1. Revolution in China
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2. Fall of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
Empress Dowager Cixi ( )
De facto Chinese monarch ( )
“Make me unhappy for a day and I will make you unhappy for a lifetime.”
Conservative and anti-foreign
Blamed by many Chinese for foreign imperialist power in China
Opium Wars – loss of Hong King
forced opening of “treaty ports” for international trade, and large foreign “concessions” in major cities privileged with extraterritorial rule.
loss in the Sino-Japanese War (1894–95), losing Taiwan and parts of Manchuria and ending its suzerainty over Korea.
The Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) firmly established Japanese claims to the Northeast and further weakened Qing rule.
The combination of increasing imperialist demands (from both Japan and the West), frustration with the foreign Manchu Government embodied by the Qing court, and the desire to see a unified China less parochial in outlook fed a growing nationalism that spurred on revolutionary ideas.
As Qing rule fell into decline, it made a few last-ditch efforts at constitutional reform. In 1905, the court abolished the examination system, which had limited political power to elites who passed elaborate exams on Chinese classics. Faced with increasing foreign challenges, it worked to modernize its military. With its central power weakening, the court also attempted a limited decentralization of power, creating elected assemblies and increasing provincial self-government.
Although the Qing court maintained a degree of control within China in these years, millions of Chinese living overseas, especially in Southeast Asia and the Americas, began pressing for either widespread reform or outright revolution.

3. Fall of the Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
Emperor Puyi – the “Last Emperor”
Lived
Ruled China , and as a puppet for 12 days in 1917
Puppet emperor of Manchukuo (Japanese-ruled Manchuria),
Spent ten years in a Soviet prison after WWII

4. Republican Revolution (1912)
Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian)
Founded Kuomintang (KMT) – Nationalist party
Overthrew Manchu (Qing) dynasty
Established a republic
President of Chinese Republic who succeeded him – Yuan Shih-k’ai
Sun Yat-sen led the amalgam of groups that together formed the Revolutionary Alliance or Tongmenghui. The Revolutionary Alliance advocated replacing Qing rule with a republican government; Sun himself was a nationalist with some socialist tendencies. Both the revolutionary leaders and the overseas Chinese bankrolling their efforts had their roots in southern China. The Revolutionary Alliance attempted seven or more different revolts against the Qing in the years leading up to the revolution, most of which originated in south China and all of which were ultimately stopped by the Qing army.
Finally, in the autumn of 1911, the right set of conditions turned an uprising in Wuchang into a nationalist revolt. As its losses mounted, the Qing court responded positively to a set of demands intended to transform authoritarian imperial rule into a Constitutional monarchy. They named Yuan Shikai the new premier of China, but before he was able to retake the captured areas from the revolutionaries, the provinces started to declare their allegiance to the Revolutionary Alliance. Dr. Sun was in the United States on a fundraising tour at the time of the initial revolt; he hastened first to London and Paris to ensure that neither country would give financial or military support to the Qing government in its struggle. By the time he returned to China, the revolutionaries had taken Nanjing, a former capital under the Ming Dynasty, and representatives from the provinces began to arrive for the first national assembly. Together, they elected Dr. Sun the provisional president of the newly declared Republic of China.
Kuomintang symbol

5. Republic of China: Weaknesses
Disunity
Local warlords fought Kuomintang for control
Wars raged between 1912 and 1928
Foreign imperialists
Americans, Europeans, and Japanese
Poor transportation
1914 – only 6,000 miles of railroad track
225,000 miles in the smaller United States
Few decent roads
The 1911 revolution was only the first steps in a process that would require the 1949 revolution to complete. Though the new government created the Republic of China and established the seat of government in Nanjing, it failed to unify the country under its control. The Qing withdrawal led to a power vacuum in certain regions, resulting in the rise of warlords. These warlords often controlled their territories without acknowledging the nationalist government. Additionally, the reforms set in place by the new government were not nearly as sweeping as the revolutionary rhetoric had intended; unifying the country took precedent over fundamental changes.
READING: “Our Final Awakening” Chen Duxiu

6. Foreign Imperialists Twenty-One Demands (1915)
Japan attempted to make China a Japanese protectorate
Action condemned and stopped by other leading world powers
World War I and the Treaty of Versailles
China attempted to abolish concessions and extraterritoriality
Attempt failed
China did not sign the Treaty of Versailles
Japan gained mandate over most of Germany’s Asian possessions and rights

7. May Fourth Movement
directed toward national independence, emancipation of the individual, and rebuilding society and culture
Supported by young intellectuals, inspired by “New Youth” (Xinqingnian)
attacked traditional Confucian ideas and exalted Western ideas, particularly science and democracy
May 4, 1919, from which the movement took its name. On that day, more than 3,000 students from 13 colleges in Beijing held a mass demonstration against the decision of the Versailles Peace Conference
The Chinese government’s acquiescence to the decision so enraged the students that they burned the house of the minister of communications and assaulted China’s minister to Japan, both pro-Japanese officials. Over the following weeks, demonstrations occurred throughout the country; several students died or were wounded in these incidents, and more than 1,000 were arrested. In the big cities, strikes and boycotts against Japanese goods were begun by the students and lasted more than two months. For one week, beginning June 5, merchants and workers in Shanghai and other cities went on strike in support of the students. Faced with this growing tide of unfavourable public opinion, the government acquiesced; three pro-Japanese officials were dismissed, the cabinet resigned, and China refused to sign the peace treaty with Germany.
As a part of this movement, a campaign had been undertaken to reach the common people; mass meetings were held throughout the country, and more than 400 new publications were begun to spread the new thought. As a result, the decline of traditional ethics and the family system was accelerated, the emancipation of women gathered momentum, a vernacular literature emerged, and the modernized intelligentsia became a major factor in China’s subsequent political developments. The movement also spurred the successful reorganization of the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), later ruled by Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi), and stimulated the birth of the Chinese Communist Party as well.

8. Three Principles of the People
Book published by Sun Yat-sen before his death in 1925
Principle of Mínquán
Democracy – the people are sovereign
Principle of Mínzú
Nationalism – an end to foreign imperialism
Principle of Mínshēng
Livelihood – economic development, industrialization, land reform, and social welfare – elements of progressivism and socialism
READING: “Three Stages of Revolution” Sun Yat-sen

9. Growth of Communism
Sun Yat-sen appealed for Russian (Soviet) aid following the Versailles Conference
– China received advisors, arms, communist propaganda, and loans
Russia revoked its imperialist rights in China
Chinese flag,

10. The Kuomintang (KMT) is Split
Right wing
Business people
Politicians
Left wing
Communists
Intellectuals
Radicals
Students

11. Nationalist Revolution
Sun Yat-sen succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek
Communists expelled by Kuomintang
– war to control the warlords
Capital moved from Peiping (a.k.a. Peking, today’s Beijing) to Nanking (Nanjing)
Possible anecdote: The Kuomintang changed the name of Peking/Beijing to Peiping (or Beiping) in 1928.
Presidential Palace under Kuomintang Government in Nanjing

12. Civil War in China
and – war between Communists and Nationalists
Communists – Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong)
Nationalists – Chiang Kai-shek
War halted and to fight Japanese aggression
Communists were victorious in 1949
Nationalists retreated to Formosa (Taiwan)
End of imperialism in China
Hong Kong returned to China in 1997

13. Japanese Aggression Japan was a threat to China – 1894-1941
1937 – Japanese invasion
Japanese took control of north and areas along the coast
Rape of Nanking
Chinese Communists and Nationalists
Intermittently were at peace as they united to fight against the Japanese
Guerrilla and scorched earth tactics
Received American aid against the Japanese

14. World War II
U.S. interest in China increased after Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941
Cairo Conference (1943)
Chiang Kai-shek met with Allied leaders
Discussed war in eastern Asia
Westerners gave up imperialist rights in China
U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 repealed in 1943

15. Quotations from Mao Zedong on War and Revolution
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. — From Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan
The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them. — From Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work

16. War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes. — From Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War
Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." — From Problems of War and Strategy
Our Principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party. — From Problems of War and Strategy

17. Communists in Control – 1949
Communists and Nationalists resumed civil war following World War II
Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government wasted foreign economic aid
Many Kuomintang deserted to Communists
Manchuria – taken over by Communists in 1948
December, Communists in control

18. Geographical Changes Communist China gained control over: Chinese
Turkestan (Xinjiang)
Inner Mongolia
Manchuria
Tibet
PRC = People’s Republic of China (Communists) / ROC = Republic of China (Nationalists)

19. Political Changes under Mao
Communist government on mainland China
Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong)
Chairman Mao – chairman of the Communist party and leader of China –
Possible anecdote: Other men served as chairman of the republic (as opposed to both the party and the republic) as well as premier, but Mao was the de facto leader of China until his death in 1976.
Mao Zedong 毛泽东

20. Mao’s Little Red Book
The Chinese Communist Party is the core of the Chinese revolution, and its principles are based on Marxism-Leninism. Party criticism should be carried out within the Party.
The revolution, and the recognition of class and class struggle, are necessary for peasants and the Chinese people to overcome both domestic and foreign enemy elements. This is not a simple, clean, or quick struggle.
War is a continuation of politics, and there are at least two types: just (progressive) and unjust wars, which only serve bourgeois interests. While no one likes war, we must remain ready to wage just wars against imperialist agitations.
Note: Mao’s Quotations were published by the Chinese government from 1964 to 1976.

21. Mao’s Little Red Book
Fighting is unpleasant, and the people of China would prefer not to do it at all. At the same time, they stand ready to wage a just struggle of self-preservation against reactionary elements, both foreign and domestic.
China's road to modernization will be built on the principles of diligence and frugality. Nor will it be legitimate to relax if, 50 years later, modernization is realized on a mass scale.
A communist must be selfless, with the interests of the masses at heart. He must also possess a largeness of mind, as well as a practical, far-sighted mindset.
Women represent a great productive force in China, and equality among the sexes is one of the goals of communism. The multiple burdens which women must shoulder are to be eased.

22. Economic Changes under Mao
First Five-Year Plan ( )
Advances in agriculture and coal, electricity, iron, and steel production
Second Five-Year Plan ( )
“Great Leap Forward”
China became a leading industrial country
Peasants organized into communes
Widespread catastrophe – famine – at least 14,000,000 deaths
Note: Chairman Mao’s role as China’s leader became less significant following the failure of the Great Leap Forward.
Propaganda Poster for the Great Leap Forward

23. Foreign Relations Russia (Soviet Union) Tibet Korea Vietnam
Growing split between USSR and China
“Peaceful coexistence” policy of USSR viewed as surrender
1960 – end of Soviet economic aid
Tibet
Seized in 1962
Korea
Aided North Korea in the Korean War ( )
Vietnam
Supported North Vietnam and aided Viet Cong during Vietnam War ( )

24. Foreign Relations Cold War “Atomic Club” (1964) United Nations
Economic aid to Africa, Asia, and Latin America
“Atomic Club” (1964)
Fifth overall, and first non-white, country to develop nuclear weapons
United Nations
One of five permanent members of U.N. Security Council (1971, replacing Taiwan)
Relations with United States
1972 – U.S. President Richard Nixon opened diplomatic relations with China

25. Cultural Revolution (1966-1969)
“Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”
Effort to revive interest in Mao’s ideas (and for Mao to regain power) after the failed Great Leap Forward
Mao claimed that reactionary bourgeoisie elements were taking over the party
Call for youths to engage in post-revolutionary class warfare
Red Guards (consisting of young people) marched throughout China
Older alleged reactionaries removed from positions of power

26. China after Chairman Mao
Mao died in September, 1976
“Gang of Four”
Failed at a coup d’état in October, 1976
China continued to industrialize
One-Child Policy adopted – 1979
Tiananmen Square Massacre – 1989
Today – issues include:
Balancing limited capitalism with communist ideals
Environmental pollution
Unequal male-to-female ratios resulting from One-Child Policy
Control of Tibet

27. Review Questions Which group led the Republican Revolution of 1912?
What common enemy united the Nationalists and Communists?
Who led the Communist Revolution?
Describe the Great Leap Forward.
Describe the Cultural Revolution.
What issues face China today?