Asia 210 - Modern China: November 2021

Monday, November 29, 2021

THe Era of Jiang Zemin

Jiang Zemin

Introduction

retired Chinese politician (b. 1926)
He served as
a) General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002.
b) Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004.
c) President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003.
Jiang has been described as the "core of the third generation of Communist Party leaders since 1989.
He came to power unexpectedly as a compromise candidate" following the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
This was when he replaced Zhao Ziyang as General Secretary.
Zhang Ziyang was thrown out for supporting the student movement.
Jiang consolidated his hold on power for two reasons.
a) he influenced eight Elders due to old age.
b) the death of Deng Xiaoping
He became "paramount leader" of the country in the 1990s
Under Jiang's leadership, China experienced
a) substantial economic growth with the continuation of reforms.
b) the peaceful return of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom & Macao from Portugal
c) improved its relations with the outside world.
d) The communist Party maintained its tight control over the government.
Jiang has been criticized for
a) being too concerned about his personal image at home.
b) being too conciliatory towards Russia & the United States abroad.
His contributions to party doctrine was the "Three Represents."
They were written into the Party's constitution in 2002.
Jiang vacated the post of Party General Secretary in 2002.
He did not relinquished all of his leadership titles until 2005.
He continued to influence affairs until much later.
At the age of 91, Jiang Zemin id currently the oldest living former General Secretary & President.

Background

Jiang was born in the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu.
His ancestral home was Jiangxi in Wuyuan County Jiangxi.
This was also the hometown of a number of prominent figures in Chinese academic & intellectual establishments.
Jiang grew up during the years of Japanese occupation.
His uncle, also his foster father, Jiang Shangqing, died fighting the Japanese in World War II.
this was considered in Jiang Zemin's time to be a national hero.
Jiang Shangqing had no heirs.
Jiang's biological father Jiang Shin ruled the Nanking government.
He let Jiang become the adopted son of Shangqing's wife, his aunt, Wang Zhelan, to whom he referred to as "Niang" ("Mom")
There is some doubt if Jiang was really adopted at that time.
Shangqing's daughter Zehui once said her family was too poor to have enough food after his death.
This showed that Jiang Zemin'a father, despite his wealth & power, never supported Shangqing's family.
It was unlikely for Jiang Zemin's father to allow Jiang Shangqing to adopt Zemin, because in Chinese tradition, Zemin, an eldest son, would not be adopted.

Education

Jiang attended the Department Electrical Engineering at the National Central University in Japan-occupied Nanjing.
This was before he transferred to National Chiao Tung University
He graduated there in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.
Jiang married Wang Yeping in 1949, from Yangzhou.
She graduated from Shanghai International Studies University.
They have two sons, Jiang Mianheng & Jiang Miankang.

Work

He claimed that he joined the Communist Party of China when he was in college.
Jiang got his training at the Stalin Automobile Works.
This was in Moscow in the 1950s.
He also worked for Changchun's First Automobile Works.
He was transferred to government services.
This is where he began to rise In prominence and rank.
He later became a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
He was Minister of Electronic Industries in 1983.

Mayor of Shanghai

In 1985 he became mayor of Shanghai
Subsequently he became the Party Secretary of Shanghai - he received mixed reviews as mayor.
Many of his critics dismissed him as a "flower pot."
That is the Chinese term for someone who only seems useful, but actually gets nothing done.
Credit for Shanghai's growth went to Zhu Rongji.
Jiang was an ardent believer in Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms.
Inan attempt to curb student discontent in 1986, Jiang recited the Gettysburg Address in English in front of student protesters

Personality

Jiang was described as having a passable command of several languages, including Romanian, Russian, and English.
One of his favourite activities was to engage foreign visitors in small talk on arts & literature in their native language.
He also liked to sing foreign songs in their original language.

National Politics

Jiang was elevated to national politics in 1987 becoming a member of the Politburo of the CPC Central Committee.
In 1989, China was in a crisis over the Tiananmen Square protest.
The central government was in conflict on how to handle the protestors.
In June, Deng Xiaoping dismissed Zhao Ziyang
Zhao was considered to be too conciliatory toward the student protesters,.
At that time Jiang was the Shanghai Party Secretary.
this made him the top figure in China's new economic centre.
In an incident with the World Economic Herald Jiang closed down the newspaper, deemed it to be harmful.

Early Leadership

Jiang was elevated to the country's top job in 1989.
This gave him with a small power base inside the Party.
In this way he had very actual power.
His most reliable allies were the powerful Party elders
These were Chen Yuh & Li Xiannian.
He was just a transitional figure.
this would be until a more stable successor government to Deng could be put in place.
Other prominent Party & military figures, like Yang Shangkun & brother Yang Baibing were believed to bet planning a coup.
Jiang used Deng Xiaoping as a back-up to his leadership in the first few years.
Jiang, who was believed to have a Neo-conservative slant warned against "bourgeois liberalization"
Deng believed that the only solution to keeping the legitimacy of Communist rule over China was to continue the drive for modernization and economic reform.
This placed him at odds with Jiang.
After the Tiananmen massacre of 1989, Jiang criticized the previous period as "hard on the economy, soft on politics."
He advocated increasing political thought work.

Criticisms & Responses

Deng increased his criticisms of Jiang's leadership in 1992.
On southern tours, he suggested that the pace of reform was not fast enough.
Jiang became more cautious.
He supported Deng's reforms completely.
in 1993 Jiang suggested to move China's centrally planned socialist economy into an essentially government-regulated capitalist market economy.
It was a Hugh step to take within the realization of Deng's "Socialism with Chinese characteristics"
At the same time Jiang elevated many of his supporters from Shanghai to high government positions.
This was after regaining Deng's confidence.
He abolished the outdated Central Advisory Committee.
This was an advisory body.
It was made up of revolutionary party elders.
Jiang then became
a) General Secretary of the Communist Party of China.
b) Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1989.
His election to the President took place in March 1993.

Leading China

In the early 1990s, economic reforms had stabilized.
The country was on a consistent growth trajectory.
But China faced lots of economic & social problems.
At Deng's state funeral (1997) Jiang delivered the elder statesman's eulogy.
Jiang had inherited a China filled with political corruption.
Regional economies were growing too rapidly for there stability of the entire country.
Deng's policy had suggested that "some areas can get rich before others."
This led to an opening wealth gap between coastal regions & the interior provinces.
This unprecedented economic growth and the deregulation in a number of heavy industries led to the closing of many state-owed enterprises.
Then unemployment rates skyrocketed
It was as high as 40% in some urban areas.
Stock markets fluctuated greatly
The increase of rural migration into urban areas was unprecedented anywhere.
Very little was being done to address a problem.
This was the ever-increasing urban-rural wealth gap.
China's GDP was being moved and abused by corrupt officials was 10%.
Illegal bonds made things unstable.
These came from civil & military officials.
It resulted in much of the corrupted wealth.
This ended up in foreign countries.
China experienced a re-emergence of organized crime.
This surge in crime rates began to plague cities.
Another problem to emerge dealt with the environment.
The destruction of the environment was ignored.
These concerns were voiced by intellectuals

Jiang's biggest aim in the economy was stability.
Jiang continued during funds to
a) develop the Special Economic Zone.
b) develop coastal regions
In 1996, Jiang began a series of reforms
These were reforms in the state controlled media.
They were aimed at promoting the "core of leadership" under himself.
At the same time he defeated some of his political opponents.
The personality enhancements in the media were largely frowned upon during the Deng era.
He had not been seen since the Mao era in the late 1970s
The media had Jiang-related events on the front pages.
Sometimes these events became the top story.
This remained until HU Jintao's media administrative changes in 2006.
Jiang appeared casual in front of the Western media.
He would often use foreign languages in front of the camera, albeit not always fluent.

Expulsion of Falun Gong

In June 1999, Jian established an extralegal department.
This was the 6-10 office.
It was created to expel Falun Gong from mainland China.
On July 20th security forces abducted and detained thousands of Falun Gong organizers they identified as leaders.
The persecution that followed was characterized as a nationwide campaign of propaganda.
It was also viewed as as the large scaled arbitrary imprisonment and coercive reeducation of Falun Gong organizers.
Sometimes it resulted in death.

Foreign Policy

Jiang went on a state visit to the United States in 1997.
He attracted various crowds.
Some supported the Tibetan Independence Movement.
Some supported the Chinese Democracy Movement.
He also made a speech at Harvard University
Part of it was in passable English.
But he could not avoid unpleasant questions.
These were questions on democracy & freedom.

Jiang & Clinton

The meeting with US President Bill Clinton was relaxed.
Both sought common ground.
Both largely ignored areas of disagreement.
Clinton would visit China in June 1998.
He vowed that China and the United States were partners.
They were not to be seen as adversaries
But American-led NATO bombed the Chinese Embassy.
This was in Belgrade in 1999.
Jiang would put up a harsh stance for show at home.
It was only a symbolic gesture of protest.
There was no solid action that was undertaken.
Jiang's foreign policy was mostly passive.
It was generally non-confrontational.
Jiang strengthened China's economic stature abroad.
He kept trying to establish cordial relations.
This was with countries whose trade is largely confined to the American economic sphere.
Despite this, there were at least three serious flare-ups.
These were between China and the United States.
This took place during Jiang's tenure:
a) the Third Taiwas Strait Crisis in 1996.
b) the above mentioned NATO bombing of Serbia
c) the Hianan Island incident in April 2001.

Entrenching the Three Represents.

Jiang had his theory of Three Represents written into the Party's constitution at the CCP congress in 2002.
This was alongside
a) Marxism-Leninism
b) Mao Zedong Thought
c) Deng Xiaoping Theory
Critics think this is a piece added to Jiang's cult of personality.
Others have seen practical applications of the theory as a guiding ideology in the future direction of the CPC.
The international media speculated that he was to step down from all positions.
Rival Li Ruihuan's resignation in 2002 prompted analysts to rethink the man.
Many though this to be Jiang's effort at extending his vision to Marxist-Leninists principles.
In this way it would elevate himself alongside previous Chinese Marxist philosophers Mao & Deng.
In 2002, Jiang stepped down from
a) the powerful Politburo Standing Committee.
&
b) as general Secretary.
This was to make way for a "fourth generation" of leadership headed by Hu Jintao.
This was the beginning of a transition of power that would last several years.
Hu assumed Jiang's title as Party head.
Thus he became the new General Secretary of the CCP.

Jiang held the Chairmanship of the powerful Central Military Commission
But most members off the Commission were professional military men.
The Liberation Army Daily seemed to criticized Jiang's attempt to exercise dual leadership with Hu on the model of Deng Xiaoping.
Hu succeeded Jiang as Party leader in November 2002.
Evidence of Jiang's continuing influence on public policy abruptly disappeared from the official media.
Jiang was conspicuously silent during the SARS crisis.
This was especially so when compared to
a) the very public profile of Hu.
b) the newly anointed Premier, Wen Jiabao.
The institutional arrangements created by the 16th Congress have left Jiang in a position where he cannot exercise much influence.
the Standing Committee does not necessarily have command authority over the civilian bureaucracy.
On Sept. 19, 2004, Jiang relinquished his post.
This was as chairman of the party's Central Military Commission
That was his last post in the party.
Six months later he resigned his last significant post.
this was as chairman of the Central Military Commission of the state.
It looked like forces inside the party were pressing Jiang to step aside.
Jiang's term was supposed to have lasted until 2007.
Hu also succeeded Jiang as the CMC chairman.
General Xu Caihou was appointed to succeed Hu as vice chairman.
This seemed to look like a defeat for Jiang.
This power transition formally marked the end of Jiang's era in China, which roughly lasted from 1993 to 2004.

Official Appearances After Retirement

Jiang continued to make official appearances after giving up his last title in 2004.
In China's strictly defined protocol sequence, Jiang's name always appeared immediately after Hu Jintao's and in front of the remaining sitting members of the Politburo Standing Committee
In 2007, Jiang was seen with Hu Jintao on stage at a ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.
He toured the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution with Li Peng, Zhu Ronji
On the 8th of August 2008, Jiang appeared at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.
He also stood beside Hu Jintao during the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China mass parade in October 2009.
Beginning in July 2011, false reports of Jiang's death began circulating on the news media Outside of mainland China and on the Internet.
Jiang may have been ill and receiving treatments.
But the rumours were denied by official sources.
On Oct. 9th, Jiang made his first public appearance - this was in Beijing.
It was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution.

Saturday, November 27, 2021

From Deng Xiaoping to the Tiananmen Square Massacre

The Era of Deng Xiaoping

After Mao's death & the fall of the Gang of Four, Deng Xiaoping was restored.
This was to the offices he had held before the Tiananmen incident.
Hua Guofeng, who had previously been his subordinate, remained premier.
Over the next four years, Deng Xiaoping campaigned.
To secure the rehabilitation of the victims of the Cultural Revolution.
By implication it implied the rejection of Mao's legacy.
Hua Guofeng claimed to be the guardian to that legacy.
By 1980 Deng had isolatedHua who was then forced resign as premier.
By the early 1980s Deng Xiaoping delegated routine administration to two men.
They were from the younger generation.
a) Hu Yaobang, who became Party secretary
b) Zhao Ziyana, who succeeded Hua Guofeng as premier.
Deng remained in control until 1987, when he resigned from the Central Committee.
But he retained the chair of the Military Affairs Commission.
He continued to dominate the political scene.
This would be until his retirement from all official positions in 1990.
His influence was obvious until shortly before his death in Feb. 1997.

Deng Xiaoping's Politics

His political style was highly personalized.
He was prepared to go to great length to settle private animosities.
As example, he used his authority to secure a ten year prison sentence for Nine Yuanzi.
He was the philosophy professor at Beijing University.
His big-character poster had launched the Cultural Revolution.
In Deng's view he was responsible for the persecution by the Red Guards of his son.
This was his son Deng Pufang, who fell from a roof at the university in 1978.
He became paralyzed from the waist down as a result of this.
Deng was no advocate of democracy.
But he accepted the case for some modest political changes.
In 1980 the system of congressional elections was revived.
They had not operated since the Cultural Revolution.
Direct elections were held for some 2000 country-level congresses.
Members of the National People's congress were now allowed to
a) cross-examine ministers on their work.
b) table suggestions for government actions.
The 1968 constitution was provided for the Congress
This was to establish standing committees to deal with
a) foreign
b) economic
c) minority-nationalities' affairs.
In September 1985, a special Party conference was convened
This was to force the retirement from the Politburo of some of the oldest members
An attempt to reduce the "old" character of government was desirable.
But Deng's motives may have been the settling of old scores.
These moves were subordinate to Deng's primary objective.
His main goal was to bring about a major shift in economic policy
In agriculture this implied
a) the abandonment of collectivization
b) the adoption of a market economy.
After the Great Leap Forward, modifications had been introduced to the communes
But a few things were retained
a) the principles of public ownership of land
b) reliance on human labour as the main source
c) restrictions on private enterprises.
In the years from 1966 to 1978, the gross value of agricultural output had grown.
It had grown at 3.1% per annum.
This was sufficient to sustain the growing population.
But it was quite inadequate to raise living standards to a significant degree.
In 1979, two reforms were instituted
This was to transform the agricultural sector
The first was to encourage peasants to
a) maximize the use of their private plot
b) to sell their produce on the open market.
By 1982, the private income of peasant families amounted to 38% of family income.
The second was the "productive responsibility system."
This was introduced in 1981.
The collective ownership of land was retained.
But single families could now take out contracts.
This would be to cultivate plots of land with specified crops.
They could also retain or sell any surplus produced in excess of their contract.
These measures injected an entrepreneurial spirit into farming.
The slogan "To get rich is glorious" was coined.
Then "ten thousand yuan" households appeared.
In the years after these reforms started, the growth rate of grain output rose.
It went from3.5% to 5% per annum.
In Dec. 1978 the policy of national economic self-sufficiency was abandoned.
China began to accept loans and foreign investments.
China finally joined the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
In 1949 four "Special Economic Zones" were created.
This was at
a) Zhuhai, north of Aomem (Macao)
b) Shenzhen near Xianggang
c) Shantou
d) Xiamen.
The purpose of establishing these zones were to attract foreign capital to China.
foreign firms were offered advantageous terms for
a) investments
b) suitable sites
c) a supply of cheap labour.
Foreign direct investment quickly became substantial.
Most of it came from Xianggang
It brought with it foreign exchange
It also brought in new technology and management practices.

Issues: Women, Minorities & Regions

A number of social issues became topical in the 1980s.
The most notorious one being the one-child family policy.
It was introduced in 1979.
In 1953 the census had shown how rapidly China's population was growing.
A birth control campaign was introduced.
But this was abandoned during the Great Leap Forward.
It was later revived.
During the Cultural Revolution birth control was denounced as an anti-Marxist heresy.
In the 1970s the fertility rate began to fall rapidly.
This was partly in response to a government campaign of economic sanctions.
This was placed on families with more than three children.
But the population continued to increase.
This led the government in 1979 to adopt the one-child family policy.
Those who accepted this received a generous package of benefits.
Those who refused were liable to lose a percentage of their income.
They would also forfeit their private plot or responsibility plot.
Some exceptions were made in cases of children with congenital defects.
The policy generally did not apply to minority groups.
The need for drastic action was supported by the evidence of the 1982 census.
The census showed that China's population exceeded I million.
Thee policy went against the deep;y held belief that a family needed a son.
a) to preserve the ancestral line.
b) to provide economic support
The enforcement of the policy involved the widespread use of
a) abortion
b) sterilization
c) encouragement of female infanticide.
In 1984 it was recognized that the campaign was too coercive.
A wider range of exemptions were allowed.
Since then the policy has generally been accepted and reinforced in urban areas.
It has been less successful in rural areas.
today the government has rethought the idea.
The policy revived the debate about the status of women in Chinese modern society.
The 1950 marriage law had appeared to confirm the Communists' promise.
This was that women would have a position of economic and legal equality with men.
Rural China remained a patriarchal society.
Educational opportunities for girls and employment opportunities for women improved.
But women still laboured under the double burden of child-bearing & work.
The Great Leap Forward provided communal kitchens & nurseries.
It offered women a brief glimpse of a less tramelled existence.
During the Cultural Revolution, the class struggle was emphasized
So feminist issues were dismissed as bourgeois preoccupations.
In 1980 a new Marriage Law was passed.
It confirmed the legal rights of women.
It also raised the minimum age of marriage for men for 20 to 22.
For women it went from 18 to 20.
Comparing their position prior to 1949 women did get liberated.
Yet few women achieved senior positions in employment
Fewer even occupied important political roles.
The new constitution was made known to the public in 1982
It reaffirmed that the People's Republic was a multinational state.
8% of China's population belonged to one of the 55% minorities.
The largest single group is the Zhuang who live in the south-west.
They number over 15 million.
Other large groups include
a) the Hui, Chinese-speaking Muslim
b) the Uighurs, in the north-west.
c) the Miao & the Tibetans in the south & west.
From time to time thereafter international agreements favoured the Chinese.
An example would be the Anglo-Chinese agreement of 1906.
It acknowledged the region to be Chinese territory.
In 1911Outer Mongolia and Tibet seized the opportunity to break away from China
Two years later the Dalai Lama declared Tibet to be an independent state.
This was recognized by Great Britain but never accepted by China.
In 1950 Tibet was "liberated"
It was commanded by Deng Xiaoping
It was designated the Xizang Autonomous Region.
Assurances were given that the region would continue to administer its internal affairs.
Also its social system would be left intact.
But the Chinese presence in Tibet led to rising tensions.
The Tibetan revolt of 1959 resulted.
a) in Chinese military intervention
b) the flight of the Dalai Lama
During the Cultural Revolution many Buddhist monasteries were destroyed.
In some cases this was done by Tibetan Red Guards
After reassurances were offered about Tibet's economic & cultural autonomy.
Buty Tibetan opposition to the Chinese presence continued.
In 1989 demonstrations in favour of Tibet independence were crushed.
During Deng's reign the relationship between China & Taiwan changed.
It went from military & political confrontation to one of economic co-operation.
Taiwan under President Chiang Kaishek became a bastion of Nationalistic resistance.
It became an important part of the USA's strategy for containing communism.
This arrangement collapsed in 1971.
That was when Nixon visited Beijing.
At that time China took Taiwan's seat at the United Nations.
Chiang Kaishek persevered with there policy of confrontation with the mainland.
This was until his death in April 1975.
He was succeeded by his son Jiang Jingguo
And it was his son who initiated a policy of cautious political liberalization.
He remained suspicious of. the People's Republic.
In 1981Deng assured Taiwan that China no longer planned to recover the island.
That would be a recovery by force.
If reunited peacefully to would retain a high degree of autonomy
No negotiations took place
Trade between Taiwan & China began to increase
In 1987 Taiwan relaxed its foreign exchange controls.
It removed its ban on travel to the mainland.
Deng Xiaoping played a leading role in determining the future of Hong Kong.
It had been ceded to Great Britain in 1842
After 1949 there was the expectation it would return to China
But Mao Zedong gave it low priority.
Twice since it has been threatened.
After the Great Leap Forward Hong Kong's resources were strained.
This was due to an influx of refugees.
The Red Guards threatened - Hong Kong's future remained undecided.
Its economy expanded in the 1970s - much to China's advantage.

Margaret Thatcher

In 1982 Margaret Thatcher, the British Prime Minister visited Beijing.
She negotiated and it resulted with the Anglo-Chinese agreement of 1984.
Under this Hong Kong would revert to China in 1997.
It would become a special Administrative Region.
Its people would be allowed to retain their own social & economic systems.
That would be for 50 years after that.
Deng's record as paramount leader was to be tarnished by one event.
This was by his handling of the democracy movement.
also by his role in the massacre of June 3rd & June 4th.
since its founding the CCP's attitude towards democratic freedoms has been mixed.
In 1919 Chen Duxiu declared that only two gentlemen could cure China.
a) Mr. Science
b) Mr. Democracy
And only these could cure Chinas of its dark malaise.
a) morality
b) learning
c) thought.
In protest against this denial of freedom Wang Shiwei responded.
He was a young communist who wrote an essay, Wild Lily.
for this he was executed.
The term "wild lily" denotes democratic dissent.
Wang Shiwei was later described as the CCP's first dissent
In 1957, Mao Zedong launched the Hundred Flowers campaign.
This meant that intellectuals were given a brief opportunity to express their opinions.
On Beijing University campus a "democracy wall" was started.
It had one student calling for true socialism with democracy.
When dissent grew stronger, Mao abandoned the intellectuals.
He called upon Deng Xiaoping to lead an anti-rightist movement.
During the Cultural Revolution, Mao himself had declared "to rebel is justified."
Some Red Guards had published critiques of the Party in the Red Guard Press.
After the Cultural Revolution millions of Red Guards were sent down to the countryside.
Many of them felt betrayed because
a) they had been deprived of their educational opportunities
b) because the cause to which they had been committed was rejected.
The rejection came after Mao's death.
This was the background of the new democracy movement which appeared in 1978.
At first this was not primarily a movement of intellectuals
Its main participants were state-employed manual workers and technicians.
They were later joined by former Red Guards who had drifted back into the cities.
The first manifestation of the movement was the appearance of posters
This was on the wall along Chang'an Avenue in Beijing.
Among their contributions was a picture headed "Democracy, the 5th Modernization"
This was a poster by Wei Jingsheng.
He was a man in his forties who worked as an electrician at Beijing Zoo.
He did this while at the same time studied at Beijing University.
Wei argued that free enterprise was the only economic system compatible with democracy - other contributors to the movement remained committed to socialism.
They argued that China's problems stemmed from the failings of its bureaucracy.
The democracy movement began soon after Deng Xiaoping had been reinstated
His first response was to regard the activists as useful allies.
These would be allies against the surviving Maoists
He would also give the movement his cautious support
But his priority was economic modernization
In Feb. 1979 he defined his political stance in "four cardinal principles"
a) that China should keep to the socialist road
b) that it should uphold the dictatorship of the proletariat.
c) it should uphold the leadership of the CCP
d) it should maintain the authority of Marxism-Leninism & Mao Zedong Thought.
At the same time the "four great freedoms" were removed from the 1978 constitution
These were freedoms that had been formulated by Mao
a) to speak out freely
b) to air views fully
c) to hold great debates
d) to write wall posters.
When Wei Jingshen and others protested, they were arrested.
Wei was given a 15 year jail sentence.
In the early 1980s China's increasing contact with the outside world had effects.
This alarmed some of the more Conservative Party leaders
In 1983, a campaign was started against "spiritual pollution"
This was a reference to
a) Western hairstyles
b) Beethoven's music
c) other examples of capitalist decadence.
The leadership was not united in their condemnation
Hu Yaobang was general secretary of the Party in 1982.
He became known for making incautious remarks.
These were sometimes critical of Marxism or positive about aspects of the West.
Some intellectuals were bold enough to question the record of the CCP.
The most famous of which was the astrophysicist Fang Lizhi
He had been a victim at the time of the Hundred Flowers.
He was now vice-president of the University of Science & Technology at Hefei.

The Tiananmen Square Massacre

In December 1986 a student movement began at Hefai
This was to protest the alleged rigging of elections to the people's congresses.
Student movements have played a key role in national history in 1919.
Students also protested in 1935.
But this was the first sustained series of student demonstrations.
It was not directly sponsored or explicitly encouraged by party officials.
The movement spread quickly to Shanghai & Beijing.
The students were joined by other social groups.
Banners were displayed calling for democracy.
As the movement gained momentum, Party leaders became concerned.
In January 1987 Fang Lizhi was dismissed
It was later revealed that at the same time Hu Yaobang was forced to self-criticism.
Then he was made to resign for having allowed the demonstrators get out of hand.
Zhao Ziyang took over as Party Secretary
In November 1987 Li Peng became acting premier
Under this new leadership efforts were made to implement the four Modernizations.
But political reform remained excluded from the agenda.
In April 1989 Hu Yaobang, a supported of democracy died of a heart attack.
Beijing students held demonstrations in his memory.
At the same time they protested about corruption and nepotism in government.
They also protested other. issues.
One was the new restrictions on students' choice of employment after graduation.
the 70th anniversary of the May 4th incident of 1919 took place.
It was marked by massive unofficial parades in Beijing & other cities.
The May 4th date was always associated with democratic freedoms.
The Chinese leadership was surprised by the scale of these demonstrations.
Zhao Ziyang & Li Peng disagreed on howbeit to proceed.
Tension began to rise when some students camped out at Tiananmen Square.
They began a hunger strike.
This was to force the government to make political concessions.
This situation was complicated by the arrival of the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
He arrived on May 15th for a state visit.
On May 19th Zhao Ziyang visited some of the hunger strikers.
He gave them the impression that he was sympathetic to their demands.
Li Peng took a harsher line.
On the following day he issued an emergency order banning demonstrations.
He empowered the PLA to take appropriate action.
On the night of May 22 & May 25 & days later Deng Xiaoping took action.
He called together the Party Elders to discuss the crisis.
The leading advocate of decision action was President Yang Shangkun.
He argued that if the Party gave way it would fall from power.
He said the result would be that capitalism would be restored.
The student protesters remained firm.
On May 29th they erected a statue of the Goddess of Democracy in the Square.
The first army units to arrive in Beijing appeared.
They were unwilling to use force against the demonstrators
On the night of June 3rd & June 4th troops broke into the square.
They opened fire.
Later it was estimated that between 400 & 800 people had been killed.
Most of them were not students.
Many did not die in the Square, but in surrounding streets.
Various reasons have been advanced to explain why the massacre occurred.
The official version was that it was the suppression of an attempted coup.
They referred to them as being counter-revolutionaries who had foreign backing.
The Party leadership was blamed.
Zhao Ziyang was dismissed for not having taken a firm line with students.
Deng Xiaoping concluded that Li Peng was also at fault.
He had failed to contain the movement.
Then he had to order its suppression in a blaze of international publicity.
Deng needed to distance himself from this implicated.
Jian Zemin was mayor of Shanghai
Deng ranged him to be promoted above Li Peng.
This would be as Secretary General of the Party
The events have been explained as a failure of China's political system.
The economic reforms, started in 1987, might have eased tensions within the leadership.
It might have been accompanied by the development of institutions.
It would have promoted long term political stability.
Instead the reforms provided further grounds for dispute.
The dispute was between reformers & conservatives.
Due to this rift there was no was no agreement within the leadership on how to deal with
a) the democracy movement
b) the cyclical decisions between concession & suppression.
After the Tiananmen Square Massacre people were rounded up
These were the political activists who had not fled abroad,
They were imprisoned.
For a time international outrage in the West was quite great & loud.
It seemed possible that China would make some concessions.
At the 1992 Party Congress Deng's "four cardinal principles" were reiterated.
These principles were a reference to the 1989 demonstrators
Yet economic reforms by now became irreversible.
To hardline members of the leadership there were the cause of political discontent.
Between 1989 & 1991 they tried to restore centralized control of the economy.
In 1992 Deng Xiaoping was on tour of south China.
This included a visit to Shenzhen.
On tour he proclaimed that China would adopt a "socialist market economy."
This meant
a) theeënd of price controls
b) a massive shakeout of workers in state enterprises
c) the encouragement of private enterprises.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

The Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletariate Cultural Revolution.

Its reverberation continued until Mao's death in Sept.1976.
The arrest of the Gang of Four was in the following month.
Its official launch was preceded by a period of manoeuvring.
In the PLA Lin Biao was engaged in a struggle with Luo Ruiqing, his chief of staff.
Te United States started to bomb North Vietnam in Feb. 1965.

Luo Ruiqing had advocated a policy of improving relations with the Soviet Union.
He also advocated a policy of improving relations with the Soviet Union.
He also advocated to making preparations to give material support to North Vietnam.
Lin Biao argued that the Vietnamese should fight a people's war.
He argued that China should only offer moral support.
There was a difference of opinion between the two men.
This resulted in Luo Ruiqing being forced to make a self-criticism and being dismissed.
At the same time cultural issues were becoming increasingly divisive.
The Group of Four issued a document known as the February Outline
It tried to limit consideration of the bourgeois tendencies in a play.
This was called "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office.
It was to be limited to an academic discussion.
Mao Zedong complained that the Group had obscured lines.
He also said that they had encouraged rightist sentiment.
He described Wu Han as an academic warlord.
He also described Peng Zhen, the leader of the group, as a "Parry warlord."
This manoeuvrering phase ended with the Politburo meeting, which began on May 4th.

Lin Biao

Lin Biao then accused two people of plotting against him as well as other radicals.
These two were Luo Ruiqing and Peng Zhen.
At the end of the meeting the Politburo issued the May 16 Circular.
This document alleged that the Party had been infiltrated by bourgeois revisionists.
It also announced the appointment of a Cultural Revolution Group
It was led by Chen Boda, the editor of the Red Flag
This would include Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng.

Liu Shaoqi

Between May 16th & August 5th two conflicting tendencies were apparent.
Liu Shaoqi may have already been regarded by Mao as a revisionist.
He was placed in charge of implementing the Cultural Revolution.
Secret encouragement was being given to radicals to challenge Party leaders.
These were the radicals in the universities.

Big Character Posters

On May 25th, Nie Yuanzi put a big character poster on a university canteen wall.
He was a philosophy teacher at Beijing University.
The poster attacked the university president.
This was for having supported the February Outline.
The University authorities responded by trying to suppress the radical movement

Mao's Swim

Up to this point Mao Zedong had remained in Hangzhou.
He had avoided himself a struggle
On July 16th he made his famous swim in the Yangzi River.
He covered 9 miles down stream in 65 minutes.
Two days later he returned to Beijing.

"Bombard the Headquarters"

On August 1st, Mao indicated his support for the use of theorem "Red Guard."
This term was coined in Maybe student radicals at Qinghua University Middle School.
On August 5th, he published his own big character poster entitled "Bombard the Headquarters."
It accused the work-teams of adopting the reactionary stand of the bourgeoisie.
On August 8th, at meeting of the 11th Plenum of the Central committee of the CCP (some of Mao's opponents were excluded), a document known as the "Sixteen Points" was adopted
which set out the purpose of the Cultural Revolution.
" ... to struggle against and overthrow those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary fourgeoisie ... and to transform the education,
literature andante and all other parts of the superstructure not in correspondence with the socialist economic base..."
By now numerous Red Guard organizations had appeared in schools & colleges.
On August 18th Mao Zedong reviewed the first of many Red Guard rallies.
They had taken place in Tiananmen Square
It offered a certain impression.
This was a movement united in revolutionary purpose & adulation of Mao Zedong.

Red Guards

From an early stage the Red Guard movement was split by factionalism
This was from theeduczational policies that was adopted after the Great Leap Forward.
There were two main divisions:
a) those students who came from the "five kinds of red" family background.
these were children of workers, peasants, soldiers, cadres or revolutionary martyrs.
these were the ones who
1) enjoyed preferential educational treatment in the 1960s
2) supported the work teams which Liu Shaoqi had sent to school.
3) supported the Party.

b) those students who came from bourgeois backgrounds
these were
1) these students had been overlooked academically
2) these students began to form their own rebel organizations.
3) they began to challenge the work teams.
At the end of the 11th Plenum, Mao Zedong had addressed a rally of Red Guards.
He encouraged them to make revolution throughout the country.
In schools & colleges, administrators and teachers were subjected to criticism.
They were often publicly humiliated.
The same treatment was given to some Party officials.

Lin Biao's Four "Olds"

Lin Biao had called for the destruction of the "four olds."
a) old ideas
b) old culture
c) old customs
d) old habits
The Red Guards took this as an invitation to destroy anything.
These would be things which might be described as representing bourgeois culture.atter if it was
It did not matter if it was
a) the work of art
b) foreign clothing
c) hairstyles
d) street names which made references to the past.
The Red Guards also took advantage of free rail travel.
This was to visit Beijing and other parts of the country..
It was to attend rallies and to enjoy the experience of "revolutionary tourism."
By October it looked like they intended to challenge the Party establishment.
It looked like a fierce power struggle lay ahead.
The group accused "persons in authority" of having taken the capitalist road.
As a result Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping were forced to make self-criticism.
The Red Guard groups in the provinces attacked the local Party officials.
They were often incited to action by delegates from Beijing Red Guard organizations.
The "five Red" qualification for Red Guard membership had been relaxed.
So, the Red Guard organizations became more daring.
In November they were permitted to enter factories and communes.
There they were able to challenge the Party monopoly of relations with
a) peasants' and
b) workers' organizations.

Shanghai "Storm"

In January 1967, an incident known as the Shanghai Storm took place.
It epitomized the collapse of Party provincial authority.
The Shanghai workforce included many thousands of casual workers.
They're the ones who enjoyed most of the benefits of employees in the state sector.
The tensions, coming from their economic situation, were exploited.
This was by Shanghai radicals.
These radicals were encouraged by the Cultural Revolution Group.
On January 6th, the mayor and other municipal officials were forced to resign.
The rebel organizations , supporters by the PLA, seized control of factories & offices.

A new city government was formed
This was modelled on the Paris Commune of 1871.
Its representatives were elected in a secret ballot.
They were elected by members of factory organizations.
The Party authorities were entirely swept aside.
By the end of January, similar "seizures of power" had occurred in various cities.
In some cases they had been stage-managed by Party Officials.
This resulted in confusion.
It led Mao and the Cultural Revolution Group to reject the Paris Commune model.
Instead they endorsed the creation of a new power structure
This was the revolutionary committee
It would be filled with representatives
a) of the mass organizations
b) of Party cadres
c) of the People's Liberation Army.

Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping

Each of these groups contained radical and conservative elements.
In the first half of 1967 there was incessant infighting.
Party cadres fought to protect themselves from criticism.
The mass organizations struggled among themselves.
In the armed forces, radical & conservative elements were in competition.
The Red Guard Press openly criticized Liu Shaoqi & Deng Xiaoping.
A dangerous situation was made manifest by an incident in Wuhan in July.
The commander of the Wuhan Military region was accused.
He was accused of repressing the radical mass organizations.
He had supported an organization of conservative workers.
They were known as the "Million Heroes."
A delegation from the Cultural Revolution Group went to Wuhan.
They were accompanied by Zhou Enlai
They favoured the radicals.
Consequently, the Million Heroes attacked the delegates.
To resolve this Zhou Enlai was forced to bring in outside military forces.
He also had to dismiss the Wuhan military commander.
By the end of August, China was on the verge of civil war.
The Red Guards and other mass organizations were obtaining arms.
With these arms they were fighting battles in the streets.
Jiang Qing was voicing criticism of leaders of the People's Liberation Army.
This threatened to undermine the army's shaky authority.
The foreign ministry, headed by Marshal Chen Yi, an ally of Zhou Enlai, was seized.
They were seized by the radicals.
The British legations in Beijing were burnt down.
The crisis forced Mao Zedong to adopt measures to restore stability.
Mao was supported by Zhou Enlai & Lin Biao.
Some of the radicals were purged from the Cultural Revolution Group.
The People's Liberation Army was empowered to suppress disorder.
The army encouraged the study of the "little red book."
These were the "Quotations" from Chairman Mao Zedong.
It was to provide a basis for a revolutionary consensus.
In September the first steps were taken towards the reconstitution of the Party.
There was an upsurge of campus violence in the spring 1968.
After this the Red Guard organizations were disbanded.
The process of forming revolutionary committees was accelerated.
It was finally completed in September 1968
In October Liu Shaoqi was officially expelled from theParty.
This occurred at the 12th Plenum of the Central Committee.
A new Party leadership identified Lin Biao as Mao's successor was agreed upon.
This was at the Ninth Party Congress, held in April 1969.
A report from Lin Biao to the Congress was the conclusion of the first stage of the Cultural Revolution.
Mao Zedong admitted that the Cultural Revolution consisted of 70% achievements.
This meant 30% mistakes.
This estimate was based on the aims of the event.
This meant
a) reversing the trend towards revisionism.
b) getting rid of the bourgeois influences.
c) placing "politics in command"
Since Mao's death, few have regarded it in such favourable light.
An account of the revolution published in Xianggang in 1986 concluded
"for China, the Cultural Revolution remained a colossal catastrophe in which human rights, democracy, there of law ands civilization were unprecedentedly trampled. Not only was the President (Liu Shaoqi) persecuted to death, tens of millions of innocent people were also attacked and maltreated."
The direct impact of the Cultural Revolution on the economy was limited.
The political disruption was extensive.
But industrial and agricultural output only declined temporarily.
By 1970 output was already surpassing previous peak levels.
The indirect impact was more serious.It left China's planners severely constrained by fears of political reprisals
It also had a lasting influence on industrial management.
The conservative labour unions have been accused of trying to bribe the workers.
This was bribing them with the promise of higher wages.
This took place during the Shanghai Storm.
The radicals had countered this by introducing ideological incentives.
It also used the Quotations from Chairman Mao for guidance.
Other changes gave workers a share in management.
These changes required cadres to participate in labour.
Soon after the Cultural Revolution material rewards were reintroduced.
But the influence of the revolution could still be detected in a management style.
This was a style which sought to make a compromise.
this was to be a compromise between
a) a "one-man management and
b) worker participation in management.
The result was management by revolutionary committee.
The Cultural Revolution left most of its most enduring imprint on education,.
From 1968 to 1976 Mao presided over a radical set of reforms.
The aim of these reforms was to reduce the three great distinctions.
a) between town & country.
b) industry & agriculture
c) mental & manual labour.
To achieve this
a) the school curriculum was shortened
b) more time was spent on political education
c) all pupils and students were required to participate in manual labour.
d) In the countryside , middle schools were run by communes
e) primary schools were run by production brigades.
f) primary school teachers were paid in work points.
g) national college examinations were abolished
h) colleges selected students from those recommended by their work units.
A typical innovation of the time was the July 21st Workers University.
It was attached to the Shanghai Machine Tools Plant.
There, workers and peasants followed a shortened course.
These students had good political credentials and extensive experience.
They were able to combine technology, political thought and manual labour.
After graduation, they returned to their original place of work.
After Mao's death there were criticisms.
The official line was that these reforms did not amount to anything good.
On the positive side was the expansion of educational opportunity.
Between 1969 & 1977 primary school enrolment rose from 100 million to 146 million.
The ordinary secondary schools enrolment went from 20 million to 67 million.
The disadvantage of children who lived in rural areas were somewhat reduced.
this was done by the redistribution of resources.
The main negative criticisms of the reform was that it lowered educational standards.
The most sever impact being on colleges and universities.
Most universities and colleges did not resume regular intakes until the early 1970s.
Some 4 million secondary students were sent to the countryside.
These students were of the 'Red Guard generation
They were on rural assignments where they remained for up to 10 years.
When tertiary education was resumed the challenge to academic education continued - a notable protest was made in 1973 by a student named Zhang Tiesheng.
When taking the cultural test he handed in a blank examination paper.
his explanation was that he, unlike other entrants, had been unable to study.
This was because he hd been working.
His action was cited as a praiseworthy example of restoring academic standards.

From the Cultural Revolution to the Death of Mao Zedong

During the Cultural Revolution the PLA had been called upon to restore order.
Later it was to form part of a revolutionary committee.
In 1967 , PLA officers headed 21 of 27 provincial revolutionary committees.
Two years later , at the Ninth Party Congress, Lin Biao was named Mao's successor.
A new Politburo was chosen, 55% of the membership came from the military.
some western observers said the army was in the process of displacing the Party.
Over the next two years Mao was motivated by two things.
a) disbelief that the Party should command the "gun" - the army.
his growing suspicion of Lin Biao
So Mao took steps to
a) restore the authority of the Party.
b) undermine Lin Biao's standing.
The army continued to perform its political role.
A start was made to reconstituting the Party and reviving testate structure.
In late 1969 the army was told that it should pay greater attention to military training.
This indicated that it would soon be relieved of its political responsibilities.
Meanwhile differences had emerged between Lin & Mao
This was on the issue of the future direction of China's foreign policy.
Lin believed that China should ally with oppressed and revolutionary people.
Mao now endorsed cautious moves towards a rapprochement with the United States.
The Second Plenum of the Ninth Congress was at Lushan in Sept. 1970.
Events occurred which probably Mao that Lin was not a suitable successor.
Some months previously Lin had proposed that Mao should become head of state.
This position, which after 1959 had been held by Liu Shaoqi.
It was due to be abolished in the new state structure.
Mao rejected the offer, but Lin raised the matter again at the Second Plenum.
Perhaps he expected that Mao would refuse once more.
Then the position would be rewarded to him to signify publicly that he was Mao's heir.
The persistence of Lin Biao earned a rebuke from Mao.
Lin Biao had his supporters which included Chen Boda.
Chen Boda had been a member of the Cultural Revolution Group.
After the Plenum, a campaign was mounted to discredit Chen Boda.
In August 1971 Mao visited regional military commanders in Central & Southern China.
He did to this assure himself of their loyalty.
Lin Biao realized that his time was up.
Then he authorized his son to devise the "571 plot".
This involved killing Mao Zedong, when he was aboard his special train.
The plot failed and the conspirators attempted to set up a rival regime in Guangzhou.
That plan failed.
On Sept. 13th Lin Biao, his wife & son, fled the country.
They were killed when their plane crashed in Mongolia.
As these events were occurring, a major re-alignment had been taking place.
This was in China's foreign relations.
At the time of the Cultural Revolution , China had become diplomatically isolated.
In March 1969, a dispute arose with the Soviet Union.
This was over the ownership of Zhenbao (Donansky) island on the Wusili River.
The incident, perhaps engineered by Lin Biao for his own ends, made one thing clear.
This was the danger of the Russian nuclear threat.
It also made clear the concentration of soviet forces on her frontier.

Kissinger Arrives
From 1969 the possibility of improving relations with the USA was under discussion.
In July 1971 Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State made a secret trip to China.
This was to prepare the way for a visit by President Richard Nixon in the next year.
From the Chinese point of view, Nixon's visit was a great success.
This was because it resulted in an agreement on peaceful co-existence between them.
China didn't have to make concessions about a certain issue
That was the claim to a "one China" policy and the claim to Taiwan.
After Lin's death, the main domestic political issue was the succession to Mao.
The struggle was between
a) the more pragmatic senior Party members, which included Zhou Enlai & Chen Yi, the
former foreign minister.
b) the radicals, which included Mao's wife Jiang Qing and Zhang Chunqiao, and Yao Wenyuan, both from Shanghai.
Mao regarded none of them as potential successors.
He promoted an outsider, Wang Hongwen, a former worker at a Shanghai cotton mill.
He was promoted to the number three position in the Party hierarchy.
Wang found that Zhou Enlai held all key posts.
This encouraged him to join Jiang Qing.
This was in the "Criticize Lin Biao, criticize Confucius" campaign.
The real targets were Zhou Enlai and the former victims of the Cultural Revolution.
The former victims were being rehabilitated.
But Zhou Enlai had recently been diagnosed as having cancer and the campaign misfired.

Deng Xiaoping

Next, Mao Zedong decided to turn to Deng Xiaoping.
Deng had been described as the "number two" person taking the capitalist road.
This was during the 1960s.
Now Mao chose him because of
a) his high reputation with the military.
b) his political skills.were needed
Deng had been rehabilitated in May 1973.
Over the next year he initiated number of overdue reforms.
these included
a) reducing the size of the PLA
b) defining a long-term economic policy.

Four Modernizations

This economic policy was described by Zhou Enlai as the Four Modernizations.
This referred to
a) agriculture
b) industry
c) defence
d) science & technology
These reforms left him open to criticism from the radicals.
When Zhou Enlai died in Jan.1976, Mao decided to change his mind.
He was now against appointing Deng as premier.
He chose Hua Guofeng, the former First Secretary of the Party in Hunan.
He was believed to have been committed to the policies of the Cultural Revolution

The Gang of Four

The Gang of Four were extremely angry by the appointment of Hua Guofeng.
They were
a) Jian Qing
It sa
b) Zhang Chunqiao
c) Yao Wenyuan
d) Wang Hongwen
Jiang Qing criticized Hua openly.

A demonstration in Tiananmen Square took place in March 1976
This was in memory of Zhou Enlai
it showed how unpopular the radicals were.
The Gang of Four thought that the demonstrations were connected with Deng
So, the Gang had it broken up ruthlessly.
Deng himself, on Mao's instruction, was removed from all his offices.
In July an earthquake hit Tangshan, 160 miles south-east of Beijing.
It killed nearly 250,000 people.
The Gang misread the situation
It issued an official message to the survivors.
The message was that they should deepen & broaden the criticism of Deng.

Mao's Death

Mao Zedong died on Sept. 9th 1976
The editorial of the People's Daily of September 18th made a claim about Mao.
It stated that "Chairman Mao Will Live Forever in Our Hearts."
This uncritical assessment was to survive for long.
In June 1981, the Party accepted a wordy piece of writing of Mao.
It was "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of our Party.
Mao Zedong Thought was now described as the collective wisdom of the Party.
It was to remain "a guide to action for a long time to come."
Mao himself was said to have made "gross mistakes."
This was during the Cultural;l Revolution
His contribution to the Party's success prior to then far outweighed those errors.
The Gang of Four assumed that the succession to Mao would fall to them.
The memorial service was held in Tiananmen Square in Sept. 18.
Jiang Qing stood beside Hua Guofeng when he read the eulogy.
On Oct. 6th Huo Guofeng had the Gang arrested.
This was on the charge of plotting to usurp power.
Four years later the Gang was put on trial.
This included five military commanders who were accused of complicity
The complicity was in reference to Lin Biao's attempted coup.
Jiang Qing spoke in her own defence.
She argued that she was merely Chairman Mao's "dog."
She was given a suspended death sentence.
She later commuted to life imprisonment.
She committed suicide in 1991.