April
25, Wednesday
I woke up late to see that it was another rainy and gloomy day, so I`ve decided to just stay in and rest.
So much for the 2-day bus pass.
I’ll use the time to catch up on notes and trying to identify some of the pictures I`ve taken during the China trip.
The high speed train between Beijing and Shanghai used to travel at 350 km/hour, but after the accident in July 2011, the speed has been reduced to 250 km/hour.
Some of the guides spoke openly about their past and
present government, saying that the current leader is quite weak in his decision making these days. You can judge for yourselves since he was much in the international news lately.
In 1946, civil war broke out between the KMT and the Communists. In 1949, the Communists were victorious, establishing the People's Republic of China. {This is Mao taking over.} Chiang and the remaining KMT forces fled to the island of Taiwan. There Chiang established a government in exile which he led for the next 25 years. This government continued to be recognised by many countries as the legitimate government of China, and Taiwan controlled China's seat in the United Nations until the end of Chiang's life. He died on 5 April 1975.”
“Mao Zedong: In 1923, the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party had allied with the CCP to defeat the warlords who controlled much of northern China. Then in 1927, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-communist purge. Mao and other communists retreated to south east China. In 1934, after the KMT surrounded them, Mao led his followers on the 'Long March', a 6,000 mile journey to northwest China to establish a new base. The Communists and KMT were again temporarily allied during eight years of war with Japan (1937-1945), but shortly after the end of World War Two, civil war broke out between them. The Communists were victorious, and on 1 October 1949 Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Mao and other Communist leaders set out to reshape Chinese society. Industry came under state ownership and China's farmers began to be organised into collectives. All opposition was ruthlessly suppressed. The Chinese initially received significant help from the Soviet Union, but relations soon began to cool. In 1958, in an attempt to introduce a more 'Chinese' form of communism, Mao launched the 'Great Leap Forward'. This aimed at mass mobilisation of labour to improve agricultural and industrial production. The result, instead, was a massive decline in agricultural output, which, together with poor harvests, led to famine and the deaths of millions.
The policy was abandoned and Mao's position weakened."
1959-1961 between 14 and 30 million people die of hunger; exact numbers will probably never be known.
In an attempt to re-assert his authority, Mao launched the 'Cultural Revolution' in 1966, aiming to purge the country of 'impure' elements and revive the revolutionary spirit. One-and-a-half million people died and much of the country's cultural heritage was destroyed. In September 1967, with many cities on the verge of anarchy, Mao sent in the army to restore order. ”
This lasts until 1976, Mao’s “crazy years”. Everyone is paid a salary, whether they work hard or not. People become lazy. Population explosion. China’s intellectual elite disappear; a decade lost in anarchy and chaos. Mao’s political concept of a "permanent cultural revolution" paralyzes his political enemies.
1976: Death of both Premier Zhou Enlai and of Chairman Mao Zedong.
1977: Deng Xiaoping win’s power and brings in the 1978 Constitution of the People’s Republic of China guaranteeing freedom of religion, plus many other cultural and economic reforms.
1977: National unified entrance examination for universities is re-introduced. Things gradually start to improve for citizens of China.
“Ascending to power in 1978, Deng ridiculed the Cultural Revolution slogan that held it was "better to be poor under socialism than rich under capitalism." The blunt, practical Deng offered instead: "Poverty is not socialism. One of Deng's first reforms was to abolish Mao's rural agricultural communes and allow peasants to cultivate family plots. Grain harvests quickly increased, and other reforms followed. City dwellers were allowed to start small-scale businesses, ordinary Chinese were allowed to buy consumer goods, and Deng actively courted international investors. He also imposed tough population controls that included forced abortions to limit families to one or two children. Deng pushed to remake education in China, charging the Cultural Revolution had produced "an entire generation of mental cripples" by shutting down schools and sucking the student population into the ubiquitous Red Guards. Deng allowed students to go abroad for college, sparking a craze for learning English.
Perhaps Deng's most glorious year was 1984, when he reached 80 years of age. China's food supply hit 400 million tons of grain, making the nation self-sufficient in food. That same year Deng successfully negotiated an agreement with the British government to return Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997, the year Britain's 99-year lease on much of the territory was to expire.
He encouraged the creation of a market economy and capitalist-like enterprises, and by the early 1990s his reforms had helped lift an estimated 170 million peasants out of extreme poverty.”
Controversy =1989 Tiananmen Square: Through-out Deng's economic reforms, however, he kept an iron fist ready to crush any threats to the nation's Communist dictatorship. In Deng's final five years, virtually all of China's dissidents were imprisoned or exiled abroad. Deng also supported the use of tanks and guns to end the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of students and bystanders were believed to have been killed. That same year Deng gave up his chairmanship of the military commission, and his influence over China's ruling elite steadily declined through the 1990s until his death in February 1997 at age 92.” “ A rift emerges between China's top leaders, with the "hardliners" Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng on one side and the "moderates" Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili on the other side. On May 20, the government declares martial law but fails to enforce it and the demonstrations continue.”
I woke up late to see that it was another rainy and gloomy day, so I`ve decided to just stay in and rest.
So much for the 2-day bus pass.
I’ll use the time to catch up on notes and trying to identify some of the pictures I`ve taken during the China trip.
Recent political history:
I simply love history, so if
you don`t, you can skip the rest of today`s notes.
“Chiang
Kai-shek was a Chinese military and political leader who led the Kuomintang
(Chinese Nationalist Party) for five decades and was head of state of the
Chinese Nationalist government between 1928 and 1949. He took part
in the uprising that overthrew the Qing
Dynasty and established a Chinese republic. Chiang became a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party. In 1925,
Chiang became leader of the KMT. He spearheaded the Northern Expedition which
reunified most of China under a National Government based in Nanjing. In 1928,
he led the suppression of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale invasion of
China. When the United States came into the war against Japan in 1941, China
became one of the Allied Powers. As Chiang's position within China weakened,
his status abroad grew and in November 1943 he travelled to Cairo to meet US
President Franklin D Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
His wife, Soong Mei-ling, travelled with him and became famous in the west as
Madame Chiang. In 1946, civil war broke out between the KMT and the Communists. In 1949, the Communists were victorious, establishing the People's Republic of China. {This is Mao taking over.} Chiang and the remaining KMT forces fled to the island of Taiwan. There Chiang established a government in exile which he led for the next 25 years. This government continued to be recognised by many countries as the legitimate government of China, and Taiwan controlled China's seat in the United Nations until the end of Chiang's life. He died on 5 April 1975.”
“Mao Zedong: In 1923, the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party had allied with the CCP to defeat the warlords who controlled much of northern China. Then in 1927, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-communist purge. Mao and other communists retreated to south east China. In 1934, after the KMT surrounded them, Mao led his followers on the 'Long March', a 6,000 mile journey to northwest China to establish a new base. The Communists and KMT were again temporarily allied during eight years of war with Japan (1937-1945), but shortly after the end of World War Two, civil war broke out between them. The Communists were victorious, and on 1 October 1949 Mao proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Mao and other Communist leaders set out to reshape Chinese society. Industry came under state ownership and China's farmers began to be organised into collectives. All opposition was ruthlessly suppressed. The Chinese initially received significant help from the Soviet Union, but relations soon began to cool. In 1958, in an attempt to introduce a more 'Chinese' form of communism, Mao launched the 'Great Leap Forward'. This aimed at mass mobilisation of labour to improve agricultural and industrial production. The result, instead, was a massive decline in agricultural output, which, together with poor harvests, led to famine and the deaths of millions.
The policy was abandoned and Mao's position weakened."
1959-1961 between 14 and 30 million people die of hunger; exact numbers will probably never be known.
In an attempt to re-assert his authority, Mao launched the 'Cultural Revolution' in 1966, aiming to purge the country of 'impure' elements and revive the revolutionary spirit. One-and-a-half million people died and much of the country's cultural heritage was destroyed. In September 1967, with many cities on the verge of anarchy, Mao sent in the army to restore order. ”
This lasts until 1976, Mao’s “crazy years”. Everyone is paid a salary, whether they work hard or not. People become lazy. Population explosion. China’s intellectual elite disappear; a decade lost in anarchy and chaos. Mao’s political concept of a "permanent cultural revolution" paralyzes his political enemies.
1976: Death of both Premier Zhou Enlai and of Chairman Mao Zedong.
1977: Deng Xiaoping win’s power and brings in the 1978 Constitution of the People’s Republic of China guaranteeing freedom of religion, plus many other cultural and economic reforms.
1977: National unified entrance examination for universities is re-introduced. Things gradually start to improve for citizens of China.
“Ascending to power in 1978, Deng ridiculed the Cultural Revolution slogan that held it was "better to be poor under socialism than rich under capitalism." The blunt, practical Deng offered instead: "Poverty is not socialism. One of Deng's first reforms was to abolish Mao's rural agricultural communes and allow peasants to cultivate family plots. Grain harvests quickly increased, and other reforms followed. City dwellers were allowed to start small-scale businesses, ordinary Chinese were allowed to buy consumer goods, and Deng actively courted international investors. He also imposed tough population controls that included forced abortions to limit families to one or two children. Deng pushed to remake education in China, charging the Cultural Revolution had produced "an entire generation of mental cripples" by shutting down schools and sucking the student population into the ubiquitous Red Guards. Deng allowed students to go abroad for college, sparking a craze for learning English.
Perhaps Deng's most glorious year was 1984, when he reached 80 years of age. China's food supply hit 400 million tons of grain, making the nation self-sufficient in food. That same year Deng successfully negotiated an agreement with the British government to return Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997, the year Britain's 99-year lease on much of the territory was to expire.
He encouraged the creation of a market economy and capitalist-like enterprises, and by the early 1990s his reforms had helped lift an estimated 170 million peasants out of extreme poverty.”
Controversy =1989 Tiananmen Square: Through-out Deng's economic reforms, however, he kept an iron fist ready to crush any threats to the nation's Communist dictatorship. In Deng's final five years, virtually all of China's dissidents were imprisoned or exiled abroad. Deng also supported the use of tanks and guns to end the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, where hundreds of students and bystanders were believed to have been killed. That same year Deng gave up his chairmanship of the military commission, and his influence over China's ruling elite steadily declined through the 1990s until his death in February 1997 at age 92.” “ A rift emerges between China's top leaders, with the "hardliners" Deng Xiaoping and Li Peng on one side and the "moderates" Zhao Ziyang and Hu Qili on the other side. On May 20, the government declares martial law but fails to enforce it and the demonstrations continue.”
Very controversial, but many Chinese feel
that Deng had no choice but to bring in the army to deal with the student
uprising. He wanted gradual changes and felt
that the students were asking for too much, too quickly.
1994: Start of the Three-Gorges Dam project. Between 1978 and 2004 China reduced the
population in severe poverty from 250 million to approx 26 million. Many older people still think that Mao was
the best and they miss the old times. GO FIGURE !
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