Lee Kwan Yew's views on Tianamen Square

Lee Kwan Yew presents an interesting case for Dang Xiaoping’s reaction to the revolutionaries at Tiananmen Square.  As opposed to the western view, Lee Kwan Yew contested that Deng’s attack on the protesters was actually beneficial to society.  Further, it represents a fundamental difference in the way that the East and the West view society and the individual.  While any East Asian will tell you that the stability of a society is much more important than the happiness of an individual, Americans and other westerners’ contend that the happiness of the individual is the most important.  Understanding this, it is clear that, to an easterner, Deng’s decision to kill many protesters is justified in the eyes of the Chinese, as he was merely trying to keep China stable, an idea which, after decades of political strife, must have seemed very appealing to the Chinese people.  Therefore, we cannot simply write off the Tiananmen Square as a breach of human rights and an atrocity, but rather, we must look at it through the East’s eyes and understand that the issue may be much more complex that many of us would like to admit.

The Cultural Revolution as Seen in To Live

                In this section of To Live, it becomes easily apparent just how successful Mao was at instigating his Cultural Revolution.  First off, it is clear that Chairman Mao was seen as a very important figure and was practically worshiped by many Chinese citizens.  His face is plastered all over China.  Although, as viewers, we do not see the full extent of this, we can hear the factory workers talk about who painted the “Mao’s in the factory,” showing that, at this time, it was commonplace to have Mao’s face painted all over.  The full extent of this “cult of Mao” is shown during the wedding, when the bride and groom are dressed in military apparel and the family picture is taken in front of a picture of Mao, behind the “boat of revolution,” and with copies of the Little Red Book in each of their hands.  Although many people would call this brainwashing, it is clear that the people genuinely respected Mao as their leader, especially the Red Guard, of which the husband is a part.

                Later, we also get a glimpse of the Four Alls Campaign.  The protagonist is forced to burn his puppets for fear of being labeled a “reactionary,” and this time even offering to use them as propaganda does not save his puppets.  This is just a small part of this massive campaign, as gleaned from the stories of whole museums and works of Art being burned.

               

Understanding Life Under the PRC through Film

The movie To Live gave a great insight into what was happening during the revolutions and uncertainties of the 20^th century in China.  In stark contrast to the pre-Mao days, in which the wealthy are shown as being akin to an aristocracy, and are free to indulge themselves in vices such as gambling and drinking, life under Mao was much more equal, for better and for worse.  After Fugui, the protagonist, returns from the war, the first glimpse of Mao’s policies that he gets are from his wife’s job.  She is paid, by the government, to deliver water to nearby people.  This shows that the new government was already playing an active role in the lives of the Chinese just shortly after the revolution, both providing citizens with jobs and, at the same time, offering water delivery as a government-run service.  Years later, with the Great Leap Forward, this government intervention became much more serious.

A shocking point that this movie raises is about how much better it was to be poor than rich during these times.  While the man who bought his house was forced to hand it over and was ultimately killed, Fugui found that poverty had its advantages at this time.  When his wife described them as “landlords” he quickly corrected her, indicating that it was now better to be a common peasant.  In addition to the radical class shift, we see massive, efficient communal kitchens replacing in-home kitchens.  These kitchens serve as gigantic meeting places and are the first sign of communes appearing.  This is further displayed when they are forced to give up any metal that they can for the sake of “backyard steel” refineries.  At these steel mills, everything from bikes to pots is thrown into the oven in order to meet the Party’s steel quota.  Overall, the whole of society becomes better for the have-nots, as everyone is given a chance, but at the same time, those who were wealthy now find themselves at peril.

Internal Milllenarians and Foreign Barbarians

    The Ming and Qing Dynasties were some of the worst times China has ever seen.  During these centuries, the Chinese had to put up with countless rebellions and, at the same time, fend off the western "barbarians," whom they feared would take their land and divide it up, as they had done to their other conquests.  Their relations really take some interesting turns with the Westerners, especially in terms of religious and diplomatic affairs, both of which will be discussed in this narrative.

    In order to get a good idea of this time, let’s start at the beginning.  The Ming rulers were busy updating the Great Wall, which originally came from the Qin dynasty.  The purpose of this was to defend against the northern barbarians, who had just ruled them for close to a century.  Of course, their new "barbarians" came not from land but from sea, on majestic boats and from a faraway land: Europe.  Around the same time as Zheng He was sailing on his famous voyages and exploring the world, the Europeans were beginning their age of exploration.  When they first ran into China, the two seemed to get off on a good start.  The Chinese welcomed Europe, they traded both ideas and material goods, and China even allowed Christian missionaries.  Matteo Ricci, a  Jesuit missionary, found himself as an advisor the emperor himself.

    Sadly, this friendship did not last.  During the Qing dynasty, the Catholic Church told the Chinese that their worship of the emperor constituted idolatry, and that this was not accepted by Christians.  Emperor Kangxi was swift to react, arguing that the missionaries had not even spent the time to understand their culture, and then banning missionaries from preaching in China, to avoid disturbance.  This infuriated the Europeans, but they had no choice but to agree.  The Chinese further restricted their rights in China with the Canton System, in which they severely restricted the ports at which the Europeans could trade, restricting the amount of trade the west could do with the east.  In addition, the government became wary of the opium that the Europeans were bringing in, assigning commissioner Lin Zexu to crack down on opium, which was where Europe made a lot of money, as many of the Chinese were addicted.  All of these things lead to McCartney coming to China to ask for more trade and the ability to preach Christianity.  He was denied, the Europeans were angry at the Chinese for not listening, and the Chinese were angry at the Europeans for being so demanding and insensitive.   This all came to a climax in 1840, when the British went to war against China and beat them in the Opium War.  The resulting treaty of Nanking was dubbed an “unequal treaty” because it hammered the Chinese while leaving the Europeans with no obligations.  The Europeans gained treaty ports, including Shanghai, extraterritoriality (immunity to Chinese laws), the cession of Hong Kong, and more.  The Chinese were left battered and bruised, in no way ready for what came next…

   In 1850, a Chinese man, frustrated with his inability to pass the civil service exams, decided, out of the blue, that he must be Jesus’ younger brother.  You know, Jesus’ 3000 year late Chinese brother.  He began a perverted form of Christianity and managed to gain enough followers to start his own nation, Taiping.  From here, he assembled a military and slowly took over villages, until the Chinese decided to try and stop him.  This wasn’t as easy as they has thought, however, as the rebellion went on for 14 years and took the lives of around 30 million Chinese.  To put this in context, WWI only killed about 37 million people, putting this rebellion in the same league as a multinational conflict.  With the Chinese having suffered through the opium war AND this rebellion, how could it get any worse?  Oh, that’s right, with yet another Opium War.

     The Second Opium War, or the “Arrow War”, started in 1860 when Chinese patrols shot at a European ship which was trafficking opium into China.  When the Europeans won this as well, they instituted another unfair treaty: the treaty of Tianjin.  This treaty opened up even more ports, made missionaries legal in all of China, and made opium legal across China.  It was around this time that Cixi, the Chinese regent, realized that China had just been humiliated badly and needed to be stronger.  Therefore, she started the Self-Strengthening Movement, an attempt to bring China back to power.  This attempt was too little too late, however, as the Japanese came back and defeated the Chinese in the Sino-Japanese war of 1894.  The Japanese had always been weaker than the Chinese, and this came as a major blow to their pride, as they had to cede Manchuria to the Japanese as part of the treaty of Shimonoseki.  Sadly, the battered Chinese still had one thing to go through: the Boxer Rebellion.

    The Boxer rebellion was a Chinese movement against both the current government and the splitting up of China by foreigners.  However, it merely led to the West’s infuriation of China and more dead Chinese.

    All in all, China went through a pretty gruesome time during these few centuries.  They had to suffer 3 wars, two rebellions, and over 50 million dead men, in addition to the loss of their position as a global power.  It is truly remarkable of the Chinese that they have been able to build themselves back up so quickly after such a thorough devastation.

Wave 3 Top Five

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Technological Advancement in the Song Dynasty:
During the Song Dynasty, China underwent an explosion of invention and innovation.  To get an idea of their scientific interest, imagine the Renaissance combined with the Industrial Revolution.  With the idea of polymath personalities, similar to the idea of a "Renaissance Man," the Chinese became very interested in learning about a multitude of topics, and combined this with a drive for scientific invention.  This lead to the discovery of: true north vs. magnetic north, the first ever odometer, the printing press (Gutenberg didn't 'invent' it in Europe until 400 years later), gunpowder, etc.  In addition, they made leaps and bounds in terms of mathematical and civil engineering.  China truly paved the way for scientific learning centuries before Europeans had any of the same ideas.
For more information on their inventions, visit http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/models/chinahist/song.html

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The Invention of Kung Fu:
During the Tang dynasty, a Chinese monastery called Shaolin began practicing martial arts as a method of defending themselves against bandits.  After helping Li Shimin take power, the Shaolin monastery was patronized by the government, and their martial arts grew rapidly.  Although records show no indication of the monks ever doing formal military training, they were an important force for centuries.  Over time, they became known as the founders of Kung Fu, one of the most well-known fighting styles in the world.  In addition, the Shaolin monastery has stayed open until this day, and it still teaches Kung-Fu, just as it has for over 1000 years.  Just think of how many Chinese action movies we would be missing if it weren't for these 8th century monks!  Jackie Chan owes these monks big time...
For more information on these badass monks, visit http://gochina.about.com/od/zhengzhou/p/Shaolin_History.ht

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The Seven Sages of Bamboo Grove:

During the political turmoil of the Jin Dynasty, many Chinese just wanted to be able to escape from it all.  Seven men in particular, known now as the seven sages, became Taoist escapists.  They wrote poems, literature, and used many other forms of art to criticize the government and it policies.  Also, they enjoyed drinking ale (a lot) and  would frequently work on their arts while intoxicated.  In fact, even the normally unbiased wikipedia describes them as "ale-fueled jokesters and eccentrics."  They were very similar to the hippies of the Vietnam war era: they turned against society, rejected traditional values, and made a mockery of the government.  They became a common symbol Chinese arts.

For more information on China's hippies, visit  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sages_of_the_Bamboo_Grove

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An Lushan Rebellion:
This is probably one of the weirdest stories in all of china, and just a sample of how much trouble those concubines could be!  Just as concubine troubles had caused the Shang dynasty to fall, they also were a major cause of the fall of the Tang.  The Emperor fell madly in love with  a concubine, named Yang Guifei, and decided that he would listen to her in order to make her happy.  Of couurse, she was also attracted to a general, called An Lushan.  In order to make him happy, she convinced the emperor to give him many troops and high positions.  Eventually, when they came to a disagreement, An Lushan decided to use his military against the emperor.  When the emperor tried to muster up his own forces, they refused to do so until he the concubine was murdered.  So, in the end, everyone lost:  Emperor lost power, Yang Guifei was killed, and An Lushan was hated by the emperor, and the Chinese people's golden age began to come to an end.

For more information about this dramatic scene, check out
http://www.chinaknowledge.de/History/Tang/tang-event.html

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Empress Wu
Empress Wu was the wife of a Chinese emperor who slowly rose to become China's only female Emperor.  She began ruling in place of her husband as a de facto ruler when he because he was incapable to rule.  Because she was shrewd and power-hungry, she quickly gained a lot of influence, and began plotting her rise.  She had all heir apparents and sons thrown out of the kingdom or killed, and she grew in her influence.  Eventually, she broke all semblances of the males being in control and declared herself empress of a new dynasty, the Zhou.  And just like that, the first and only Chinese empress came to power.  This lead to a period of women holding the power in China.  But, soon enough, the men came back to power and ended this woman streak.
For more information, visit

http://bhoffert.faculty.noctrl.edu/hst261/14.empresswu.html