oldest continuous civilization on earth more than 4,000 years xia dynasty: 2000 bce dynasty: series...
TRANSCRIPT
• Oldest continuous civilization on earth• More than 4,000 years• Xia Dynasty: 2000 BCE • Dynasty: series of rulers from the same family• Dynasties ruled China until 1911
Chinese Dynasties
• Q’in (Chin) Dynasty – first great Chinese dynasty (200s BCE). “China” gets its current name from Q’in. Built the Great Wall to keep out barbarian invaders
• Shi Huang Ti was buried with 7,000 terra-cotta warriors and horses made of clay – in Xian
• Han Dynasty (200s CE) – culture and military expanded. Chinese people still consider themselves “Han”
End of the Dynasties
• Chinese always viewed themselves as the center of the world and when approached by foreigners, Chinese viewed them as inferior
• Contact with Europeans through the silk road... But Europeans did not reach China by sea until 1500s CE
• Chinese were uncomfortable with European imperialism, thought they were superior, but lost wars throughout the 19th century
• Dynasties overthrown in 1911
Rise of Communist China
• Nationalists overthrew the Xing (Manchu) Dynasty, but were soon challenged by Mao Zedong’s communists
• The struggle weakened China and Japan invaded in the 1930s, taking Manchuria (a resource rich region in northern China), then taking eastern China – ultimately setting up a puppet government: gov’t controlled by outside forces
• After World War II, Mao’s communists defeated Nationalists to gain control of China in 1949.
Taiwan• Nationalists fled to
island of Taiwan; set up a dictatorship called the Republic of China (ROC)
• U.S. and the U.N. proclaimed the ROC to be the legitimate government of China (even though they were located in Taiwan).
Taiwan
• 1971 - ROC was ousted from the U.N. in favor off Mao's People's Republic of China (PRC).
• Taiwan nevertheless became the foremost "economic tiger" of the Pacific Rim
• Made strides towards democracy – elections in 1996 (1st time in Chinese history – albeit Taiwan)
• Taiwan is NOT independent
Mao’s China – People’s Republic of China (PRC)
• Communist government quickly attacked weaknesses
1. Land taken from wealthy2. Farms collectivized3. Dams built, using thousands of workers4. Hunger receded5. Health conditions improved6. Child labor reduced
Mao’s Failures
• Brought in Soviet advisors
• Recommended industrialization – to use the income from agriculture to pay for industrialization
• DIDN’T WORK – increased agricultural production went to subsistence, not income – population was too big
• Mao expelled the Soviets
Great Leap Forward
• Mao further collectivized farms by putting workers on “production teams”
• Split families, leaving children as orphans
• Futility on new farms – no incentive to work hard, chaos from family separation
• Widespread famine – 20 million died
Cultural Revolution
• Response to clean up Great Leap
• “Red Guards” enforced the revolution
• Shut down all of China’s schools
• persecuted, imprisoned, tortured teachers, intellectuals, elderly
• violence & famine killed 30 million during the cultural revolution
Population
• Mao refused to impose any population controls
• He viewed population control as a capitalistic exercise in limiting human resources – and anything capitalistic is anti-communist, so he was opposed to it
• Result - China's population exploded during Mao's rule
• Mao died in 1976
• Deng Xiaoping succeeded him and immediately instituted population controls
• China’s growth
-- 1970s: (under Mao) grew 3% -- 1980s: 1.2%
-- Today: reported at 0.5%
One-Child Policy
• Enforced vigorously under Deng• Abortions soared (sometimes coerced
by the government, even well into the third trimester)
• Female infanticide rose • Families would hide their 2nd or 3rd
child with family members in separate villages (if caught, the government could burn their house down)