China Feb. 22&23, 26&27, March 2&3
Beijing |
Shanghai |
Hong Kong |
Chinese History |
Summary of Chinese History
There is 5,000 years of history here. What follows is a gross simplification and brief recall of the ship lecturer. He is former Canadian Ambassador who has lived and worked in China. I have tried to capture some of the philosophy and history that makes China China, but I may have failed. Your call.
China is the longest continuously functioning organization in history. 3,000 years ago during the Shang period the first Chinese characters were created and they had sophisticated bronze ware. Prior to the first emperor, Quinshi Huangti from the state of Chin, who united the country there were 8 distinct regions. He tore down the walls between these various dynasties creating what we today call China. However, he was a tyrant and only lasted 35 years. During this time he gathered up all the philosophical writings of past years that he could and burned them because they were against tyranny.
The Han Dynasty took his place. Although it only lasted 400 years, the Hans are today in the majority in China. The Tang Dynasty which lasted 300 years was next. Art flourished under this dynasty. Many other dynasties followed which I will not delineate.
Using much the same idea that Western kingdoms had, the emperor was considered to have a "Mandate from Heaven" to rule. Here is where the similarity stops. The main job of the emperor was the welfare of the people. The population has the legal right to revolt if their welfare is not being cared for. The Chinese believe in Government for the people, not "of" or "by."
Administrators were selected by a very competitive examination which followed many years of study. They were open to any citizen, but those of means who could afford to educate their sons had a better chance. Thus the Chinese felt that their rulers were assisted by educated, intelligent, men who understood not only rituals and history, but ethics. The Communist Party today has the Mandate of Heaven, but they can lose it, and are fearful of this very thing. All of the past dynasties were upset by peasant revolts.
For most of human history China was more advanced than the rest of the world. As the West became more visible to China there were voices urging modernization, however they were overcome and in some cases those espousing those views were executed.
The Century of Chinese Humiliation, from roughly 1850 to 1950 was caused by the West. As a bit of background, there were two past events that laid the groundwork: the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. The Roman Empire broke up into many different entities who constantly warred with each other creating the need to develop better and better ways of creating mayhem - weapons. China remained one country and did not need to develop weapons.
Fast forward to the discovery by the West of tea, silks and porcelain that China possessed. But the Chinese did not see any value in anything that the West had and demanded payment in cash. The loss of silver to China was bankrupting these countries. Enter opium. The Brits had started using it to placate the coolie labor imported to countries they had colonized in SE Asia. Easily grown in northeast India, the West decided that they should be able to pay China with opium. The fact that it was illegal in China, and in the U.K. was not enough to stop them. When China refused, they attacked citing Chinese unwillingness to trade as the reason. There were 2 opium wars, one from 1839 to 1842 and the other from 1856 to 1860. Millions of Chinese were killed in these conflicts. Each ended with a treaty with the final result that China lost Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Macau. The U.S. is not clean in this endeavor, President Adams, hiding behind the lie of preserving free trade, supported these wars.
Then there were the loses to Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. They lost Korea, Taiwan, and parts of Manchuria.
With the West now able to take advantage of the Chinese, understandably resentment developed. This resulted in the Boxer rebellion from 1898 to 1900. This was clearly targeted at foreigners, with the Boxers attacking institutions and structures associated with the Western powers including missionaries. To suppress this rebellion, China was invaded by 20,000 soldiers from 8 nations including, the UK, USA, France, Germany and Japan. What happened was an orgy of destruction and brutality by this army. Beijing was devastated, along with other areas.
In 1911, Sun Yat Sen declared an end to emperors and a Republic of China. In the 1920s and 1930s China was in chaos. There were battles between regional warlords and the Nationalists and Communists. Additionally, from the end of the Boxer Rebellion until the Japanese invasion, China was a semi-colony. In 48 different areas essentially claimed by the Western powers, the law of the ruling nation, such as British or French applied, not Chinese law. The Chinese could not own land in any of these enclaves. This ended with the Japanese invasion and 8 years of Japanese rule which cost the Chinese 30 million lives.
After the war, a civil war pitted the Nationalists against the Communists. On a May Day in 1949 in Tien An Men Square Chairman Mao announced there would be no more humiliation and proclaimed the People's Republic of China. For the next 30 years China endured 30 years of self-imposed tyranny based on ideology.
The 100 Flowers Campaign kicked off with Mao saying, "Let 100 schools of thought contend." But anyone who dared to express ideas different than Mao's found themselves either executed or jailed.
The country was thrown into famine by forcing the peasants into communes in which everyone was paid the same regardless of work expended. The result was work falling to the lowest common denominator. With all the attempted forcing of communist ideology on the population, at least 30 million died. China stagnated during this period. Remember the Great Leap Forward, and the Five Year Plans.
Despite the crimes Mao committed he gave the Chinese a sense of dignity, they no longer had to endure foreign domination. Mao's reign culminated in the Cultural Revolution when gangs of teenagers, known as the Red Guard attacked and humiliated anyone in positions of authority. The President of China, Liu Shaoqi, theoretically the second most powerful man in China was attacked, jailed, and died in prison. Although technically still President, on his death certificate they wrote, "unemployed." There were many more atrocities, remember the "Gang of Four" who encouraged this destruction of all of China's past.
During this time China was a closed country. They would only trade with the Canadians, and only because they needed their wheat. But the Canadians sent to set up these deals were often yelled at and frightened by the Red Guards.
Finally in 1976, common sense emerged, in the form of Deng Xi Ping. Realizing the folly of ideology, he stated, "It matters not whether a cat be black or white, it only matters if it catches mice." And China began the journey towards modernization and taking her place in the world.
With the past history of what amounted to tyranny by Mao, it seems illogical that the Chinese would revere him. It is probably rooted in the fact that he freed them from foreign domination. The official position is that he did 70% good and 30% bad, but there are still many who secretly believe just the opposite.
One revealing episode of the still smouldering feelings about past humiliations occurred in Canada when a Chinese ambassador was questioned by a rather insistent reporter about "human rights." He flew off the handle stating in so many words, "How dare you, you who have killed millions of Chinese, dare to question me about human rights." That captures the jist of his comments and explains his behavior and perhaps the feeling of resentment when we question the Chinese about human rights.
"Let you who are without sin, throw the first stone."
Administrators were selected by a very competitive examination which followed many years of study. They were open to any citizen, but those of means who could afford to educate their sons had a better chance. Thus the Chinese felt that their rulers were assisted by educated, intelligent, men who understood not only rituals and history, but ethics. The Communist Party today has the Mandate of Heaven, but they can lose it, and are fearful of this very thing. All of the past dynasties were upset by peasant revolts.
For most of human history China was more advanced than the rest of the world. As the West became more visible to China there were voices urging modernization, however they were overcome and in some cases those espousing these views were executed.
The Century of Chinese Humiliation, from roughly 1850 to 1950 was caused by the West. As a bit of background, there were two past events that laid the groundwork: the Roman Empire and the Han Dynasty. The Roman Empire broke up into many different entities who constantly warred with each other creating the need to develop better and better ways of creating mayhem - weapons. China remained one country and did not need to develop weapons.
Fast forward to the discovery by the West of tea, silks and porcelain that China possessed. But the Chinese did not see any value in anything that the West had and demanded payment in cash. The loss of silver to China was bankrupting these countries. Ah, opium. The Brits had started using it to placate the coolie labor imported to countries they had colonized in SE Asia. Easily grown in northeast India, the West decided that they should be able to pay China with opium. The fact that it was illegal in China, and in the U.K. was not enough to stop them. When China refused, they attacked citing Chinese unwillingness to trade as the reason. There were 2 opium wars, one from 1839 to 1842 and the other from 1856 to 1860. Millions of Chinese were killed in these conflicts. Each ended with a treaty with the final result that China lost Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Macau. The U.S. is not clean in this endeavor, President Adams, hiding behind the lie of preserving free trade, supported these wars.
Then there were the loses to Japan in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894. They lost Korea, Taiwan, and parts of Manchurian those.
With the West now able to take advantage of the Chinese, understandably resentment developed. This resulted in the Boxer rebellion from 1898 to 1900. This was clearly targeted at foreigners, with the Boxers attacking institutions and structures associated with the Western powers including missionaries. To suppress this rebellion, China was invaded by 20,000 soldiers from 8 nations including, the UK, USA, France, Germany and Japan. What happened was an orgy of destruction and brutality by this army. Beijing was devastated, along with other areas.
In 1911, Sun Yat Sen declared an end to emperors and a Republic of China. In the 1920s and 1930s China was in chaos. There were battles between regional warlords and the Nationalists and Communists. Additionally, from the end of the Boxer Rebellion until the Japanese invasion, China was a semi-colony. In 48 different areas essentially claimed by the Western powers, the law of the ruling nation, such as British or French applied, not Chinese law. The Chinese could not own land in any of these enclaves. This ended with the Japanese invasion and 8 years of Japanese rule which cost the Chinese 30 million lives.
After the war, a civil war pitted the Nationalists against the Communists. On a May Day in 1949 in Tien An Men Square Chairman Mao announced there would be no more humiliation and proclaimed the People's Republic of China. For the next 30 years China endured 30 years of self-imposed tyranny based on ideology.
The 100 Flowers Campaign kicked off with Mao saying, "Let 100 schools of thought contend." But anyone who dared to express ideas different than Mao's found themselves either executed or jailed.
The country was thrown into famine by forcing the peasants into communes in which everyone was paid the same regardless of work expended. The result was work falling to the lowest common denominator. With all the attempted forcing of communist ideology on the population, at least 30 million died. China stagnated during this period. Remember the Great Leap Forward, and the Five Year Plans.
Despite the crimes Mao committed he gave the Chinese a sense of dignity, they no longer had to endure foreign domination. Mao's reign culminated in the Cultural Revolution when gangs of teenagers, known as the Red Guard attacked and humiliated anyone in positions of authority. The President of China, Liu Shaoqi, theoretically the second most powerful man in China was attacked, jailed, and died in prison. Although technically still President, on his death certificate they wrote, "unemployed." There were many more atrocities, remember the "Gang of Four" who encouraged this destruction of all of China's past.
During this time China was a closed country. They would only trade with the Canadians, and only because they needed their wheat. But the Canadians sent to set up these deals were often yelled at and frightened by the Red Guards.
Finally in 1976, common sense emerged, in the form of Deng Xi Ping. Realizing the folly of ideology, he stated, "It matters not whether a cat be black or white, it only matters if it catches mice." And China began the journey towards modernization and taking her place in the world.
With the past history of what amounted to tyranny by Mao, it seems illogical that the Chinese would revere him. It is probably rooted in the fact that he freed them from foreign domination. The official position is that he did 70% good and 30% bad, but there are still many who secretly believe just the opposite.
One revealing episode of the still smouldering feelings about past humiliations occurred in Canada when a Chinese ambassador was questioned by a rather insistent reporter about "human rights." He flew off the handle stating in so many words, "How dare you, you who have killed millions of Chinese, dare to question me about human rights." That captures the jist of his comments and explains his behavior and perhaps the feeling of resentment when we question the Chinese about human rights.
"Let you who are without sin, throw the first stone."