The document summarizes major events in China's recent history from the 19th century Opium Wars to imperialism and conflicts with Western and Japanese forces. It then covers the establishment of the Chinese republic, rise of the Communist party, the Long March, World War 2, and the Communist revolution in 1949. It discusses the socialist period under Mao with a focus on agriculture, education, and healthcare reforms. It concludes with Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms from 1978 onward, the opening of China, and its recent leadership under Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.

1. China’s Recent
History
June 3, 2014
Orientation for BCFL/VDLC Delegation

2. Imperialism in the 19th
Century

3. 1840 British Empire: First
Opium War
• Britain wanted
Chinese tea,
porcelain and silk but
China only wanted
silver
• So Britain exported
Indian opium to
China
• Emperor made it
illegal but many
were addicted

4. 1840 British Empire: First
Opium War
• Result: Hong
Kong ceded,
opium import
legalized

5. 1860 British Empire:
Second Opium War
• Old Summer
Palace destroyed
(modelled on
Palace of
Versailles)

6. 1894-5 Japan
Invaded China
China forced
to cede
Taiwan to
Japan

7. Boxer
Rebellion
against
foreign
oppression,
1898-1900

8. Eight Nation Alliance
Invaded China
• Eight powers invaded: British,
Japanese, Russian, Italian,
German, French, US, and
Austrian troops, the alliance
defeated the Boxers and
demanded further concessions
from the Qing government such
as treaty ports

9. End of Qing
Empire
• First Chinese Republic in
1911 with Sun Yat-Sen as
President
• Followed by warlordism for
a few years

10. 1917 Russia
Bolshevik Revolution

11. May 4th Movement
• Initiated by students inspired by Russian Revolution of
1917, patriots, nationalists, socialists, democrats and
republicans
• Opposed imperialism and feudalism
• Became nationwide protest against imperialism
• China never signed the treaty

12. May 4th Movement
On the morning of May 4, 1919, student representatives from thirteen
different local universities met in Beijing and drafted five resolutions:
• to oppose the granting of Shandong to the Japanese under former
German concessions.
• to draw awareness of China's precarious position to the masses in
China.
• to recommend a large-scale gathering in Beijing.
• to promote the creation of a Beijing student union.
• to hold a demonstration that afternoon in protest to the terms of the
Treaty of Versailles.

13. Who is this fellow?
• Student active in May 4th
Movement in Tianjin

14. Premier Zhou Enlai

15. Deng
Yingchao
was a team
leader in
May 4th
Movement

16. From May 4th Movement
on, Marxism Spread

17. •In 1921
•Two years later,
what happened?

18. Founding of Chinese
Communist Party

19. Anyuan
Miners’
Strike, 1922

20. 1925 Sun Yat-sen died,
succeeded by
Chiang Kai-shek as head
of Nationalist Party
(Guomindang)

21. Shanghai General Strike, 1927

22. Shanghai Massacre, 1927
• Nationalists massacred Communists, unionists and
workers and students

23. 1931, Japan Invaded
Manchuria
(China’s Northeast)

24. Hitler
assisted
Chiang Kai-
shek as
fellow anti-
Communist
• Nazis assisted Guomindang in
training Chinese troops and
Germany got Chinese natural
resources
• Germany later supported Japan
because Hitler felt it was a
stronger ally than China

25. Red Army,
Long March, 1934-5

26. 9,000 km., 370 days

27. Established red base in
Yan’an
• Mao Zedong
• 1935

28. War of Liberation against
Japanese
• 1937 United Front against
Japanese
• 1937 Nanjing Massacre by
Japanese

29. Yan’an (1944)
Centre of Chinese
revolution, 1936 to 1948

30. Who Wrote
“Red Star Over China”?
(1937)

31. Edgar Snow

32. Anti-Japanese War of
Resistance
• Guomindang
spent much
more energy
fighting
Communist
army than
fighting the
Japanese

33. Japanese occupation
lasted till end of WWII

34. Japanese finally routed, 1945

35. Red army defeated
nationalist army

36. 1949 what is this event?

37. Socialist Period
•1949 to 1978

38. Agriculture and land
redistribution
• Feudalism ended
• Land redistributed, communes set up by 1958
• Rural people still hold claim to land today through their rural
household registration

39. Rule of law ends gangsters
• Prior to 1949 there was a vast criminal underworld of
gangsters and secret societies intermingling with high
society like this photo of Shanghai nightlife in 1930s
• And there were almost 90 million opium addicts

40. Literacy skyrocketed in
one generation
• 15% in 1949 to 80-90% by mid-1970s

41. Life expectancy
• More than doubled between 1949 and
1975, from 32 to 65 years
• Infant mortality in 1970 in Shanghai
was less than in New York City
• Barefoot doctors in countryside
brought health care throughout
country
• Poverty significantly reduced

42. Industry and central
planning
• Economy grew by 10
percent per year
• Egalitarian wage
structure
• Guaranteed employment

43. Urban danwei (work unit)
system
• Lifetime employment guarantee
• Housing provided and subsidized
• Food and fuel subsidized
• Medical care system provided
• Public school education free
• No firings or negative discipline
• Positive examples such as model workers

44. 1966 Cultural Revolution
Began
• Concern by Chairman
Mao and others that
socialist principles were
being eroded by
corruption and capitalist
roaders

45. Type of greeting we received in
1974 (without Little Red Books)

46. We visited Dazhai in 1974

47. 1976: Terrible Year
• January: Premier Zhou died
• April: flowers in Tiananmen Square
• July: earthquake in Tangshan:
250,000 died
• September: Chairman Mao died
• October: Gang of Four arrested

48. 1978 Deng
Xiaoping
came to
power
• New China started down
the capitalist road

49. One of Deng’s
first invited
guests: Milton
Friedman,
Chicago School
of Economics

50. 1980, rural communes
were abolished
• Rural communes abolished
• End of collective work in countryside

51. 1980, Special Economic Zones
established for industry to try out
capitalist methods of production.
This is Shenzhen in 1980.

52. Shenzhen today

53. Privatization
of industry
and lay-offs
of millions of
workers in
State-Owned
Enterprises

54. Inflation of the late 1980s lead to
protest about corruption and
accountability
• 1989
• Tiananmen Square
• Far more workers were killed
than students
• They defended the streets leading
to the Square by barricading
them

55. 1992: Deng’s
Southern Tour

56. Privatization of industry
and lay-offs of workers in
State-Owned Enterprises
intensified and workers
fought back with
demonstrations,
blockades

57. China joined WTO in 2001
What event preceded it
two months before?

58. 1993 to 2003,
Jiang Zemin, President
Zhu Rongji, Premier

59. 2003 to 2013,
Hu Jintao, President
Wen Jiabao, Premier

60. 2013 to 2023 ?
Xi Jinping, President

61. 2013 to 2023?
Li Keqiang, Premier

62. Workers and citizens
rising up.
Fate of government and
Communist Party?