cultural and national history. The Chinese people have shared a common culture longer thanany other group on Earth. The Chinese writing system, for example, dates back almost 4,000 years. The imperial dynastic system of government, which continued for centuries, was established as early as 221 BC. Although specific dynasties were overturned, the dynastic system survived. China was even ruled at times by foreign invaders, such as the Mongols during the Yüan Dynasty, from AD 1279 to 1368, and the Manchus during the Ch’ing Dynasty, from AD 1644 to 1911, but the foreigners were largely absorbed into the culture they governed. It is as if the Roman Empire had lasted from the time of the Caesars to the 20th century, and during that time had evolved a cultural system and written language shared by all the peoples of Europe.
The dynastic system was overturned in 1911, and a weak republican form of government existed until 1949. In that year, after a long civil war, the People’s Republic of China, with a Communist government, was proclaimed. This government and the ruling Communist party have controlled China ever since. Although the dynastic system has disappeared, the People’s Republic occupies essentially the same territory and governs the same people. If anything, the culture and power of China seem stronger in the late 20th century than at almost any other period in history. Under the People’s Republic, China’s role in world economic and political affairs has grown increasingly more important.
Size alone makes China an important member of the world community, a fact that the United Nations has recognized for some years. China has had a permanent seat on the UN Security Council since that organization was founded. For a number of years, this seat was occupied by Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government, which had fled to Taiwan when the Communists came to power.
In 1971, however, the UN General Assembly voted to turn this seat over to the representatives of the People’s Republic. The People’s Republic is recognized by mostnations as the legitimate government representing mainland China. After 1971, China joined a number of UN and other international organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund. It has become a more active participant in international programs.
An example of China’s growing involvement with the world community is the rapid increase in its foreign trade with countries outside the Communist bloc. Between 1959 and 1982 China’s total trade turnover with non-Communist countries rose from $1.3 billion to about $32 billion. This represented a significant shift in policy on the part of China. It indicates they had come to believe that the key to economic growth and modernization—including access to new industrial and scientific technologies—lay in closer economic and political relationships with developed countries such as Japan, the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
By the early 1980s, after several decades of civil war, conflicts with foreign powers, and domestic upheavals, China seemed to have stabilized. Domestic policies and programs appeared to focus on improving the economy, the educational system, and the level of scientific and technical achievement. Disputes with neighbors and foreign powers remained, but they were muted. The emphasis had switched to the practical problems of economic growth.
Although China is still a poor country, sheer numbers (22 percent of the world’s population) and the size of the overall economy make it an important force among theworld family of nations. China has disclaimed any ambition to be a major world power, but its leaders like to represent themselves as speaking for all the less developed and nonaligned countries of the Third World. How effectively China can maintain that position depends on the policies of its leaders in the international community and the success or failure of its economic development programs.
The Land:-
Like the United States, China is located in the mid-latitudes. On the east and south China faces major arms of the Pacific Ocean. Consequently, eastern China—especially the southeastern coast—is humid and has generally mild winters compared to the rest of the country. High mountains close off the west, however, and much of the western two thirds of the country is relatively dry and isolated. Traditionally, China’s western regions have been sparsely populated, largely by minority peoples such as Tibetans, Uygurs, and Mongolians.
Surface Features:-
China’s land surface is rugged and uneven. Almost one third of the total area consists of mountains and hills. Traveling westward from the coast in central China means going steadily upward across a series of hills and ridges, plateaus, and elevated basins. This climb ends at the Plateau of Tibet with the Himalayas on its southern flank.
The major mountains, plateaus, and basins of the west—the Himalayas, Kunlun Mountains (also Kunlun Shan), Tian Shan, Altai, Plateau of Tibet, Tarim Basin, and Junggar Basin—follow an eastward axis. The main structural orientation of the mountains in the east—Great Khingan Range (also Da Hingan Ling) and Taihang—is north-south. Where these mountains cross, they form what has been likened to a gigantic checkerboard. This checkerboard pattern is not so clear in the south, however, because the low but rugged Nan Ling mountains form a more complex association of hills and ridgelines.
In the southwest the ridges are folded into extremely rugged, high uplands separating the major drainage systems of several great rivers. Extensive areas in southwest China are underlaid with limestone. This karst, or limestone, region has been weathered into some unusual and striking landscapes that feature a variety of steep domes and towers. These landscapes have served as a popular theme for the traditional school of Chinese landscape painting.
Major Rivers:-
China’s two most famous rivers, the Huang He (also called the Yellow River) and the Yangtze, rise on the eastern edge of the Plateau of Tibet and flow eastward, eventually emptying into, respectively, Bo Hai Gulf and the East China Sea. Several other large rivers that rise in eastern Tibet, such as the Mekong, Salween, and Brahmaputra, flow into Southeast Asia or India. Another important river, the Amur, forms part of the boundary between China and Russia in the northeast. China’s major southern river, the Xi, together with the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) and other rivers, forms the important large southern delta plain in which the southern city of Canton is located. (See also Yangtze River.)
Natural Resources:-
China has a large and varied stock of natural resources. The variety of different landforms, soil conditions, and climate patterns offers many different kinds of opportunities for agricultural production. A tremendous range of food and industrial crops can be grown, and this makes it possible for China to keep imports to a minimum.
Another aspect of China’s natural endowment is its rich supply of mineral resources, a product of its complex geology. In ancient geologic times much of what is nowChina was under the sea. Movements of the Earth’s crust against three huge, stable masses of ancient Precambrian rock (in southeastern China, Tibet, and Inner Mongolia) gave rise to China’s characteristic parallel ridges and plains. In the lowlands and basins, which were repeatedly submerged during the Paleozoic era hundreds of millions of years ago, great quantities of carbon-containing material were deposited, and these became the carbon-based fossil fuels—coal and petroleum—that exist today. Deposits of other minerals accumulated as a result of geologic processes, including vulcanism associated with the crustal movements.
China’s coal and petroleum reserves are abundant. Reserves of tungsten, antimony, tin, mercury, salt, fluorspar, and magnesite are among the largest in the world, and the tungsten and antimony deposits may be the largest. China also has sizable reserves of iron and manganese ores, bauxite (aluminum ore), limestone, and copper, though it remains to be determined whether these are sufficient to meet China’s growing domestic needs.
China leads the world in the size of its coal reserves, which are estimated at more than 600 billion tons. These reserves would keep China supplied with coal for about 500 years if usage were to continue at its present level. China produces more than 1.1 billion tons of coal annually, most of it bituminous coal or lignite. China relies on coal as its primary energy source, a condition likely to continue at least through the 20th century.
Petroleum is not as easy to estimate as coal, but China is believed to have extensive reserves, both on land and offshore. There are a number of large areas with theright characteristics to contain oil and gas scattered throughout the country, and oil and gas have been discovered in more than half a dozen of them. In addition, there are believed to be major offshore deposits in the Bo Hai Gulf; the Yellow Sea; the East China Sea; the Formosa, or Taiwan, Strait; and the South China Sea. All of these deposits are in the continental shelf, the natural extension of the mainland under the adjacent water bodies.
Offshore prospecting is under way in several locations, with a number of Western and Japanese petroleum companies assisting China. Some offshore drilling has taken place, and producing wells have been developed in the Bo Hai Gulf region. In recent years, however, most of China’s petroleum has come from the large Daqing field in Heilongjiang Province in the northeast or from fields in the North China Plain near the mouth of the Huang He. Petroleum production in 1992 totaled 1billion barrels, enough to meet China’s domestic needs and provide a small amount for export.
Difficult Environments:-
One of the most unusual and challenging regional environments in China is found on the plateau west of the North China Plain, called the Loess Plateau. Here the special type of soil known as loess covers tens of thousands of square miles. The loess is blown by the wind from the adjacent Ordos, Alxa, and Gobi deserts and has accumulated over thousands of years. In many places the loess forms a thick mantle that completely covers the original landforms. When the forest or prairie vegetation on the loess is disturbed, the soil in the upland regions is easily eroded and formed into gullies by summer rainstorms.
The region around the confluence of the He and the Huang He is called the cradle of Chinese civilization. It was there that Late Stone Age people began to develop the culture that evolved into the Chinese civilization. When these people began to farm, they disturbed the original forest vegetation. Ultimately, this increased the rate of erosion and led to severe environmental problems. In addition to scarring the surface landscape with gullies and badlands, the runoff found its way into the Huang He, adding to the silt burden of that stream. The high silt content of the Huang He, which gives the stream its common name of “Yellow River,” has resulted in a high deposit rate and a tendencyto flood farther east on the North China Plain. The chronic and severe flooding of the Huang He, sometimes accompanied by major changes in the location of the channel, led the Chinese to call it “China’s sorrow.” Tremendous efforts and vast amounts of human labor have been used in building levees and channels to control it.
The southwest, with its extensive limestone deposits, irregular karst towers, and subsurface drainage networks, presents a different set of difficulties. There the problems are to find areas of level land large enough to cultivate and to keep water on the surface so it can be used for irrigation. Other environments within China pose their own challenges. Farming is difficult in many parts of the country, and large investments are needed to improve the land and control water for irrigation. Transportation networks are difficult and expensive to plan and build in many areas, where inaccessibility and geographic isolation have seriously impeded development for centuries.
Climate, Vegetation, and Animal Life:-
In terms of climate, China may be divided between the humid eastern region and the dry west. The humid east may be further subdivided between the warm and humid south and southeast and the temperate-to-cool, moderately humid north and northeast. Much of the humid eastern region of China exhibits a monsoonal pattern of temperature and precipitation. In a monsoon climate, the warm summer months are typically the months of maximum precipitation.
Precipitation:-
Only the south and southeast have sufficient rainfall to support intensive farming. Just 20 to 26 inches (500 to 650 millimeters) of precipitation are common throughout much of the north and northeast. This is not enough to grow rice or to raise more than one crop per year. Consequently, much of north and northeast China must rely on irrigation water.
Western China gets very little rainfall. Most of this region consists of mountains or enclosed desert basins. In extreme western Xinjiang at Kashgar in the Tarim Basin, rainfall averages only 4 inches (100 millimeters) per year. About the same amount falls farther northeast, at Ürümqi in the Junggar Basin, while near Lhasa, high on the Plateau of Tibet, the average is about 11 inches (280 millimeters). These dry conditions permit little farming, even where drought-resistant crops such asgaoliang (Chinese sorghum) and some of the millets are grown. Irrigation is essential, and most of the settlements in western China developed initially around oases where there were dependable sources of water. In Tibet less water is needed because of the lower average temperature, but irrigation is becoming increasingly important as a means of making agricultural output more reliable.
An important feature of China’s climate is the annual occurrence, usually in the summer or autumn, of great storms that sweep in from the western Pacific. These storms, called typhoons, are similar to Atlantic hurricanes. They are accompanied by high winds and tremendous quantities of rain, usually concentrated within a fewhours. The storm paths most commonly focus on the southeastern coast, though sometimes they sweep northward toward Japan. Great damage may be done by the flooding caused by typhoons, especially in low-lying floodplains and basins.
Temperature:-
In general, temperature patterns in China are determined by north-south location, though there are some exceptions. South of the Qin Ling Mountains, an eastward extension of the Kunlun Mountains, average annual temperature is high and winters are generally mild. For example, the middle and lower Yangtze Basin in southeastern China has mild winters and extremely hot summers, and the average temperature increases only gradually as one moves south into the tropical coastal areas. Average annual temperature drops rapidly north of the Qin Ling barrier. In much of this area there is a continental climate. This is reflected in the cold winters that occur in such cities as Beijing, Xi’an, and Harbin.
The length of the growing season for plants, defined as the period during which daily mean temperatures are above 43° F (6° C), varies in line with the temperature patterns. Thus, most of the area south of the Yangtze has a growing season of at least 300 days, mild enough to grow two crops a year. Along the southern and southeastern coast the growing season lasts all year round. Light frosts may occur, but they are not severe enough to kill most plants. North of the Yangtze Basin average temperatures drop sharply, and the growing season shortens rapidly as distance north increases. In the northern interior the growing season is less than 180 days.
Vegetation:-
As might be expected from its huge area and variety of regional climates, China has a great range of vegetation. Most of the types of plants that grow in the Northern Hemisphere can be found there, except for those varieties common to arctic and tundra regions. In Hainan Island in the extreme south, and along the southern coast, there are rain forests and associated plant communities typical of the humid tropics. The high, rugged mountains of western China and Tibet contain alpine and subalpine plants. Other regions of China exhibit a variety of plant life common to deserts, steppes and savannas, prairie meadows, mangrove swamps, and coniferous evergreen and deciduous forests.
It is possible, however, to divide this broad range of plants into regional groupings. Thus there is a clear distinction between the character of the plant life in the humid and subhumid east and that of the dry west. The eastern part of the country can be further subdivided into four regions: (1) the tropical, humid southeast, which supports a tropical rain forest; (2) the subtropical southern and central area of broadleaved evergreens, pines, and varieties of bamboo; (3) the mid-latitude forest zone of mainly deciduous species, which extends from the Yangtze north to the Northeast region, formerly called Manchuria; and (4) the less humid but cooler extreme north and northeast, with evergreen conifers and northern deciduous tree species similar to those of the taiga zone in Russia. Throughout China coarse grasses have grown up where forests have been removed. In southern China there is a tough, fibrous type of grass that impedes further economic use of the land. Savanna grasslands are common in the tropics.
The large, dense population of eastern China has placed great pressure on the natural vegetation. Especially serious is the demand for wood and forest products. Over the centuries, the great need for firewood, construction material, and paper has led to a serious loss of trees. In many places in eastern China it is difficult to determine the nature of the original vegetation. Today the main commercial forests (mostly conifers, birch, and ash) are found in northeastern China. There are also important and accessible commercial forests on the eastern flank of Tibet and Qinghai.
In the mountains, deserts, and steppes of the west, where rainfall is low and winters are cold, the flora is not rich. Vegetation in the deserts and at higher elevations often consists of several species of grasses and subshrubs. Three major vegetation zones of western China have been identified: Inner Mongolia, the Junggar and Tarim basins, and Tibet. Within these three zones, the plant life varies according to local ecological conditions rather than according to north-south location. Trees, for example, are found where precipitation is greatest and where the average annual temperature permits their growth.
On the windward, northern slopes of the Tian Shan facing the Junggar Basin, forests of such trees as spruce, birch, ash, and aspen are found up to 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) above sea level. However, there is great variation in the extent and type of tree cover as a result of differences in slope conditions, temperature, and moisture. At higher elevations and in drier steppe and desert locations a variety of grasses, shrubs, and sedges are common. The harshest region in western Chinais the western part of the Plateau of Tibet, a cold, forbidding desert above 14,800 feet (4,500 meters). Plant growth under such conditions is highly restricted.
Soils:-
The nature of the underlying bedrock and the local topography are the most important factors in determining the formation and character of a soil, but climate and vegetation also play a major role. For example, in humid regions, especially under forest cover, the soils are leached, or drained by water, of certain minerals and nutrients and become acidic. In drier, cooler environments, where soils have developed under a grass cover and chemical weathering has been reduced, the soil typically has a higher humus content and is alkaline.
In the humid tropical and subtropical regions of southeastern China, the soils generally have been leached of alkalis, leaving high concentrations of aluminum and iron oxides in the subsoil. Commonly known as lateritic soils, they are acidic and frequently have a reddish color. In general, they are not good for agriculture. A similar process has taken place in the humid but cooler areas of central and northeastern China and also at higher elevations in the west, especially where forests of cone-bearing trees have been present. In these soils, alkalis and iron compounds have been leached from the surface layer and clay and humus have accumulated in the subsoil. Traditionally called podzols, these soils are common at higher elevations in much of China.
The dry areas of China, especially in Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia Huizu, Xinjiang, and parts of northeastern China, are covered with desert, steppe, and prairie soils, some of which are very rich. These soils are fundamentally different from the acidic types. Typically, they develop in dry areas as a result of the concentration of magnesium and calcium carbonates and have a high humus and alkaline content. They range from the extremely rich chernozem, or black earth, type of the northeast to the thinner, poorer brown steppe and gray-brown near-desert soils of Inner Mongolia and arid areas of Xinjiang.
In addition to these major soil groupings, there are other soil types that are important. Loess, the windblown, fine-grained, yellow earth found over wide areas in Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, is generally alkaline and potentially fertile, but it erodes easily. Many desert and mountain soils are thin and poorly developed and are essentially useless for any agricultural purpose. Perhaps most important for agriculture are the alluvial soils associated with the floodplains of streams and rivers. They are generally acidic and not rich, but they are easy to work and are usually near water. Especially in central and south China, they are used extensively for the production of such crops as rice, wheat, and cotton. With proper techniques, they can support some of the world’s most intensive year-round farming.
China has only a modest supply of arable land (about 10 percent of the total land area). Where precipitation is sufficient for growing crops, however, Chinese farmers have satisfactory to good soils to work with or they have improved existing soils by adding natural nutrients. Controlling runoff and erosion is the great problem in the loess areas. In low-lying floodplains, the water tables may be too high, resulting in the accumulation of excessive chemical compounds called salts. Nevertheless, China’s soils are generally satisfactory, and local farmers and scientists have worked together to maintain and improve their quality and productivity.
Animal Life:-
A tremendous number of animals are native to China. Some, such as the giant panda and the Yangtze alligator, are found nowhere else, and in recent years the Chinese government has stepped up efforts to protect and preserve them.
Animals of the north include the Siberian tiger, wolf, badger, lynx, sika and musk deer, weasel, sable, stone marten, flying squirrel, snow rabbit, pheasant, mandarin duck, and the white-headed crane. Dry areas of the northwest are home to the wild donkey, Bactrian camel, Mongolian gazelle, and Mongolian beaver, as well as big horn sheep. Western birds include the whooper swan, pheasants, quail, and the great bustard. Sika deer, Tibetan antelope, rock sheep, yak, snow leopard, Himalayan brown bear, and such unusual birds as the Tibetan snow cock live at high elevations in Tibet and Qinghai.
Much of the distinctive animal life of the southern and central parts of the country is associated with forested hills or aquatic environments. The panda, golden cat, clouded leopard, rhesus macaque, and takin, or goat antelope, are found in the southwest, and the giant salamander, Yangtze dolphin, crocodile lizard, several types of badgers and weasels, the golden langur, and the tiger in the Yangtze Basin. South China has hornbills, pheasants, monkeys, deer, and civets as well as the tigers and clouded leopards.
This listing is by no means complete, but it indicates the rich variety of wildlife found in China and the importance of China as a preserve for the world’s animals. Many of China’s animals are the same or similar to those in neighboring lands. Distinctively Chinese species occur especially in the mountains.
The People:-
China has the largest population of any country in the world, with an estimated 1,265,207,000 people in 2000. This population had grown rapidly in recent times, expanding by approximately 15 million each year, an increase equal to the total population of Australia. Between 1964 and 1982 China added 313 million to its population, more people than lived in the Soviet Union during that time. This rapid growth has occurred because the death rate has dropped sharply. The birthrate has also fallen, but the total population is enormous, and there are many young people. Thus, without extreme means of population control, the outlook is for continued rapid increase. The problem of providing an acceptable quality of life for a society this large—and growing ever larger—is a major concern in China. In an effort to reduce the rate of population growth, the Chinese government since 1978 has promoted the one-child family among the Han. (All married couples are urged to have only one child.) Rewards such as better opportunities for that one child are offered. Family-planning advice and birth-control techniques are easily available and commonly used. If a woman becomes pregnant with a second or third child, she is urged to have an abortion. Sterilization after one child is also being promoted.One problem facing the government is the widespread desire for male children. If the first child is a girl, she may be neglected. Some incidents of infanticide, the killing of children, have been reported in cases of female children. Despite all the government’s efforts, the family-planning program and campaign promoting the one-child family have had only limited success in rural areas, where peasant families still want sons to carry on the male family name and for the heavy labor necessary on rural farms. Until rural people participate fully in family planning, China’s population will continue to grow rapidly.
Society and the Family:-
Traditionally the family has been the most important unit of society, and this is still true. The family is also an important economic unit. In rural areas, where about 72 percent of China’s people live, the traditional family consisted of the head of the household, his sons, and their wives and children, often living under one roof. Common surnames gave families membership in a clan. In some villages all families had the same surname, or four or five surname clans might account for most of the villagers.
Land, the main form of wealth in traditional China, was divided equally among all the landowner’s surviving sons when he died. Thus, as China’s population grew, the landholdings became smaller and smaller, and many people were very poor. In the first half of the 20th century the family as a social unit came under severe stress. Rural conditions were bad, income was low, and food was often scarce. Health care was poor or nonexistent for most peasants, and mortality rates were high. Civil unrest, warfare, and foreign invasions added to the difficulties.
After the Communist revolution in 1949 rural conditions stabilized. Private ownership of land was abolished, but each peasant family was given a small plot to farm. Health care improved. The fluctuations in the food supply leveled off and life expectancy increased. Living conditions for the average peasant are generally better today than they were in 1949, and there are opportunities for at least some education. All these things have meant a considerable improvement in the quality of life and greater security for the family as a social unit.
Today some rural families are still likely to have three generations under one roof. Despite state ownership of the land, they once again serve as basic production units. The Production Responsibility System, initiated in 1978, permits individual families to contract with their local production team or brigade to lease land for farming. Production quotas are also contracted. Whatever is left after taxes are paid and quotas are met belongs to the family. If a family works hard, it can meet its contract quotas and also produce a surplus for consumption or sale. This program was designed to stimulate production, but one result has been to strengthen the role of the traditional family as a consuming and producing unit.
Urban family life is different from that in rural areas. In the cities, families usually are smaller, often composed only of parents and children. Since both parents work, the children are left in day-care centers or schools. Sometimes couples are split up if their work units are not close together, and husband and wife may see each other only rarely. Despite such problems, family life for most people in the cities is stable, and family ties continue to play a major role in the lives of both parents andchildren.
Cities:-
More than 500 million people live in and around cities in China, according to the 1990 census. There are more urban dwellers in China than are found in either the United States or Russia. Some of the cities are quite large. Shanghai, for example, has more than 7 million people; Beijing has more than 6 million, and Tianjin more than 5 million. Many cities have more than 1 million people each. Even so, city dwellers represent a relatively low percentage of the total population—about 28.1 percent.
China’s cities are expanding rapidly. The government is attempting to regulate urban growth in order to avoid such problems as congestion, overcrowding, slum development, and unemployment. It is difficult, for example, for a person to move to a city unless he or she has a permanent job and a housing permit. Through suchconstraints, China can slow the migration of people to cities and encourage the kind of urban and regional growth that planners believe is most suitable. Nevertheless, it seems quite likely that urbanization, the flow of people to cities, will continue to be a factor as China modernizes and its economy continues to expand.
Ethnic and Language Groups:-
The concept of being Chinese is not based on race. Rather, it is a cultural concept. To speak and behave like a Chinese—in short, to accept the Chinese system of cultural values—is to be Chinese. The Chinese refer to themselves as Han or sons of Han (as in Han Dynasty, a period of great historical significance). Throughout history, small ethnic groups that came into contact with the Han Chinese have adopted Chinese culture and have been absorbed into the mainstream. This process continues, though there are legal guarantees designed to protect the rights and culture of minority nationalities.
Traditionally, the definition of a minority nationality in China is a group of people who speak a common language, occupy a common area, and share a common sense of social values. They see themselves as non-Chinese—not belonging to the majority Han Chinese population. In 1990 approximately 91 million people, or 8 percent of China’s population, were members of minority nationalities. In 1978 the central government recognized 55 minority nationalities with populations ranging from 300 (the Lobo, a small group living in Tibet) to 12 million (the Zhuang in southwestern China). Thirteen of the nationalities had populations of 1 million or more, and 27 had at least 100,000 members.
Although the minority nationalities represent a comparatively small proportion of the total population of China, they have an importance in Chinese society beyond their numbers because of the strategic territories they occupy. Most minority nationalities live along China’s sparsely populated frontiers and have cultural relationships with minority groups in neighboring countries, such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, North Korea, Mongolia, Thailand, and Myanmar (formerly called Burma). If these groups became hostile toward the central government it could affect China’s national security.
In part, the guarantees protecting the minority nationalities are expressed in the structure of China’s administrative system. In addition to the 22 provinces, there are five autonomous regions, based on the location of five of the larger and more important minority nationalities. These are the Zhuang, a group of more than 42 million occupying the Guangxi Zhuangzu Autonomous Region; the Hui, or Muslims, a religious group of more than 4 million occupying the Ningxia Huizu Autonomous Region; the Uygurs, a Turkic group of more than 15 million in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; the Tibetans, or Zang, a group of 2.2 million who live in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Qinghai Province, an area of high plateaus and mountains bordering India; and the Mongols, a group of more than 21 million occupying the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region between Mongolia and northern China. In addition, smaller units such as autonomous prefectures, leagues, and banners (equivalent to British counties) are based on their occupancy by even smaller minority groupings.
This administrative system is designed to give the minorities political equality with the Han people and to help them maintain their distinctive identities. At the same time, Putonghua (based on the Mandarin dialect spoken in the Beijing area) is being promoted as the official spoken language of the country. All minority peoples are urged to learn it. Generally, all minorities live harmoniously with the Han. The government has adopted measures to promote economic development among minorities to enable them to catch up with the Han.
Religion:-
Before the Communist Revolution, a number of religious and philosophical systems were practiced in China. Traditionally Taoism and Confucianism provided ethical guides to the proper behavior of individuals and officials. Both of these systems originated in China during the so-called Golden Age of Chinese thought, several centuries before the beginning of the Christian era. Taoism sought to promote the inner peace of individuals and harmony with their surroundings. Confucianism, based on the teachings and writings of the philosopher Confucius, is an ethical system that sought to teach the proper way for all people to behave in society. Each relationship—husband-wife, parents-children, ruler-subjects—involved a set of obligations which, if upheld, would lead to a just and harmonious society. Following his teachings would also promote a stable, lasting government (see Confucius).
Buddhism, which came to China from India as early as the 1st century AD, was a more conventional religion. Its followers attended occasional services, practiced rituals, and supported a temple on a regular basis. It has been estimated that more than 68 million Chinesestill consider themselves Buddhists, though it is unlikely that they practice the religion regularly (see Buddhism). Prior to 1949, practices that may best be called folk religions were common throughout China. Although they incorporated elements of Buddhism and, especially, Taoism, these religions were usually local, often based on local gods, and served the local people.
Christian missionaries have been active in China since Roman Catholics belonging to the Jesuit order arrived in the early 17th century. Protestant missionaries first appeared in the early 19th century. All the Christian missionaries had difficulty converting the Chinese because Christianity was associated in the popular mind with Western imperialism. By 1949 there were only 3 or 4 million Christians in China, less than 1 percent of the total population. Islam came to China mainly from CentralAsia, where it was practiced by many of the Turkic peoples. Today there are believed to be more than 4 million Chinese Muslims. One autonomous region, Ningxia Huizu, has been designated for Islamic adherents.
The Communists have discouraged religious practices, which they consider anti-socialist. Many temples and churches have been closed and their property taken. During the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (or simply the Cultural Revolution), a mass movement that lasted officially from 1966 to 1977, conditions were especially difficult, and religious practitioners were persecuted. The situation eased after 1977. A number of Buddhist temples were allowed to reopen. Worship services among Christians were permitted once again, and it is believed that as many as 2 million Christians are practicing their faith in China. The Chinese government is cautious about all religious activity, especially if it happens to involve foreign people in any way.
Language, Literature, and Art:-
Chinese culture is remarkable for its duration and diversity. The oldest art forms in China are music and dance, both of which continue to be vital elements of modern society. The written language and literature are central to China’s culture. Scholars have identified inscriptions on pottery dating to about 4000 BC, and written Chinese has developed continuously since about 1200 BC. China’s tradition of storytelling is among the richest in the world.
The Chinese Language:-
There are two elements to the Chinese language: the written language, based on individual symbols called characters, each of which represents an idea or thing; and the spoken language, which includes a number of different dialects. The written language originally had no alphabet, but it was easily understood by literate people no matter what dialect they spoke. Since the early 1950s a system using the Latin alphabet, called Pinyin, has been developed in China, and it is now in common use. Most of the spellings of Chinese sounds and names in this article are based on the Pinyin system of romanization. Those that are not are generally very familiar in their conventional form, such as the name Chiang Kai-shek.
Some of the numerous dialects of spoken Chinese are totally different from each other. All of them use tones to distinguish different words. Mandarin, which is spoken in the Beijing region and in northern China generally, has four common tones. Cantonese, spoken in southeastern China, has nine tones and is quite different from Mandarin. Today Putonghua, which is based on Beijing-area Mandarin, is the official language of government and education, and everyone is expected to learn to speak it. The central government is also expanding the use of the Pinyin romanization system and is urging citizens to learn this alphabetized system of writing Chinese words. (Pinyin represents the spoken sounds of Putonghua, which is an oral representation of Chinese characters.) Citizens are also urged to learna simplified system of Chinese.
Literature:-
China has a very old and rich tradition in literature and the dramatic and visual arts. Early writings generally derived from philosophical or religious essays such as the works of Confucius (551–479 BC) and Lao-tzu (probably 4th century BC). These writings were often about how people should act and how the society and politicalsystem should be organized and operated. A strong tradition of historical writing also evolved. After the fall of a dynasty, for example, a grand history of the late dynasty was commissioned and written by scholars in the next dynasty.
In addition to philosophical, religious, and historical writings, China also produced poetry, novels, and dramatic writings from an early date. Poetry became well established as a literary form during the T’ang Dynasty, from AD 618 to 907. One of China’s greatest poets, Li Po, wrote during this period. This tradition of poetry, often dealing with the relationship of humans to their natural surroundings, has continued.
Drama is another old and important literary form. Chinese drama usually combines vernacular language with music and song and thus has been popular with the common people. A variety of popular and standard themes are presented in Peking Opera, which is probably thebest known of several operatic traditions that developed in China. Chinese opera is a favorite artistic and cultural medium.
Early Chinese novels often stressed character development and usually centered on an adventure or supernatural happening; an example is the classic Ming version of ‘Shui-hu chuan’ (The Water Margin). Historical themes were also popular, as in the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’, written in the late Yüan period. There were also love stories such as the extremely popular ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, probably China’s most famous novel. Many of the early novels were written anonymously. Often these works were written in the vernacular, and many authors felt it was beneath their station to be associated with this type of writing.
China’s literary tradition continues to the present, though much 20th-century writing has concentrated on efforts to reform or modernize China. Probably the most famous 20th-century writer is Lu Xun, a poet, essayist, and novelist whose work focused on the need to modernize through revolution. Under Communism, writers have been expected to uphold the values of the socialist state, though the degree of control over their output has varied.
The Visual Arts:-
Chinese art, like Chinese literature, goes back many centuries. Early themes were developed from religious and supernatural beliefs or from the natural environment and landscape. One of the oldest and most basic forms of Chinese art is calligraphy, the painting of the Chinese characters with a brush. Calligraphy has developed as a pure art form with its own standards of excellence. Building on the tradition of calligraphy, Chinese painting developed a distinctive style that differs greatly from Western painting. It is more efficient in terms of brushstrokes and appears more abstract. Landscapes have always been a popular theme, and sometimes these appear bizarre to the Western eye. To the Chinese painter, they may represent a figurative view painted with a few swift strokes of the artist’s brush.
With their stress on simplicity and economy, Chinese calligraphy, painting, and poetry are closely related. In all of them, the artist seeks to express both inner harmony and harmony with the natural surroundings. Chinese poets and painters often have sought inspiration by withdrawing to isolated, mountainous areas, and these landscapes have become conventional themes of Chinese art. Similarly, Chinese architecture has traditionally aimed to convey harmony with society and nature.
The magnificent life-size terra-cotta statues of men and horses, discovered in the early 1970s in the tomb of an emperor who died in 210 BC, provide some indication of the long history of Chinese sculpture. After the introduction of Buddhism into China, Buddhist subjects became dominant themes of the sculptor’s art. Perhaps best known (and most copied) in the West, however, are the works of Chinese decorative artists, such as pottery, bronzes, lacquer ware, and exquisitely detailed jade and ivory carvings.
Education and Health:-
The large population and vast territory of China pose an enormous challenge for the Chinese government in terms of meeting the basic educational and medical needs of the people. The school system in China is an important means for both instilling values in and teaching skills to its people. Traditional Chinese culture attached great importance to education as a means of enhancing a person’s worth and career. The health of the Chinese population has improved overall since 1949, though health facilities remain unevenly distributed.
Education:-
The traditional educational system in China was based on literacy and the ability to read and write essays about the Confucian classics. Social advancement was achieved through successful completion of the imperial examinations, leading to an appointment in the imperial bureaucracy. Therefore, the questions asked in the imperial examinations determined the nature of the educational system. Since this examination system was used for many centuries and was not discarded until 1905, the Chinese educational system changed little during that time. The emphasis was on interpretation of the Confucian classics and the writing of elegant essays. Practical and scientific subjects were excluded.
Although in theory the imperial examinations were open to anyone, only the wealthy could afford to give their children the years of schooling that were necessary for success. It is no wonder that the highest social class, the elite of traditional Chinese society, came to be called the scholar-gentry. They controlled the land and wealth, and, in general, only their sons were taught the Confucian classics, passed the imperial examinations, and became imperial officers.
In the late 19th century, as the weaknesses of the Chinese economic and social system became more obvious, calls for reforming the educational system grew louder. Peking National University, with modern programs and courses, was founded in 1898. In 1905 the old imperial examination system was abolished. New courses in Western science and other nontraditional subjects were introduced, and new schools were established. The early 20th century was a period of rapid educational and intellectual change. Many young Chinese wanted to overturn the old society completely and reform China along modern, Western lines. Others advocated educational reform and social and political change, but within the framework of the traditional Confucian values. During the first half of the 20th century vast efforts were made to promote literacy. Both the Nationalist and Communist parties supported literacy and education, and both parties used education to promote their political goals. By 1945, however, it was estimated that only 20 percent of China’s people could read and write.
Since the Communists came to power in 1949 literacy has risen rapidly. Today it is estimated that 78 percent of adults are literate. Educational policy, however, has varied considerably. Generally, a primary school education has been made available to almost everyone, and about 40 percent of young people are able to attend middle school. This reflects a belief that basic knowledge is essential to rural development and economic progress.
Education at the college or university level is difficult to obtain, however. The average primary school student has about one chance in 145 of enrolling in a university or college. More and more of China’s young people are finishing high school, but no more than 2 to 3 percent of high school graduates go on to the next level. Policies on college admission have changed from time to time, and the basis of selection is not always clear. During the Cultural Revolution stress was placed on “good political background” as a requirement, and technical expertise was strongly criticized. Many schools and most universities were closed at that time, and education for China’s youth and young adults was largely interrupted.The political climate changed in the late 1970s. Schools and universities were reopened. Admission came to be based on achievement, and scholastic goals emphasized technical learning and proficiency in subject matter. The political leaders who came to power after the Cultural Revolution believed that an educated group of professional managers, technicians, researchers, and teachers is essential for the modernization and development of China. Since 1978 the only requirement for admission to college has been a passing score on a college-entrance examination. The political background of an applicant’s parents is no longer a factor in college admissions.
Health and Welfare:-
There has been remarkable improvement in the health and material well-being of most of China’s people since the civil war. Life expectancy at birth has more than doubled in a little over four decades, rising from an estimated 35 years in 1949 to more than 71 years in 1992. In the same period, the annual death rate declined from 23 per 1,000 population to about six per 1,000.
Two major factors help to account for this progress. First, there has been a steady general improvement in the diet of the average citizen, resulting from larger and more reliable crop production. The old problem of periodic famine has largely disappeared, though poor harvests (such as that of the Loess Plateau in 1980) may still result in serious malnutrition. The average daily intake in the early 1990s was 2,700 calories per citizen, which is sufficient to sustain life and support a fair degree of physical activity. This compares with an average intake of 3,000 to 3,500 calories per person in the more heavily industrialized countries of the West.
The second factor is the great improvement in the nature and quality of health care. Diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, typhus, malaria, leprosy, smallpox, typhoid, and bubonic plague traditionally took a heavy toll of lives in China. In addition, a variety of debilitating parasites, such as hookworm and the trematode worm that causes schistosomiasis, were widespread. Dysentery and acute diarrhea were serious problems, especially among young children. Poor diet, insanitary conditions, poverty, and lack of health care made the entire population vulnerable to disease. Fatal illness was frequent and often struck babies and young children.
The Communist government has made a tremendous effort to improve this situation. Inoculation against some diseases has been emphasized, as have cleanliness and sanitation. Health facilities, ranging from hospitals and clinics to “barefoot doctors”—people with some medical training who work especially in the villages—have been made available to the entire population. The cost of health care is low, and it is often provided by the farm commune or factory where a person isemployed.
Most of the epidemic diseases that used to sweep over China have been brought under control. Such diseases as tuberculosis, encephalitis, cholera, and malaria and certain parasites still present problems, but to a lesser degree than in the prerevolutionary period. Diarrhea and dysentery are likely to continue as long as human waste (referred to as night soil) is used as a type of farm fertilizer. Nevertheless, the much improved figures of life expectancy indicate the tremendous progress that has been made in the fight against diseases.
The Economy:-
China’s traditional economy was based on rural activities and farm production. Ownership of land was the main form of wealth, and large holdings often belonged toabsentee landlords who lived in nearby cities. Many peasants were poor and landless and worked as tenants for the absentee landlords or for richer peasants.
For several centuries one of China’s most serious problems has been the rapid growth of the population, which tended to match any increases in food production. This became especially serious after 1800, partly because the supply of farmland grew slowly and partly because the practice of dividing farm holdings among all the surviving sons resulted in ever smaller units of production. Eventually many of the holdings were so small that a family could not sustain itself without going into debt. Once this happened, it was very difficult for the family to clear itself of financial obligation. Large numbers of peasants lost their land as a result. In times of famine and hardship, such families suffered the most.
As rural poverty spread during the 19th and early 20th centuries, many poor and middle peasants were attracted to political movements that promised radical changes and the breakup of large landholdings. The programs of Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek, and the Nationalist party were intended to improve the people’s livelihood, but much of their political support came from landlords. Therefore, it was difficult for the Nationalists to promote effective and thoroughgoing land reform.
The Chinese Communist party had no such ties to landlords. At first the party attempted to focus its attention on urban workers, but it made little progress. One young Communist organizer, Mao Zedong (also Mao Tse-tung) urged that the party concentrate its efforts on the rural peasantry, and eventually this strategy proved successful. The Communists gained power in China partly because of the bad rural conditions that existed there.
When the Communist government took over in 1949, several paths to economic development and growth were available to it. The Soviet model of central direction and planning based on the development of heavy industry was one. Another was to retain central planning but to focus on agricultural development and light industry.Still another was to decentralize decision making and allow market forces to determine—in part at least—how resources were used. This last option is closest to thecapitalism of Western industrialized countries.
Almost by definition any Communist or Marxist system must include a strong element of central direction and planning. China is no different from other Communist states in this respect, and it moved quickly to develop a central planning body to direct the economy and determine the use of resources. The main planning organs are centrally directed by the State Council, the highest administrative body in the government. Under the State Council is the State Planning Commission, which directs the various ministries such as the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ministry of Commerce.
Another important aspect of China’s economic system after 1950 was state ownership of all land and major equipment, what Marxists call the “means of production.”Initially land seized from the big landlords was given to peasant cultivators, but by 1955 all land was taken over by the state and organized into collective farms. A small fraction was later returned to the peasants as their own family plots, but there has not been any true private ownership of land in China since 1955.
Since 1950 China has followed several strategies to promote economic growth and development, but they have all been based on central planning and direction, what is called a “command” economy. However, there have been substantial variations in the amount of decision making left to individuals at the local level and in the types of incentives available to individual farmers and workers. In the early 1950s China followed the Soviet model, focusing on the development of heavy industryto the neglect of other sectors of the economy. Over the years, however, there have been shifts in the relative emphasis placed on heavy industry, light and consumer-oriented industries, and agriculture.
Some of these changes in emphasis have been tied to changes in the political orientation and thinking of leadership. In the past such shifts have often been reflected in major policy statements and associated with mass participation campaigns.
Examples of mass participation campaigns are the Great Leap Forward from 1958 to 1959 and the Four Modernizations program beginning in 1978. The Cultural Revolution was basically a political movement, though it did have far-reaching effects on the economy and on economic development.
Agriculture:-
Agriculture and rural activities are important in China for several reasons. Farming provides the food and fiber needed for the sustenance of China’s people. At the same time, about 60 percent of the people depend on agriculture or related rural activities for their livelihood. Although industry and manufacturing contribute the largest share of China’s total gross national product, agriculture is the economic way oflife followed by the bulk of the population. Agriculture, moreover, has always provided the means of employment for most new workers entering the labor force. Today, with between 12 and 16 million new workers entering the labor force annually, agriculture must continue to absorb tremendous numbers of new workers while continuing to find ways to use these workers productively.
Finally, the agricultural sector is an important potential source of investment money. If, through hard work, good management, and the application of sound, scientific farming, Chinese agriculture is productive, capital surpluses can be created and invested in other sectors ofthe economy. This could accelerate the rate of economic growth and ultimately benefit all of China’s people.
Traditional farming:-
In the thousands of years that farming has been practiced in China, the Chinese have refined and perfected their agricultural techniques. For example, they developed an elaborate system of maintaining the nutrient levels in the soil by collecting all organic wastes (including human wastes), fermenting them, and applying them to the fields. Traditional Chinese agriculture is labor intensive; that is, the emphasis is on using many workers to increase the crop yield per unit of land rather than on increasing the productivity of the individual worker. With each improvement in land management and crop production, the food supply increased, the land was able to support more people, and the population tended to rise accordingly until the pressure on the land became very great again. This cycle has haunted China throughout its history. At the same time, a rising population meant more hands to work the land and make it more productive, but the workers themselves remained in relative poverty. This situation was made worse by the Chinese system of inheritance, whereby the land was subdivided into smaller and smaller holdings in each succeeding generation. By the 16th century China’s farm sector had lagged, and the country was mired in backwardness and poverty.
Another factor that has helped to shape Chinese agriculture is a shortage of farmland, at least relative to the population. Although China has a larger land area than the United States, it has only about half as much land that is suitable for growing crops and more than four times the population. China today has less than 250 million acres (100 million hectares) of land in continuous crop production. For centuries China has struggled to expand the supply of farmland. In the 19th century the migration of Han Chinese into frontier areas in the northeastern and western parts of the country resulted in the opening up of much new land to agriculture. However, these areas are generally cold, dry, or both, and farm productivity there is low compared with the traditional farming areas in the east.
At the same time, a substantial amount of prime farmland has been lost over the years as cities grew, transportation networks expanded, and factories were established or enlarged. This loss has become critical since the late 1940s as a result of rapid urbanization and industrialization. One problem is that most of China’s cities are located in the midst of the best farming regions. Unfortunately, the new irrigation systems that have been constructed to help the farmers also result in a loss of farmland, which is taken over for dams, lakes, canals, and irrigation ditches. Since 1950 the amount of available cropland per person has declinedby half, to one-fourth acre (0.1 hectare). If China’s population continues to grow, the land reclamation projects currently under way will do no more than offset the losses of farmland around the cities.
Socialist agriculture:-
The Communist government that came to power in 1949 was determined to promote socialist agricultural methods. Initially its approach was cautious, since it needed the support and loyalty of the peasants in order to consolidate power. In the early 1950s land was taken away from the landlords and distributed among about 300 million poor peasants. In 1952 the government initiated mutual aid teams, which organized peasants into labor groups that would work together to raise production. At the same time, the government was beginning to extend its control over the peasants. Three years later, the mutual aid teams were combined into producer cooperatives, which pooled the peasants’ lands so they could be farmed collectively. In the following year, 1956, large collective farms were formally established and the state took over ownership of the land. The peasants were permitted to retain small “private plots” for their own use, but they were expected to derive their main livelihood by working together for the collective farm.
In 1958 Mao Zedong, who had become the undisputed leader of the country, initiated a mass campaign called the Great Leap Forward, with the aim of driving the peasants to produce more. At that time, the collectives were merged into large units called communes. Initially, the Great Leap Forward involved a number of new programs, such as rural industrialization, abolition of private plots, and communal eating. However, some of them proved unpopular, and food production began to decline. Perhaps most serious was the abolition of private plots, which drastically reduced pig production and thus the amount of hog manure available for fertilizer. Private plots were restored in 1962. Other aspects of the commune system were retained, and the commune remains the main unit of rural economic organization.
Communes cover from 10 to 50 square miles (25 to 130 square kilometers) and average 15,000 people. They are subdivided administratively into production brigades and production teams. Brigades often serve as administrative and planning subunits, but sometimes they have important production responsibilities as well. Production teams, the primary production units, are usually composed of 80 to 160 people charged with cultivating 20 to 95 acres (8 to 38 hectares) of land. Usually, teams are drawn from a single hamlet, and members often belong to common surname groups (clans) or are old acquaintances.
In 1978 the new post–Mao Zedong leadership group, as part of its Four Modernizations (agriculture, industry, science and technology, and defense) program, introduced a new system of farm production called the Family Production Responsibility System. This system permits individual families to contract with the collective unit, usually the production team, to lease land for farm production. The family agrees to a quota levied by the collective and pays a certain agricultural tax as well. The collective unit provides tools, draft animals, seeds, and other essentials. Any surplus the family produces beyond its quota and taxes may be kept for its own purposes. The family can decide how much of each crop to plant as long as it meets its quota.
This system has expanded rapidly, and it now covers a large percentage of all farm families. The government has acknowledged that some farmers will do better than others and that inequalities will appear. However, the government submits that, since those who are well organized and work hard will be rewarded, overall production will rise and economic growth will accelerate. The early results that could be gathered seemed to confirm this. Overall farm production rose rapidly in 1981 and 1982. Some peasant families did remarkably well and in a number of cases became almost wealthy.
Crops and livestock:-
China’s principal food crops are rice, wheat, corn, gaoliang (Chinese sorghum), millet, barley, and sunflower seeds. Of these, rice is by far the most vital. China is the world’s largest producer of rice, and rice accounts for almost half of the country’s total food-crop output. Rice, wheat, and corn together make up more than 90 percent of China’s total food grain production and occupy about 85 percent of the land under cultivation.
Grain production has risen steadily, from somewhat more than 330 million tons in 1978 to 360 million tons in 1989. There has also been a steady rise in the output of industrial crops, the most important of which are cotton, oil-bearing crops (such as peanuts and rapeseed), sugar (both cane sugar and beet sugar), tobacco, bast fiber (for cordage, matting, and similar uses), tea, and fruits.
Poultry and livestock production, though rising, remains the weakest sector of Chinese agriculture. Livestock numbers are high, but the amount of meat produced per animal is low. Thus, China has 15 percent of the world’s livestock and about 40 percent of its pigs, but it provides only 7 percent of the meat products and 15 percent of the pork.
Agricultural regions:-
In a sense, it is difficult to discuss Chinese agriculture as a whole, because the climate and physical features—and thus the kinds of crops that are cultivated—vary widely from one part of the country to another. In general, for agricultural purposes, three main physical regions can be considered: the west, the north, and the central and south. These can be further subdivided into eight distinctive physical-agricultural regions.
The Tibet-Qinghai Plateau in western China is a high, cold, dry, and extremely rugged area with a short growing season. Farmers here can usually grow only enoughwheat, barley, and potatoes and raise enough sheep, yaks, and horses to provide for the needs of their own families.
Also in western China, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang lie beyond the Great Wall and are known for their dryness. They get less than 12 inches (300 millimeters) of precipitation and in some areas less than one inch (25 millimeters). Herding is the primary economic activity, though oasis agriculture is carried on where water is available. Crops include grain, cotton, sugar beets, and exotic fruits and melons.
In northern China the Loess Plateau lies southeast of the Great Wall and north of the Qin Ling Mountains. The loess that covers most of the area has eroded into badlands in places. This region is dry and has long, cold winters. Drought-tolerant crops such as millet and gaoliang are common. Wheat, corn, and cotton are also planted extensively, especially where irrigation water is available.
The North China Plain lies south of the Great Wall and extends from the coast to the mountains and hills to the west and south. The floodplains of the Huang He andthe Huai He are the main features. Several problems exist here. There is not enough rainfall, the winters are cold and long, and some of the soils are salty because of poor drainage. The main crops are wheat, barley, cotton, corn, gaoliang, millet, and peanuts.
The Northeast (formerly called Manchuria) suffers from extremely cold winters, a short growing season, and poor drainage on the large Northeast Plain. The fields inthis region are large, and heavy farm machinery has been used extensively. The chief crops include spring wheat, corn, millet, gaoliang, flax, and soybeans. A great deal of land reclamation has taken place in Heilongjiang Province. State farms have become the main form of agricultural organization in the land reclamation areas.
The middle and lower Yangtze River basin in central China is the country’s richest and most productive agricultural region, the “rice bowl” of China. The lowlands contain extensive areas of rich, river-borne alluvial soils. Precipitation is abundant, and the winters are mild. Rice is the main crop, but cotton, tea, and oilseeds are also important. Half of the country’s rice is produced in this region. The farming methods are very intensive and yields are high. Much of the fertile land of the middle and lower Yangtze Basin is farmed all year round.
South China includes the region south of the Yangtze Basin along China’s southern and southeastern coasts, a land of rugged hills and low mountains interspersed with river basins. Much of this region lies within the tropics. Precipitation is abundant and the growing season is long, but only 10 percent of the area is flat enough to permit row cropping. The main crops are rice, sugarcane, mulberries (grown primarily for silkworm culture), fruit, and freshwater fishes raised in ponds or rice paddies. The Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) delta plain around Canton is one of the most productive farming regions in China.
The western part of the region also contains the Sichuan Basin and extends south to include the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. Much of this region consists of rugged hills and mountains. Except for the Yuan (Red) River basin and the Chengdu Plain of Sichuan, it is not very productive. Two crops per year of rice is common where the terrain and soil conditions are right. Shifting cultivation of the slash-and-burn type is practiced among isolated peoples in the extreme southwest.
Forestry and Fishing:-
Despite China’s large land area, its forest resources are modest. Much of the western interior is too high or too dry to support dense forest stands. In the humid east,the forests were harvested for centuries for building material and firewood, and little or no effort was made to regenerate them. In 1949 it was estimated that about 8 percent of the total surface of the country was covered with forests. Since then, an active program of forestation has been undertaken and it is estimated that the forested area has been increased to 12 to 13 percent. In recent years about 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of forestland have been added annually. The goal is to have 20 percent of China in forest. By contrast, more than 30 percent of the United States is forested.
As China’s population and economy have grown, demand for wood and paper products has risen rapidly. China has been unable to meet this demand, and it seems doubtful that it will be able to do so in the foreseeable future. For example, there is a great need for railroad ties, electric utility poles, mine props, and buildingjoists. China has had to seek out substitutes, such as concrete poles or steel beams, but these are expensive. Paper products, which tend to be cheap in the UnitedStates, are costly and sometimes hard to get in China. The destruction of forests has also had an effect on watersheds, leading to soil erosion and the silting up of stream channels. This, in turn, results in flooding and raises the cost of irrigation.
China’s main forests are located in the Da Hingan (Great Khingan) and Changbai mountains of the Northeast region and in central and southeastern China. Northern conifers, larch, and birch are common trees of the Northeast. The forests of central and southeastern China are poorer, partly because they have been harvested so extensively. A variety of deciduous and evergreen species grow there, and there are also stands of eucalyptus and tropical hardwoods. Bamboo is an important forest plant, which has a variety of uses both in building construction and furniture making.
China has a long tradition of ocean and freshwater fishing and of aquaculture. Pond raising has always been important and has been increasingly emphasized to supplement coastal and inland fisheries threatened by overfishing. China is a leading producer of fish. In 1993 it produced 17.6 million tons, first among the world’s nations. More than 57 percent of the total catch was from the ocean. The remainder came from rivers, canals, lakes, and ponds.
China’s coastal zone is rich in fishes. All the coastal seas (Bo Hai Gulf, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, and South China Sea) have extensive areas of shallow water over the continental shelf. In these seas, especially the Yellow and East China, cold and warm ocean currents mix, creating an environment that is especially suitable for many species of ocean fishes, including croakers, mackerels, tuna, herring, and sharks. Several varieties of shellfish and specialties such as squid and octopus are also produced.
Fish farming on ponds and lakes in the interior of China is also important. This type of food production, called aquaculture, has a long history in some parts of the country. For example, near Canton there is an area of fishponds, mulberry orchards, and sugarcane fields. The fish are fed the leaves from the sugarcane and the waste from the silkworms, which feed on the mulberry leaves. The mud in the bottom of the fishponds is scraped up and used to fertilize the cane and the mulberry trees. In this way many of the nutrients are recycled. The fishponds produce several varieties of carp, a favorite food in southern China and Hong Kong. Although fish production averages only about 10 pounds (5 kilograms) per person each year, it is an important dietary supplement. The government has identified fishing as an important area for continued research and development.
Mining:-
The total extent of China’s mineral resources is not known, but the country has substantial reserves of many valuable and important minerals and fossil fuels. Many of these deposits have been discovered since 1950, and new ones are still being found. China is well endowed with coal, iron, tin, copper, lead, zinc, molybdenum, tungsten, mercury, antimony, magnesite, and fluorspar. It also has substantial petroleum reserves. There are some significant deficiencies, such as nickel, but generally China has one of the largest and richest stocks of minerals of any country, one that could easily support a modern industrial state.
Important Mined Products:-
Coal is found in great abundance. China has extracted more than 1 billion tons annually in recent years, making it the world’s leading producer. Coal is mined throughout China, though the main production is concentrated in Shanxi, Hebei, and Liaoning provinces in the north and northeast. Both open-pit and underground mining are practiced. Coal is the chief energy resource of the country. In many local areas it is the main material used to produce fertilizers. The government plans to continue expansion of coal production.
Iron and steel manufacturing are major industries in China. There are extensive iron-ore deposits, as well as the coal and limestone needed for steel production. Much of the iron ore is concentrated in the Northeast, the traditional center of the heavy metals industry. Mining of all types of minerals is expanding rapidly. Such minerals as tungsten, aluminum, titanium, and copper have export possibilities.
Petroleum:-
For many years it was believed that China lacked significant petroleum reserves. Production before 1950 was small, and most petroleum products were imported. After 1952 a good deal of effort was spent on petroleum exploration. Extensive deposits and promising sites were located. The main production centers are in the North China Plain and in the Northeast, in Heilongjiang Province at Daqing.
Oil production rose steadily during the 1960s and 1970s but tapered off in 1979 and 1980 at about 779 million barrels yearly. By 1992 China was producing more than 1 billion barrels yearly. Since the mid-1970s China has ranked as one of the ten largest oil-producing countries in the world. A small quantity of this output has been exported to earn foreign currency. Altogether, China’s fossil fuel outlook is promising. China should be able to meet its own energy needs and provide a surplus for export.
China has also developed its enormous hydroelectric potential so that a larger share of its domestic demand for electric power can be met with renewable hydropower. Renewable hydropower is tapped from moving water such as waterfalls and fast-moving streams.
Manufacturing:-
Before the introduction of Western technology in the 19th century, China had a long tradition of local industry going back almost 2,000 years. During that period the Chinese developed many technical innovations. From an early date they produced paper, gunpowder, and silk and printed from movable type. The tradition of making fine porcelain dates at least from the T’ang Dynasty. The production of luxury goods, fine handicrafts, and metalcrafting as well as the manufacture of tools were all well-established industries long before the arrival of Western entrepreneurs and engineers.
In the 19th century European industrial technology was introduced into China. New factories and manufacturing enterprises were established in the so-called treaty port cities, where the Western nations had obtained certain rights. Shanghai became an industrial center, as did some cities along major rivers like the Yangtze. During the 20th century the Northeast region developed rapidly as a center for coal and iron-ore production and the heavy metal and machine-building industries. The Soviets and Japanese, who controlled the area at various times, both invested heavily in the region’s transportation and industry. It became the most industrialized part of the country. Other cities that developed into important industrial centers were Tianjin and Qingdao.
One of the first goals of the Communists after 1949 was to promote the growth of heavy industry, following the model of the Soviet Union. In doing this, they attempted to encourage industrial development in the interior and to avoid concentrating more wealth in the old treaty port cities. New steel mills were constructed at Wuhan on the Yangtze and at Baotou in Inner Mongolia. Other interior cities, such as Zhenzghou, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Ürümqi, Taiyuan, Beijing, and Shijiazhuang, also grew rapidly. At the same time, large coastal cities like Shanghai, Canton, Tianjin, and Lüda continued to attract industries that wished to take advantage of their good transport systems and physical facilities. These cities also provided a skilled labor force and access to international markets.
The whole range of industrial goods is produced in China today, though many consumer products remain in short supply. The output of China’s factories extends from textiles to railway locomotives, jet planes, and computers. China is the world’s largest producer of inexpensive cotton textiles and exports large quantities of textiles and garments. Food processing is important, and many agricultural goods are exported. China is also among the world’s leaders in cement production. Iron-and steelmaking has declined, production having dropped somewhat to about 44 million tons annually. Other industrial products include television sets, bicycles, cars, trucks, and washing machines, though in quality and technical level they lag behind those made in Japan, the United States, and the European countries. The processing and manufacture of chemicals, including fertilizers, petroleum products, and pharmaceuticals, is another large and expanding segment of Chinese industry.
During the 1970s and 1980s China began to develop joint ventures with foreign manufacturers. The foreign concerns provided the technology, capital, and expertise,while China provided the materials, plant location, facilities, and labor. These joint ventures are concentrated in major cities and in special zones along the southeastern coast and are often associated with the production of goods for export.
Another aspect of China’s push to industrialization has been the growth of rural industries, especially after 1960. Rural industrialization associated with five industries (farm machines, chemical fertilizer, cement, iron, and coal) was promoted vigorously during the 1960s and early 1970s. The aim was to produce manufactured goods locally where transportation and distribution systems were poor. The program achieved some success, but the quality of the goods was often low, and the costs of production were high because of the small scale. Eventually, China may abandon this type of production as the economies of large-scale production become more apparent and as transport systems improve. Meanwhile, local industries such as brickmaking and the production of small farm tools and equipment continue to fill an important need in China’s farm economy.
Distribution and Trade:-
Trade in China is carried on at several levels. Within localities and regions, goods and money are exchanged to satisfy local needs and to meet government quotas. At the national level, goods are moved to meet the needs and demands of the overall economy. Internationally, China buys scarce goods and commodities to meet critical needs and sells goods that it can market at competitive prices.
During dynastic times, trade beyond the local level was mostly in luxury goods or in food grains during times of shortage. Trade was restricted because China’s transportation system was poor and the costs of shipping and distribution were high. Since 1949 China’s international trade policy has fluctuated, and its trading partners have changed. Initially, the Communist government traded mainly with the Soviet Union and other Communist-bloc countries and also provided Hong Kong with fresh food. Later, when China’s relations with the Soviet Union became less friendly, there was less emphasis on trade with other Communist countries. Japan,Hong Kong, West Germany, Australia, and Canada became increasingly important as trading partners. Trade with the United States rose dramatically after PresidentRichard Nixon visited China in 1972. By the early 1990s the United States accounted for about 11 percent of China’s total foreign trade. China’s foreign trade as a whole grew from $4.8 billion in 1971 to $166 billion in 1992.
China exports both agricultural commodities and goods (about one third of total exports) and manufactured goods (about half), as well as mineral products such as oil and coal. Foodstuffs account for about 6 percent of total imports and industrial supplies and materials such as crude steel and chemicals for about 50 percent. The remainder consists chiefly of expensive capital goods such as machinery, precision instruments, and transportation equipment. As China has sought to modernize its economy, foreign trade has been used to bring in new equipment and technologies as well as to meet scarcities in the domestic economy. Exports have been used to produce foreign earnings to pay for the imports. The Chinese have sought to maintain an even balance of trade so they can pay for imports rather than buying on credit.
Transportation:-
China’s transportation system has always been poor. Moving people and goods has been a slow, expensive, and sometimes dangerous process. Historically, the only convenient and relatively inexpensive transportation arteries have been a few large, deep rivers, such as the Yangtze, Songhua, Amur, and Xi, and the well-traveled barge canals such as the Grand Canal, a series of waterways linking Hangzhou andBeijing. Even on these waterways travel was slow, and the conditions were sometimes difficult or hazardous. Nevertheless, the river and canal system provided the best means of transportation before the 20th century, and China’s waterways still carry about 44 percent of the country’s total freight traffic.
Railways:-
Railway construction began in China late in the 19th century, and the first line, between Shanghai and Peking (Beijing), was opened in 1903. By World War II more than 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers) of track had been built, primarily in the eastern and northeastern parts of the country. Much of the network was destroyed during the war, but rail construction began anew after 1949 and has continued ever since. By 1993 China had an estimated 43,131 miles (69,412 kilometers) of railroads. (By comparison, the United States had about three times as much trackage in that year.) By 1983 every province-level administrative unit except Tibet was served by rail, and plans were being made to extend a line south from the Lanzhou-Ürümqi line to Lhasa, in Tibet. Railways have become the most important form oftransportation in China. For example, more than 50 percent of the country’s traffic is moved by the railroad system.
China’s rail network consists of a series of north-south trunk lines, crossed by a few major east-west lines. Most of the large cities are served by these trunk lines, but there are few spur or feeder lines, and the density of the network is low. Compared with India, which has 38,000 miles (61,000 kilometers) of railways, China hasonly about 10 percent more track to serve about three times the area. Many of the trunk lines cannot meet the demand for service. The sixth five-year plan (1981 to 1985) called for continued large investment in railways. The investment was used to improve the capacity of existing lines through double tracking or electrification, and to construct short lines where the government decided there was a crucial need for service.
Roads and highways:-
Although it has been in use for many centuries, the road and path network in China has always been poor. Goods and people were carried in various ways. Conditions were bad, and travel was slow and costly. Not until the introduction of automobiles and trucks in the 20th century was there much improvement.
The road and highway system expanded rapidly after World War II, but by Western standards it is still primitive. The network of all-weather roads and highways is not a unified national system with consistent standards, and many of the roads are poor. There are also gaps and bottlenecks. For example, until 1957 there was no bridge over the Yantgze River, and by the early 1980s there were only three.
Despite its shortcomings, the road network is probably adequate to meet current needs. China has only a small number of cars, trucks, and buses as compared with the United States or Japan. In the early 1990s there were only about 7 million motor vehicles, two thirds of which were trucks and buses. China produces only about 200,000 trucks annually and very few automobiles. An increasing number of cars are owned privately. The highway network accounts for only about 2 percent of total freight traffic. Planning for major changes has not received high priority.
Air transportation:-
Civil air transportation in China dates from World War II and the efforts of Claire Chennault, then a retired United States colonel, to build a Chinese air force. After 1949 the new government set up the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (GACAC), which has continued to serve as the nation’s domestic and international air carrier. Most major cities are served by domestic flights, and a few large cities like Canton, Shanghai, and Beijing have international service. GACAC planes fly to Europe, Japan, the United States, and South Asia. Some provincial and urban authorities operate intercity airlines that carry passengers and freight.
Shipping:-
Ocean shipping has grown rapidly since 1970. By 1980 China’s merchant fleet was large enough to carry about three quarters of China’s merchandise trade that moved by sea. In addition, China controlled another fleet of merchant ships registered in Hong Kong. China also has a domestic fleet serving inland and coastal waters.
China builds most of its own ships, some of which are exported. For example, many of the containerships (as well as containers) being built are for export. The government plans to continue expanding the country’s shipping capacity.
Despite large investments in railroad and highway construction, transportation continues to be a bottleneck slowing economic growth. Most people travel little and donot have access to the rail or highway system for other than very short trips. More than 90 percent of the freight in China moves by rail or water, and this seemed unlikely to change before the end of the century. This situation has produced significant variations in regional economic growth.
Communication:-
Considerable effort has been expended on the postal and telecommunications systems in China since 1949, but they are still far from meeting Western standards of speed and efficiency. Between 1949 and 1979 the total length of mail delivery routes was expanded almost sevenfold. However, there is a shortage of modern postal equipment, and most sorting is still done by hand. The bulk of the mail is carried by the nation’s railroad.
As is the case with transportation, the telecommunications system is insufficient to meet the needs of a growing economy. Telephone and short-wave radio provide the basis of the national communications system. China has about 5.9 telephones per 1,000 people, compared with 769 per 1,000 people in the United States. As of 1994 there were 206 million radios and as of 1986 more than 228 million television sets in China, many fewer per person than in most of the heavily industrializedcountries.
Government:-
The government of the People’s Republic of China is highly centralized and operates in a top-down manner. This means that in many cases, decisions and laws that are not explicitly delegated to local governments are dictated by the state.
The Communist Party:-
The Chinese Communist party is the primary political force in China. Unlike parties in Western democracies, it is a tightly organized movement that controls and leads society at all levels. The party sets policy and controls its execution through government officials who are also party members. The effect is to make the government an organ of the party.
At the time of its founding in 1921, the Chinese Communist party focused on organizing urban workers, but it achieved only limited success in this effort. Orthodox Marxism expected the Communist Revolution to begin among industrial workers. However, Karl Marx had developed his theories based upon highly industrialized economies, and the industrial sector in China was small and relatively primitive. It was Mao Zedong who adapted Marxist theory to the conditions of an underdeveloped, primarily agricultural society (see Mao Zedong). Although Mao’s successors downgraded some of his more radical ideas, Marxism-Leninism-Mao Thought—Marxism as it was interpreted by Mao—is still officially designated as the guiding philosophy that is behind both the party and the government.
The Chinese Communist party is organized as a hierarchy, with power concentrated at the top. Above the local units, or cells, is a pyramid-like structure of party congresses and committees at various levels, culminating in the National Party Congress. The national congress is supposed to meet every five years, though this has not always been the case. When it is not in session, direction of the party is in the hands of a Central Committee of about 200 members, which is elected by the congress. The Central Committee, in turn, elects the Political Bureau, which in 1992 consisted of 19 members. It is within the Political Bureau and its elite Standing Committee that power is concentrated and the highest level decisions of state are made. There is also a secretariat that carries on the day-to-day business of the party.
Prior to 1982, the highest party office was that of chairman, held for more than 25 years, through most of the People’s Republic’s history to that time, by Mao Zedong. In an effort to ensure that the power Mao had enjoyed was never again concentrated in one person, a new party constitution adopted in 1982 abolished the chairmanship and replaced it with the administrative position of general secretary to the Secretariat. The constitution also established a body called the Central Advisory Commission to assist and advise the Central Committee. One of the objects of the commission was to encourage elderly party leaders to continue to be active in various functions of the Communist party. The commission became an obstacle to reform and was abolished in 1992.
Theoretically, party membership is open to anyone over 18 who accepts the party program and is willing to work actively in one of its organizations. Members are expected to abide by the party’s discipline and to serve as model workers. The backbone of the party consists of full-time paid workers known as cadres (Chinese, ganbu). The term cadre is also used for public officials holding responsible positions who may or may not be members of the party.
The National Government:-
The People’s Republic was first governed according to the ‘Common Program’ and organic laws adopted in 1949. Four constitutions followed, each reflecting shifts in policy and the balance of power among factions of the top leadership. The 1982 constitution was designed to solidify the position of the leadership after Mao.
Like the party, the government structure forms a pyramid, ranging from local units such as residents’ (urban) and villagers’ committees through counties and prefectures to the 21 provinces, five autonomous regions, and three special status municipalities (Beijing, Shanghai, and Tianjin), each with its people’s congress and administrative organs. At the top of the government structure is the national government in Beijing.
Legislative authority is vested in the National People’s Congress, and the Standing Committee of the Congress exercises its functions between sessions. The highest administrative organ is the State Council (similar to the United States Cabinet), headed by the premier. The 1975 constitution abolished the post of president(chairman of the republic), and for a time the chairman of the Standing Committee served as nominal head of state. The presidency was reinstated by the constitution of 1982.
The court system parallels the administrative system. However, the Chinese have traditionally tended to resolve conflicts through social rather than legal or judicial mediation, and the rule of law as it is known in Western countries is not well established. There are few lawyers, and legal methods are not familiar to most Chinese.
International Relations:-
The People’s Republic has undergone several shifts in foreign policy since 1949. Initially, it was closely tied to the Soviet Union and firmly identified as a member of the socialist camp.
Within a few years, however, the Sino-Soviet relationship had begun to deteriorate, the victim, among other factors, of differing national interests, differing interpretations of Marxism, and Chinese resentment over heavy-handed Soviet attempts at control. By the mid-1960s China and the Soviet Union had become openlyhostile toward each other.
China was largely isolated from the rest of the world during the height of the Cultural Revolution, but when the upheavals subsided it began to take a more practical foreign policy line. Trade was opened up with a number of Western countries, China started to play an active role in international organizations, and diplomatic relations were established with countries willing to recognize the People’s Republic—rather than the Nationalist government on Taiwan—as the government of China. Most dramatically, contacts were begun with the United States, leading to full diplomatic recognition on Jan. 1, 1979.
While China’s political system changed little by the 1990s, its economy had become the fastest-growing in the world. Relations with the United States became unstable on two fronts. The Chinese government refused to allow the human rights concerns to become an issue in trade talks. Trade itself became a major issue, as exports to the United States exceeded imports. In addition, North Korea’s probable possession of nuclear weapons posed an unsettling problem for China and the United States in the mid-1990s.
History:-
With more than 4,000 years of recorded history, China is one of the few modern countries that also flourished economically and culturally in the earliest stages of world civilization. Indeed, despite the political and social upheavals that frequently ravaged the country, China is unique among nations in its longevity and resilience.
Beginnings and Early History:-
Archaeological evidence suggests that China is one of the cradles of the human race. The earliest known human in China, whose fossilized skull was unearthed in Shanxi Province in 1963, is believed to date back to 600,000 BC. The remains of Sinanthropus pekinensis, known as Peking Man and dating back to 400,000 BC, were excavated in 1923 at Zhoukoudianzhen near Peking. Peking Man was closely related to Pithecanthropus of Java and lived during the Old Stone Age. In the upper caves of Zhoukoudianzhen are found artifacts of a late Old Stone Age man (50,000–35,000 BC), who ranks in age with the Cro-Magnon of Europe. This was an early form of Homo sapiens, or modern man, who made tools out of bones as well as stones, made clothes out of animal hides, and knew how to make fire.Around the 4th or 3rd millennium BC, in the New Stone Age, great changes occurred in the lives of the ancient Chinese. Larger numbers of people began living together at settled places, cultivating land, and domesticating animals. These people made polished stone tools and built shelters in pit dwellings and beehive huts that were covered with reed roofs. Such villages were found mostly in the area of the great bend of the Huang He on the North China Plain. Despite its severe winters, this areawas well suited to agriculture. In fact, it closely resembled the other cradles of ancient civilizations, such as the valley of the Nile in Egypt.
The people of this period (3000–2000 BC) also developed the art of making pottery for storing food and drink. Two distinct types have been discovered: red clay pots with swirling black designs in the northwest near Yangshao village, and smooth black pottery in northeast China near Lungshan, a site in Shandong Province.
The Shang Dynasty (1766–1122 BC):-
Before the Shang, Chinese tradition mentions a Hsia Dynasty, but for lack of evidence, the Hsia is still considered a legendary period. Until the late 1920s the Shang Dynasty too was thought to be legendary but discoveries made near the modern city of Anyang (the site of the Shang capital) in Henan Province proved that the dynasty existed. The most important of these discoveries was the finding of over 100,000 bones and shells with still-recognizable characters inscribed on them. These oracle bones and shells, originally used as religious objects, represent the earliest form of the Chinese writing system. In addition to the oracle bones and shells, the superb Shang bronzes and the tombs of the Shang rulers reveal a highly developed society.
The Shang are distinguished from the New Stone Age people by their settled life-style and their highly developed bronze-making technique. The Shang used bronze to make weapons, daily tools, and elaborately decorated sacrificial vessels.
The last Shang ruler was reportedly evil and tyrannical. He was overthrown by a revolt of the people, who were aided by the neighboring Chou people. The leader of the Chou was named Wu. With his brother’s help, he defeated the Shang and founded the Chou Dynasty.
The Chou Dynasty (1122–221 BC):-
The Chou conquest of the Shang was given an important meaning by later moralistic interpretations of the event. The Chou kings, whose chief deity was heaven, called themselves “Sons of Heaven,” and their success in overcoming the Shang was seen as the “mandate of heaven.” From this time on, Chinese rulers were called “Sons of Heaven” and the Chinese Empire, the “Celestial Empire.” The transfer of power from one dynasty to the next was based on the mandate of heaven.Chou rule in China continued for nearly nine centuries. During that time great advances were made. The long period of the Chou Dynasty is divided into two subperiods: Western (Early) and Eastern (Later) Chou, named for the locations of the capitals.
Western (Early) Chou (1122–771 BC):-
Western Chou territory covered most of the North China Plain. It was divided into about 200 princely domains. The Chou political system was similar to the feudal system of medieval Europe.
The Chou people combined hunting and agriculture for a living. Associating the success or failure of crops with the disposition of nature, the people prayed to numerous nature gods for good harvests. One of the ruler’s duties was to placate heaven and Earth for all people. Failure to do so deprived him of the right to rule. Such beliefs are still widely held today among the Chinese people. Ancestor worship also developed during the Chou period and has been important in East Asia forthe last 2,000 years.
The Chou were invaded in 771 BC by a less cultured, more militaristic people from the northwest. The capital was moved east to Luoyang. From this point on, the dates are considered reliable. The manner in which the Western Chou fell followed a pattern that was repeated throughout Chinese history. People who led a nomadic, or wandering, life in the northern steppe land would invade settled agricultural communities to solve periodic food shortages.
The conflict between the nomads and settled farmers has been a continuing feature of Chinese history. Settled Chinese called the nomads “barbarians,” a term applied to all peoples of non-Chinese culture up to the 20th century. From this concept an idea developed that China was the center of the civilized world, hence the traditional name “Middle Kingdom/Country,” referring to China.
Eastern (Later) Chou (771–221 BC):-
The Eastern Chou is also two periods. The first is Ch’un Ch’iu, the Spring and Autumn period (771–481 BC), named for a book credited to Confucius. The second is Chan-kuo, the Warring States period (481–221 BC).
In the Spring and Autumn period, iron replaced bronze for tools and weapons. The use of iron led to an increase in agricultural output, growth of the population, and warfare among the states. By the 4th century BC the number of states had shrunk to seven. In 256 BC the princes of those states assumed the title of king, stopped paying homage to the Chou king, and continued to fight for supremacy. The strongest of the seven states was Ch’in.
The disruption caused by this prolonged warfare had a number of long-range consequences. One was the rise of a new social group, the scholars (shi). They were forerunners of the scholar-officials of the Chinese Empire, who became the most influential group in China. In the Later Chou period, however, they were a relatively small group of learned people. Often wandering from state to state in search of permanent employment, the shi worked as tutors to the children of feudal princes and as advisers to various state governments. The most famous of these scholarly shi was Confucius.
Age of philosophies:-
Confucius is a latinized form of the honorific title K’ung-fu-tzu (Master K’ung), given to a wandering scholar from the state of Lu in Shandong Province in northeastern China. Although little known in his lifetime, Confucius was revered as the greatest of sages throughout most of China’s history. His teaching, Confucianism, was the state teaching from the beginning of the Han Dynasty in 202 BC to the end of the imperial period in 1911.
Disturbed by constant warfare among the states, Confucius taught that most of the ills of society happened because people forgot their stations in life and rulers lostvirtue. He advocated a return to the golden antiquity of the emperors Yao and Shun, when rulers were virtuous and people knew their places. Therefore, Confucius’ primary concern lay in social relations, proper conduct, and social harmony. Confucius defined five cardinal relationships: between ruler and ruled, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between older and younger brothers, and between friends. Except for the last case, all of the defined relationships are between superiors and inferiors. He emphasized the complete obedience and loyalty of the inferior to the superior but also mentioned the benevolence of the superior to the inferior. The ideal Confucian family was an extended one of three or four generations, in which authority rested with the elderly male members. Filial piety (obedience to parents) was one of the most important virtues emphasized by later Confucians.
Confucius reportedly spent his last years editing and completing some of the books that came to be known as Five Classics. These include the ‘Classic of Poetry’, ‘Classic of History’, ‘Spring and Autumn Annals’, ‘Record of Rites’, and ‘Classic of Changes’, or ‘I Ching’. Memorized by scholars for generations in China, these books and four other works, including the ‘Analects’, a compilation of Confucian teachings, were the subjects of civil service examinations for over 2,000 years.
Confucianism commanded a greater following some 200 years later, during the time of Mencius, or Meng-tzu (371–289 BC). He was second only to Confucius himself in shaping Confucianism. His three main tenets were the basic good nature of human beings, the notion of society with a distinct distribution of functions, and the ruler’s obligation to the people. On the last point, Mencius elaborated on the concept of the mandate of heaven, which allows that rulers lose support of heaven when they cease to be virtuous. The concept served as the basis of revolts in China and the succession of new rulers.
Two other philosophies that have had an enduring influence on Chinese thought are Taoism and Legalism. Taoism gave the Chinese an alternative to Confucianism—passivity and escape to nature—while Legalism provided the Chinese state with one of its basic doctrines.
The Ch’in Empire (221–206 BC):-
After nearly 900 years, the Chou Dynasty came to an end when the state of Ch’in, the strongest of the seven surviving states, unified China and established the first empire in 221 BC. The Ch’in empire did not last long, but it left two enduring legacies: the name China and the idea and structure of the empire. This heritage outlasted the Ch’in Dynasty itself by more than 2,000 years.
The first Ch’in emperor was called Ch’in Shih Huang Ti. The title of emperor was used for the first time in Chinese history to set the Ch’in ruler apart—as the ruler of the unified land—from the kings, the heads of the earlier, smaller states. The construction of massive palaces and the ceremony of the court further enhanced the power of the emperor by inspiring awe in the people.
A centralized bureaucracy replaced the old feudal system. The empire was divided into provinces and counties, which were governed by centrally appointed governors and magistrates. The former ruling families who had inherited their places in the aristocracy were uprooted and forced to live in the capital of Xianyang. Other centralizing policies included census taking and standardization of the writing system and weights and measures.
The Ch’in army conducted massive military campaigns to complete the unification of the empire and expand its territory. The Ch’in empire stretched from the Mongolian plateau in the north to Vietnam in the south. As with rulers before and after him, the first emperor was preoccupied with defending his territory against northern nomads. After waging several successful campaigns, the emperor ordered the building of the wall of “ten thousand li” (a li is a Chinese unit of distance) to protect the empire. This task involved connecting the separate walls that were built by former northern states to form the famous Great Wall. The Ten Thousand Li Wall, as it is known in China, is 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) long, from 15 to 50 feet (5 to 15 meters) high, and from 15 to 25 feet (5 to 8 meters) wide. Although closely linked with the first ruler of the Ch’in Empire, the wall as it stands today dates mainly from the later Ming Dynasty.
Ch’in Shih Huang Ti’s harsh rule provoked much opposition. The emperor feared the scholars most. He had them rounded up and put them to death or sent them into exile. Many went into hiding. Moreover, all books, except technical ones, were confiscated and burned. In the last years of his life, Ch’in Shih Huang Ti became fearful of threats on his life and lived in complete secrecy. He also became obsessed with obtaining immortality. He died in 210 BC in Shandong Province, far from the capital of Xianyang, during one of his long quests to find the elixir of life.
The Ch’in empire disintegrated rapidly after the death of the first emperor. The legitimate heir was killed in a palace intrigue, and a less able prince was put on the throne. Conditions worsened throughout the empire. In 209 BC, rebellions erupted all over China. Two men had the largest following. Hsiang Yü was a general of aristocratic background; Liu Pang was a minor official from a peasant family. By 206 BC rebels had subdued the Ch’in army and destroyed the capital. The struggle between Hsiang Yü and Liu Pang continued for the next four years, however, until Liu Pang emerged as the victor in 202 BC. Taking the title of Kao Tsu, High Progenitor, he established the Han Dynasty.
The Han Empire (202 BC–AD 220):-
The four-century-long Han rule is divided into two periods: the Earlier or Western Han and the Later or Eastern Han. In between these two was the short-lived Hsin Dynasty (AD 9–23).
Earlier (Western) Han (202 BC–AD 9):-
The Han Kao Tsu preserved many features of the Ch’in imperial system, such as the administrative division of the country and the central bureaucracy. But the Han rulers lifted the Ch’in ban on philosophical and historical writings. Han Kao Tsu called for the services of men of talent, not only to restore the destroyed classics but to serve as officials in the government. From that time, the Chinese Empire was governed by a body of officials theoretically selected on merit. Such a practice has few parallels elsewhere at this early date in human history.
In 124 BC, during the reign of Wu Ti (140–87, the Martial Emperor), an imperial university was set up for the study of Confucian classics. The university recruited talented students, and the state supported them. Starting with 50 when the university first opened, the number of government-supported students reached 30,000 by the end of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu also established Confucianism as the official doctrine of the state. This designation lasted until the end of the Chinese Empire.
The Early Han faced two major difficulties: invasions by the barbarian Huns and the influence of the imperial consort families. In the Han Dynasty, the Huns (known as Hsiung-nu by the Chinese) threatened the expanding Chinese Empire from the north. Starting in Wu Ti’s reign, costly, almost century-long campaigns had to be carried out to establish Chinese sovereignty along the northern and northwestern borders. Wu Ti also waged aggressive campaigns to incorporate northern Korea in 108 BC and northern Annam in 111 BC into the Han empire. The Early Han’s other difficulty started soon after the first emperor’s death. The widowed Empress Lü dominated politics and almost succeeded in taking the throne for her family. Thereafter, families of the empresses exerted great political influence. In AD 9 Wang Mang, a nephew of the empress, seized the throne and founded a new dynasty of Hsin.
Wang Mang’s overambitious reform program alienated him from the landlords. At the same time the peasants, disappointed with Wang’s inability to push through the reform, rose in rebellion. In AD 17 a rebel group in Shandong painted their faces red (hence their name, Red Eyebrows) and adopted religious symbols, a practice later repeated by peasants who rebelled in times of extreme difficulty. Wang Mang’s force was defeated, and he was killed in AD 23.
Later (Eastern) Han (AD 23–220):-
The new ruler who restored peace and order was a member of the house of Han, the original Liu family. His title was Kuang Wu Ti, “Shining Martial Emperor,” from AD 25 to 57. During the Later Han, which lasted another 200 years, a concerted but unsuccessful effort was made to restore the glory of the former Han. The Later Han scored considerable success in recovering lost territories, however. Sent to befriend the tribes on the northwestern frontier in AD 73, a great diplomat-general, Pan Ch’ao, eventually led an army of 70,000 almost to the borders of eastern Europe. Pan Ch’ao returned to China in 101 and brought back information about the Roman Empire. The Romans also knew about China, but they thought of it only as the land where silk was produced.
The Later Han period was particularly plagued with evils caused by eunuchs, castrated males recruited from the lower classes to serve as bodyguards for the imperial harem. Coming from uneducated and poor backgrounds, they were ruthlessly ambitious once they were placed within reach of power. Toward the end of the Later Han, power struggles between the eunuchs and the landlord-officials were prolonged and destructive. Peasant rebellions of the Taoist-leaning Yellow Turbans in 184 and the Five Pecks of Rice in 190 led to the rise of generals who massacred over 2,000 eunuchs, destroyed the capital, and one after another became dictators. By 207 General Ts’ao Ts’ao had emerged as dictator in the north. When he died in 220 his son removed the powerless emperor and established the kingdom of Wei. The Eastern Han came to an end, and the empire was divided into the three kingdoms of Wei, Shu Han, and Wu. The pattern of the rise and fall of Han was to be repeated in later periods. This characteristic came to be known as the dynastic cycle.
Han culture:-
The Chinese show their pride in Han accomplishments by calling themselves the Han people. Philosophies and institutions that began in the Chou and Ch’in periods reached maturity under the Han. During Han times, the Chinese distinguished themselves in making scientific discoveries, many of which were not known to Westerners until centuries later. The Chinese were most advanced in astronomy. They invented sundials and water clocks, divided the day equally into ten and then into 12 periods, devised the lunar calendar that continued to be used until 1912, and recorded sunspots regularly. In mathematics, the Chinese were the first to use the place value system, whereby the value of a component of a number is indicated by its placement. Other innovations were of a more practical nature: wheelbarrows, locks to control water levels in streams and canals, and compasses.
The Han Chinese were especially distinguished in the field of art. The famous sculpture of the “Han flying horse” and the carving of the jade burial suit found in Han period tombs are only two superb examples. The technique of making lacquer ware was also highly developed.
The Chinese are proudest of the tradition of historical writing that began in the Han period. Ssu-ma Ch’ien (145?–85? BC) was grand historian (an office that combined the duties of court recorder and astronomer) during the time of Wu Ti. His ‘Historical Records’, which took ten years to complete, established the pattern and style followed by subsequent histories. In the Later Han, the historical tradition was continued by the Pan family. Pan Piao, the father, started to bring Ssu-ma Ch’ien’s ‘Records’ up to date. The work was continued by his son Pan Ku (twin brother of the general Pan Ch’ao) and was completed by his daughter Pan Chao, China’s earliest and most famous woman scholar. Unlike Ssu-ma Ch’ien, the Pan family limited their work to 230 years of the Early Han. This was the first of the dynastic histories, subsequently written for every dynasty. Pan Chao also wrote a highly influential work on the education of women, ‘Lessons for Women’. ‘Lessons’ emphasized the “virtues” of women, which restricted women’s activities.
The Confucianism that the Han Dynasty restored differed from the original teachings of Confucius. The leading Han philosophers, Tung Chung-shu and others, used principles derived from the early Chinese philosophy of nature to interpret the ancient texts. The Chinese philosophy of nature explained the workings of the universe by the alternating forces of yin and yang—dark and light—and the five elements: earth, wood, metal, fire, and water. The Han period was marked by a broad eclecticism. Many Han emperors favored Taoism, especially the Taoist idea of immortality.
The Period of Disunity (220–581):-
After the fall of the Later Han, the Chinese Empire remained divided for three and a half centuries. The first half-century began with the domination of the Three Kingdoms: Wei under the Ts’ao family in the north, Shu Han under Liu Pei in the southwest, and Wu under Sun Ch’üan in the southeast. Invaders from the north soon overran the kingdoms and set up their own states, but the Northern Wei Dynasty (386–534), established by one of the barbarian tribes, the Toba, was the only one to last. Four dynasties established by the Chinese ruled in the south during the 4th and 5th centuries. The Three Kingdoms period was made famous by the novel ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’, which glamorized the period as an age of chivalry.
Although Buddhism first entered China from India during the Later Han, in the time of Han Ming Ti (AD 58–76), it did not become popular until the end of the 3rd century. The prevailing disorders, aggravated by barbarian invasions and the flight of northern Chinese to the south, heightened the attraction of Buddhism with its promise of personal salvation, despite its lack of affinity with the society-oriented thought of the Chinese. Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, a prince of the Sakya kingdom on the borders of what are now India and Nepal and a contemporary of Confucius. Intent on finding relief for human suffering,he received a moment of enlightenment while meditating under a Bo tree. The Buddha taught that desires are the source of pain, and that by overcoming desires, pain can be eliminated. To this end, he advocated meditation and pursuing the Eightfold Path, similar to the Ten Commandments of Judaism and Christianity. The objective was to reach Nirvana, the condition of serenity of spirit, where all cravings, strife, and pain have been overcome, giving way to a merging of the spirit with eternal harmony.
At an early stage of its development, Buddhism split into two major trends, Mahayana (Greater Vehicle) and Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle). Hinayana remained closer to the original Buddhism and is still the religion of the Southeast Asian countries. The Buddhism of China, Korea, Japan, Nepal, Tibet, and Vietnam, however, stems largely from Mahayana. Mahayana Buddhism contained more popular elements, such as belief in repetitive prayers, heaven and deities—bodhisattvas—who would help people gain salvation. It also readily adapted to the land and people it converted. In China, it split into several schools, including Ch’an (Zen in Japan), T’ien-t’ai (Tendai in Japan), and Pure Land.
Reunification and Expansion:-
The Sui dynasty, though relatively short in timespan, reunified China after nearly four centuries of political fragmentation, during which the north and south developed in different ways. The T’ang Dynasty, which succeeded the Sui period, developed a successful form of government and administration and stimulated a cultural and artistic flowering that amounted to a golden age.
The Sui Dynasty (581–618):-
The prolonged period of disunity finally ended when a general from the northwest united China by establishing the new dynasty of Sui. A second great period of imperial unity was begun. The relationship of the Sui to the succeeding T’ang Dynasty was much like that of the Ch’in to the Han. It served as the unifying foundation on which its successor could build. The first Sui emperor, Wen Ti, introduced a series of economic reforms, such as reduction of the peasants’ taxes, a careful census for equitable tax collection, and restoration of the equal allocation system used in the Northern Wei. Every taxable male received a grant of land, part of which was returnable when he ceased to be a taxpayer at age 60 and part of which he could pass on to his heirs. He also revived the Han system of examinations based on Confucian classics.
Sui Wen Ti’s premature death might have been caused by his ambitious son Yang Ti, whose grandiose projects and military campaigns ultimately led to the Sui’s downfall. Some of his projects were productive, especially the construction of the Grand Canal, which linked up the Huang, Huai, and Yangtze rivers and connected north and south China.
Yang Ti’s overly ambitious scheme of expanding his empire led to disastrous wars against Korea. After a series of futile expeditions, the Chinese army of over a million was defeated and forced to flee. In 618, Yang Ti was assassinated in an army coup; one of the coup leaders, Li Shih-min, installed his father as emperor, founding the T’ang Dynasty. After about a decade, during which he was able to secure his father’s abdication, he took the throne himself in 626 as the emperor T’ai Tsung.
The T’ang Dynasty (618–907):-
The T’ang emperors set up a political system in which the emperor was supreme and government officials were selected on the bases of merit and education. The early T’ang rulers applied the equal allocation system rigorously to bring about a greater equity in taxation and to insure the flow of taxes to the government. A censuswas taken every three years to enforce the system, which also involved drafting people to do labor. These measures led to an agricultural surplus and the development of units of uniform value for the principal commodities, two of the most important prerequisites for the growth of commerce and cities.
The T’ang capital of Chang’an was one of the greatest commercial and cosmopolitan cities in the world at that time. Like most capitals of China, Chang’an was composed of three parts: the palace, the imperial city, and the outer city, separated from each other by mighty walls.
The T’ang was a period of great imperial expansion, which reached its greatest height in the first half of the 8th century. At that time, Chinese control was recognized by people from Tibet and Central Asia in the west to Mongolia, Manchuria (now the Northeast region of China), and Korea in the north and Annam in the south.
Religion:-
Confucianism was restored as the official religion, but other religions were allowed during most of the T’ang period. Religious institutions, represented by Muslim mosques, Christian churches, Buddhist temples, and others were established in Chang’an.
Buddhism flourished during the first century of T’ang rule under Empress Wu, the only woman to rule China in her own name. Buddhist monasteries received endowments of land and treasure. They became important landowners and rich agricultural communities and also acquired many other functions. The monasteries acted as sanctuaries, inns, hospitals, and places to register births and deaths. In time, they came to represent a challenge to the state and to the accepted order.
By the 9th century the sporadic imposition of restrictions by the government had turned into full-scale persecution. Financial reasons and the activities of Taoist priests competing for imperial patronage were the motivating forces. In the persecutions that took place during the 840s, over 4,000 monasteries and 40,000 shrines were destroyed, and more than 250,000 monks and nuns were defrocked by the imperial forces.
The An Lu-shan rebellion:-
Most of the T’ang accomplishments were attained during the first century of the dynasty’s rule, through the early part of Emperor Hsüan Tsung’s long reign from 712 to 756. However, late in his reign he neglected government affairs to indulge in his love of art and study. This led to the rise of viceroys, commanders responsible for military and civil affairs in the regions. An Lu-shan was a powerful viceroy commanding the northwest border area. He had both connections at the imperial court andhidden imperial ambitions. In 755 he rose in rebellion.
The emperor fled the capital with an ill-equipped army. These troops soon rebelled and forced the emperor to abdicate in favor of his son.
The new emperor raised a new army to fight the rebels. An Lu-shan was assassinated in 757, but the war dragged on until 763. Afterward, the Chinese Empire virtually disintegrated once again. The provinces remained under the control of various regional commanders. The dynasty continued to linger on for another century, but the T’ang empire never fully recovered the central authority, prosperity, and peace of its first century.
The most serious problem of the last century of T’ang was the rise of great landlords who were exempt from taxation. Unable to pay the exorbitant taxes collected twice a year after the An Lu-shan rebellion, peasants would place themselves under the protection of a landlord or become bandits. Peasant uprisings, beginning with the revolt under the leadership of Huang Ch’ao in the 870s, left much of central China in ruins.
In 881 Huang Ch’ao’s rebels, now numbering over 600,000 people, destroyed the capital, forcing the imperial court to move east to Luoyang. Another rebel leader founded a new dynasty, called Later Liang, at Kaifeng in Henan Province in 907, but he was unable to unify all China under his rule. This second period of disunity lasted only half a century. Once again, however, China was divided between north and south, with five dynasties in the north and ten kingdoms in the south.
T’ang culture:-
Buddhist influence in art, especially in sculpture, was strong during the T’ang period. Fine examples of Buddhist sculpture are preserved in rock temples, such as those at Yongang and Longmen in northwest China. The invention of printing and improvements in papermaking led to the printing of a whole set of Buddhist sutras (discourses of the Buddha) by 868. By the beginning of the 11th century all of the Confucian classics and the Taoist canon had been printed. In secular literature, the T’ang is especially well known for poetry. The great T’ang poets such as Li Po and Tu Fu were nearly all disillusioned officials.
The T’ang period marked the beginnings of China’s early technological advancement over other civilizations in the fields of shipbuilding and firearms development. Both reached new heights in the succeeding dynasty of Sung.
The Sung Dynasty (960–1279):-
Over 300 years of Sung history is divided into the two periods of Northern and Southern Sung. Because of the barbarian occupation of northern China the second halfof the Sung rule was confined to the area south of the Huai River.
Northern Sung (960–1126):-
General Chao K’uang-yin, later known as Sung T’ai Tsu, was said to have been coerced to become emperor in order to unify China. Wary of power-hungry commanders, Sung T’ai Tsu made the military into a national army under his direct control. Under his less capable successors, however, the military increasingly lost prestige. Unfortunately for China, the weakening of the military coincided with the rise of successive strong nomad nations on the borders.
In contrast to the military’s loss of prestige, the civil service rose in dignity. The examination system that had been restored in the Sui and T’ang was further elaborated and regularized. Selection examinations were held every three years at the district, provincial, and metropolitan levels.
Only 200 out of thousands of applicants were granted the jinshi degree, the highest degree, and appointed to government posts. From this time on, civil servants became China’s most envied elite, replacing the hereditary nobles and landlords.
Sung dominion extended over only part of the territories of earlier Chinese empires. The Khitans controlled the northeastern territories, and the Hsi Hsia (Western Hsia) controlled the northwestern territories. Unable to recover these lands, the Sung emperors were compelled to make peace with the Khitans in 1004 and with the Hsi Hsia in 1044. Massive payments to the barbarians under the peace terms depleted the state treasury, caused hardship to taxpaying peasants, and gave rise to a conflict in the court among advocates of war, those who favored peace, and reformers.
In 1069 Emperor Shen Tsung appointed Wang An-shih as chief minister. Wang proposed a number of sweeping reforms based on the classical text of the ‘Rites of Chou’. Many of his “new laws” were actually revivals of earlier policies, but officials and landlords opposed his reforms. When the emperor and Wang died within a year of each other, the new laws were withdrawn. For the next several decades, until the fall of the Northern Sung in 1126, the reformers and antireformers alternatedin power, creating havoc and turmoil in government.
In an effort to regain territory lost to the Khitans, the Sung sought an alliance with the newly powerful Juchens from Manchuria. Once the alliance had expelled the Khitans, however, the Juchens turned on the Sung and occupied the capital of Kaifeng. The Juchens established the dynasty of Chin, a name meaning “gold,” which lasted from 1115 to 1234, in the north. They took the emperor and his son prisoner, along with 3,000 others, and ordered them to be held in Manchuria.
Southern Sung (1126–1279):-
Another imperial son fled south and settled in 1127 at Hangzhou, where he resumed the Sung rule as the emperor Kao Tsung. The Sung retained control south of the Huai River, where they ruled for another one and a half centuries.
Although militarily weak and limited in area, the Southern Sung represented one of China’s most brilliant periods of cultural, commercial, maritime, and technological development. Despite the loss of the north, trade continued to expand, enabling a commercial revolution to take place in the 13th century. Cut off from the traditional overland trade routes, Sung merchants turned to the ocean with the aid of such improvements as compasses and huge oceangoing ships called junks. The development of a paper money economy stimulated commercial growth and kept it going.
The Sung cities:-
Oceanic and coastal trade was concentrated in large ports such as Canton, Hangzhou, and Chuanzhou (Marco Polo’s Zayton), where largeforeign trading communities developed. Koreans dominated the trade with the eastern islands, while Persians and Arabs controlled commerce across the western seas. Along with commercial expansion came the urbanization, or increasing importance of cities, in Sung society. Hangzhou, the Southern Sung capital, had a population of more than 2 million. Commercialization and urbanization had a number of effects on Chinese society. People in the countryside faced the problems of absentee landlordism. Although many city residents enjoyedluxury, with a great variety of goods and services, poverty was widespread.
A change associated with urbanization was the decline in the status of women of the upper classes. With the concentration of the upper classes in the cities, where the work of women became less essential, women were treated as servants and playthings. This was reflected in the practices of concubinage and of binding girls’ feet to make them smaller. Neither practice was banned until the 20th century.
Culture in the Sung period:-
The Sung period was noted for landscape painting, which in time came to be considered the highest form of classical art. The city-dwelling people of the Sung period romanticized nature. This romanticism, combined with a mystical, Taoist approach to nature and a Buddhist-inspired contemplative mood, was reflected in landscape paintings showing people dwarfed by nature.
In philosophy, the trend away from Buddhism and back to Confucianism, which had begun in the late T’ang, continued. Pure and simple restoration of the ancient teaching was impossible, however, because Confucianism had been challenged by Buddhism and Taoism. Confucianism needed to explain humanity and the universe as well as to regulate human relations within society. In the late T’ang and early Sung, several strands of Confucianism emerged. The great scholar Chu Hsi synthesized elements of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. This reconstituted philosophy became known as Neo-Confucianism, and it was the orthodox state doctrine until the end of the imperial system. Chu Hsi’s philosophy was one that stressed dualism, the goodness of human nature, and self-cultivation by education through the continuing “investigation of things.”
The Sung scholars and historians also attempted to synthesize history. Ssu-ma Kuang made the first effort at producing a comprehensive history since Ssu-ma Ch’ien of the Han. In 294 chapters, he wrote a chronological account of the period from 403 BC to AD 959, which was abridged by Chu Hsi in the 12th century. Anotherfirst in Sung scholarship was the creation of encyclopedias. ‘Assembled Essentials on the T’ang’, a collection completed in 961, became the example for the varioustypes of encyclopedic literature that followed.
The Sung period is famous for porcelain with a celadon glaze, which was one of the most desired items in foreign trade (see Pottery and Porcelain). The development of gunpowder led to the invention of a type of hand grenade. In shipbuilding, the great seagoing junks were admired and imitated by Arab and Western sailors. By far the largest ships in the world at the time, they had watertight compartments and could carry up to 1,000 passengers.
End of the Southern Sung:-
While the Sung ruling class and the imperial court indulged themselves in art and luxurious living in the urban centers, the latest nomad empire arose in the north. The formidable Mongol armies, conquerors of Eurasia as far west as eastern Europe and of Korea in the east, descended on the Southern Sung.
The Yüan (Mongol) Dynasty (1279–1368):-
The Mongols were the first of the northern barbarians to rule all of China. After creating an empire that stretched across the Eurasian continent and occupying northern China and Korea in the first half of the 13th century, the Mongols continued their assault on the Southern Sung. By 1276 the Southern Sung capital of Hangzhou had fallen, and in 1279 the last of the Sung loyalists perished.
Before this, Kublai Khan, the fifth “great khan” and grandson of Genghis Khan, had moved the Mongol capital from Karakorum to Peking. In 1271 he declared himself emperor of China and named the dynasty Yüan, meaning “beginning,” to signify that this was the beginning of a long era of Mongol rule.
In Asia, Kublai Khan continued his grandfather’s dream of world conquest. Two unsuccessful naval expeditions were launched against Japan in 1274 and 1281. Four land expeditions were sent against Annam and five against Burma. However, the Mongol conquests overseas and in Southeast Asia were neither spectacular nor were they long enduring.
Mongol rule in China lasted less than a century. The Mongols became the most hated of the barbarian rulers because they did not allow the Chinese ruling class to govern. Instead, they gave the task of governing to foreigners. Distrusting the Chinese, the Mongol rulers placedthe southern Chinese at the lowest level of the four classes they created. The extent of this distrust was reflected in their provincial administration. As conquerors, they followed the Ch’in example and made the provincial governments into direct extensions of the central chancellery. This practice was continued by succeeding dynasties, resulting in a further concentration of power in the central imperial government.
The Chinese despised the Mongols for refusing to adapt to Chinese culture. The Mongols kept their own language and customs. The Mongol rulers were tolerant about religions, however. Kublai Khan reportedly dabbled in many religions.
The Mongols were regarded with mixed feelings in the West. Although Westerners dreaded the Mongols, the Crusaders hoped to use them in their fight against the Muslims and attempted to negotiate an alliance with them for this purpose. Friar John of Carpini and William of Rubruck were two of the better known Christian missionaries sent to establish these negotiations with the Mongol ruler.
The best account of the Mongols was left by a Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, in his ‘Marco Polo’s Travels’. It is an account of Polo’s travels over the long and perilous land route to China, his experience as a trusted official of Kublai Khan, and his description of China under the Mongols. Dictated in the early 14th century, the book was translated into many languages. Although much of medieval Europe did not believe Polo’s tales, some, like Christopher Columbus, were influenced byPolo’s description of the riches of the Orient
After the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, successive weak and incompetent khans made the already hated Mongol rule intolerable. Secret societies became increasingly active, and a movement known as the Red Turbans spread throughout the north during the 1350s. In 1356 a rebel leader named Chu Yüan-chang and his peasant army captured the old capital of Nanjing. Within a decade he had won control of the economically important middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, driving the Mongols to the north. In 1368 he declared himself the emperor Hung-wu and established his capital at Nanjing on the lower Yangtze. Later the same year he captured the Yüan capital of Peking.
The Ming Dynasty (1368–1644):-
Having restored Chinese rule to China, the first Ming emperor tried to model his rule after that of the Han, but the Ming fell far short of the Han’s accomplishments. The land under Ming domination was less than under either the Han or the T’ang. The Ming dominion changed little after the first two decades. It was confined mostlyto what is known as China proper, south of the Great Wall and east of Xinjiang and Tibet.
In culture, as well, the Ming lacked the Han’s creativity and brilliance. Coming after almost a century of foreign domination, the Ming was a period of restoration and reorganization rather than a time of new discovery. In a sense, the Ming followed a typical dynastic cycle: initial rehabilitation of the economy and restoration of efficient government, followed by a time of stability and then a gradual decline and fall.
The emperor Hung-wu modeled his government on the T’ang system, restoring the doctrine and practices of Confucianism and continuing the trend toward concentration of power in the imperial government, especially in the hands of the emperor himself. He tried to conduct state affairs single-handedly, but the work load proved overwhelming. To assist him, he gathered around him several loyal middle-level officials, thus creating an extra-governmental organization, the Grand Secretariat. The central bureaucracy was restored and filled by officials selected by the examination system. That system was further formalized by the introduction ofa special essay style called the eight-legged essay, to be used in writing the examination. In addition, the subject matter of the examinations was restricted to the Five Classics, said to have been compiled, edited, or written by Confucius, and the Four Books, published by Chu Hsi.
In the field of provincial government, the emperor Hung-wu continued the Yüan practice of limiting the power of provincial governors and subjecting them directly to the central government. The empire was divided into 15 provinces. The first capital at Nanjing was in the economic heartland of China, but in 1421 the emperor Yung-Lo, who took the throne after a civil war, moved the capital to Peking, where he began a massive construction project. The imperial palace, which is also knownas the Forbidden City, was built at this time.
The Ming produced two unique contributions: the maritime expeditions of the early 15th century and the philosophy of Wang Yang-ming. Between 1405 and 1433, seven major maritime expeditions were launched under the leadership of a Muslim eunuch, Cheng Ho. Each expedition was provided with several seagoing vessels, which were 400 feet (122 meters) high, weighed 700 tons (635 metric tons), had multiple decks and 50 or 60 cabins, and carried several hundred people. During these expeditions, the Chinese sailed the South Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. They traveled as far west as eastern Africa and as far south as Java and Sumatra. But these missions ended just as suddenly as they had begun.
In philosophy, Wang Yang-ming developed a system of thought that ran counter to the orthodox teaching of Chu Hsi. While Chu Hsi believed in learning based on reason and the “investigation of things,” Wang Yang-ming believed in the “learning of the mind,” an intuitive process.
During the second half of the Ming Dynasty, European expansion began. Early in the 16th century Portuguese traders arrived and leased the island of Macao as their trading post. In 1582 Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit missionary, arrived in Macao. Because of his knowledge of science, mathematics, and astronomy and his willingness to learn the Chinese language and adapt to Chinese life, he was accepted by the Chinese and became the first foreigner allowed to live in Peking permanently. Jesuits followed him and served the Ming emperors as mapmakers, calendar reformers, and astronomers.
Unlike earlier brief contacts with the West or the later Western incursions into China, the 16th-century Sino-Western relationship was culturally oriented and mutually respectful. Both the Chinese and the Jesuits tried to find common ground in their thoughts. The Jesuits’ activities produced 300,000 converts in 200 years, not a great number among a population of more than 100 million. Among them, however, were noted scholars such as Hsü Kuang-ch’i and Li Chih-tsao, who translated many of the works that Jesuits brought to China. The Jesuits wrote over 300 Chinese works.
In the last century of its existence, the Ming Dynasty faced numerous internal and external problems. The internal problem was tied to official corruption and taxation. Because the Ming bureaucracy was relatively small, tax collection was entrusted to locally powerful people who evaded paying taxes by passing the burden on to the poor. A succession of weak and inattentive emperors encouraged the spread of corruption and the greed of eunuchs. In the 1620s a struggle between the inner group of eunuchs and the outer circle of scholar-officials led to the execution of about 700 scholars.Externally, the security of the Ming empire was threatened from alldirections. The Mongols returned and seized Peking in 1550, and their control of Turkestan and Tibet was recognized by the Ming in a peace treaty of 1570. Pirates preyed on the east coast, and Japanese pirates penetrated as far inland as Hangzhou and Nanjing. In the 1590s the Ming had to send expeditionary forces to rescueKorea from invading Japanese soldiers under Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The Ming drove back the Japanese forces, but not without depleting the treasury and weakening their defensive network against neighboring Manchuria to the northeast.
In Manchuria the Manchus (Pinyin: Manzhous) had organized a Chinese-style state and strengthened their forces under a unique form of military organization called the banner system. However, it was not the Manchus who overthrew the Ming but a Chinese rebel, Li Tzu-cheng, who became a leader among the bandits who had become desperate because of a famine in the northwest in 1628. By 1642 Li had become master of north China and in 1644 he captured Peking.There he found thatthe last Ming emperor had hanged himself, ending the “Brilliant” dynasty. Li, however, was not destined to rule. The rule was to pass once again into the hands of a people from beyond the Great Wall, the Manchus. They were invited into China by the Ming general Wu San-kuei to eliminate the rebels. After driving the rebels from the capital, the Manchus stayed and established a new dynasty, the Ch’ing.
The Ch’ing Empire (1644–1911):-
Like the Mongols in the 13th century, the Manchus (formerly the Juchen) were barbarians who succeeded in ruling the whole of China, but, unlike the 13th-century conquerers, the sinicized Manchus made their rule more acceptable to the Chinese. As a result, Ch’ing rule lasted 267 years, compared with 89 years for the Yüan.
Pax Sinica (1683–1795)
The Manchus took Peking with relative ease in 1644, but they did not gain control of the whole of China until 1683. Thereafter, the Manchus enjoyed more than a century of peace and prosperity, a period that came to be called Pax Sinica (Peace in China). By the end of that period the dynasty had reached the height of its power.
Two strong emperors who were considered models of all Confucian ideals ruled for much of this period: the emperors K’ang-hsi (1661–1722) and Ch’ien-lung (1735–96). By recruiting the well-educated in government and promoting Confucian scholarship, these two Manchu rulers firmly established themselves as Confucian rulers in China. Outside China, both were successful conquerers. All of the Ch’ing empire’s vast territories, including Mongolia in the north, Xinjiang in the northwest, and Tibet in the southwest, were incorporated into the expanding Chinese Empire during this period.
The Ch’ing adopted the Ming system of government with two exceptions: the insertion of Manchu power at the head of the Chinese state, and the creation of the Grand Council in the emperor Yung-cheng’s reign. The Grand Council superseded the Grand Secretariat and became the most powerful body in the government. In provincial government, the Ch’ing created 18 provinces from the 15 Ming provinces. A governor, usually Chinese, headed each province, and a governor-general, usually a Manchu before the 19th century, headed every two provinces. Local landlords and administrators were generally left alone if they submitted to the new rule.
The K’ang-hsi era marked the height of Jesuit success in China, with more than 200,000 converts. Thereafter, Jesuit influence waned rapidly because of the rivalry between the Jesuits and other Catholic missionaries and the so-called Rites Controversy, which concerned the Jesuits’ willingness to tolerate the converts’ performance of ceremonies honoring Confucius. The pope denounced the Jesuit view and prohibited the ceremonies.
The long period of peace and prosperity had some adverse effects on Chinese society. There was a shortage of land, resulting from an increase in the population from 100 million to 300 million at the end of the 18th century. Decadence and corruption spread in the imperial court. There was a decline of the Manchu military spirit, and the Ch’ing military organization deteriorated. The long and illustrious reign of the emperor Ch’ien-lung was marred by the first of many serious rebellions in the Ch’ing era, the White Lotus Rebellion from 1796 to 1804. It was not put down for ten years, and China entered the 19th century rocked by revolt. More devastating were the incursions of Western powers, which shook the foundation of the empire.
Invasions and rebellions:-
The first of many Sino-Western conflicts in the 19th century was the first Opium War, fought from 1839 to 1842. It was more than a dispute over the opium trade in China; it was a contest between China as the representative of ancient Eastern civilization and Britain as the forerunner of the modern West. Free trade advocates in the West had protested against the restrictive trading system in force at Canton. They demanded free trade in China, the opening of more ports to Westerners, and the establishment of treaty relations. The Treaty of Nanjing, which ended the first Opium War, opened five ports to the British—the first of the “treaty ports” where Western nations were granted various privileges. A second Opium War, also known as the Arrow War, fought from 1856 to 1860, pitted China against Great Britain and France.
The Opium Wars disrupted the old life and economy of southern China. A number of peasant revolts occurred in the 1840s, coming to a head in the Taiping Rebellion, the biggest rebellion in Chinese history. The leader of the Taipings was Hung Hsiu-ch’üan, from a village near Canton. Believing that God had chosen him to save the world, he adopted a confused version of Christianity as his guiding doctrine and set out to overthrow the Manchus and change society. The combination of religious fervor and anti-Manchu sentiment attracted a following that rose to over 30,000 within a short time. In 1852 the T’ai-p’ing T’ienkuo (Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace) was proclaimed. In 1853 the rebels took the city of Nanjing and made it their capital.
Other revolts erupted at about the same time: the Nien Rebellion in the northeast and Muslim rebellions in the southwest and the northwest. Fearing a linkup amongthe rebels that would engulf all of China, the Ch’ing government created regional armies manned entirely by Chinese and commanded by Chinese of the scholar-gentry class. The commanders of the new forces, all loyal supporters of the dynasty—Tseng Kuo-fan, Tso Tsung-t’ang, and Li Hung-chang—suppressed therebels with the help of Western weapons and leadership. They annihilated the Taipings in 1864, the Niens by 1868, and the Muslims by 1873.
The internal rebellions were suppressed, but external threats continued. After a brief period of “cooperation” in the 1860s, foreign powers renewed their assault on China, reacting to widespread antiforeign violence. Again, China became embroiled in a series of conflicts: the Tianjin Massacre with France in 1870, the Ili crisis with Russia in 1879, the Sino-French War from 1884 to 1885, and the Sino-Japanese War from 1894 to 1895. Each brought further humiliation and greater impairment of sovereignty. In the last two incidents territory was lost, and an indemnity had to be paid to the victor in the Sino-Japanese War.
Reforms and revolutions:-
The dynasty itself had fallen into the hands of the empress dowager Tz’u-hsi, who dominated the central government for the rest of the Ch’ing period. Both a schemerand an archconservative, the empress dowager considerably delayed China’s modernization.
The first steps toward modernization in China were taken in the 1860s with the establishment of factories to make Western-style armaments for the regional armies.After the rebellions, modernization in other sectors continued under regional leaders. Unlike Japan’s modernization effort, however, China’s lacked overall planning and central guidance. It was the country’s disastrous defeat at the hands of the Japanese, whom the Chinese had long referred to as “dwarf barbarians,” that jolted concerned Chinese scholars into forming “Self-Strengthening” societies. Not until 1898, when the Chinese mainland was being carved into spheres of influence by foreign powers, was the young Kuang-hsü emperor convinced of the need for drastic reform.
With the scholars K’ang Yu-wei and Liang Ch’i-ch’ao as his advisers, the emperor in 1898 issued a number of decrees called the Hundred Days’ Reform. These were to begin a wide range of changes, including reform of the educational system. However, Yüan Shih-k’ai, who had led the modernization of the military, betrayed the project to the empress dowager, who had gone into retirement. The emperor was seized and detained until his death ten years later, and Tz’u-hsi took over the administration. Members of the reforming group who could not escape were executed. The old order remained.
The next attempt at change took the form of a peasant rebellion. It was led by an anti-Manchu secret society, the Righteous and Harmonious Fists, known to Westerners as the Boxers. The Boxers aimed at expelling all foreigners, including the Manchus. After a year of unsuccessful attempts to suppress the Boxers, the imperial court officially enlisted them to fight the foreigners. In the summer of 1900 the Boxers attacked the foreign diplomatic quarters in Peking, and the governmentunder the empress dowager declared war on the foreign powers.
Once again the Ch’ing Dynasty was saved by loyal officials, who managed to convince the Western powers that the war was not official policy, but the result of rebellious forces. They were able to limit the Boxer catastrophe to northern China. The aging Li Hung-chang conducted peace negotiations. The resulting Boxer Protocol of 1901 marked the low point of the Chinese Empire; China was to pay an indemnity of 330 million dollars and to allow foreign garrisons on its soil.
After 1901 even the empress dowager was converted to reform. Much of the program proposed in the Hundred Days Reform of 1898 was enacted in the years 1901 to 1910, including reform of education and abolition of the civil service examinations, the creation of provincial assemblies, and a promise to establish a constitutional assembly. But the dynasty—and with it the 2,000-year-old dynastic system—was fast coming to an end. The personalities that had held the dynasty together disappeared from the scene. The empress dowager died in 1908, one day after the Kuang-hsü emperor. The empress dowager had designated his successor, who was the 2-year-old grandnephew of the empress.
Revolutionary ideas and organizations:-
The reforms that were sponsored by the imperial government were too little and too late. A drastic change was necessary. The idea of overthrowing the Manchus was suggested by Liang Ch’i-ch’ao in his concept of hsin min (new people). Publishing a magazine in Japan, where he had fled after the Hundred Days, Liang calledfor the Chinese people to renew themselves and also indicated that the Chinese nation was distinct and separate from the ruling dynasty of the Manchus. Although he did not advocate overthrowing the dynasty, the message was quickly picked up by the more radical leaders who were already leaning toward revolution.
One such leader was Sun Yat-sen, who is now revered as the father of modern China by Nationalists and Communists alike. Born into a peasant family near Canton, the traditional stronghold of anti-Manchu rebels, Sun followed a traditional Chinese path during his early years. He was educated in Hawaii, converted to Christianity, and had a short-lived medical career before switching to politics and attempting to propose a reform program to Li Hung-chang in 1894. After forming a secret revolutionary society and plotting an unsuccessful uprising in Canton in 1894, Sun began a long period of exile outside China. He gained wide recognition as a revolutionary leader in 1896, when his arrest in the Chinese legation in London and subsequent rescue were reported sensationally in newspaper articles.
In 1905, in Japan, he brought together several revolutionary groups and formed the Revolutionary Alliance Society. Its program consisted of the now famous Three People’s Principles: nationalism, freeing all China from foreign control; democracy, overthrowing the Manchus and introducing a democratic political system; and people’s livelihood. Although Sun himself could not live in China, members of the alliance infiltrated many social organizations there. The revolutionary spirit that had been developed by Sun became especially high among students’ and soldiers’ groups.
The Revolution of 1911:-
In the industrial city of Wuhan, a soldiers’ group with only a loose connection to Sun’s alliance rose in rebellion in the early morning of Oct. 10, 1911 (since celebratedas Double Ten, the tenth day of the tenth month). The Manchu governor and his commander fled, and a Chinese commander, Li Yüan-hung, was pressured into taking over the leadership. By early December all of the central, southern, and northwestern provinces had declared independence. Sun Yat-sen, who was in the United States during the revolution, returned and was chosen head of the provisional government of the Republic of China in Nanjing.
The Manchu court quickly summoned Yüan Shih-kai, the former commander of the reformed Northern Army. Personally ambitious and politically shrewd, Yüan carried out negotiations with both the Manchu court and the revolutionaries. Yüan was able to persuade the Manchus to abdicate peacefully in return for the safety of the imperial family. On Feb. 12, 1912, the regent of the 6-year-old emperor formally announced the abdication. The Manchu rule in China ended after 267 years, and with it the 2,000-year-old imperial system.
The Republic of China (1912–1949):-
Early in March 1912, Sun Yat-sen resigned from the presidency and, as promised, Yüan Shih-kai was elected his successor at Nanjing. Inaugurated in March 1912 in Beijing, the base of his power, Yüan established a republican system of government with a premier, a cabinet, a draft constitution, and a plan for parliamentary elections early in 1913. The Kuomintang (KMT, National People’s party), the successor to Sun Yat-sen’s organization, was formed in order to prepare for the election.Despite his earlier pledges to support the republic, Yüan schemed to assassinate his opponents and weaken the constitution and the parliament. By the end of 1914 he had made himself president for life and even planned to establish an imperial dynasty with himself as the first emperor. His dream was thwarted by the serious crisis of the Twenty-one Demands for special privileges presented by the Japanese in January 1915 and by vociferous opposition from many sectors of Chinese society. He died in June 1916 a broken man. After Yüan’s death, a number of his protégés took positions of power in the Beijing government or ruled as warlords in outlying regions. In August 1917 the Beijing government joined the Allies and declared war on Germany. At the peace conference in Versailles, France, the Chinese demand to end foreign concessions in China was ignored.
The May Fourth Movement:-
The Chinese felt betrayed. Anger and frustration erupted in demonstrations on May 4, 1919, in Beijing. Joined by workers and merchants, the movement spread to major cities. The Chinese representative at Versailles refused to endorse the peace treaty, but its provisions remained unchanged. Disillusioned with the West, many Chinese looked elsewhere for help.
The May Fourth Movement, which grew out of the student uprising, attacked Confucianism, initiated a vernacular style of writing, and promoted science. Scholars of international stature, such as John Dewey and Bertrand Russell, were invited to lecture. Numerous magazines were published to stimulate new thoughts. Toward the end of the movement’s existence, a split occurred among its leaders. Some, like Ch’en Tu-hsiu and Li Ta-chao, were beginning to be influenced by the success of the Russian Revolution of 1917, which contrasted sharply with the failure of the 1911 Revolution in China to change the social order and improve conditions. By 1920, people associated with the Comintern (Communist International) were disseminating literature in China and helping to start Communist groups, including one led by Mao Zedong. A meeting at Shanghai in 1921 was actually the first party congress of the Communist Party of China (CCP).
The CCP was so small that the Soviet Union looked elsewhere for a viable political ally. A Comintern agent, Adolph Joffe, was sent to China to approach Sun Yat-sen, who had failed to obtain assistance from Great Britain or the United States. The period of Sino-Soviet collaboration began with the Sun-Joffe Declaration of Jan. 26, 1923. The KMT was recognized by the Soviet Union, and the Communists were admitted as members. With Soviet aid, the KMT army was built up. A young officer, Chiang Kai-shek, was sent to Moscow for training. Upon returning, he was put in charge of the Whampoa Military Academy, established to train soldiers to fight the warlords, who controlled much of China. Zhou Enlai (also Chou En-lai) of the CCP was deputy director of the academy’s political department.
Sun Yat-sen, whose power base was in the south, had planned to send an expedition against the northern warlords, but he died before it could get under way. Chiang Kai-shek, who succeeded him in the KMT leadership, began the northern expedition in July 1926. The Nationalist army met little resistance and by April 1927had reached the lower Yangtze. Meanwhile, Chiang, claiming to be a sincere follower of Sun Yat-sen, had broken with the left-wing elements of the KMT. After the Nationalist forces had taken Shanghai, a Communist-led general strike was suppressed with bloodshed. Following suppressions in other cities, Chiang set up his own government at Nanjing on April 18, 1927. He professed friendship with the Soviet Union, but by July 1927 he was expelling Communists from the KMT. Some left-wingers left for the Soviet Union.
The northern expedition was resumed, and in 1928 Chiang took Peking. China was formally unified. Nationalist China was recognized by the Western powers and supported by loans from foreign banks.
The Nationalist era (1928–1937):-
The Nationalist period began with high hopes and much promise. More could have been accomplished had it not been for the problems of Comintern corruption andJapanese aggression. In his efforts to combat them both, Chiang neglected the land reform needed to improve the lives of the peasants. Driven from the cities, the Communists concentrated on organizing the peasants in the countryside. On Nov. 1, 1931, they proclaimed the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, with Mao Zedong as chairman. Here the first units of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army were formed. While conducting guerrilla warfare in these regions, the soldiers carried out an agrarian revolution that was based on Mao’s premise that the best way to win the conflict was to isolate the cities by gaining control of the countryside and the food supply.
A military man by temperament and training, Chiang sought to eliminate the Communists by force. He defined his anti-Communist drive as “internal pacification before resistance to external attack,” and he gave it more importance than opposition to the increasingly aggressive Japanese. With arms and military advisers from Nazi Germany, Chiang carried out a series of “extermination campaigns” that killed about a million people between 1930 to 1934. Chiang’s fifth campaign, involving over half a million troops, almost annihilated the Communists. Faced with the dilemma of being totally destroyed in Jiangxi or attempting an almost impossible escape, the Communists decided to risk the escape. On Oct. 15, 1934, they broke through the tight KMT siege. Over 100,000 men and women set out on the Long March of about 6,000 miles (9,600 kilometers) through China’s most rugged terrain to find a new base in the northwest.
In the meantime, the Japanese had made steady inroads into China. The Mukden Incident of 1931, through which Mukden was occupied by the Japanese, was initiated by Japanese officers stationed along the South Manchurian Railway. This was followed by the occupation of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932. By the mid-1930s the Japanese had seized Inner Mongolia and parts of northeastern China and had created the North China Autonomous Region with no resistance from the Nationalists. Anti-Japanese sentiment mounted in China, but Chiang ignored it and in 1936 launched yet another extermination campaign against the Communists in Shaanxi. Chiang was forced to give up the anti-Communist drive when his troops mutinied and arrested him as he arrived in Xi’an in December 1936 to plan strategy. He was released after he agreed to form a united front with the CCP against the Japanese, who were making steady inroads into China.
In China, World War II broke out on July 7, 1937, with a seemingly insignificant little battle between Chinese and Japanese troops near Peking, called the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Within a few days, the Japanese had occupied Peking, and the fighting spread rapidly. The war in China fell into three stages. The first (1937–1939) was characterized by the phenomenally rapid Japanese occupation of most of China’s east coast, including such major cities as Shanghai, Nanjing, and Canton. The Nationalist government moved to the interior, ultimately to Chongqing in Sichuan, and the Japanese established puppet governments in Peking in 1937 and in Nanjing in 1940. The second stage (1939–1943) was a period of waiting, as Chiang blockaded the Communists in the northwest (despite the united front) and waited for help from the United States, which had declared war on Japan in 1941.
In the final stage (1944–1945), the United States provided massive assistance to Nationalist China, but the Chongqing government, weakened by inflation, impoverishment of the middle class, and low troop morale was unable to take full advantage of it. Feuds among the KMT generals and between Chiang and his United States military adviser, General Joseph Stilwell, further hampered the KMT.
When Japanese defeat became a certainty in the spring of 1945, the Communists seemed in a better position to take over from the Japanese garrisons than the KMT, which was far away in the rear of the formation. A United States airlift of KMT troops enabled them to occupy many cities, but the countryside stayed with the Communists.
After the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945, the Allied war effort moved to the east. The Soviet Union joined the war against Japan at the end of July. On August 6 and 9 the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On Aug. 14, 1945, the Japanese surrendered. In China, however, civil war raged over who should take charge of the Japanese arms and equipment. At the end of August an agreement was reached in Chongqing between a CCP delegation and the KMT, but the truce was brief.
In January 1946 a cease-fire was negotiated by United States General George C. Marshall. The Nationalist government returned to Nanjing, and China was recognized by the new United Nations as one of the five great powers. The United States supplied the Chiang government with an additional $2 billion ($1.5 billion had been spent for the war). Although the KMT’s dominance in weapons and supplies was enormous, it was kept under guard in the cities, while the Communists held the surrounding countryside. As inflation soared, both civilians and the military became demoralized. The CCP, sensing the national mood, proposed a coalition government. The KMT refused, and fighting erupted again.
The short and decisive civil war that followed was resolved in two main places: Manchuria and the Huai River area. Despite a massive airlift of KMT forces by the United States, Manchuria was lost in October 1948 after 300,000 KMT forces surrendered to the CCP. By the end of 1948 the KMT had lost over half a million men, more than two thirds of whom had defected. In April 1949 the Communists moved south of the Yangtze.
After the fall of Nanjing and Shanghai, KMT resistance evaporated. By the autumn, the Communists had taken all mainland territories except Tibet. Chiang Kai-shek and a number of his associates fled to the island of Taiwan, where they set up what they claimed was the rightful government of China.
The People’s Republic of China:-
On Oct. 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China. The CCP hailed its takeover of China as a people’s victory over and liberation from imperial domination (especially that of the United States) and the oppressive KMT regime. The Red Army was renamed the People’s Liberation Army. During the early days of the People’s Republic, the troops were restrained, foreign-educated Chinese returned to help the country, and most local administrators remained in office.
The first Communist government, the People’s Consultative Council, included non-Communists among its 662 members. However, in the top committee, 31 out of 56 seats were occupied by Communists, and the constitution of 1954 drastically curtailed the role of non-Communists. After 1954, more authority was concentrated in the central government under the State Council. Real power, however, lay with the Communist party, especially the Central Committee, then composed of 94 members. This committee held together the triad of power—army, government, and party. The inner circle of the Central Committee was the 19-member Political Bureau and its seven-member Standing Committee.
Land reform:-
One of the first tasks of the Communist government was land reform, redistributing land from landlords to the peasants. The Agrarian Law of 1950 began the nationwide land reform, which was almost completed by the beginning of 1953.
Social reform:-
Land reform erased the social distinction between landlord and peasant. The new marriage law of 1950 and the campaigns of the early 1950s removed distinctions within the family. Women were given full equality with men in matters of marriage, divorce, and property ownership. Children were encouraged to denounce parents ifthey failed to support the Communist line.
Thought reform:-
Believing that the revolution could not be carried on without reform of people, the CCP launched a massive campaign to change China’s entire psychology. The Four Olds campaign was launched to eradicate old ideas, habits, customs, and culture. The Three Anti’s movement was directed at officials, with the aim of eliminating corruption, waste, and “bureaucratism.” The Five Anti’s campaign, directed at the remaining businessmen and bourgeoisie, opposed bribery, tax fraud, cheating, andstealing state property and economic information. For Chinese Christians, The Three Selfs movement stressed self-government, self-support, and self-propagation,the object being to separate the churches in China from their parent denominations abroad. Leading churchmen were forced into denouncing religion as cultural imperialism. The idea of cultural imperialism was extended to art and literature, which henceforth were to serve the people, the class struggle, and the revolution.
Economic planning:-
Along with the reforms of land tenure, society, family, and even thought, the CCP announced the first five-year plan in 1953 to speed up the socialization of China through a planned economy. The plan’s aim was to produce maximum returns from agriculture in order to pay for industrialization and Soviet aid. The means chosenwas the collectivization of agriculture. Land and farm implements were pooled into cooperatives and later into collective farms, which controlled the production, price,and distribution of products. By May 1956, 90 percent of the farmers were members of cooperatives.
Similarly, 80 percent of heavy industry and 40 percent of light industry were in government hands by October 1952. The government also controlled all the railways and most steamship operations. To speed China’s development even more, Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, and others, after overcoming some opposition within the leadership, launched the Great Leap Forward in 1958.
The Great Leap Forward:-
Designed to overcome the backwardness of China’s economy, industry, and technology, the Great Leap Forward was to be achieved through use of the vast manpower and indomitable spirit of the Chinese. Steel production was to be increased by setting up small-scale “backyard furnaces,” and agricultural output was to be raised by combining the collective farms into communes. About 26,000 communes were created by the Communist government, each composed of approximately 5,000 households.
After a year, the leaders admitted that the success of the program had been exaggerated. The steel produced by the backyard furnaces was of low quality, and the quantity fell short of the projected goal. The people’s reluctance to join communes was stronger than expected, and the size of the communes had to be reduced. Domestic life in homes, as well as private plots for family use, had to be restored. The effect of the Great Leap Forward on the people and the economy was devastating. Coupled with three straight years of poor harvests, it resulted in a severe food shortage and industrial decline. For the next several years, while lip service was paid to Mao’s thought and to Great Leap–type activism, the real power was in more conservative hands.
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution:-
A radical movement that closed schools and slowed production, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution virtually severed China’s relations with the outside world. It was proletarian because it was a revolution of the workers against party officials. It was cultural because it meant to alter the values of society in the Communist sense. It was great, because it was on a mammoth scale. It lasted for two years in its intense form, lingered on for another year and a half, and was not officially declared over until 1977.
The Cultural Revolution had its roots in a power struggle between Mao and his supporters, including his wife, Jiang Qing, and Lin Biao—who believed that the initial fervor of the revolution was being lost—and more conservative, bureaucratic elements within the leadership. One point at issue was the educational system, and particularly the fact that urban youth (especially the children of privileged officials) appeared to have a better chance of getting a university education than the children of rural peasants. Mao feared that Chinese society was becoming rigid, and to prevent this he relied for support on the military and on youth.
In the summer of 1966, a group of Beijing high school girls protested against the system of college en- trance examinations. The Central Committee acceded to the students’ demand by promising a reform and postponing the 1966 enrollment for half a year. Freed from their studies, students demonstrated in Beijing in August, touching off demonstrations of young people in general. Obviously inspired by Mao, youths wearing red armbands and flashing copies of the “little red book” containing Mao’s thought (‘Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong’), marched through the streets shouting the slogan, “To bypass the Communist party apparatus and force the hierarchy’s political foes into submission.” These Red Guards, as they were called, were given free railway passes, and they poured into Beijing and other cities in great numbers throughout 1967.
In early 1967 some of the highest ranking leaders, former close revolutionary associates of Mao himself, were criticized and dismissed. Liu Shaoqi, who had been president of the republic, Zhu De, and Deng Xiaoping were among the better known victims. Even Confucius was attacked as having been a hypocritical supporter of the bourgeoisie. Throughout the country, revolutionary committees sprang up, seized power from the local government and party authorities, and harassed—and in some cases attacked—those suspected of being disloyal to Mao’s thought.
The disorders reached a climax in July 1967 in the city of Wuhan, when the local military commander tried to rally the people against the radicals and troops had to be sent in to restore order. From that time on, steps were taken to quiet the more disruptive portions of the Cultural Revolution, though it was not until 1968 that society returned to something resembling normality. In March 1969 the government issued a directive to open all schools. The situation was so chaotic, however, that the universities were not reopened until September 1970.
The Cultural Revolution greatly affected the CCP leadership. When the long-postponed ninth congress of the CCP was finally convened in April 1969, two thirds of the old members of the Central Committee were missing. Mao’s attempt to maintain a state of permanent revolution had been immensely costly. Years of work and progress were sacrificed: A whole generation of youth went without education; factories and farms lay idle. China fell even further behind the industrialized powers of the world.
As the Cultural Revolution died down, Zhou Enlai, who had been premier since the founding of the People’s Republic, quietly took control. Deng Xiaoping and other “pragmatic” leaders were reestablished. The party and government relaxed their control over the people and granted certain civil rights in a new constitution adopted in 1975.
Passing of the old guard
The year 1976 marked the end of an era. Zhou Enlai died in January. Zhu De, who as chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress had been serving as nominal head of state, died in July. Finally, Mao himself, the chairman of the party and the embodiment of the revolution, died in September. Although many elderly leaders remained in positions of power, the old guard—the veterans of the Long March and the civil war—was clearly passing from the scene.
There were no provisions for automatic succession. At one time, Lin Biao had been Mao’s designated successor, but Lin had died under mysterious circumstances in 1971. The stage was set for a power struggle, with the initial advantage going to the radical faction. Zhou’s death left the moderate pragmatists in a weakened position, and Deng Xiaoping, as their most visible leader, came under immediate attack.
In April the people staged an unusual demonstration to protest the removal, by the police, of memorial wreaths honoring Zhou from Beijing’s Tiananmen (the Gate ofHeavenly Peace leading to the old Forbidden City). With this as an excuse, the radicals blamed Deng for the disorders and dismissed him from office. But the radicals, in turn, lost their protector when Mao died. Within a month, the “Gang of Four” radical leaders, including Jiang Qing, Mao’s widow, were arrested, and Deng was reinstated once again. The Gang of Four were subsequently tried and convicted of various crimes against the state. They became a convenient scapegoat for the new leadership, which did not wish to blame China’s ills on Mao directly.
In the following years, the pragmatists consolidated their position. Although he did not take any of the main party or government positions, Deng emerged as the outstanding figure within the leadership. An elderly man himself, he brought in younger men who shared his views. The new policies were confirmed in the party andstate constitutions adopted in 1982. These included accelerating China’s economic development by the best possible means; for example, by rewarding good work, even if this resulted in some inequalities in society. Steps were also taken to prevent the concentration of power that had marked Mao’s time. Thus, the new state constitution limited state leaders to two consecutive terms.
Nevertheless, the new leadership remained firmly committed to Communism. The 1982 constitution stated again the Four Fundamental Principles that should guide the society: the leadership of the Communist party, the “people’s democratic dictatorship,” the socialist road, and Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. The new constitution allowed a greater measure of political freedom and civil rights, and legal safeguards were introduced. It was evident, however, that there were limits to the new liberalization. After an early period during which considerable freedom of speech was allowed, the post-Mao leadership began to warn against destructive criticism.
The Four Modernizations:-
The new regime’s goal was the development of China’s economy by means of the Four Modernizations: of agriculture, industry, national defense, and science and technology. The Four Modernizations were first announced by Zhou at the tenth party congress in 1973, when the country was just starting its slow recovery from the Cultural Revolution. The new leadership under Deng placed great stress on them, with the aim of bringing China into the front rank among the world’s nations.
To achieve the ambitious aims of the program, the new leadership replaced the Maoist dogma of stressing the revolutionary spirit, the “red,” with the practical value of the “expert.” In education, academic achievements were emphasized, and nationwide college entrance examinations were reinstated. In industry, the authority of experts was reasserted. In agriculture, peasants were allowed private plots. Some overambitious projects were begun, and some replanning proved necessary. Nevertheless, the Chinese were cautiously optimistic that they would attain their goals. They set a reasonable economic growth rate of 7.2 percent per year and began a rigorous campaign to slow the rate of population increase. They hoped that these measures would quadruple industrial and agricultural production by the year 2000. In 1987 Deng retired and was succeeded by Zhao Ziyang as general secretary and Li Peng as premier. (See also Deng Xiaoping; Zhao Ziyang
Foreign affairs:-
In December 1949 the Soviet Union and China signed a 30-year alliance for defense against Japan and any ally associated with Japan (the latter provision aimed at the United States). In addition to military aid, the Soviet Union extended economic and technical assistance. Many Soviet technicians came to China, and many Chinese went to the Soviet Union for training. Good feeling between the two Communist powers reached a high point in 1953, when the Soviet Union relinquished its joint control over the railways in Manchuria. Two years later the Soviet Union withdrew from Lüshun (also called Port Arthur), which it had jointly used with China as a naval base after World War II. After the death of Joseph Stalin in the same year, however, China became increasingly independent of the Soviets. Destalinizationin the Soviet Union, tension along the border, and nationalism in both countries led to differences between the two powers. A complete break came when, with no warning, the Soviet Union withdrew its technicians from China in 1960. Relations between the two countries deteriorated until Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of the Soviet Union in 1985. Since that time both countries more actively pursued the possibilities for reduced tensions and expanded contact with one another.
Soon after it was established, the People’s Republic had been recognized by a number of Western countries, with Great Britain taking the lead. The United States continued to recognize the Nationalist government on Taiwan as the government of China, however, and it led the opposition to the admission of the People’s Republic to the United Nations. There was a strong emotional attachment in the United States to the Nationalists. This was solidified when China entered the Korean War later in 1950 on the side of North Korea. The Chinese action deprived the United Nations (chiefly United States) forces of a victory against the North Koreans and led, eventually, to a stalemate.
Through the 1950s and 1960s relations between the two countries remained frozen. The United States, locked in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, tended to see all Communist countries as part of the same monolithic bloc. Sentiment against “Red China” was kept alive within the United States by the so-called China lobby of Chiang’s supporters, many of them old China hands with long-standing ties to the Nationalists or missionaries who had been ejected from China after the revolution. Meanwhile, the Chinese did little to develop relations with the West. Outside the Communist bloc, the main foreign relations efforts were directed toward the Third World. China gave aid to a number of African countries, but its relations with its Asian neighbors were frequently strained by its support of radical insurgency movements. A border dispute erupted into a short war with India in 1962.
As the years passed, it became apparent that the Nationalists were unlikely to reconquer the mainland. China’s split with the Soviet Union shattered the picture of a Communist monolith. Zhou Enlai, taking control after the Cultural Revolution, began to make contacts with the West. His reasons were both political—to obtain support in the face of Soviet hostility—and economic—to gain access to Western trade and technology.
In the early 1970s China began to indicate a willingness to establish contacts with the United States. After intense behind-the-scenes negotiations, President Richard M. Nixon went to China in early 1972, and, in a joint communiqué, the two countries declared their intention to normalize relations. This procedure, however, took nearly seven years to accomplish. By that time, most of the countries of the world, including Japan, had established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.
The main reason for the delay was Taiwan. The Beijing government insisted that the United States cease to recognize the Nationalist government, but the United States was reluctant to break with its old ally. In the end it did so with the understanding that it could maintain unofficial contacts. It also agreed to terminate its defense treaty with Taiwan. The solution of the Taiwan problem seemed distant, however. Since 1949, Taiwan had become a prosperous and rapidly industrializing country. It had little desire to rejoin the mainland, where the standard of living was much lower. However, both the Nationalists and the People’s Republic insisted that Taiwan was an integral part of China, ruling out any solution that involved making Taiwan a separate nation. In the early 1990s a movement for independence forTaiwan threatened to disrupt relations between them. (See also Taiwan.)
Soviet President Gorbachev met with Deng in Beijing in May 1989 in their countries’ first summit since 1959. The meeting normalized relations between the two countries, and in 1990 Chinese Premier Li Peng on a visit to Moscow signed a ten-year economic and scientific cooperation agreement. The next year Jiang Zemin visited Moscow to try to settle old border disputes. He was the first Communist party chief to visit Moscow since Mao in 1957.
A pro-democracy demonstration by about 1,000 students began in Beijing on April 16, 1989, in Tiananmen Square, a plaza in the center of the city. The rally was triggered by the death on April 15 of former Communist party General Secretary Hu Yaobang, who had become a hero to Chinese liberals when he refused to halt student unrest in January 1987. Despite government warnings, the peaceful protests continued for the next month, drawing as many as 250,000 supporters to the square.
The number of protesters swelled to more than 1 million on May 17 and included about 3,000 who participated in a hunger strike from May 13 to May 21. The government imposed martial law on May 20 and urged citizens to turn in dissidents. Military convoys were sent to Beijing, but protesters managed to block most of them from reaching the square.
On June 4 thousands of army troops stormed the area around Tiananmen Square in an attempt to regain order. Using tanks, machine guns, clubs, and tear gas, they attacked the unarmed protesters. The army stated that more than 1,000 soldiers had been killed; United States officials estimated that there had been more than 3,000 civilian deaths. The Chinese government gave an official death toll of 300 and said that most of the dead were soldiers.
By the end of June more than 1,600 people had been arrested for taking part in what the government called rumor-mongering, hooliganism, and counterrevolutionaryactivities; 27 people had been executed; and Zhao Ziyang had been ousted as general secretary of the Communist party.
In October 1996 Wang Dan, a 27-year-old student activist who played a prominent role in the 1989 pro-democracy rally in Beijing, China’s Tiananmen Square, received an 11-year sentence for inciting what authorities had labeled a “counterrevolutionary riot.” The criminal trial lasted a mere four hours, after which the judge delivered one of the harshest sentences imposed upon any of the student activists involved in the Tiananmen protest.
Following the Tiananmen Square uprising Wang was declared public enemy number one. He turned himself in to Chinese officials and was imprisoned for four years, after which he was temporarily released. In 1995 the government rearrested Wang and, despite international condemnation, detained him until the time of his trial. The treatment of Wang and other political prisoners raised grave concerns throughout the international community and prompted many nations to push for sanctions against the Chinese government. The timing of Wang’s trial seemed to be intended by the Chinese rulers as a stark rebuff of calls for tolerance in dealing with political dissent, as the trial occurred less than two weeks before United States Secretary of State Warren Christopher was scheduled to visit the nation.
The Death of Deng Xiaoping:-
In the government shake-up following the Tiananmen Square uprising in Beijing in 1989, Jiang Zemin, who replaced Zhao Ziyang as general secretary of China’s Communist party, was also named head of the Central Military Commission and designated by Deng as his choice to succeed him as China’s paramount leader.
The Chinese government experienced a momentous change on Feb. 19, 1997, when long-time leader Deng Xiaoping died. Although Deng had retired from all of hisofficial duties years before his death, he remained the “paramount leader” of the country, and his death created a significant vacuum at the top of China’s ruling echelon. Jiang Zemin emerged as China’s leader in spirit and in fact. Jiang was selected to fill Deng’s official roles following the shake-up that occurred within the Chinese government in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.
Two significant issues faced Jiang’s government. The first was that of the continuing international pressure on China over the issue of human rights abuses. In April 1997 Jiang’s government announced that it would comply with the International Covenant of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, one of two major international human rights treaties, but it refrained from signing a second treaty on civil and political rights. Charges about human rights abuses included reports that Chinese prisons were using forced labor to produce goods for export to the United States. Despite Beijing’s unwillingness to significantly alter its policies on human rights, United States President Bill Clinton in May 1997 urged the United States Congress to once again renew China’s most-favored-nation trade status. In November 1997, after months of receiving increasingly sharp international criticism concerning alleged human rights violations, the Chinese government released from prison Wei Jingsheng, the most prominent of China’s pro-democracy dissidents. Wei was imprisoned in 1979, and he spent the majority of the ensuing 18 years as a political prisoner.
Reunification with Hong Kong:-
The second and related issue facing the Chinese government involved the province of Hong Kong, which was scheduled to revert to Chinese control on June 30, 1997, after more than 150 years of British rule. Governments around the world, as well as international businesses and residents of Hong Kong, expressed concernover how the Chinese government would incorporate the largely autonomous and highly profitable territory of Hong Kong into the Chinese economic, social, and political landscape. Although the rule of the British colonial government throughout most of its period of control in Hong Kong had been arbitrary and undemocratic, significant progress had been made throughout the 1990s in opening political institutions and granting civil rights to the residents of Hong Kong, the neighboring Kowloon province, and the New Territories. In 1991 Hong Kong held direct democratic elections for the Legislative Council, the first truly democratic elections held during the entirety of British rule. That year, the British also extended to Hong Kong a bill of rights, which included much leeway in allowing residents the right to assemble and protest. China repeatedly assured the residents of Hong Kong and the international community that the issue of reintegrating Hong Kong into China—at least in terms of economic issues—would be handled with delicacy, pledging that China and Hong Kong would exist as one country with two distinct economic systems. As for political and civil rights, the future prospects remained murky. In 1996 Beijing appointed Tung Chee-hwa, a business magnate with pro-China sympathies, to serve as the governor of Hong Kong following the transfer of power. In February 1997, as anticipation and trepidation over the transfer of power continued to mount, Tung announced that certain civil rights—such as the freedom to assemble and stage mass protests—extended by the colonial British government in that territory would be repealed or modified. Tung stated that such laws had been instituted after the passing of the Basic Laws, and that the Chinese government was therefore not required to abide by them. The Basic Laws, which were worked out by Britain and China in 1990, are, in effect, a constitution and they set down laws for Hong Kong after the 1997 power transfer.
To protest China’s revision of the British-passed bill of rights, Hong Kong residents staged numerous public protests. On June 4, 1997, 55,000 pro-democracy demonstrators gathered in the heart of Hong Kong in a memorial service both to honor the eighth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing and to demonstrate support for civil and political rights. In the weeks leading up to the transfer of power, the Chinese government attempted to convince the population of Hong Kong that it would not attempt a radical revision of the internal governing of Hong Kong. During the power-transfer celebration Jiang Zemin expressed his commitment to maintaining Hong Kong’s continued economic, legislative, and judicial autonomy, and he promised to schedule elections for an independent legislature for Hong Kong in 1998. Those elections were held in May 1998.
Emergence of Capitalism and Tension with the West:-
In September 1997 China’s Communist party gathered for its 15th party congress—the primary political event in shaping the Chinese government and its policies. Jiang Zemin emerged from the congress as the dominant political leader and party power broker, as well as the individual likely to lead China into a new era of economic liberalization. Jiang dismissed from the Central Committee three of his foremost political rivals and positioned his supporters—relatively young, college-educated, and technocratic party members—in key political posts. Jiang announced that the government would step up its efforts to further modernize the burgeoning Chinese economy by selling off 10,000 of the 13,000 state-owned small- and medium-size state factories and industries to private investors. The proposed measure would amount to an unprecedented degree of private ownership in the country.
When Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji traveled to the United States to meet with President Bill Clinton in April of 1999, an array of difficult issues confronted the leaders. While they were ostensibly meeting to discuss trade, human rights, and security issues, American frustration with a ballooning trade deficit and allegations of Chinese espionage loomed over the negotiations. As China’s leading free-enterprise reformer, it was widely thought that Zhu would at last gain Clinton’s support for China’s entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). While Zhu and Clinton did reach numerous agreements on issues of trade, they failed to broker an agreement allowing Chinese entry into the WTO.
The issue of Chinese espionage had come to light in March 1999, when United States officials acknowledged that Chinese spies had gained highly classified information about American nuclear warheads during a 20-year campaign of espionage dating back to the 1970s. A report issued by a special committee of the United States House of Representatives in May 1999 claimed that China had infiltrated the most sensitive nuclear research laboratories and that they had gained technological information about every type of nuclear warhead deployed by the United States.
The House report came on the heels of an incident that had severely strained relations between the United States and China. On May 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during their air campaign against the government of Slobodan Milosevic. While the United States asserted that the embassy bombing had been an accident, and forthrightly apologized, the Chinese government was infuriated. Chinese leadership tacitly supported anti-American protests throughout China, including violent demonstrations at the United States embassy compound in Beijing. The bombing brought relations between the two countries to their lowest point in years. China suspended talks with the United States over several issues, including human rights, but vowed to continue talks on trade issues.
