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HUNS
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Huns, nomadic Asian
people, probably of Turkish, Tataric, or Ugrian origins, who spread from the
Caspian steppes (the areas north of the Caspian Sea) to make repeated incursions
into the Roman Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad. These attacks culminated in a series
of wars under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, that brought both parts
of the Roman Empire, East and West, to the verge of destruction. At the height
of their power the Huns absorbed a number of different racial strains in their
armies and assimilated the characteristics of the populations of their
environment, so that in Europe they gradually lost their distinct Asian
character; but even in their pre-European period they were highly variable in
their physical characteristics, and of no easily determined ethnic or linguistic
identity. All accounts, however, agree in describing them as an aggressive
nomadic people of great vigor and comparatively low cultural achievement, who
had developed considerable skill in the techniques of warfare, particularly in
military horsemanship.
Before the beginning of their recorded European history, a
tribe, possibly related to the Huns, was known in western China as the Xiongnu
(Hsiung-nu), during the Earlier Han Dynasty (206 style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">bc-style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad 8). Their power in the East was
weakened during the following century, and eventually they separated into two
distinct camps, one of which, amounting to about 50,000 families, went
southward, while most of the remainder, after attempting to maintain themselves
on the Caspian steppes, went west and northwest in search of new homes. Of those
who went northwest, a large number settled for a time on the banks of the Volga
River. In the second half of the 4th century style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad, under a leader called Balamir
(flourished 4th century ad), or
Balamber, they advanced into the territories of the Alans, a powerful people
dwelling between the Volga and the Don rivers, and in a battle fought on the
banks of the Don routed the army of the Alans.
Their next conquest was the country of the Ostrogoths,
whose retreat they followed as far west as the Danube River. In the process they
threatened and uprooted the Visigoths, who then sought the protection of the
Roman Empire. A few years later the Goths revolted against Roman authority, and
the Huns crossed the Danube to join them (See also Goths).
In the wars that immediately followed, the Huns did not play a conspicuous part,
but early in the following century they seem to have been joined by fresh
hordes, and by 432, during the reign of Roman Emperor Theodosius II, they had
increased so considerably in power that the Hunnish king, Roas, or Rugilas,
collected a large annual tribute from Rome.
Roas was succeeded by his nephews Attila and Bleda. After
the death of Bleda, Attila extended the Hunnish dominions westward to Gaul,
where he was defeated in 451, and Italy. After Attila's death in 453, however,
the power of the Huns was broken, and they no longer played a major role in
European history. Many Huns took service in the Roman armies, while others
joined fresh hordes of invaders from the north and east, assisting them in their
repeated attacks upon the empire
Huns, nomadic Asian
people, probably of Turkish, Tataric, or Ugrian origins, who spread from the
Caspian steppes (the areas north of the Caspian Sea) to make repeated incursions
into the Roman Empire during the 4th and 5th centuries style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad. These attacks culminated in a series
of wars under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, that brought both parts
of the Roman Empire, East and West, to the verge of destruction. At the height
of their power the Huns absorbed a number of different racial strains in their
armies and assimilated the characteristics of the populations of their
environment, so that in Europe they gradually lost their distinct Asian
character; but even in their pre-European period they were highly variable in
their physical characteristics, and of no easily determined ethnic or linguistic
identity. All accounts, however, agree in describing them as an aggressive
nomadic people of great vigor and comparatively low cultural achievement, who
had developed considerable skill in the techniques of warfare, particularly in
military horsemanship.
Before the beginning of their recorded European history, a
tribe, possibly related to the Huns, was known in western China as the Xiongnu
(Hsiung-nu), during the Earlier Han Dynasty (206 style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">bc-style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad 8). Their power in the East was
weakened during the following century, and eventually they separated into two
distinct camps, one of which, amounting to about 50,000 families, went
southward, while most of the remainder, after attempting to maintain themselves
on the Caspian steppes, went west and northwest in search of new homes. Of those
who went northwest, a large number settled for a time on the banks of the Volga
River. In the second half of the 4th century style="FONT-VARIANT: small-caps">ad, under a leader called Balamir
(flourished 4th century ad), or
Balamber, they advanced into the territories of the Alans, a powerful people
dwelling between the Volga and the Don rivers, and in a battle fought on the
banks of the Don routed the army of the Alans.
Their next conquest was the country of the Ostrogoths,
whose retreat they followed as far west as the Danube River. In the process they
threatened and uprooted the Visigoths, who then sought the protection of the
Roman Empire. A few years later the Goths revolted against Roman authority, and
the Huns crossed the Danube to join them (See also Goths). 23.jpg
In the wars that immediately followed, the Huns did not play a conspicuous part,
but early in the following century they seem to have been joined by fresh
hordes, and by 432, during the reign of Roman Emperor Theodosius II, they had
increased so considerably in power that the Hunnish king, Roas, or Rugilas,
collected a large annual tribute from Rome.
Roas was succeeded by his nephews Attila and Bleda. After
the death of Bleda, Attila extended the Hunnish dominions westward to Gaul,
where he was defeated in 451, and Italy. After Attila's death in 453, however,
the power of the Huns was broken, and they no longer played a major role in
European history. Many Huns took service in the Roman armies, while others
joined fresh hordes of invaders from the north and east, assisting them in their
repeated attacks upon the empire.
src="clip_image002.jpg"
v:shapes="_x0000_i1025" width="216" height="193">
Attila
Known as the Scourge of
God, Attila united the Huns, who were various tribes of Mongoloid peoples, and
invaded the
murdered his brother in 436 to gain sole control over the Hunnish Empire, which
ranged from the Rhine River on the west to the Ural River on the east, and as
far north as the Baltic Sea. The
formed the Empire’s southern border.
Huston Deutsch
information about:china
|
I |
|
INTRODUCTION |
Republic of
(Zhonghua Renmin Gongheguo), country in
world’s largest country by population and one of the largest by area, measuring
about the same size as the
The Chinese call their country Zhongguo, which means “Central Country” or
“Middle Kingdom.” The name
was given to it by foreigners and is probably based on a corruption of Qin
(pronounced “chin”), a Chinese dynasty that ruled during the 3rd century style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc.
China proper centers on the agricultural regions drained by
three major rivers—the Huang He (Yellow River) in the north, the Yangtze (Chang
Jiang) in central China, and the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River) in the south. The
country’s varied terrain includes vast deserts, towering mountains, high
plateaus, and broad plains.
located in the north, is
capital and its cultural, economic, and communications center.
located near the Yangtze, is the most populous urban center, the largest
industrial and commercial city, and mainland
leading port.
More than one-fifth of the world’s population—1.3 billion
people—live in
More than 90 percent of these are ethnic Han Chinese, but
also recognizes 55 national minorities, including Tibetans, Mongols, Uighurs,
Zhuang, Miao, Yi, and many smaller groups. Even among the ethnic Han, there are
regional linguistic differences. Although a common language called Putonghua is
taught in schools and used by the mass media, local spoken languages are often
mutually incomprehensible. However, the logographic writing system, which uses
characters that represent words rather than pronunciation, makes it possible
for all Chinese dialects to be written in the same way; this greatly aids
communication across
In ancient times,
was
societies—notably the Japanese, Koreans, Tibetans, and Vietnamese—were strongly
influenced by China, adopting features of Chinese art, food, material culture,
philosophy, government, technology, and written language. For many centuries,
especially from the 7th through the 14th century ad,
had the world’s most advanced civilization. Inventions such as paper, printing,
gunpowder, porcelain, silk, and the compass originated in
and then spread to other parts of the world.
became threatened when European empires expanded into
southeastern coast, came under Portuguese control in the mid-16th century, and
Kong
19th century internal revolts and foreign encroachment weakened
last dynasty, the Qing, which was finally overthrown by Chinese Nationalists in
1911. Over the course of several decades, the country was torn apart by
warlords, Japanese invasion, and a civil war between the Communists and the
Nationalist regime of the Kuomintang, which established the Republic of China
in 1928.
In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war and
established the People’s Republic of
(PRC) on the mainland. The Kuomintang fled to the island
of
the Nationalist government. The Nationalist government controlled only
and a few outlying islands but initially retained wide international
recognition as the rightful government of all of
Today, most countries recognize the PRC on the mainland as the official
government of
However,
and mainland
remain separated by different administrations and economies. Therefore,
is treated separately in Encarta Encyclopedia. In general, statistics in this
article apply only to the area under the control of the PRC.
After coming to power in 1949, the Communist government began
placing agriculture and industry under state control. Beginning in the late
1970s, however, the government implemented economic reforms that reversed some
of the earlier policies and encouraged foreign investment. Although
remains a poor country by world standards, the economy has grown dramatically
as a result of the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1997
from
agreement that gave the region considerable autonomy.
recognized
territory in the late 1970s and later negotiated the transfer of
administration from
to
too, was guaranteed a special degree of autonomy.
Patricia Ebrey contributed the introduction to this article.
|
II |
|
LAND AND RESOURCES |
The total area of
is 9,571,300 sq km (3,695,500 sq mi) including inland waters. The country
stretches across
maximum east-west extent of about 5,000 km (about 3,000 mi). From the country’s
northernmost point to the southern tip of
about 4,000 km (about 2,500 mi).
borders
Korea
the west;
on the south; and the
on the east.
encompasses a great diversity of landscapes. Generally speaking, the land forms
three giant steps that descend from high mountains, plateaus, and great basins
in the west to a central band of lower mountains, hills, and plateaus, then to
lowlands, plains, and foothills near the eastern coast. Deserts and steppes lie
across the northwest and north central parts of
|
A |
|
Natural Regions |
According to a Chinese geographic classification scheme, the
country may be divided into seven large natural regions:
China
Central China, Tropical South China, Inner Mongolian Grassland,
China
|
A1 |
|
|
Forested mountains surrounding a broad fertile plain characterize
China
provinces at the far northeastern tip of the country. On the west is the Da
Hinggan Ling (Greater Khingan Range), mountains about 1,000 m (about 3,000 ft)
in elevation, with peaks rising to 1,400 m (4,500 ft). The range slopes
gradually to the west, but its eastern flank slopes steeply to the broad
Dongbei Pingyuan (Northeast China Plain). The low mountains and hills of the
Xiao Hinggan Ling (Lesser Khingan Range) rise from the plain’s northern edge
and extend southeast toward the mountains of the Changbai Shan, which enclose
the plain on the east.
hills provide significant timber resources. The black soils that cover much of
the central plain create some of
most fertile agricultural land. Mineral resources are also significant, with
notable petroleum, coal, and iron reserves. The
is noteworthy for its good natural harbors. At the tip of the peninsula is
|
A2 |
|
|
Steppe on the north and the
Basin
Hai
edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Administratively,
includes
municipalities;
provinces; most of
and
portions of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and of
provinces.
Humans have lived in the agriculturally rich region of
China
landscape, which has been extensively terraced and cultivated. Both human
impact and erosion can be seen on the Huangtu Gaoyuan (Loess Plateau) in the
northwest. Formed by the accumulation of fine windblown silt known as loess,
this once level plateau has become cut by vertical-walled valleys, numerous
gullies, and sunken roads. East of the Huangtu Gaoyuan are northeast-trending
mountain ranges with elevations of about 1,000 m (about 3,000 ft). The Great
Wall lies on the northern ridges of these mountains and marks the region’s
traditional northern border. South and east of the mountains lies the Huabei
Pingyuan (North China Plain), the largest flat lowland area in
To the east is the Shandong Plateau on the
distinct areas of mountains flanked by rolling hills. The rocky coast of the
peninsula provides some good natural harbors.
Fertile soils derived from loess cover the Huabei Pingyuan, which
contains almost no native vegetation, having been cleared for cultivation
centuries ago. Level basins between the mountains have also been converted for
agricultural purposes. However, where humans have not cleared the land for
agriculture or development, forests of mostly deciduous trees can be found.
Coniferous forests thrive at higher elevations, and mountaintops have shrubby
alpine meadows.
coal reserves, and important petroleum deposits lie offshore in the
Hai
|
A3 |
|
Subtropical East |
Subtropical East Central China is the country’s largest and most
populous natural region. It encompasses about a quarter of
area and includes three traditional divisions:
Subtropical
embraces the economically rich
Sea
mountains mark the region’s northern border. Administratively, the region
includes Shanghai and Chongqing municipalities; Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi,
Zhejiang, Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces; Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region; the majority of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region; the southern parts of
Jiangsu, Anhui, and Henan provinces; and the northern sections of Fujian,
Guangdong, and Yunnan provinces.
The
of a series of basins with fertile alluvial soils. These lowlands are
crisscrossed with natural and artificial waterways, and dotted with lakes. To
the west is the
a relatively isolated area of hilly terrain enclosed by several mountain
ranges. The
is noteworthy for its intensive terraced farming. Further west is the deeply
eroded Yunnan Plateau, which is bordered by a series of mountain ranges
separated by deep, steep-walled gorges. One of the world’s most scenic landscapes
is found in
Zhuang, where the surface limestone rock has weathered into towering domes,
pillarlike peaks, and other unusual shapes. To the east are the largely
deforested and severely eroded
southeastern coast are rugged highlands, where bays with numerous offshore
islands provide good natural harbors. Lying south of the
hills is the
a predominantly hilly area with infertile soils. However, fertile, flat-floored
alluvial valleys border the numerous rivers of this region. One of the most
important is the broad delta plain of the
River
|
A4 |
|
Tropical |
region is Tropical South China. It consists of a thin stretch of land southwest
of the
China Sea
border with
China
Administratively, the region includes
portions of
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and
features of this region are its luxuriant tropical vegetation and warm, humid
climate. Mountains and hills characterize the entire region, although they are
lower in the east.
|
A5 |
|
Inner Mongolian Grassland |
The Inner Mongolian Grassland runs along the Sino-Mongolian
border, stretching east from the Helan Shan mountains of
China
The region’s traditional southern boundary is marked by the Great Wall.
Administratively, the region includes Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the
majority of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, and the far northern portion of
Grassland includes
portion of the Mongolian Steppe, a grassy plain that extends from northern
well into
Much of the region consists of desert terrain, where the land is covered with
rock and sand and supports almost no vegetation. The Chinese describe this
landscape as a gobi, or stony desert. The region is notable for its
large coal reserves.
|
A6 |
|
|
historically closely related to
features tall mountains, glaciers, deserts, broad basins, and streams with no
outlet to the sea. From east to west,
extends from the Inner Mongolian Grasslands to the country’s northwestern
border. The region’s southern boundary is the northern edge of the Tibetan
Plateau. Administratively, the region includes the vast majority of Xinjiang
Uygur Autonomous Region, and small portions of
Autonomous Region.
Shan
the
Pendi near the southeastern edge of the
Although the Junggar Pendi contains areas of sandy and stony desert, it is
primarily a region of fertile steppe soils and supports irrigated agriculture.
The
the driest desert in
rise to elevations of about 100 m (about 330 ft). The Turpan Pendi, the largest
area in
with elevations below sea level, commands the southern entrance of a major pass
through the
|
A7 |
|
The Tibetan Plateau |
Occupying the remote southwestern portion of
is the high, mountain-rimmed Tibetan Plateau (Qing Zang Gaoyuan).
Administratively, this region includes all of Tibet Autonomous Region and
Province
Autonomous Region.
The Tibetan Plateau is the world’s highest plateau region, with
an average elevation of about 4,500 m (about 14,800 ft). Bordering mountain
systems include the
and
Shan
on the north. On
border with
is
world at 8,850 m (29,035 ft). The surface of the Tibetan Plateau is dotted with
salt lakes and marshes. Crossed by several mountain ranges, it contains the
headwaters of many major southern and eastern Asian rivers, including those of
the
and
landscape is bleak, barren, and rock strewn. Along the northern margins of the
Tibetan Plateau where it merges into the northwestern steppe and desert is the
Qaidam Pendi, a large depression that extends from east to west. The Qaidam
Pendi consists of mountains, hills, stony and sandy deserts, playas (desert
basins that periodically fill with water), and salt marshes.
|
B |
|
Rivers and Lakes |
All the major river systems of
including the three longest—the Yangtze,
Jiang
Ocean
the Pacific. About 10 percent of the country’s area drains to the Indian and
oceans. The remaining 40 percent has no outlet to the sea. Instead, these areas
drain to the arid basins of the west and north, where the streams evaporate or
percolate to form deep underground water reserves. Principal among these rivers
is the Tarim.
stream is the
which forms most of the northeastern boundary with
The
rivers and their tributaries drain most of the Dongbei Pingyuan (Northeast
China Plain) and its surrounding highlands.
The major
China
River
and follows a circuitous course to the
draining an area more than twice the size of
The
Sorrow” because throughout history it has periodically devastated large areas
by flooding. The river is diked in its lower course, and silt accumulation has
elevated its bed above the surrounding plain. To help control the periodic
flooding,
constructed the Xiaolongdi Dam near the city of
The Yangtze River of Central China is one of the world’s
greatest rivers. The longest river in
vast drainage basin of more than 1.8 million sq km (700,000 sq mi), about 20
percent of
total area. The Yangtze rises near the source of the
and enters the sea at
is a major transportation artery. The river’s Three Gorges Dam, under
construction in
will be the world’s largest dam when completed. As planned, this controversial
project will create a reservoir approximately 650 km (approximately 400 mi)
long that will submerge numerous towns and archaeological sites, requiring the
relocation of more than 1 million people. Proponents of the dam claim that the
hydroelectric station will reduce
reliance on coal burning, a more polluting source of energy. Serving the major
of
are the estuarine lower reaches of the
most important river system of
Most of
lakes (hu) lie along the middle and lower
middle portion are Dongting Hu and Poyang Hu. In summer, when melted snow is
carried downstream from the mountains, these lakes increase significantly in
area and serve as natural reservoirs for excess water.
is the largest of several lakes in the Yangtze delta, and Hongze Hu and Gaoyou
Hu lie just to the north of the delta. Many saline lakes, some of considerable
size, dot the Tibetan Plateau. The largest is the marshy
in the less elevated northeast, but the high plateau contains several others
nearly as large. In the arid northwest and in the Mongolian Steppe are a number
of large lakes, most of which are also saline; principal among these are Lop
Nur and Bosten Hu east of the Tarim Pendi. Ulansuhai Nur, which is fed by the
He
west of the Da Hinggan Ling in
addition to numerous natural lakes,
has more than 2,000 reservoirs that have been constructed primarily for
irrigation and flood control.
|
C |
|
Coastline |
approximately 14,500 km (approximately 9,010 mi) from the
gulf on the north to the
on the south. Most of the northern half is low lying, although some of the
mountains and hills of
southern half is more irregular. In
and
example, much of the coast is rocky and steep. South of this area the coast
becomes less rugged: Low mountains and hills extend more gradually to the
coast, and small river deltas are common.
|
D |
|
Plant Life |
As a result of the wide range of climates and
topography,
is rich in plant species. However, much of the original vegetation in densely
populated eastern
has been removed during centuries of settlement and intensive cultivation.
Natural forests are generally preserved only in the more remote mountainous
areas.
Tropical
contain broadleaf evergreens, some more than 50 m (160 ft) tall, intermixed
with palms. Subtropical East Central China is especially rich in plant species:
oak, ginkgo, bamboo, pine, azalea, camellia, laurel, and magnolia all grow
here. Forests often have dense undergrowth of smaller shrubs and bamboo
thickets. Conifers and mountain grasses dominate at higher elevations.
The area north of the subtropical
broadleaf deciduous forest, similar to that of the eastern
States
varieties of oak, ash, elm, and maple.
most important timber reserves are in the mountains of
China
dominated by larch. The Dongbei Pingyuan, now under cultivation, was once
covered by forest steppe vegetation—grasses interspersed with trees.
In the eastern portion of the Mongolian Steppe,
drought-resistant grasses grow, although overgrazing and soil erosion have
depleted much of the region’s vegetation. Arid
is characterized by clumps of herbaceous plants and grasses separated by
extensive barren areas; salt-tolerant species dominate here. The Tibetan
Plateau, especially at lower elevations with greater humidity, contains tundra
vegetation, consisting of grasses and flowers. In more-favored locations
throughout the arid regions, larger shrubs and even trees may grow, and many
mountain areas contain spruce and fir forests.
|
E |
|
Animal Life |
The diverse habitats in
support a wide range of fauna, from arctic species in
China
to many tropical species in southern
Some species that have become extinct elsewhere still survive in
Among these are great paddlefishes of the
species of alligator and salamander, giant pandas (found only in southwestern
and Chinese water deer (found only in
and
Tropical
populations of several types of primates, including gibbons and macaques.
Antelope, gazelle, chamois, wild horses, deer, and other hoofed animals inhabit
the uplands and basins of the west and northwest.
Small carnivores are numerous throughout the country. These
include foxes, wolves, raccoon dogs, and civets.
also has several species of large carnivores, including bears, tigers, and
leopards, but they are few in numbers and confined to remote areas. Leopard
species are distributed at the peripheries of the heavily populated areas:
Leopards are found in
and clouded leopards in the extreme south. The many species of birds include
pheasants, peacocks, parrots, herons, and cranes. Many wild species are under
increasing threat due to the growing human population and the loss of native
habitat.
Over the centuries humans have domesticated several types of
beasts of burden that are adapted to the varied conditions. Water buffalo are
important draft animals in the tropical and subtropical south; camels are used
in the arid north and west; horses are important on the Mongolian Steppe; and
mules are common in
Plateau, domesticated yaks are important as draft animals and for their milk,
fur, and meat.
Marine life is abundant, especially along the southeastern
coast, and includes flounder, cod, tuna, cuttlefish, sea crabs, prawns, and
dolphins. The rivers of
contain carp, salmon, trout, sturgeon, catfish, and the Chinese river dolphin.
|
F |
|
Natural Resources |
of mineral resources, some deposits of considerable size. Along with
substantial land and water assets, these deposits give the country a generous
natural resource base for industrialization and economic development. As
population and economy grow, and as industrialization and modernization proceed
rapidly, demand for natural resources will increase. Per capita consumption of
minerals, energy, food, and fiber is rising at a faster rate than overall
economic growth. This pressure on available resources will likely accelerate
the push to discover new resources and improve the efficiency of use of
existing supplies.
|
F1 |
|
Mineral Resources |
Mineral deposits are distributed widely throughout the
country. The principal mining regions are in
especially on the
and in the uplands of
Among metallic mineral ores, iron-ore reserves are estimated to be
more than 40 billion metric tons. The largest deposits—mainly in
China
and Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region—are mostly of low quality. Some high-grade
deposits of hematite (an important iron ore) occur in
and
deposits have also been discovered on
occurring mainly in
provinces, are estimated at more than 1 billion metric tons. Tin reserves,
found primarily in
and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, are perhaps as much as 2 million metric
tons. The country’s production of refined tin amounts to about one-quarter of
the world’s output.
holds the world’s largest reserves of antimony, magnesite, and tungsten.
Antimony is found mainly in
magnesite in the
and tungsten in the highlands north of the
of molybdenum, mercury, and manganese. There are also substantial reserves of
lead, zinc, and copper. Uranium has been discovered in several areas,
principally in Northeast and
resources occurring in considerable quantities are fluorite, mica, phosphate
rock, quartz, salt, silica, and talc.
with energy resources. The estimated coal reserves of 115 billion metric tons
are among the world’s largest. Most coal is in
and adjacent areas of
which are offshore, are estimated at more than 24 billion barrels. Major oil
deposits are located in
provinces; and in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Oil-shale deposits are
located primarily in
oil reserves are about the same size as those of the
States
reserves.
also has substantial proven reserves of natural gas, often found in association
with oil.
|
F2 |
|
Land and Water Resources |
Compared to most countries,
has extensive land and water resources because it covers such a vast area.
However, much of the country is unproductive. According to government
statistics, only 15 percent of the country’s total area is arable, or suitable
for cultivation, although unofficial estimates suggest that this percentage is
too low. Slope land and other farmland may escape official counting because
local farmers may underreport the size of their leased land. Farmers must meet
government quotas for food grain based on the size of their leased land, so
those who underreport their land size would deliver a smaller percentage of
their harvest to the government. Such activity is illegal, however, and the
extent to which it is practiced is unknown.
Over centuries
large population has placed tremendous pressure on forest resources. The Huabei
Pingyuan (North China Plain), for example, once contained large deciduous
forests, but most of the plain was cleared for agriculture long ago. Local
forests have long served as a source for firewood in rural areas and for lumber
and other wood products used in construction and furniture making. More
recently, an increased demand for paper has also pressured forestland. As a
result of these pressures, forests now cover only 17 percent of the country’s
total area, compared with 25 percent in the
States
The limited forestland in
has serious consequences. Without sufficient forest coverage, soil is more
easily saturated by precipitation and runoff from melting snow. The saturation
causes accelerated soil erosion and flooding, which in turn increases the
amount of sediment that accumulates in deltas and reservoirs. However,
has an aggressive tree planting program, and in recent years the amount of
forestland has actually increased.
are enormous, especially in central, southern, and southeastern
but the pressure on these resources is also great. Crop irrigation and the
demand for water in urban areas reduce the supply. The tapping of groundwater
has lowered water tables and led to an invasion of salt in groundwater near
coastal areas. In recent years, so much water has been taken from the
He
times the river runs dry near its mouth. Some major dam projects, such as the
Three Gorges Dam, may have unforeseen environmental consequences and are
controversial within the country.
|
G |
|
Climate |
in terms of the range of weather conditions.
climates, however, tend to be more extreme, and regional contrasts are
generally greater. In addition, southeastern coastal
and the
extend into the tropics and have considerable precipitation associated with the
summer monsoon (prevailing winds).
The Asian monsoon exerts the primary control on
climate. In winter, cold, dry winds blow clockwise east and south from the
high-pressure system of central
dry conditions to much of North and
of the
inland from the
between July and November, bringing high winds and heavy rains to the coastal
areas. Amounts of precipitation decline rapidly with distance from the sea and
on leeward sides of mountains. The remote basins of
receive little precipitation.
A subtropical climate prevails in most of Central, South, and
China
average winter temperature is 4°C (39°F). The extreme south and southwest have
tropical climates, with average July temperatures of 28°C (82°F) and average
January temperatures of 17°C (63°F). The mountainous plateaus and basins in the
southwest also have subtropical climates, with considerable local variation.
The higher elevations cause the summers to be cooler, and winters are mild
because the mountains protect the plateaus and basins from northerly winds. The
which has an 11-month growing season, is noted for high humidity and
cloudiness. Rainfall, especially abundant in summer, exceeds 990 mm (39 in)
annually in nearly all parts of southern
and a warm, rainy summer. At
the average January temperature is -5°C (23°F) and the average July temperature
is 26°C (79°F). Annual precipitation totals are less than 760 mm (30 in) and
decrease to the northwest, which has a drier climate. Year-to-year variability
of precipitation in these areas is great; this factor, combined with occasional
dust storms and hailstorms, can negatively impact agricultural yields.
The climate of
similar to, but colder than, that of
January temperatures average -20°C (-4°F) at
while July temperatures average 23°C (73°F). Rainfall, concentrated in summer,
averages between about 510 and 760 mm (about 20 and 30 in) in the east but
declines to about 300 mm (about 12 in) west of the Da Hinggan Ling.
Desert and steppe climates prevail in the Mongolian Steppe
and
-10°C (14°F) everywhere except in the
temperatures generally exceed 20°C (68°F). Most of the area receives less than
100 mm (4 in) of precipitation.
The Tibetan Plateau has an arctic or near-arctic climate because
of its high elevation: At Lhasa, July temperatures average 15°C (59°F), and
January temperatures average -2°C (28°F). The air is clear and dry throughout
the year, with annual precipitation totals of less than 100 mm (4 in)
everywhere except in the extreme southeast.
|
H |
|
Environmental Issues |
Environmental degradation is a concern throughout
Feeding and housing the country’s huge population, which grows by more than 12
million people each year, strain already limited land and water resources. Economic
growth also fuels increased demand for those resources.
Among the country’s most serious environmental challenges is
the decline of arable farmland. As the population and economy have grown, the
demand for new houses, commercial buildings, transportation arteries,
factories, and other land uses associated with modernization has caused rapid
urban growth. Typically, cities are located in the middle of the best farmland,
which is being consumed by urban growth. Population and economic growth also
have reduced the habitat for
wild animals and native flora. Even areas that were previously inaccessible and
remote are now threatened.
Water quality, pollution, and access are also serious
environmental issues. In the north and northwest most farmland is irrigated,
and in the south, rice farming requires perennial irrigation. As streams become
increasingly polluted with pesticides, herbicides, raw sewage, and industrial
and urban effluent, the use of irrigation waters becomes ever more problematic.
Urban water supplies can be treated to remove solid materials and to kill
germs, but other toxic materials may become health threats.
Air pollution is also an increasingly serious problem. Coal
supplies nearly three-quarters of
energy, but the process of burning coal produces carbon dioxide (CO2),
sulfur dioxide (SO2), and other environmentally harmful emissions.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that collects in the Earth’s atmosphere and
traps heat. Sulfur dioxide mixes with moisture in the atmosphere and forms acid
rain, which eventually falls to Earth, damaging crops, forests, and streams.
control devices in some of the largest power and industrial plants. Investing
in cleaning up energy supplies and production processes makes economic sense,
because the improvements will permit
to consume energy much more efficiently. A decline in
huge population would also help reduce
pollution problems because there would be less demand for food, energy, and housing.
Government policies, particularly those since the late 1970s, have promoted
smaller families, and the population growth rate has declined, but the total
population will continue to grow for at least the next generation.
Clifton W. Pannell reviewed the Land and Resources section of
this article and wrote the individual subsections on Natural Resources and
Environmental Issues.
|
III |
|
POPULATION |
More than 20 percent of the world’s population lives in
Of the country’s inhabitants, 92 percent are ethnic Han Chinese. The Han are
descendants of people who settled the plains and plateaus of northern and
central
more than 5,000 years ago, and of people in southern
who were absorbed by the northerners more than 2,000 years ago and gradually adopted
a shared culture with them. The remaining 8 percent of
population consist of minority nationalities, such as Tibetans and Mongols.
Most of the minority nationalities are concentrated in the sparsely settled
areas of western and southwestern
|
A |
|
Population Characteristics |
After the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power in
1949, the government took a census to assess the human resources available for
the first five-year plan, the state’s comprehensive economic and social
development plan. The census, compiled in 1953, counted a population of
582,600,000. A second census, taken in 1964, showed an increase to 694,580,000.
The third census, in 1982, revealed a population of 1,008,180,000, making
the first nation with a population of more than 1 billion. By 2005
estimated population was 1,306,313,800.
While
continues to grow, the growth rate has slowed in step with declining fertility
and birth rates. The fertility rate (the average number of children born to
each woman during her lifetime) declined from 6.2 in the early 1950s to 1.7 in
2005. The birth rate declined from about 45 births per 1,000 people in 1953 to
an estimated 13 in 2005, and the death rate dropped from 22 per 1,000 people to
an estimated 7. As a result, the annual growth rate declined from about 2.25
percent in 1953 to 0.58 percent in 2005. Nevertheless, at that rate
population still grows by millions of people each year. The most serious
challenge created by such a large annual population increase is employing the
millions of young people who enter the workforce each year. Although
economy has grown rapidly, especially since the early 1990s, it has not been
able to provide enough good opportunities for all new workers, many of whom
have only minimal education and skills.
|
A1 |
|
The One-Child Policy |
The decrease in fertility rate recorded from the 1950s to the
1990s resulted largely from government efforts. These efforts included
promoting late marriages and, after 1979, inducing Chinese couples to have only
one child. This one-child policy actually allows for two or more children under
some circumstances. In addition to implementing the one-child policy, the state
has expanded the number of public health facilities that provide birth-control
information and contraceptive devices at little or no cost. Abortion is legal,
and pregnant women who already have one or more children face social and
administrative pressures to terminate their pregnancies. However, women who
belong to one of
national minorities may not face the same level of pressure. In general,
government policies allow non-Han peoples more cultural independence and permit
them to have larger families. This is due to historical trends of high
mortality among minorities, Marxist ideology, and the government’s political
interest in appearing friendly and sensitive to the needs of
ethnic minority peoples.
A consequence of the one-child program has been a higher
than normal ratio of males to females. Some families use new methods to
identify the sex of unborn fetuses and abort female fetuses in order to ensure
the birth of a male. In addition, reports of female infanticide in
have been numerous. The reasons for the preference for boys are complex but lie
partly in established cultural traditions. Sons carry on the family name and
are responsible for performing ritual obligations of ancestor worship. Perhaps
more important, however, sons are expected to care for their parents in old
age. Typically, daughters care for their husband’s parents rather than for
their own. This care is of concern particularly in rural areas, where the
majority of Chinese still live, because the state supplies few, if any, pension
benefits in these areas. Consequently, parents who have only one child prefer
to have a son to ensure a more comfortable retirement. While it is generally
agreed that there are more males than females in
the degree of the imbalance is hard to discern. The Chinese government, for
example, records a 1997 ratio of about 104 males to every 100 females, while
the United Nations records a 2005 ratio of 106 males to every 100 females
(compared to 97 males to 100 females in
and 100 to 100 in
These statistics also reflect other factors, such as lifespan differences
between genders; therefore, a more revealing statistic is the ratio of males to
females at birth. In
in 2004, the sex ratio was 1.08 males born for each female. By comparison, the
rate in
was 1.05 males for each female.
|
A2 |
|
Population Density |
In 2005
population density of 140 persons per sq km (363 per sq mi). However, this
figure belies the extreme differences between population densities in different
parts of the country. The vast majority of people live in the country’s
historic heartland—the plateaus, plains, and basins of eastern
The region’s alluvial floodplains, which have fertile soils and extensive water
resources, have always been the most productive food-producing areas. This productivity
is reflected in high population densities. In urban areas of eastern
population densities can exceed more than 2,200 persons per sq km (5,800 per sq
mi). By contrast, western
has high mountains and harsh weather conditions. This region is sparsely
settled, and large areas have a population density of less than 10 persons per
sq km (26 per sq mi).
|
A3 |
|
Migration |
In the 1950s and 1960s
sought to alleviate the increasing population pressure in the east by
encouraging Han people to migrate westward. The government also hoped the
migration would help secure the sensitive frontier areas of the west and
northwest. These areas lay far from the center of government, and the people
who lived there had fewer cultural and historic ties to
However, in recent years Han migration to western
has slowed. Most of the population growth there has resulted from a
comparatively higher birth rate and declining death rate among non-Han peoples.
Meanwhile, the government also sought to control rural-to-urban migration
because there were not enough urban jobs for additional city workers. To
control the movement of all Chinese citizens, the government instituted a
household registration (hukou) system in the late 1950s. Similar to an
internal passport system, it allowed no one to move without police permission.
Such permission typically was granted only to individuals who had obtained a
job in a state-supported enterprise. Most rural people were denied the right to
move off their farm or out of their village, even to a neighboring town.
During the political upheavals of
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the government sent urban youth to rural areas
to live and work among the peasants. This program attempted to lessen the
perceived differences in income and material well-being between city and
countryside. The government was also motivated by its inability to provide
sufficient food for the populations of
growing cities. Forced migration to the countryside decreased after the death of
Communist leader Mao Zedong in 1976. Economic reforms adopted in 1978 virtually
eliminated the practice. However, the government still controls migration from
rural areas to urban areas through the household registration system.
Beginning in the late 1970s the government permitted limited
and temporary migration to the cities. This move came about in part because a
booming economy had created the need for unskilled workers in construction and
low-level service jobs. As a result of this migration,
cities now have two classes of urban citizens. One class works in
state-supported enterprises and receives housing, schooling for children,
health care, and other subsidies. The other class consists of those who have
migrated to cities as transients to work in construction, manufacturing,
domestic service, or other low-wage positions. Many temporary migrants do not
have proper housing, sanitary facilities, or access to medical care or
educational opportunities for their children. Despite these deprivations and
difficulties, peasants continue to migrate to cities because they perceive the
opportunities for employment and the quality of life to be better. Even so,
population remains predominantly rural. In 2003, 61 percent of the total
population lived in the countryside.
|
B |
|
Principal Cities |
long and important tradition as centers of ceremonial and administrative power.
Over the centuries they have evolved into multifunctional commercial and trade
centers, and more recently into industrial centers.
has more than 30 cities in which the population of the contiguous built-up
urban area exceeds 1 million. (Administratively, many cities also include
substantial agricultural land.) China’s major cities include Shanghai, the
country’s largest urban area and a major port; Beijing, the capital and
cultural center of China; Tianjin, a port city lying at the juncture of the Hai
River and the Grand Canal; Shenyang, a center of heavy industry in northeastern
China; Wuhan, a port city situated at the confluence of the Han and Yangtze
rivers; Guangzhou, a port city on the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River); and Chongqing, a
major inland port on the Yangtze River. While all large Chinese cities have
significant industrial bases, these cities especially have expanded their
service and support economies in recent years.
|
C |
|
Ethnic Groups |
many different ethnic groups and nationalities, although about 92 percent of
the population are ethnic Han. The name Han derives from the citizens of
the Han dynasty (206 bc-style='font-variant:small-caps'>ad 220), a period of great unity in
During the Han dynasty the people of the north, central, and southern plains
and basins of eastern
came to see themselves as part of the same group. They shared a common written
language, similar values derived from the ideas of Confucius and other
classical writers, and a settled agricultural system based on growing grains,
such as wheat, rice, and millet. The Han distinguished themselves from other
peoples on the region’s periphery whom they considered barbarians, especially
the nomads and herding peoples who inhabited the high, dry,
colder regions to the north, west, and southwest. Among the most significant of
these groups were the Mongols to the north and northwest, the Manchus to the
northeast, various Muslim Turkic peoples in the far west, and the Tibetans to
the west and southwest. Also in the southwest were large groups of people, such
as the Zhuang, who were closely related to either the mountain or plains people
of
Historically, the Chinese sought to expand their territory through
the agricultural colonization of adjacent territory. This strategy involved
sending military units and farming families to settle an area. Areas so
occupied were eventually integrated into the Chinese state. Local
non-Han peoples either adopted the culture and language of the Han, were pushed
into marginal areas unsuited for sedentary farming, or were otherwise
eliminated. This worked effectively for the Han in areas that
were suitable for intensive farming, but it was less effective in the high,
dry, cold interior. This interior region, comprising about 60 percent of
present land area, remained largely unsettled by the Han until the mid-20th
century. Over the centuries some ethnic groups acculturated and integrated into
Han society more easily than others. Some, such as the Vietnamese and the
Koreans, resisted acculturation. These groups established and maintained their
own separate national identities and territories, although they maintained
close cultural and other links to the Han.
has encouraged ethnic Han to settle in the minority-occupied frontier areas. In
addition, Han administrators have been sent into all ethnic minority areas to
provide leadership and to secure management of the nation’s territory. As part
of this policy, the Chinese government has seized territory from the
traditional homelands of minority groups and reassigned it administratively to
a neighboring Chinese province. Ethnic Tibetans, for example, live mainly in
the Tibet Autonomous Region but also in
and
policies have provided some benefits for the minority groups, including better
medicine and nutrition and improved economic development.
Since 1949
55 ethnic nationalities, which range in size from several thousand to several
million members. Among the larger nationalities are the Zhuang, Hui, Uygur,
Mongols, and Tibetans. Taken together,
minority peoples account for 8 percent of the country’s total population, or
about 100 million people. The minorities are growing more rapidly than the Han
because they generally have higher birth rates. In addition, some peoples
formerly counted among the Han have since been recognized as unique minority
groups.
The identification of a minority nationality is based partly on
the historical distinction between Han and non-Han. Factors considered include
a group’s traditional location in the outlying territories, a different
language, unique religious practices, or a distinctive way of life, such as
being herders rather than sedentary farmers. Some groups’ physical appearance
is very similar to or even indistinguishable from the Han, but they have other
special distinctions. For example, Hui people are essentially Han Chinese in
all aspects except that they practice Islam.
The Han Chinese have long had familiar but sometimes
troubled relations with neighboring ethnic peoples, especially with
those under Han administrative and territorial control. Most foreign
governments and international organizations understand the security concerns in
sensitive frontier regions, where many of these peoples are found. However,
often is condemned for its heavy-handed and sometimes brutal treatment of
minority nationalities. Perhaps the best-known occurrence of
controversial approach to dealing with minority nationalities is the Chinese
military occupation of
in the 1950s. This occupation was followed by an uprising of Tibetans, which
the military suppressed. The events in
forced the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to flee
in 1959, and he has remained in exile ever since. As a result of the widely
published events in
and particularly the Dalai Lama’s plight,
faced wide international condemnation. The 20th century also saw sporadic
outbursts of violence and uprisings among the Uygur peoples of Xinjiang Uygur
Autonomous Region, many of whom have strongly resented the control imposed on
them by Han military and civil officials. Many Uygurs practice traditional
oasis agriculture in the
and have not benefited from the industrialization and rapid economic growth
that has come with Han settlement of Xinjiang. As
economy continues to grow and the country continues to emerge as a global
power, it may come under greater pressure to provide fair and equitable
treatment to minority nationalities and to allow them a larger measure of
autonomy and cultural protection.
|
D |
|
Language |
More than 90 percent of
inhabitants speak Chinese, the language of the Han people, as their native
language. Spoken Chinese consists of many regional variants, often called dialects.
The Chinese dialects are tonal in nature, meaning that words are assigned a
distinctive relative pitch—high or low—or a distinctive pitch contour—level,
rising, or falling. Because the regional dialects have different tones and
syntax, they are generally mutually unintelligible.
Most Chinese speak one of the Mandarin dialects. Putonghua
(“standard speech”), the standard form of Mandarin spoken in
is
official spoken language. Putonghua is spoken by an estimated 70 percent of the
population (about 870 million people), mainly in northern and central
It is sometimes known to Westerners as Mandarin. In addition to the Mandarin
dialects, there are six other Chinese dialect groups, spoken mainly in southern
and southeastern
They include the Wu dialects, spoken in the Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang area,
with about 100 million native speakers; the Yue dialects (also known as
Cantonese), spoken in Hong Kong and Guangzhou, with more than 65 million native
speakers; and the Kejia (Hakka) dialects, spoken in southern Fujian and also in
Taiwan and by many people of Chinese descent around the world. This linguistic
fragmentation, particularly in southeastern
has provided the basis for strong regional identity and some ethnic variation
within the larger Han community.
Although the Chinese dialects are mutually unintelligible in
their spoken forms, they share a common written form. The Chinese written
language has existed for more than 3,000 years and has been standardized for
more than 2,000 years. It has served as an important social cement, tying
together the peoples of northern, central, and southern
It also has provided an essential element of culture shared by the Han people.
One of the most ambitious efforts of the Chinese
Communist government since 1949 has been the modification of the Chinese
language. As a means of standardizing the language used by the Han, in 1956 the
government declared the dialect of Putonghua the country’s common spoken
language. The government also has made efforts to modify the written language.
The use of simplified characters—traditional characters written with fewer
strokes, or in a type of shorthand—has increased steadily. This simplification
is designed to facilitate the government’s goal of increasing literacy. In 1977
the Chinese made a formal request to the United Nations (UN) to have the pinyin
(phonetic spelling) method of romanization used to transliterate Chinese place
names. The pinyin method was created by the Chinese in the late 1950s and has
been steadily modified.
100 million minority people have their own spoken languages, which include
Mongolian, Tibetan, Miao (Hmong), Yi, Uygur, and Kazakh. Formerly, many of the
minority languages did not have a written form. However, the government has
encouraged the development of written scripts for these languages, using
pinyin.
minority groups are encouraged to maintain traditions that promote knowledge of
their ethnolinguistic heritage. Although Putonghua is taught in schools
throughout
it is sometimes taught as a second language. See also Chinese Language.
|
E |
|
Religion |
The traditional religions of
were Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. People often practiced and adhered to
traditions of all three religions as well as incorporating a variety of local
beliefs into their religious practice. Islam and Christianity were among the
more formal and organized religions practiced in
but these faiths had fewer followers.
After gaining control in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party
officially eliminated organized religion. The CCP’s move received little
resistance because Confucianism is largely secular and because most Chinese
adhered to aspects of all three major faiths; thus they lacked strong
allegiance to any single religion. Most temples, churches, and schools of
Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity were converted to secular purposes.
Only with the constitution of 1978 was official support again given for the
promulgation of formal religion in
The constitution also stated that the Chinese people had the right to hold no
religious beliefs and “to propagate atheism.” The constitution of 1982, the
most recent constitution, allows citizens freedom of religious belief and
protects legitimate religious activities as defined by the state.
Since 1982 many temples, churches, and mosques in
have reopened. Also, officially sanctioned Christian groups in the cities and
Buddhist sects in the cities and the countryside have become more active. An
underground Christian movement has also emerged. However, as these Christian
groups lie outside the official sanction of legitimate religious activities,
they are seen as illegal and thus have been prosecuted by the government.
Practicing Christians in
include Roman Catholics and members of various Protestant groups.
Even before the constitutional changes, ethnic Chinese
Muslims, or Hui, as well as other Muslim minority peoples such as the Uygur,
Kazakh, and
continued their faith in Islam. Although Muslims now may practice their
religion more openly, the government is suspicious of their religious
activities because Islam is associated with ethnic minorities who have resisted
Han control, such as the Uygurs of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In
the Chinese government has restricted the practice of Tibetan Buddhism, for
instance by limiting the number of clergy and religious buildings in the
region. See also
Religion.
In the early 1990s a man named Hongzhi Li organized
a quasi-religious movement called Falun Gong. Falun Gong is based on concepts
from traditional Chinese breathing and exercise therapy combined with ideas
from Daoism and Buddhism. The movement, which has been remarkably popular in
disclaims any political goals. It sees itself as simply a loosely organized
group of individuals interested in promoting good health and individual powers
through exercise and exemplary personal habits. In April 1999 more than 10,000
of Falun Gong’s members gathered in
The gathering so alarmed
Communist Party leadership that the movement was outlawed. Since then, members
of Falun Gong have been arrested and prosecuted.
|
F |
|
Education |
Education has played a major role in
long and rich cultural tradition. Throughout much of the imperial period (221 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc-ad
1911), only educated people held positions of social and political leadership.
In 124 bc the first state academy
was established for training prospective bureaucrats in Confucian learning and
the Chinese classics. Historically, however, relatively few Chinese have been
able to take the time to learn the complex Chinese writing system and its
associated literature. It is estimated that as late as 1949 only 20 percent of
population was literate. To the Chinese Communists, this widespread illiteracy
was a stumbling block in the promotion of their political programs. Therefore,
the Communists combined political propaganda with educational development. By
2005
literacy rate had reached 87 percent, although literacy levels between the
sexes were different. The literacy rate for males was 94 percent, whereas the
rate among females was only 81 percent. Literacy in
is defined as the ability to read without difficulty.
One ambitious CCP program has been the establishment of
universal public education for such a large population. From 1949 to 1951, more
than 60 million peasants enrolled in winter schools, or sessions, which
were established to take advantage of the slack season for agricultural
workers. Communist leader Mao Zedong declared that a primary goal of Chinese
education was to reduce the sense of class distinction among the population.
This was to be accomplished by reducing the social gaps between the manual and
mental laborer; between the city and countryside resident; and between the
worker in the factory and the peasant on the land.
The most radical developments in Chinese education, however,
took place from 1966 to 1978, during the Cultural Revolution and the years that
followed. From 1966 to 1969 the government closed virtually all schools and
universities in
Many of the 131 million youths who had been enrolled in primary and secondary
school became involved in Mao’s chaotic efforts to shake up
new elite. These efforts involved using students as youthful critics to attack
governmental programs and policies. Primary and secondary schools began to
reopen in 1968 and 1969, but institutions of higher education did not reopen
until the period from 1970 to 1972.
During the Cultural Revolution, government policies toward
education changed dramatically. The traditional 13 years of primary and
secondary schooling, spanning from kindergarten to 12th grade, were reduced to
9 or 10 years. Colleges that had traditionally had a 4- or 5-year curriculum
adopted a 3-year program. Part of these 3 years had to be spent in productive
labor in support of the school or the course of study being pursued. A 2-year
period of manual labor also became mandatory for most secondary-school
graduates who wished to attend college.
Following Mao’s death in 1976, the government began a major review
of these policies. As a result, and because of an increased interest in the
development of science in Chinese education, curricula came to resemble those
of the pre-Cultural Revolution years. Programs for primary and secondary education
were gradually readjusted to encompass 12 years of study (although only 9 years
were made compulsory). High school graduates were no longer required to go to
the countryside for 2 years of labor before competing for college positions.
The Cultural Revolution thus resulted in a decade of disruption in
educational programs. During this period nearly an entire generation of
students simply was not educated or received only a marginal education heavily
flavored with the radical politics of the Maoist era.
Since the late 1970s the educational system has changed
significantly with the reinstitution of standardized college-entrance
examinations. These exams were a regular part of the mechanism for upward
mobility in
before the Cultural Revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, radical leaders
eliminated the entrance exams by arguing that they favored an elite who had an
intellectual tradition in their families. When colleges reopened between 1970
and 1972, many candidates were granted admission because of their political
leanings, party activities, and peer-group support. This method of selection
ceased in 1977 as the Chinese launched a new campaign for the so-called Four
Modernizations. The stated goals for this campaign, which sought to rapidly
modernize agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology, required
high levels of training. Such educational programs by necessity had to be based
more on theoretical and formal skills than on political attitudes and the
spirit of revolution. However, after students agitated for greater democracy in
the 1970s and 1980s, which culminated in the government’s violent crackdown on
student protestors in Tiananmen Square in June 1989, university students were
again required to complete one year of political education before entering
college (see Tiananmen Square Protest).
Chinese higher education is now characterized by the key-point
system. Under this system, the most promising students are placed in
selected key-point schools, which specialize in training an academic elite.
University education remains difficult to attain; as many as 2 million students
compete each year through entrance examinations for 500,000 university
openings. Students finishing secondary school may also attend junior colleges
and a variety of technical and vocational schools. Among the most prominent
comprehensive universities in
are
in
in
Prestigious science and technical universities include Qinghua Technical and
in
Technology in
In the past, students received free university education but
upon graduation were required to accept jobs in state-owned industries. The
government instituted a pilot program in 1994 whereby the state allowed
university students the option of paying their own tuition in exchange for the
freedom to find their own jobs after graduation. This enabled graduates who
paid their way to choose better paying jobs with foreign companies in
or to demand better pay from state-owned enterprises. By the late 1990s, all
incoming university students were required to pay their own tuition, although
government loans were available.
Certain fields of study have grown in popularity in Chinese
higher education. While engineering and science remain very popular, other
fields, including medicine, economics, literature, and law, have grown
considerably in recent years. Another trend has been the rapid increase
in the number of advanced students who study abroad, mainly in
America
In 1978, at the beginning of the reform period, approximately 11,000 Chinese
students went abroad to study. By 1996 more than 163,000 Chinese students were
studying abroad.
In 1998–1999 China had 145 million pupils enrolled in primary
schools, and 91 million students enrolled in secondary schools. By contrast,
enrollments in 1949 had been about 24 million in primary schools and 1.25
million in secondary schools. There were 12.1 million students enrolled in
institutions of higher learning in 2001–2002.
|
G |
|
Social Structure |
and social structure traces back more than 3,000 years to the Shang
(1570?-1045? bc) and Zhou
(1045?-256 bc) dynasties. During
this period a ruling class emerged from a combination of priests, military
leaders, and administrators. By the 4th and 3rd centuries style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc, the legitimacy of the ruling elite
was embedded in the writings of Confucius and other scholars.
Confucian doctrine sought to develop a framework for a stable and
harmonious society. In this framework, mutual responsibilities and obligations
were defined between ruler and subjects, husband and wife, parents and
children, father and eldest son, and eldest son and other siblings. If the
roles were carried out properly, society would function in a well-ordered
manner.
was defined as a male-centered society in which the family name passed down
through the male line. The eldest son was charged with performing important
annual rituals that involved reverence for deceased ancestors and parents.
Veneration for ancestors was an important part of Chinese family life, and
every Chinese home had, and typically still has, a small shrine for ancestors.
Beyond family life, Chinese social order traditionally was
defined in terms of a few main social groupings. The emperor and his attendants
were at the top of the social order. Below him was the imperial bureaucracy,
staffed at all levels—court, province, prefecture, and county—with elite
scholar officials. Through these officials, backed by the army and other
imperial policing authorities, the imperial government administered the state
and imposed its authority and control when challenged. Farmers, soldiers,
merchants, and artisans were below the bureaucrats. This general social order
persisted until the imperial system was overthrown in 1911, although over time
the position of merchants had improved. By the 20th century, a number of
families with commercial and industrial interests had amassed great fortunes.
Their wealth permitted them the luxury of educating their children, and through
this means, their families’ status advanced in the traditional hierarchy.
When the Chinese Communists gained power in 1949, the social
hierarchy changed dramatically. Poor peasant farmers and people who had joined
the Communist army during the revolution were held in esteem within the party,
which exercised great influence over society. Landlords and educated elites
often were punished, and many lost their land and other properties. In rural
areas there were many executions and other punishments for landlord families.
A peasant background continues to be important for
advancement within the party hierarchy. However, the value of education as a
means of developing skills and strong qualifications has emerged once again as
the best path to social advancement. Since the 1970s individuals from elite
backgrounds have been allowed to compete for educational advancement as
has sought to use more fully its human resources. In some cases, former factory
owners have been allowed to reestablish their businesses, and in this manner
has allowed a small measure of rehabilitation of its elite governing classes
from the past. But
remains a Communist state and political system, and as long as it continues as
such, elites are likely to be viewed with suspicion by other members of
society.
|
H |
|
Way of Life |
Communism has brought about far-reaching changes in
as the way of life of
people has incorporated and adjusted to shifting ideological currents.
Traditionally, the average Chinese citizen, especially the more than 90 percent
of the population who resided in rural areas, had little or nothing to do with
the central or local government. Most people’s lives were centered on their
home village or town, and the family was the main unit of social activity and
economic production. The Communist revolution injected the Communist Party into
every level of urban and rural life and every institution of society. Thus for
the average Chinese citizen, whether urban or rural dweller, Communism has
brought a far more intrusive role of government in daily life and in the
operation of all significant facets of the economy and society.
However, in the years following the death of Chairman Mao in
1976,
leaders gradually modified the strict policies of socialist guidance of the
economy, and the role of the party in everyday life began to diminish. This
shift reflected an increasing understanding among party leaders that the
socialist approach was not succeeding. They recognized that it had not provided
a better life for the Chinese people and was stifling economic growth. The
shift has been particularly evident in the countryside. Reforms in the rural
economy have led to a virtual privatization of rural land, with peasants
acquiring long-term leases that amount virtually to private ownership. Many
peasants are now responsible for earning their own livelihoods and supporting
their families. The state’s role in their daily lives has clearly diminished,
although it has not disappeared.
Despite the far-reaching changes in rural areas, country life
remains attuned to the seasons and focused on nearby towns and cities for
commerce and entertainment. In the rural areas surrounding large urban areas,
the pace of life has intensified as farmers have geared their agricultural
production to the growing demands of urban consumers. Moreover, much of
urban industrial development has flowed to the adjacent rural areas. In these
areas land is readily available at lower prices, and the rules concerning
release of noxious fumes, liquids, and solids are looser and often not
enforced. The inhabitants of these rural areas peripheral to cities have
greater opportunities for employment off the farms, often in industrial or
service jobs that are not even related to the farm economy. Residents of these
areas have been increasingly drawn into a quasi-urban lifestyle, with all of
its attendant pleasures and challenges.
Traditional rural family life has been changed by the dynamism of
the nearby cities and their evolving economies. New employment opportunities
often attract the male head of household, who may later be followed by other
members of the farm family. Such employment offers new opportunities but also
new challenges. Uncertainty about the long-term prospects for employment off the
farm often makes farmers reluctant to let go of their land and farms. When
peasants leave the farm under such circumstances, they often leave the farming
to those at home who have little interest and enthusiasm for the work, which
may be viewed as difficult and tiresome. Under these conditions, the quality of
the farm may decline, and the productivity of both land and people may begin to
diminish. Nevertheless, the off-farm jobs enhance prospects for social as well
as economic change. The new jobs bring rural Chinese into contact with urban
dwellers who have different values and different ways of doing things.
Farther from the cities, in the more remote areas of the
interior, the traditional rural way of life is generally more prominent. In
these areas, opportunities for new off-farm jobs are limited. Yet even in these
locations, many peasants have grown dissatisfied with local conditions. They
have migrated to other provinces and distant cities in search of more
profitable employment and relief from poverty and the routines of village life.
Such migrations are not easy, however. The peasants are allowed to leave their
villages only as temporary migrants to provide needed labor services in those
urban jobs that are the most undesirable, difficult, and dirty. These include
jobs in construction, transportation, and domestic service. Migrants must
provide for their own lodging, food, and other needs. They are not entitled to
the many privileges and subsidies afforded urban citizens employed in the
state-supported sector of the economy—such as health care and good schooling
for their children. Yet these transients continue to leave rural areas for the
cities with dreams of either becoming permanent city dwellers or earning their
fortunes and returning to their native villages with new wealth and power. Some
have indeed done well. However, the reality for most of these transients is a
difficult life of hard work and a second-class status, in cities far from their
native villages.
In the cities, the power of the CCP and its governing
apparatuses of state power are more obvious and controlling. Most people in
cities are employed in state-operated commercial and industrial enterprises.
Workers in these enterprises must adhere to state-mandated social rules, as
well as employment rules, as the state controls virtually all aspects of life.
Access to housing, health care, and education depend on following
state-mandated guidelines of proper social conduct, such as the one-child per
family policy. In the 1990s the state initiated an effort to privatize urban
housing. By the close of the 20th century, many state-supported employees were
able to purchase apartments through various state-supported credit
arrangements.
At the same time, city life offers many opportunities
that are not available in the countryside. City dwellers enjoy the benefits
associated with higher incomes and enhanced cultural, commercial, and
educational opportunities.
large cities in the eastern coastal provinces offer many of the amenities and opportunities
associated with cities in the West. Among these are department stores
containing the latest fashions, and lodging and restaurant facilities in hotels
of world-class standards. In addition to outstanding local and non-local
Chinese cuisine, European, Japanese, Indian, and American fare is available.
American fast food, such as McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, is widely
available.
In and around
great cities are found the evolving lifestyles of the newly rich, those with
strong connections in government and commerce who can accumulate substantial
wealth. Members of this class are often eager to flaunt their new wealth. They
buy fine clothing and accessories and fancy automobiles, and even purchase
large, single-family dwellings near new private schools. Fancy restaurants,
discos, and nightclubs are trendy venues for the newly rich to show off their
wealth and status and enjoy a sophisticated lifestyle. The
children of these urbanites are the ones most likely to go abroad for foreign study
and learn foreign languages. Such education will permit them rapid entry into
the business and professional circles of
increasingly globalized economy and society. While this newly wealthy
population is comparatively small, it signifies the rapidly growing disparity
in income levels between rich and poor in
cities.
|
I |
|
Social Issues |
The increasing disparity in income levels resulting from the
growth in
economy has become a significant social problem. According to the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank), in 1995 the wealthiest 10
percent of
population received 30.9 percent of the income, while the poorest 10 percent
received only 2.2 percent. Such disparities in income and wealth are found in
both cities and rural areas. But the largest disparities, and the most
significant friction between rich and poor, are seen in cities. The differences
between those who have good housing provided by the state and those who live in
makeshift dwellings or otherwise substandard housing are becoming increasingly
visible. Many temporary workers do not have proper access to health care.
Furthermore, they often have no access to schools, and if they bring their
families to the cities, their children sometimes turn to petty crime. This
activity causes friction with permanent local residents, who often complain
that the temporary migrants cause all of the city’s problems. In each of
largest cities, such as
and
workers may exceed 1 million. This issue is becoming increasingly awkward for
whose Communist government purports to be committed to socialist ideals of
equality and sees itself as a model of modern socialist development.
A related and serious problem is the large extent of
government corruption in
which aggravates the disparities in income. Government approvals are required
for everything from changes in residence to permits for building factories to
exporting commodities. Therefore, government officials responsible for granting
those approvals wield a great deal of power. Many bureaucrats abuse their power
and expect money in return for routine approval of permits. Sometimes, payments
to corrupt officials can involve very large sums of money. Government efforts
to curb these practices have been generally ineffective.
|
J |
|
Social Services |
The Chinese government seeks to provide for the physical well
being of its citizens. Major public welfare programs have included subsidized
housing, vocational opportunities, health care, retirement benefits, and the
assurance of a paid funeral. Yet services and benefits provided in cities have
always been sharply different from those available in the countryside. City
dwellers who work for the state have received housing, medical care, and good
schooling for their children. The government has also provided benefits for
disability, maternity, injury, and old age. Such benefits are part of why many
state enterprises are in troubled financial condition and unable to show a
profit. In contrast, rural dwellers have been largely on their own for social
services. Their well-being has depended on the productivity and wealth of the
area in which they live. Since the reforms began in 1978, the level of medical
assistance and other social services in rural areas has even been reduced. At
the same time, however, rural incomes have risen dramatically, thus better
enabling peasants to take care of their own social needs. Farmers do not
receive any pension benefits. Under Chinese custom, sons are expected to look
after their parents in their declining years.
Health care in
improved dramatically since the economic reforms began. In 1949 the average
life expectancy in
was 45 years. By 2005 the average had risen to 72 years (71 years for men and
74 years for women). During the same period the number of medical doctors
increased greatly. Despite an overall rapid population increase, in 2000
had 1 physician for every 595 inhabitants, as opposed to 1 for every 27,000 in
1949. Clinics typically are found at the village and district levels, and
hospitals, in most cases, at the city and county levels.
In the period from 1949 to 1974, a paramedical corps of
so-called barefoot doctors played an important role in bringing health services
to rural people. These personnel were trained in hygiene, preventive medicine,
and routine treatment of common diseases. They serviced rural areas where both
Chinese and Western-style doctors were scarce. For millions of peasants,
barefoot doctors were their first encounter with anyone trained in health
services. In recent years, rural incomes have increased and the rural economy
has been virtually privatized. These developments have enabled peasants to use
local clinics for less serious illnesses and to use hospitals in neighboring
towns and cities for more serious illnesses. Typically, a fee is involved,
although the costs for such medical assistance is modest compared to such costs
in the
Another development in health services has been the renewed interest in
traditional Chinese medicine, such as local herbal medication, folk medicine,
and acupuncture. In rural areas, herbal medications may represent as much as
four-fifths of the medication used.
campaigns in the health-care field. Efforts to promote child immunization,
eradicate schistosomiasis, and diminish sexually transmitted infections have
received widespread governmental promotion. Highly successful campaigns have
been waged against infectious and parasite-borne diseases that were formerly
widespread, such as tuberculosis, malaria, and filariasis (diseases caused by
the filaria parasite).
Clifton W. Pannell wrote the Population section of this
article.
|
IV |
|
ARTS AND CULTURE |
achievements over the past 3,000 years are a source of great pride for the
Chinese people. Central to the country’s cultural identity is its written
language, which has been the vehicle for many of those achievements. The earliest
known printed text is a Buddhist religious book, the Jingangjing (Diamond
Sutra), which dates from 868 ad.
The spread of printing had a great effect on the development of Chinese
culture, as it enabled the distribution of new ideas. It also enabled
government control of ideas, and beginning during the Song dynasty (960-1279)
imperial governments took close interest in approving and printing books. The
rulers of
dynasties emphasized their role as protectors of the country’s cultural
tradition, supporting visual artists and writers and creating elaborate palace
and temple complexes to demonstrate their fitness to rule.
heritage was also available to those residents who were not literate in the
Chinese language, often through the medium of drama, which brought stories from
Chinese history and literature into even remote towns and villages.
In the 20th century
underwent a number of revolutionary political changes that led many Chinese to
challenge the value of their country’s cultural heritage. Communist leader Mao
Zedong, who was a principal founder of the People’s Republic of
in 1949, laid down for all the arts the duty of subordinating self-expression
to the needs of class struggle and the building of socialism. This reached an
extreme in the political campaign known as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
Since the mid-1970s and the introduction into
of a market economy, the arts have operated in a context of much greater
freedom, which has benefited some forms of art more than others.
distinctive cultural heritage is now threatened as much by forces of global
competition as it is by government interference.
|
A |
|
Literature |
world’s longest continuous tradition of writing, dating from the first use of
Chinese characters for purposes of ritual divination during the Shang dynasty
(1570?-1045? bc). The earliest
Chinese literary works date from the Western Zhou dynasty (1045?-771 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc). These include the anonymous Shu
jing (Book of History or Book of Documents), a collection of
ancient state documents, and the Shi jing (Book of Poetry or Book
of Songs), an anthology of 305 poems that, according to legend, was
compiled and edited by Chinese philosopher Confucius. These books are part of
the group of texts known collectively as the Five Classics, or Confucian
Classics, which have been revered as guides to moral action and the correct
ordering of human society.
From very early times the ability to write poetry was seen as
one of the marks of an educated man. Chinese poetry, often personal and lyrical
in tone, reached a
during the Tang dynasty (ad 618-907).
Major poets of the period include Wang Wei, Li Bo (Li Po), and Du Fu (Tu Fu).
The typical poem of the Tang period was written in the shi form,
characterized by five- or seven-word lines, with the rhyme usually falling on
the even lines. New forms of verse based on the structures of well-known songs
were popular during the Song dynasty.
Drama first flourished during the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279-1368),
when plays were often enjoyed as written literature as well as performed on the
stage. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the short story and the novel
developed. Major works from this period include Sanguozhi yanyi (The
Romance of the Three Kingdoms), a historical novel about wars and warriors;
Shui hu zhuan (All Men Are Brothers, also known as Outlaws of the
Marsh or Water Margin), a novel of the adventures of bandit-heroes; Xiyouji
(The Journey to the West), a Buddhist fable; and Jin ping mei (The
Golden Lotus or The Plum In the Golden Vase), a work dealing with
daily life in a rich family. The playwright Tang Xianzu and others wrote
lengthy dramas, often with romantic themes. Also during the Ming period, and
for the first time in Chinese history, a great deal of poetry was written by
women. Many novels continued to be written during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911),
the most famous being Hong lou meng (1792, Dream of the Red Chamber, 1929)
by Cao Zhan (also known as Cao Xueqin).
In the 20th century, dissatisfaction with the literature
of the past was expressed in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, when writers
explored new literary forms that reflected more closely the spoken forms of the
Chinese language. Short-story writer and essayist Lu Xun was a leading figure
of this movement. After the founding of the Communist People’s Republic of
China in 1949, the government ordered that all literature serve the needs of
the socialist state. Only after the end of the Cultural Revolution in 1976 were
Chinese writers allowed more freedom to address topics of personal interest to
them and their readers. See also Chinese Literature.
|
B |
|
Art and Architecture |
Artistic production in
goes back to about 6000 bc. The
Chinese consider their unbroken tradition of art one of the central
achievements of Chinese culture, and art of various kinds has always been held
in high regard. In earliest times, the most important art forms were jade
carving and the casting of bronze vessels, often made for burial in royal
tombs. For the last 2,000 years, the art form that has enjoyed the greatest
prestige has been calligraphy, in which the characters of the Chinese language
are written with a brush on silk or paper. The calligrapher Wang Xizhi, who
lived during the 4th century, is remembered as one of the greatest early
practitioners of this art, although virtually no traces of his work survive.
The second most important art form in
after calligraphy is painting. Most of the earliest surviving Chinese paintings
date from the Song dynasty, which is seen as one of the golden eras of the
tradition. A number of famous artists and art theorists, such as Su Dongpo
(pseudonym of Su Shi), lived during this period, and the important art form of
landscape painting developed. Many famous painters are recorded in the
extensive literature about art from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties. One
distinctive feature of this literature is the emphasis it places on amateur
artists. Their work often was seen as more valuable than that produced by
professionals, who were viewed by the educated elite as artisans with a lower
social status. Today the tradition of watercolor painting on silk or paper is
practiced widely throughout
Sculpture was an important art form in
especially after the introduction of Buddhism from
in the 1st century. However, most sculpture was produced for religious purposes
by anonymous craftsmen, and thus the educated elite did not regard it as highly
as they did calligraphy and painting. Chinese artisans have also made major
achievements in forms such as jade carving, lacquerwork, textiles, and
ceramics. Many art forms, such as silk weaving and porcelain work, were
invented in
and only later spread to other parts of the world.
villages developed important folk art traditions, which were often very
different from the art produced for the wealthy in the cities.
Although many splendid palaces, temples, and other buildings have
been created in
over the centuries, architecture traditionally was not seen as an art form, and
it was given little attention by the elite.
were major patrons of the arts. Religious organizations and individual wealthy
patrons also employed artists. After 1949, many artists became employees of the
state, paid to produce work glorifying the People’s Republic and the Chinese
Communist Party. Since 1976 artists have gained greater artistic freedom, but
there has been a reduction in government financial support, and the art market
has assumed greater importance. See also Chinese Art and Architecture.
|
C |
|
Music and Dance |
The philosopher Confucius saw music and dance as enormously
important to keeping society in good order, and both have always had an
important role in Confucian practices. The earliest surviving Chinese musical
instruments include bronze bells dating from the Shang and Western Zhou
dynasties. Complete sets of these bells, as well as some stringed instruments,
survive from the Eastern Zhou dynasty, which followed the Western Zhou. In
imperial
the ability to play and appreciate music was a central aspect of high social
status. Educated gentlemen were expected to be particularly familiar with the
musical repertoire for the qin (ch’in), a long zither plucked
with the fingers.
Alongside the music of the educated elite, a rich tradition
of folk music developed in
towns and villages. This tradition continues to thrive today. Most of this
music is instrumental and employs a wide variety of stringed and blown
instruments, as well as complex percussion sections of gongs, drums, and
cymbals. Chinese folk music varies considerably from region to region. Many
urban centers now have both Chinese and Western style musical groups, including
symphony orchestras and rock bands. See also Chinese Music.
Until the end of the Tang dynasty, dance was an
important form of entertainment for the elite, especially at the imperial
court. Men performed vigorous dances with swords, and it was fashionable to
watch dances performed by professional dancers imported from other parts of
In the Song period the practice of mutilating women’s feet (known as foot
binding) gradually became widespread, and this reduced the role of dance among
the upper classes.
Forms of folk dance continued to be practiced in
countryside, and in the 20th century
Communist government promoted them as part of a new emphasis on popular art
forms. Also during the 20th century, originally Western forms of dance, such as
ballroom dance and ballet, were introduced to
Ballroom dance was banned for much of the period after 1949, while ballet was
used in the 1960s to create “model” revolutionary ballets, such as The
White-Haired Girl and The Red Detachment of Women. Since 1976 forms
of social dance, such as ballroom and disco, have become popular pastimes at
all levels of Chinese society.
|
D |
|
Theater and Film |
Chinese theater varies significantly in different regions of the
country, with more than 300 types known. All of these involve a combination of
music, singing, speech, and dramatic action. Drama traditionally was performed
in urban theaters and teahouses by professional actors for paying customers.
However, it was also performed to entertain the gods as part of religious
rituals, and in this way it was brought to wide audiences in the countryside.
These types of rituals have revived in recent years with the relaxation of
prohibitions against them by the Chinese government.
Although there have been forms of dramatic entertainment in
since very early times, Chinese theater reached its first height during the
Yuan dynasty, when the form of literary drama known as Yuan zaju (Yuan
drama) came to the fore. Zaju plays consisted of four acts and a
self-contained scene that usually appeared between acts. Men and women both
depicted characters of either sex, and only the lead character sang. Dramas
such as The West Chamber, a romantic love story by Wang Shifu, were
created during this period and have remained part of the repertoire of the
Chinese theater ever since.
The late 18th century brought the rise of jingxi, or
“drama of the capital city,” under the patronage of the imperial court. This is
the form of theater that is widely known in the West as Peking Opera. It
combines various theatrical forms—including speech, music, acrobatics, dance,
mime, and martial arts—to tell stories from Chinese history and folklore. Until
the mid-20th century, men performed all roles in Peking Opera, using elaborate
and stylized costumes and makeup to show the type of character being portrayed.
The most famous Peking Opera actor of the 20th century, Mei Lanfang, was
particularly successful at playing female roles.
In the 20th century Chinese writers adopted originally
Western forms of theater to create the form known as huaju (spoken
drama). This form remained restricted to major cities and urban audiences.
After 1949 the traditional repertoire of historical and romantic dramas was
gradually abandoned in favor of revolutionary operas. Since 1976 government
controls have been relaxed and the traditional repertoire reinstated, although
it has been losing popularity among younger audiences. See also Asian
Theater.
The cinema, imported from the West, has been very successful
in
vigorous film industry developed in
in the early 20th century, and after the People’s Republic came to power, film
was used as a major form of government propaganda. In recent decades Chinese
films have found success with international audiences. Popular works include
those by director Zhang Yimou, such as Hong gaoliang (1987, also
released as Red Sorghum), Ju Dou (1989), and Dahong denglong
gaogao gua (1991, also released as Raise the Red Lantern).
|
E |
|
Cultural Institutions |
institutions are in its largest cities. Every provincial capital has a museum
and a library, as well as sites of historical or cultural importance.
largest museum, the
Housed in the
the imperial family and court, the museum contains part of the vast imperial
collection of artworks. It also mounts exhibitions of important archaeological
discoveries from elsewhere in
Also in
Mao Memorial Hall, the
History
and the
History
Museum of the Chinese Revolution contains collections relating to modern
Chinese history, and the
houses historical relics including stoneware, bronzes, and calligraphy.
leading cultural role in
The city is home to the Shanghai Museum, which contains one of China’s most
important historic art collections; the Museum of Natural Sciences; and the
museum of the Tomb of Lu Xun (Lu Xun was a 20th-century writer). Numerous
buildings in
as historic sites. Among them is the site of the First National Congress of the
Chinese Communist Party.
museums contain important archaeological materials discovered since the
founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The
in
for their collections of archaeological treasures. Most major archaeological
sites have museums attached to them. One of the most important sites is the
tomb of Chinese emperor Qin Shihuangdi, located just outside
in
Excavations of the tomb have yielded a terra-cotta army of more than 6,000
life-size figures, buried with the emperor upon his death in 210 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc.
Archaeological sites and important historic buildings are
protected by government regulations, although illegal excavation of
cultural heritage has remained a problem.
museums and other cultural institutions are very important to the country’s
developing tourism industry. Economic reforms in
since the 1970s have made it more necessary for these institutions to raise
funds to support their own activities. Many have done so by organizing
exhibitions of their treasures outside of
these exhibitions have brought
artistic and cultural heritage to an international audience.
Important libraries in
include Beijing Library, containing
largest collection of ancient and modern books, and the Shanghai Library. The
First Historical Archives of China, in
houses historical records from
imperial dynasties.
Craig Clunas contributed the Arts and Culture section of this
article.
|
V |
|
ECONOMY |
In the 1950s
government began bringing a majority of economic activity under state control
and determining production, pricing, and distribution of goods and services.
This system is known as a planned economy, also called a command economy (see
Communism: Centrally Planned Economy). In 1979
began implementing economic reforms to expand and modernize its economy. The
reforms have gradually lessened the government’s control of the economy,
allowing some aspects of a market economy and encouraging foreign investment;
however, the state-owned sector remains the backbone of
economy.
refers to this new system as a socialist market economy. As a result of the
reforms,
economy grew at an average annual rate of 10.2 percent in the 1980s and by 9.6
percent annually in the period of 1990–2003. This was among the highest growth
rates in the world. However, the reforms also have caused problems for
economic planners. Income gaps have widened, unemployment has increased, and
inflation has resulted from the extremely rapid and unbalanced development.
In 2003
domestic product (GDP) was $1,417 billion. The size of the country’s economy,
which is comparable to that of
billion), makes
a significant economic power; despite this, it remains a low-income, developing
country because it must support a huge population of more than 1.2 billion. In
2003
per capita GDP was just $1,100, compared to $27,080 in
Industrial activity (manufacturing, mining, and construction) contributes the
largest percentage of the country’s GDP, amounting to 52 percent in 2003.
Transportation, commerce, and services together accounted for 33 percent. And
agriculture, together with forestry and fishing, contributed 15 percent.
|
A |
|
History of |
economy more than 2,000 years ago. During the Han dynasty (206 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc-ad
220) the Chinese developed several tools and practices that farmers in
and the
millennium, later. The cast-iron moldboard plow, for example, made it easier to
cultivate hard or stony land. Although heavier than wooden plows, these plows
created much less friction and could be pulled by a single animal, even in the
waterlogged clay soils of southern
After the Han period, however,
agriculture and economy advanced more slowly. For centuries,
economy was based on farming that used ancient methods, and much of the
agricultural activity was performed at a subsistence level. By the 19th century
underdeveloped agricultural economy that was backward compared to the
developing industrial economies of
America
In the mid-19th century
defeated
in the Opium Wars and forced
to create coastal treaty ports, in which foreign residents could live and
trade. A period of Western penetration followed, during which railroads and
highways were constructed, some industrial development was begun, and new
energy sources, such as kerosene and electricity, were introduced. However,
such activity had little impact on
economy overall. In 1911 Chinese revolutionaries overthrew
last dynasty, the Qing, and the new Chinese republican government attempted to
modernize the economy. But in the decades that followed, civil wars and a war
against Japanese occupation stifled economic growth and development.
In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power
and founded the People's Republic of
(PRC). During the first few years of its existence, the PRC focused on
rebuilding from the ravages of war and redistributing land to 300 million poor
peasants. Then, in 1953,
implemented a planned economy, and the government took over all means of
production. The state outlined how the economy was to be developed in a series
of five-year plans, which detailed how investment funding, production
materials, and other resources were to be allocated. Success was measured by
the fulfillment, or over-fulfillment, of the production targets and timetables
established in the five-year plans. As a result, quality and innovation became
less important than they had been in the past. The government assigned people
to jobs and there was little possibility of job transfer. The state also
controlled wages and prices and owned all transportation and housing. Household
and personal consumption was controlled by the government through a system that
rationed food, cotton cloth, and other daily necessities. Consequently,
enterprises, families, and individuals had very limited choice in their
economic behavior.
|
A1 |
|
Five-Year Plans |
The first five-year plan, implemented from 1953 to 1958,
outlined changes for all economic sectors but particularly emphasized expansion
of heavy industry. The government created hundreds of large, state-owned,
industrial enterprises, and by 1958
had a solid industrial base. In the agricultural sector, meanwhile, the state
organized workers into large, cooperative farms. Agricultural output increased,
but not nearly at the same rate as industry.
Initially, the authors of the second five-year plan modeled it on
the first. By the beginning of 1958, however, they had revised the plan to
address the concern of Chinese leader Mao Zedong that agriculture was not
growing as fast as industry. The revised plan was to be accomplished through an
economic and social campaign intended to radically increase
agricultural production while maintaining high industrial growth. The campaign
became known as the Great Leap Forward.
At this time,
becoming increasingly isolationist in its foreign policy, and one goal of the
Great Leap Forward was to make the country self-sufficient. A key component of
the program was the establishment of small furnaces for making steel from
low-grade ore, scrap metal, and even household implements. Millions of peasants
and city workers were ordered to abandon their fields and factories in order to
run primitive backyard furnaces. Although the program pushed
total iron and steel production past
in just a few years, the result over time was massive economic dislocation as
well as wasted resources, including widespread deforestation for the sake of
obtaining fuel to fire furnaces.
In agriculture, the government established huge rural
people’s communes, which brought all rural land and major farm equipment under
collective ownership. Although
sowed a huge grain crop in 1958, much of it went to waste because of inadequate
transportation and storage facilities. Worse, a policy of deep plowing and the
practice of planting grain even in conditions unsuited to its cultivation did a
great deal of ecological damage. Silting and runoff from ill-considered and
poorly executed irrigation projects, and the destruction of trees, grasses, and
ponds, contributed to catastrophic floods in 1959 and 1960. The misguided industrial
and agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward, compounded by these
environmental calamities, resulted in three years of famine in which more than
20 million people died.
As a result of the famine and the economic failures
of the Great Leap Forward,
launched a period of economic readjustment. By 1965 production in many fields
again approached the level of the late 1950s. The third and fourth five-year
plans were begun in 1966 and 1971. However, both agricultural and industrial
production were severely curtailed by the effects of the Cultural Revolution
(1966-1976), a political campaign that was intended to revolutionize Chinese
society but that ultimately caused social chaos and near economic collapse.
In the fifth five-year plan, begun in 1976, China's leaders
decided to move at a faster pace on all economic fronts to make up for the
losses suffered in the preceding ten years. However, the biggest economic
changes occurred after the CCP, under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, adopted
the national objective of modernizing agriculture, industry, defense, and
science and technology in 1978. All subsequent five-year plans have focused on
achieving this objective.
|
A2 |
|
Reform and Opening |
The first reforms toward achieving the new national objective
began in poor rural areas in 1979, when the government replaced communal
farming and distribution with the household contracting and responsibility
system. Under this system, individual farm households worked separate plots of
land owned by an economic collective. The households could sell produce at
farmers’ markets for whatever price buyers were willing to pay in return for
selling a certain amount of produce to the collective at a predetermined price.
The contract and responsibility system was successful because it gave farmers
an incentive to reduce production costs and increase productivity.
In 1984 the government shifted the emphasis of the economic
reforms to urban areas. It extended greater decision-making power to managers
of state-owned enterprises, and replaced the system of collecting all profits
with one of collecting taxes on profits and then allowing enterprises to make
their own reinvestment choices. Furthermore, while still insisting on public
(state) ownership of enterprises as the predominant form, the government also
encouraged other forms of ownership, such as collective and private ownership.
Meanwhile,
opened its market to the outside world. To help quicken the pace of
modernization, the state encouraged foreign investment and the import of
advanced technology. In 1980
began establishing special zones for foreign investment. The original four were
called Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and consisted of Shenzhen, Zhuhai,
Shandou, and
southeastern
By the late 1990s a variety of similar types of zones had been added, including
a fifth SEZ,
Most zones are located in urban economic centers, particularly coastal cities,
cities along the
cities and towns along
borders.
In 1992 the government announced the goal of establishing a
socialist market economy, meaning a market economy led by the CCP. To
accommodate this change and other economic reforms, the government has shifted
its role in the economy. Under the planned economic system, the state
determined production and pricing. In a market economy, however, consumer
demand for goods and services determines production and pricing. The Chinese
government's new role involves creating a stable and competitive economic
environment through the application of laws and regulations.
|
B |
|
Labor |
In 2003
labor force of 773 million, the largest in the world. In 2000 agriculture,
forestry, and fishing employed 47 percent of the workforce. Mining,
manufacturing, and construction employed 18 percent. The remainder, 13 percent,
worked in the service sector, which includes banking, government,
transportation, tourism, and retail trade.
Official unemployment in
was 4 percent in 2002. However, the real problem of unemployment and
underemployment (employment that is less than regular, full-time employment) is
much more serious. Many state-owned enterprises have more workers than are
needed. To increase production efficiency, these enterprises have begun laying
off many people. Furthermore, eliminating inefficient communal farming methods
created a huge pool of unemployed and underemployed people in the countryside.
Each winter since the reforms began, millions of peasants have traveled to
cities in search of seasonal work. This has caused havoc in railroad transport
and social problems in urban areas that have neither enough jobs nor housing to
absorb these workers.
have brought major changes to the work place. Previously the state assigned
people to jobs. Although workers had little choice in their assignments, they
generally could count on life-long employment. Furthermore, state enterprises
provided retirement, social security, medical care, and in many cases
subsidized housing to their employees. However, these costly benefits
contributed to the losses that plagued many state-owned enterprises. Under the
reforms, enterprise managers have received greater freedom to hire and fire
workers. Job mobility has increased, but so has job insecurity. Meanwhile, the
government is in the process of devising new retirement, social security, and
medical care systems.
Trade unions are organized in all of
industrial sectors. Some of the unions were founded as early as the 1920s. Many
more were founded after the establishment of the PRC in 1949. All trade unions
are under the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, an umbrella organization of
the CCP. The unions work for the interests of union members in matters such as
labor protection, workers' welfare, and the settlement of labor disputes. The
unions are also an instrument for bringing workers and the CCP together. In the
mid-1990s trade unions had a total membership of about 104 million people.
|
C |
|
Agriculture |
the world’s arable land with which to support more than 20 percent of the
world’s population. Over the centuries, the Chinese have built irrigation
projects to the extent that almost half of cultivated land is now irrigated.
long had a food deficit, but as a result of new irrigation projects, improved
farming techniques since 1949, and agricultural reforms since the late 1970s,
now produces enough grain to provide a basic diet for its large population. In
lean years, however, the country occasionally must import grains.
agriculture is also a major source of raw materials for the country’s
industries. Chinese cotton, for example, is a key material supplied to the
garment industry.
In 1998
the world’s largest share of grains, meats, cotton, and peanuts.
ranked second in production of tea, sugar cane, and rapeseed (used to make
lubricants and cooking oil) and fourth in the production of soybeans. The
country also produced most of the world’s mulberry silk cocoons.
|
C1 |
|
Organization of Agricultural Activity |
In the 1950s the Communist government organized 800
million rural people into about 52,000 people's communes. The communes received
production targets from the state and ensured that these targets were met. Each
commune was divided into about 16 production brigades, which were further
divided into about 7 production teams usually consisting of 100 to 250 people.
Each level above the individual could hold land, tools, and other production
materials under communal ownership, and each carried out a range of production
activities.
Under the commune system, it was possible to conduct
large-scale experimentation with scientific farming, to plant crops in areas
with the most favorable soil and other natural conditions, and to develop
irrigation and drainage on an efficient scale. Although land was collectively
owned, each rural household usually had access to a small private plot, which
it was free to use as it pleased. Both production teams and individual
households were also given autonomy to market products after official targets
were met.
In the early 1980s, in an effort to increase
agricultural production, the government restructured the agricultural sector.
The system of communes and production brigades was largely dismantled, and the
household became the principal unit of agricultural production. Under the
so-called household contracting and responsibility system, each household,
after contracting with local authorities to produce its quota of specified
crops, was free to sell any additional output on the free market. A major
limitation of this system is its difficulty in achieving economies of scale.
This refers to the economic principle that an individual household produces a
smaller amount than a larger farm, but has some of the same basic expenses (for
plows, for example) and therefore has a higher relative production cost. On a
voluntary basis, some households have organized themselves into groups for
product processing, marketing, and regional cooperation.
|
C2 |
|
Agricultural Planning and Improvement |
Given the very limited quantity of agricultural land in
relative to the country’s large population, rational planning of land use is of
prime importance. An overemphasis on grain growing during the 1960s and 1970s
led to the elimination of some low-yield but otherwise very valuable crops,
orchards, and trees; it also led to the neglect of animal husbandry, and to
environmental damage. The government has since promoted a mixed-farming economy
that is in accordance with local environmental conditions and that also
provides cash income.
The Chinese government actively pursues and promotes agricultural
mechanization, although it remains in the early stages of development and is
considered impractical in many places because of the relatively small size of
cultivated areas. Since the 1950s the state has accomplished significant flood
control and irrigation projects, which include the construction of dams,
canals, and reservoirs. Increased irrigation, mechanization, and fertilizer use
since the 1950s permit the growth of two crops per year in areas of the Huabei
Pingyuan (North China Plain). In some parts of southern and southeastern
peasants are able to produce three crops per year.
To supplement agricultural production, the various levels of
government operate about 2,300 state farms. These are large-scale units run for
the purpose of agricultural experimentation and for commercial production of
certain crops such as rubber and foodstuffs for urban markets or for export. State
farms are usually located in newly reclaimed areas where the rural population
density is not great and modern machinery can be used effectively.
|
C3 |
|
Food and Oilseed Crops |
About three-quarters of
cultivated area is devoted to food crops.
is the world's largest rice producer, and rice is the country's most important
crop, raised on 26 percent of the cultivated land. Most rice is grown south of
the
notably in the middle and lower
(
provinces.
Wheat is
most important food crop. Wheat is grown in most parts of the country, but the
largest growing areas are on the Huabei Pingyuan, in the valleys of the Wei and
Fen rivers on the Huangtu Gaoyuan (Loess Plateau), and in
provinces. Although the area of wheat cultivation is nearly as large as that of
rice (24 percent of cultivated land), the yield is lower.
Corn (maize) occupies 19 percent of the country's cultivated area,
mainly in northern, northeastern, and southwestern
It is increasingly used as animal feed and less is taken for direct human
consumption. Kaoliang (a sorghum) and millet are important food crops in North
and
feed and converted into alcohol for a beverage; the stalks are use to make
paper and as a roofing material. Oats are important chiefly in
Mongolia
Other food crops include sweet potatoes, white potatoes, and
various other fruits and vegetables. Sweet potatoes predominate in the south
and white potatoes in the north. Fruit includes tropical varieties such as
pineapples and bananas, grown on
the
and
particularly oranges and tangerines, which are major products of
China
Oilseeds play a major role in Chinese agriculture, supplying
edible and industrial oils as well as other food products, and constituting an
important share of exports. The most important oilseed is the soybean, which is
grown mainly in North and
soybeans are particularly good for making tofu (bean curd), and the oil made
from soybeans is used in cooking.
is one of the world’s leading soybean producers and is also a leading producer
of peanuts, which are grown in
and
important oilseed crops are sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, and rapeseed. The
seeds from the fruit of the tung tree also provide a valuable oil, which is
used as an additive in paints and varnishes. More than half the tung oil
produced in
originates in
Tea is a traditional export crop of
and the country produces more than 20 percent of the world supply. Green and
jasmine teas are very popular among the Chinese population, whereas black tea
is mostly for export. The principal tea plantations are on the hillsides of the
middle
and in the southeastern provinces of
and
from sugarcane and sugar beets. Sugarcane is grown mainly in the provinces of
and
relatively new crop for the country, are raised in
Mongolia
|
C4 |
|
Fiber Crops |
Since 1949 the Communist government has given increasing
attention to the expansion of crops for the textile industry. The most
important of these crops is cotton, of which
is the world's leading producer. Although cotton can be grown in almost all
parts of
the principal cotton-growing areas are the Huabei Pingyuan, the Huangtu
Gaoyuan, the
Autonomous Region in
yields about half the country's total cotton output.
Other important fibers grown in
include ramie and flax, which are used for linen and other fine cloths, and
jute and hemp, which are made into sacks and rope. Ramie, a native Chinese
plant similar to hemp, is grown chiefly in the
The main jute-growing areas are in
and
traditional Chinese product is raw silk. Sericulture, the raising of silkworms,
is practiced in central and southern
notably in the Yangtze delta and some parts of
|
C5 |
|
Livestock |
livestock population, and livestock and animal products are important for
domestic uses and for export. In 2004
supplied 473 million pigs to its domestic and export markets. The country is
the leading exporter of hog bristles, which are used in making brushes. In many
rural areas of western
nomadic herding of sheep, goats, and camels is the principal occupation. In the
mountains of
and on the Tibetan Plateau, yaks are a source of food and fuel (the dung is
burned), and their hair and skin provide materials for shelter and clothing.
Other livestock raised in
include cattle, water buffalo, horses, mules, and donkeys.
|
D |
|
Forestry and Fishing |
are limited due to centuries of cutting for fuel and building materials.
Programs to convert open land into forests have increased the extent of
forestland from about 8 percent of the total area in 1949 to 17.1 percent in
2000. Tree-planting campaigns throughout the country have been organized both
at the state and local levels; rural villages have been responsible for
planting 70 percent of the total reforested area. Trees have been planted
around settlements, along roads, on the edge of bodies of water, and by the
sides of peasant homes.
The distribution of forests in
is very uneven. The northeast and southwest have half of the country’s forest
area and three-quarters of the forest resources. Principal species cut include
various pines, spruce, larch, oak, and, in the extreme south, teak and
mahogany. Other commercial species include the tung tree, lacquer tree,
camphor, and bamboo. Major forestry products include timber, plywood,
fiberboard, pine resin, tannin extract, and paper pulp.
fish, shellfish, and mollusks in the 1990s was more than that of any other
nation. Aquaculture, the breeding of fish in ponds and lakes, accounted for 54
percent of the total catch, and wild-caught fish accounted for 46 percent.
Aquaculture was an important part of traditional Chinese food
production. The government’s initial five-year plans deemphasized aquaculture,
but since 1984 reform policies have restored and modernized this activity. Carp
ponds, a Chinese food source for thousands of years, yield a significant share
of the total acquaculture catch. Prawns, crabs, and scallops are also raised in
ponds. The principal aquaculture producing regions are those close to urban
markets in the middle and lower
delta. In addition to fish,
also harvests aquatic plants.
|
E |
|
Industry |
Manufacturing, mining, and construction constitute
industrial sector. In the 1980s industrial production increased by an average
annual rate of 11.1 percent, and in the period from 1990 to 1996 it grew by an
annual rate of 17.3 percent, the fastest pace in the world.
manufactures are diverse and include such complex products as airplanes, ships,
automobiles, satellites, and modern industrial equipment. However, many
production facilities are outmoded and inefficient, and many state-owned
enterprises operate at a loss.
|
E1 |
|
Industrial Planning |
In the late 1970s the Chinese government reassessed its
industrial goals in an attempt to remedy a number of problems caused by poor
planning. In many places, self-sufficiency had been allowed to grow at the
expense of specialization, and thus enterprises often duplicated functions
performed by other enterprises. The rapid growth of heavy industry had damaged
some urban environments and drawn away funds that could have been more usefully
devoted to agriculture, light industry, and improvement of urban facilities.
Meanwhile, technology stagnated.
In the first wave of reforms that began in 1979,
the government sought to slow the growth of heavy industry. Light industries,
which generally return investments in a shorter time period, received priority
for industrial development funds, and this facilitated their rapid expansion.
Funds were also directed into the construction industry to improve the living
conditions of urban residents and to create job opportunities for the urban
unemployed and rural underemployed.
Since the 1980s enterprise managers have received increasing
decision-making powers. The government has introduced new forms of management,
such as leasing, shareholding, and contracting out of state-owned enterprises.
It has allowed private ownership to coexist with state and collective
ownership, and for many state-owned enterprises to be leased, contracted out,
merged, or sold. In an effort to modernize industry,
has sent large numbers of scholars, factory managers, and technicians abroad to
acquire advanced management and technical expertise. Foreign technology has
also been imported in the form of entire factories.
|
E2 |
|
Manufacturing |
The Chinese government regards the iron and steel industry as the
foundation for further industrial development, and the government has assigned
it priority in
since 1949. In 1996
produced 101 million metric tons of steel, ranking first in the world. The
country manufactures a great variety of steel products, including tungsten
steels, stainless steels, heavy steel plates, and seamless pipes.
China
areas.
In addition to iron and steel,
heavy industries include shipbuilding and the manufacture of locomotives,
tractors, mining machinery, power-generating equipment, petroleum drilling and
refining machinery, and petrochemicals. Petrochemical plants are found in most
provinces and autonomous regions, and products include synthetic fibers,
plastics, and pharmaceuticals. A unique feature of the Chinese petrochemical
industry is the widespread presence of small nitrogenous fertilizer factories
that use a production technique developed in
The Chinese textile industry is the largest in the world. It
includes the weaving of cotton, wool, linen, silk, and chemical fibers; cloth
printing and dyeing; and knitting and clothing manufacture. Since the beginning
of the reforms, cotton production has increased dramatically to supply a
growing textile industry. New cotton-textile mills have been constructed in the
cotton-growing areas of
provinces.
Other important manufactures produced in
include cement, paper and paperboard, television sets, bicycles, sewing
machines, washing machines, refrigerators, and motor vehicles.
|
E3 |
|
Mining |
resources, including large deposits of some industrially important minerals. In
2002
produced 1.38 billion metric tons of coal, the largest production in the world.
Coal is
leading fuel for industrial and home use, so most of the coal produced is for
the domestic market. There are many small coal mines throughout the country,
but the major centers are located north of the
especially in
Rapid development of the petroleum industry since the 1950s
has made
one of the world's major oil producers.
became self-sufficient in gasoline products in 1963, although the per capita
consumption level was very low; by 1973 the country was able to export both
crude oil and refined petroleum products. Major oil fields include Daqing in
Shengli in
in
petroleum reserves are found in the
basin in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
From 1992 to 1996 iron ore production expanded by 26
percent per year; in 2003 total output was 83 million tons.
must import additional iron ore to supply its huge steel industry.
is a leading producer of natural graphite. Other minerals produced in
significant quantities include salt, magnesite, phosphate rock, bauxite,
manganese, sulfur, zinc, copper, lead, antimony ore, tin, tungsten, and
mercury.
|
F |
|
Services |
includes commerce, food and beverage catering, retail trade, banking and
financial services, insurance, real estate, security, cultural and health services,
and legal services.
Before economic reform,
service sector was largely underdeveloped, and some services were even
nonexistent. However, economic and social development in the 1980s and 1990s
created a huge demand for services. Retail trade used to be conducted only in
state-owned shops, but today privately owned shops and vendors' stalls line
streets in cities and towns. Big cities have huge department stores and
shopping centers. Foreign investors also are entering
retail trade, and Western fast-food companies such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut,
and Kentucky Fried Chicken now have many restaurants in
The demand for banking, insurance, legal, notary, and
accounting services has grown with the success of the economic reforms. The government
used to assume full responsibility for paying pensions after employees'
retirement. Now financial institutions and insurance companies are stepping in
to provide financial management.
|
G |
|
Tourism |
all foreign visitors from 1949 to the mid-1970s. Since economic reforms were
implemented in 1979, the government has promoted tourism as a means of earning
foreign currency.
tourism sector has developed very rapidly. The government has constructed major
hotels, increased air travel to
and within the country, and opened historic sites to tourists. Millions of
visitors travel to
for its beautiful landscapes, interesting and diverse culture, and important
historical attractions. Popular sites include the Great Wall in northern China,
the Forbidden City (now operated as the Palace Museum) in Beijing, the
terra-cotta warriors of Qin Shihuangdi’s tomb near Xi’an, the bustling streets
and markets of Shanghai, the scenic topography near Guilin, and the ancient
Buddhist frescoes in caves near Dunhuang.
In 2003, 33 million tourists visited mainland
The vast majority came from
and
Large numbers of tourists also came from
States
the
and
The improvement in economic circumstances and an increase in leisure time have
made it possible for increasing numbers of Chinese people to travel within the
country. In 1995, 629 million Chinese people traveled in
which represented an increase of 40 percent since the previous year.
|
H |
|
Energy |
leading producers of electricity. However, the demand for electricity is
greater than the domestic supply, especially in cities.
In 2002, 79 percent of
annual electrical output was generated in thermal installations, most burning
coal. Hydropower accounted for 20 percent, and nuclear power supplied 1
percent. New coal-fired stations include several built near the large coal
deposits of
main hydroelectric stations are at Liujia Xia on the
(
Jiang in
and Gongu on the Dadu in
Numerous other large-scale generating stations are under construction,
including one on the
Gorges, and one on the
began building nuclear power plants in the 1980s. By the late 1990s two were in
operation: one near
one near
are more plentiful than those of any other country. A notable feature of
hydroelectric power industry has been the construction of small, local
power-generating plants. Local governments and rural communes have harnessed
hydroelectric potential as an integral part of their water conservation
programs, especially in the south, where precipitation is great and rivers are
swift and often have steep gradients. In 1992 the government began constructing
the Yangtze Gorges water conservancy and power generation project on the
River
The project, known as the Three Gorges Dam, will create the largest
electricity-generating facility in the world. Power generation is scheduled to
begin in 2003, and the whole project is scheduled for completion in 2009.
|
I |
|
Transportation |
The railroad is the most important mode of
transportation in
moving 39 percent of passenger traffic and 36 percent of freight traffic in
1995. Since 1949 the total length of the country’s railroads has more than
doubled, reaching 60,600 km (37,700 mi) in 2002. The two major north-south
routes (Guangzhou-Beijing and Shanghai-Beijing) connect with lines that extend
into the northeast and southeast of
and into
and
1995 a new Beijing-Kowloon railroad was completed, linking
and
to
line to Ürümqi in far northwestern
and to
in
dense network in the heavily populated and economically important regions of
northeastern, central, and southwestern
Road transport has become increasingly important in
Before 1949, paved roads and highways only provided connections between the old
coastal treaty ports (cities such as
and
controlled by foreigners) and the surrounding countryside, but the road system
now stretches well into the country’s interior. Roads connect
to the capitals of all provinces and autonomous regions, as well as to major
ports and railroad centers. The network also extends into rural areas, making
most localities accessible by road. In 2002
had a total length of 1,800,000 km (1,100,000 mi) of highways. Most paved roads
were in good condition. Motorized public transportation is well-developed in
urban centers. Bicycles are popular for traveling short distances.
Inland navigation on
many rivers and canals accounts for a large proportion of the goods shipped
within the country, and its potential for increased development is great. The
largest inland waterway is the
major ports at
and
mi) of the Yangtze and its tributaries can be traveled by steamboats.
busiest inland waterway system, however, is the
which extends from
near
of the canal is actually a network of many local canals and lakes. Such cities
as
and
ports in this region. In parts of rural
peasants use irrigation and drainage canals as inland waterways.
and the proximity to the coast of some of the country’s most important industrial
cities have long made coastal shipping an important mode of transportation. To
accommodate and encourage the expansion of international trade, the government
has invested in improving existing port facilities and constructing new ports.
There are more than 20 major ports along
coastline, including those at
and
has a merchant fleet of 3,497 ships (2004) that visit ports around the world.
airport is at
country’s other major international airports are at
and
capitals and a number of other major cities have airports that handle domestic
flights.
national airline is Air
A number of regional airlines have been established, and some of them also
operate on international routes.
|
J |
|
Communications |
Communications has a centuries-old tradition in
Nearly 3,000 years ago, Chinese built towers of fire to warn of approaching
enemies. Centuries later, posters written in Chinese characters were put up by
the government at city gates and other busy places to warn of the presence of
dangerous animals or to make known wanted criminals. The tradition of using
posters for delivering information was continued into the 20th century. In many
Chinese cities, newspapers are put on walls for public reading. Posters were
widely used in the mid-1950s during the Hundred Flowers Campaign, when the
government encouraged people to provide constructive criticism of the policies
of the CCP. The movement came to an abrupt end in 1957 when the government
imposed strict controls on freedom of expression. During the Cultural
Revolution (1966-1976), students hung millions of posters with revolutionary
messages on walls throughout
In 1979 opinions expressed on what came to be known as the Democracy Wall in
were also written on posters. However, the use of posters for expressing
individual opinions was outlawed after the
Tiananmen Square
demonstrators were violently suppressed by the military.
While the traditional means of communication are waning, modern
communication facilities are developing rapidly. By the mid-1990s more than
2,000 newspapers were being published in
Major national newspapers include Renmin Ribao (People's Daily), the
official paper of the CCP; Jiefangjun Bao (Liberation Army Daily), the
paper of China's Central Military Commission; and Guangming Ribao (Guangming
Daily), a paper popular among scientists and educators. Among the
most influential magazines are Liaowang (Outlook) and Qiushi
(Seeking Truth). Magazines that cover social, cultural, and economic topics are
very popular. The Chinese government pressures those who work in the media to
avoid politically sensitive subjects. Consequently, the media practices a high
degree of self-censorship.
The largest radio broadcaster is the government-run Central
People's Broadcasting Station in
There are also government-run radio stations at the provincial and local
levels. Radio broadcasts reach more than 75 percent of the Chinese population.
first television station was established in
in 1958. It developed into the only national broadcaster, the state-run China
Central Television (CCTV), which now offers 14 channels in
CCTV also broadcasts outside
with two foreign language channels, one in English and one in both French and
Spanish. Many of the CCTV channels were developed in the 1990s to serve the
country’s rapidly growing cable television market. In addition to the national
broadcasts of CCTV, many provinces and cities have local stations, and their
broadcasts are commonly available to a larger audience via satellite services.
In 2000 there were 303 television sets for every 1,000 people.
has the world’s largest cable television market. In 2002 there were 75 cable
television subscribers for every 1,000 people.
and radio and television stations receive their news from the official Xinhua
News Agency, and supplement Xinhua news with their own reports. Xinhua has its
head office in
branches in provincial capitals throughout the country and more than 100
offices overseas. It publishes news in Chinese, English, French, Spanish,
Russian, and Arabic. The other news agency in
is Zhongguo Xinwen She (China News Agency), also a state agency, which provides
news to Chinese-language newspapers around the world.
Although most Chinese have somewhat limited access to telecommunications
services, the quality of communications equipment is generally good. As a
result of reform policies, telecommunications in
developed very rapidly in the 1990s. Telephone service extends to virtually all
Chinese localities, but few households have their own telephones (there were
209 telephones for every 1,000 people in 2003). The use of pagers and mobile
phones is increasing, but as of yet very few people can afford them.
Computers are very popular in Chinese universities and
offices, and primary and secondary schools are increasingly obtaining them.
More and more families have their own computers. Internet access is available,
although users must register for it with the government.
|
K |
|
Commerce |
Before economic reforms began in the late 1970s, state-owned
enterprises generally did not purchase their raw materials and equipment as
commodities, but rather received them directly from the government. The
enterprises then submitted their finished products to the government for
distribution. The Supply and Marketing Cooperative, a state-run operation,
distributed consumer goods to the rural population. Such essential items as
grains, oil, meat, sugar, and cotton fabric were rationed because they were
relatively scarce and because low fixed prices had to be ensured for everyone.
With the success of the economic reforms, the government
abandoned the rationing of food and cotton fabric in the early and mid-1990s.
Market forces now largely determine the circulation of commodities in
State-owned enterprises are free to obtain some of their supplies and to sell a
portion of their product on the market. Furthermore, in the mid-1990s
nongovernmental enterprises accounted for nearly half the volume of retail
sales, and that share is expected to rise. In urban centers, there has been a
rapid growth of collectively and individually owned businesses such as
restaurants, teahouses, inns, hair salons, photography studios, tailor shops,
and businesses providing all types of repair and maintenance services. Rural
markets, where individual farm households sell their surplus product or
purchase supplies, are also growing.
|
L |
|
Foreign Trade |
is controlled mainly by state-owned trading corporations at the national and
local levels. Since 1979, local corporations have gained increasing autonomy in
their foreign trade decisions. The state has relaxed some trade restrictions,
which has attracted foreign investment and increased trade activity. Chinese
companies that partner with foreign companies can import equipment and raw
materials for their own use and can export their products.
In 2003 Chinese exports totaled $438.2 billion, and imports
totaled $412.8 billion. Chief exports included clothing, accessories, and
footwear; textiles; petroleum and petroleum products; and telecommunications
and sound equipment. Among the major imports were machinery, steel products and
other metals, automobiles, synthetics, agricultural chemicals, rubber, wheat,
and ships. Principal purchasers of
export goods are
but has a separate economy), the
Korea
Netherlands, and the
chief sources for imports are
States
Korea
with the
were periodically strained in the 1990s as a result of American criticism of
human rights practices. Several times the
States
status, formerly called most-favored-nation trading status, for
With normal trading status, American tariffs on imported Chinese goods are
similar to the tariffs the
imposes on goods from most other countries. Without normal trading status, the
tariffs would be much higher, and the price of Chinese goods would be higher
for American consumers, which would likely cause a decrease in the volume of
trade between the two countries. However, after China agreed to reforms
designed to open a wide range of industries to international competition and
investment—such as reducing tariffs and other barriers on imports of many U.S.
industrial and agricultural products—the U.S. Congress in 2000 passed
legislation giving China permanent normal trading status. Many experts believed
that normalizing trade with
would foster cooperation instead of confrontation, and would therefore help
strengthen support for new environmental, labor, and human rights reforms
within
|
M |
|
Currency and Banking |
currency is the renminbi, commonly called the yuan (8.28 yuan
equal U.S.$1; 2003 average). The country’s banking system is under government
control. The People's Bank of China is the central financial institution, and
it issues all Chinese currency. However,
international accounts and foreign currency arrangements are primarily the
concern of the Bank of China, which has more than 500 foreign branches. In
addition, China has four other major banks: the Agricultural Bank of China,
which is responsible for making loans to the rural sector; the Bank of
Communications of China, a commercial bank; the Industrial and Commercial Bank
of China, which handles industrial and commercial credits and international
business; and the People's Construction Bank of China, which deals with funds
for basic construction. The China International Trust and Investment
Corporation raises funds for investment in
and helps arrange joint ventures inside the country and overseas. There are
stock exchanges in
Shenzhen, and
Post-1979 reforms to the banking sector include the
strengthening of the role of the People's Bank of China and the establishment
of new commercial banks. Many major foreign banks and insurance companies now
have offices in China, and foreign participation in China’s banking, insurance,
and financial services is expected to continue to rise.
Tiejun Yang contributed the Economy section of this article.
|
VI |
|
GOVERNMENT |
The structure of
government follows a Leninist model of one-party rule. Under the Leninist
system, the mandate to govern originates not in elections but in the ruling
party’s armed seizure of power. The claim to legitimacy rests on the ruling
party’s assertion that it serves the interests of the people. Russian
revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin first established this system in the
and it was later adopted by or imposed on many other socialist states. In
the ruling party is the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which came to power in
1949 and established the People’s Republic of
The CCP dominates policy making and policy execution through
its members in the government. Within the state (governmental) structure, the
highest organ in theory is the legislature, called the National People’s
Congress (NPC). In practice, however, the most powerful state organ is the
cabinet, called the State Council, which is headed by the premier.
Under the leadership of
of economic reform in 1978, and Deng’s successor, Jiang Zemin, continued the
reforms. In the shift from a government-controlled planned economy to a
so-called socialist market economy, specialized government agencies have been
strengthened or newly established and have been given more operational
independence. The National People’s Congress has adopted hundreds of laws aimed
at providing a more predictable environment for economic activity, and in the
course of this work it has expanded its professional staff and its own
authority. State-owned enterprises have gained considerable autonomy and some
have been privatized, while a new sector of private and collective enterprises
has developed largely independent of direct state control. Local governments
have gained greater authority to adapt national policy to local circumstances.
They also have increased their shares of tax revenues at the expense of taxes
remitted to the central government. In the midst of these changes, the CCP
largely has withdrawn from managing the day-to-day details of government
affairs, but it has continued to set major policy. Furthermore, through its
members in the government, the CCP has restricted political activities that
promote views contrary to the party’s objectives, in effect allowing no
significant opposition to emerge.
|
A |
|
Constitution |
The first constitution of the People’s Republic of
went into effect in 1954. It established the government structure and contained
a long chapter on citizens’ rights and duties. The government adopted new
constitutions in 1975 and 1978, and adopted the present constitution in 1982.
Each constitution reflected the ideological concerns and policy priorities of
the time, although none fundamentally altered the government structure. The
present constitution echoes the formality and detail of the first, reflecting
an ideological return to the concept of rule of law. All of the constitutions
nominally centralized power in the National People’s Congress, giving it the
power to appoint and supervise the top officials of both the executive and the
judicial branches. The 1982 constitution was amended in 1993 to confirm the
practice of a “socialist market economy”; in 1999 to legitimize the economic
role of private firms; and in 2004 to provide legal protection of private
property.
Members of people’s congresses at the two lowest levels of government—the
township and county levels—are directly elected in tightly controlled elections
with limited competition. Citizens who are at least 18 years of age may vote.
Members of the people’s congresses at the provincial and national levels are
indirectly elected by the congresses at the lower levels. Administrative
leaders at all levels—for example, county heads, provincial governors, and the
premier—are elected by the people’s congress at their level, although the
person chosen is usually the one recommended by the CCP.
|
B |
|
Executive |
The head of state in
is the president, who is elected to a five-year term by the National People’s
Congress. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office. Executive powers rest
with the State Council, which is headed by the premier. The premier is
nominated by the president and elected by the NPC to a five-year term. The
State Council includes about 40 heads of ministries and national-level
commissions who are nominated by the premier and elected by the NPC to five-year
terms. In general, however, the NPC elects candidates based on the wishes of
the CCP.
Because the CCP wields so much control, the person with the
greatest real power over
government is the party’s general secretary. The second most powerful person is
the premier. The level of authority that an office commands relates very much
to the personality of the individual holding the office. Often, although not
necessarily, the CCP general secretary is also the state president, combining
in one person the ceremonial prestige of the head of state and the
policy-making powers of the head of the ruling party.
|
C |
|
Legislature |
Members of the National People’s Congress are chosen for
five-year terms in indirect elections by the provincial congresses. Typically,
the provincial congresses select those delegates recommended by the CCP. The
size of the NPC is determined by law and has ranged from about 3,000 to about
3,500 members. Its size is too large—and its once-a-year sessions too short
(typically less than a month)—for the NPC to conduct much debate over the
legislation that it passes, the government reports it approves, or the official
appointments and removals it makes.
When the NPC is not in session, a Standing
Committee of about 150 members elected from the NPC membership acts in its
place. The Standing Committee represents the congress in a variety of
functions, including passing laws, interpreting and supervising implementation
of the constitution, and ratifying or nullifying treaties with foreign governments.
|
D |
|
Judiciary |
Western-style ideas of judicial independence and due process of law. The
development of a modern legal system was first attempted in the early 20th
century but revolution and civil war ended these efforts. When the Communist
government took power in 1949, it initially made little effort to create an
adequate legal code that clearly detailed illegal activity or a uniform process
for dealing with the accused. Since reforms in 1978, however,
has constructed the beginnings of a modern legal and judicial system. The
government has enacted hundreds of laws. Many deal with economic subjects, but
others govern the administration of prisons and the activities of lawyers and
judges.
The Chinese legal system has four components: a court system;
a public security administration, or police component; an office of the
procurator, or public prosecutor; and a system of prisons and labor camps. The
highest court is the Supreme People’s Court, which supervises the administration
of justice by the various lower levels of people’s courts. The Supreme People’s
Court does not have the power of constitutional supervision. That power is
vested in the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. Lower
courts, public prosecutors, and public security offices exist at the
provincial, county, and municipal levels. In addition, public security offices
function at the neighborhood level.
also has begun to cultivate a cadre of public and private lawyers, who numbered
only about 5,000 in 1980 but have since increased to more than 100,000.
In theory, judges are appointed by and are accountable to
their corresponding level of people’s congress. In actuality, however, judges
are chosen by CCP personnel departments and are supervised by the party and the
Ministry of Justice.
The procurators and courts function in close coordination
with the police and other administrative agencies. Nonetheless, they are
supposed to perform their functions independently, and citizens are bringing
economic and other disputes to court more frequently. The CCP often acts as an
informal mediator between aggrieved parties. This type of paralegal mediation
has influenced resolutions of neighborhood disputes, divorces, family
arguments, and minor thefts. The criminal procedure code guarantees the right
to a defense, but the defense is often just a formality or an argument by the
defense counsel for a lighter sentence. Under a system of reeducation through
labor, Chinese law permits the police and other administrative authorities to
impose up to three years of detention without trial.
Some political trials are highly publicized; among the most
prominent of these was the trial of the Gang of Four (1980-1981), who were
convicted of crimes committed during the Cultural Revolution. Political trials
of dissidents such as Wei Jingsheng, who was tried in both 1979 and 1994 for
pro-democracy activities, are closed to all but selected viewers.
|
E |
|
Local Government |
Local government in
is organized into three major administrative tiers below the central
government. At the level directly below the center are 22 provinces, 5
autonomous regions, 4 autonomous municipalities, and 2 Special Autonomous
Regions (SARs). The 22 provinces are
and
counts
as its 23rd province, although since 1949
has been controlled by a separate government that fled to the island when it
lost the civil war on mainland
The five autonomous regions are Guangxi Zhuang,
and
and
municipalities.
are the two SARs.
At the second of the three administrative levels
are prefectures, counties, and municipalities. The lowest level is formed by
municipal subdivisions, administrative towns, and rural townships. Each level
has special autonomous entities inhabited primarily by minorities, such as
Tibetans in the Tibet Autonomous Region. Villages in rural areas and residents’
committees in cities are below the formal government structure, but these
grassroots organs have governmental purposes, such as collecting taxes,
resolving disputes, and supervising population planning.
|
F |
|
Political Parties |
According to the country’s 1982 constitution,
is a socialist dictatorship of the proletariat (working class) led by the
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a united front with other parties. In
practice, the CCP fully orchestrates national political activity because party
members hold the most powerful government offices. Under the united front
policy, the CCP permits several minor political parties to operate in
These parties draw their members mainly from cultural, educational, and
scientific circles. No truly independent political parties exist. The CCP
supervises organizations serving the constituencies of youth, women, and labor.
The most important of association is the Communist Youth League, which had
about 68 million members in the late 1990s. This organization plays a major
role in recruiting young people who wish to prepare for CCP membership, which
may begin at age 18. Since the reforms of the late 1970s, the party has
permitted the formation of hundreds of new associations, but all are sponsored
officially or unofficially by a government or party organ.
The organization and functions of the CCP are set forth in
the party constitution; the current party constitution was approved in 1997 at
the 15th National Party Congress. The National Party Congress is the highest
organ of the CCP, but in general, it convenes only once every few years. When
the party congress is not in session, the Central Committee, a smaller organ
that is elected by the full congress, serves as the party’s highest body. The
Central Committee in turn elects two even smaller working groups: the Politburo
and the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the latter containing the most
influential party members. The Central Committee also elects the party general
secretary. The outcomes of these elections are predetermined by negotiations
among party leaders.
When the CCP held its first National Party Congress in
1921, it had only 57 members. By 1956 membership had grown to 10 million, and
by the late 1990s there were 58 million members, making the CCP the world’s
largest Communist party. Party members are found in all walks of life, but most
hold positions of influence in the government, in government-run educational
and cultural institutions, or in the economy. Since reforms began in 1978, the
CCP has tried to recruit members who are younger, more educated, and more
technically skilled than in the past.
Important CCP slogans include “building socialism with Chinese
characteristics” and “holding high the banner of Deng Xiaoping theory,”
referring to the economic principles of China’s former leader Deng Xiaoping.
The CCP is concerned with maintaining political stability through a combination
of patriotic indoctrination and police control. The party’s economic priorities
include increasing
economic strength through a market economy that is closely guided by the
government, and reforming inefficient state-run enterprises by giving them
managerial autonomy and allowing many to become privately owned.
|
G |
|
Defense |
The 1982 Chinese constitution vests supreme command of the
armed forces in the Central Military Commission, a CCP organ independent of civilian
control. The country’s military force is the People’s Liberation Army (PLA),
which includes the national army, navy, and air force. While remaining by far
the world’s largest military force, the PLA decreased in size in the 1980s and
1990s. In 1985 it was 3.9 million strong; by 2003 it had a total of about 2.8
million members (an army of 1,600,000, an air force of 400,000, and a navy of
255,000), and the party announced that the army’s size would be further reduced
by half a million. The PLA is a volunteer force. Since reform began, it has
attempted to modernize its weapons and training, but its technological
capabilities remain relatively underdeveloped, and the force is devoted chiefly
to internal security. It lacks the capability to project naval or air power
beyond the country’s coastal airspace and waters. However,
does have a small stockpile of nuclear weapons, as well as conventional
warheads, and the capability to deliver these weapons by medium- and long-range
missiles.
The PLA has played a significant role in economic
production; in major construction efforts such as dams, irrigation projects,
and land reclamation schemes; and in disaster relief. In the 1960s, during the
most chaotic years of the Cultural Revolution, the PLA virtually ran the
nation. In 1989 it suppressed the pro-democracy demonstrations in
Separate forces associated with the PLA are the People’s Armed
Police and the railway police. Local militia forces, whose defense role was
emphasized under former leader Mao Zedong, no longer play an important role in
Chinese defense planning.
|
H |
|
Foreign Policy |
When the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war in 1949,
the Nationalist (Kuomintang) government that had ruled
fled to the
For two decades the government on
received backing from the
and retained the
seat in the United Nations (UN), which gave it international recognition as the
rightful government of all
Meanwhile, in 1950 the People’s Republic of
the Communist government on the mainland, signed a treaty of friendship and
alliance with the
reflecting Mao’s policy to “lean to one side” by aligning with the socialist
camp. Relations between
and the
deteriorated, however, due in part to ideological differences, disagreements
over strategy toward the West, and border disputes, and by 1960 the split
between
and the
fought border battles in 1969 and 1970. During the 1960s, therefore,
was on bad terms with both the
and the
and was isolated from world affairs.
Relations with the
States
Richard Nixon visited
in February 1972. By 1979
and the
had normalized diplomatic relations. Meanwhile, the government on
saw its international standing fall as the
States
their formal diplomatic relations to the Communist government in
In the late 1980s, just before the collapse of the
relationship with the
an independent diplomacy in which it seeks good relations with all powers but
opposes dominance by any country, including the
States
population, strategic location in the center of
growing economic influence, permanent membership in the United Nations Security
Council, and status as a nuclear power. The country’s chief problems are its
relative military and economic weaknesses compared to the
States
promote relations with all of the many countries on its periphery, while taking
an uncompromising stance in its territorial disputes with such neighbors as
and the
It insists on its sovereignty over
and rebukes any country that accepts diplomatic dealings with the government on
that island.
As
major export power, economic diplomacy has become an important part of its
foreign policy. In the 1980s
began to seek membership in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
(now the World Trade Organization, or WTO) in order to maintain favorable tariff
treatment by other markets, including the
States
the application process,
was required to negotiate bilateral agreements on opening its markets with
members of the trade group. After 15 years of negotiations,
formally became a member of the WTO in December 2001. In joining the WTO,
agreed to reduce import tariffs, eliminate state subsidies for farmers and
state-owned firms, drop many restrictions on foreign investment, and abide by
WTO standards for protection of patents, copyrights, and intellectual property.
After
entry in the WTO, the
permanently normalized trade relations with
in accordance with legislation passed by the U.S. Congress in 2000. Normal
trade relations, formerly known as most-favored-nation (MFN) status, is the
favorable tariff treatment the
extends to all but a small group of countries. Previously, the
States
to
on an annual review procedure. In some years, U.S. Congress members who were
dissatisfied with
human rights and arms proliferation practices threatened to discontinue normal
trade relations with
|
I |
|
International Organizations |
In 1971 the People’s Republic of
obtained the
seat in the United Nations (UN), while the government on
which had formerly occupied the seat, was expelled from the organization.
has a permanent seat, which includes veto power, on the UN Security Council,
and the country participates in the full range of UN agencies, including the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and the
International Monetary fund (IMF).
is also a member of most intergovernmental organizations in specialized fields,
such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
does not belong to any military alliance or regional security organization,
although it participates in the informal Asian Regional Forum (ARF), a security
dialogue.
Andrew J. Nathan contributed the Government section of this
article.
|
VII |
|
HISTORY |
as a discrete political and cultural unit to ancient times. From the 2nd
millennium bc to the early 20th
century, a succession of dynasties ruled progressively larger parts of what is
now
notable feature of the later dynasties was the dominance of the
scholar-official class, made up of educated men who were recruited to serve as
government officials based on their skills rather than their family background.
When European expansion began in
century, the global context of Chinese history changed, and by the 19th century
confront militarily stronger European powers. By the early 20th century
humiliation at the hands of the imperialist powers had become the catalyst for
a revolution against the dynastic regime. Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the
last dynasty in 1911, and for several decades the country was torn apart by
warlords, civil war, and Japanese invasion.
In 1949 the Chinese Communist Party won the civil war
and established
current government. The Communists initiated many social and political changes.
The most significant campaigns were the transition to a planned economy in the
1950s (see Communism: Centrally Planned Economy); the Cultural
Revolution, in which students loyal to Communist leader Mao Zedong attacked
intellectuals and party leaders, in the late 1960s; and the economic reform
movement, begun in the late 1970s, that reintroduced aspects of a free-market
economy and encouraged foreign investment.
|
A |
|
Prehistory |
During the long Paleolithic period, bands of predatory
hunter-gatherers lived in what is now
Homo erectus, an extinct species closely related to modern humans, or Homo
sapiens, appeared in
more than one million years ago. Anthropologists disagree about whether Homo
erectus is the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens or merely related
through a mutual ancestor. In either case, modern humans may have first
appeared in
as far back as 200,000 years ago.
Beginning in about 10,000 bc,
humans in
began developing agriculture, possibly influenced by developments in
Asia
there were Neolithic village settlements in several regions of
On the fine, wind-blown loess soils of the north and northwest, the primary
crop was millet, while villages along the lower
in
paddy fields, supplemented by fish and aquatic plants. Humans in both regions
had domesticated pigs, dogs, and cattle, and by 3000
bc sheep had become important in
the north and water buffalo in the south.
Over the course of the 5th to 3rd millennia style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc, many distinct, regional Neolithic
cultures emerged. In the northwest, for instance, people made red pottery
vessels decorated in black pigment with designs such as spirals, sawtooth
lines, and zoomorphic (animal-like) stick figures. During the same period,
Neolithic cultures in the east produced pottery that was rarely painted but had
distinctive shapes, such as three-legged, deep-bodied tripods. Archaeologists
have uncovered numerous jade ornaments, blades, and ritual objects in several
eastern sites, but jade is rare in western ones.
In many areas, stamped-earth fortified walls came to be built
around settlements, suggesting not only increased contact between settlements
but also increased conflict. Later Chinese civilization probably evolved from
the interaction of many distinct Neolithic cultures, which over time came to
share more in the way of material culture and social and cultural practices.
For example, many burial practices, including the use of coffins and ramped
chambers, spread way beyond their place of origin.
|
B |
|
Ancient Bronze Age |
Ancient Chinese historians knew nothing of their Neolithic
forebears, whose existence was discovered by 20th-century archaeologists.
Traditionally, the Chinese traced their history through many dynasties to a
series of legendary rulers, like the Yellow Lord (Huang Di), who invented the
key features of civilization—agriculture, the family, silk, boats, carts, bows
and arrows, and the calendar. The last of these kings was Yu, and when he died
the people chose his son to lead them, thus establishing the principle of
hereditary, dynastic rule. Yu’s descendants created the Xia dynasty
(2205?-1570? bc), which was said
to have lasted for 14 generations before declining and being superseded by the
Shang dynasty.
The Xia dynasty may correspond to the first phases of
the transition to the Bronze Age. Between 2000 and 1600 bc a more complex Bronze Age civilization emerged out of the
diverse Neolithic cultures in northern
This civilization was marked by writing, metalwork, domestication of horses, a
class system, and a stable political and religious hierarchy. Although Bronze
Age civilizations developed earlier in
seems to have developed both its writing system and its bronze technology with
relatively little stimulus from outside. However, other elements of early
Chinese civilization, such as the spoke-wheeled horse chariot, apparently
reached
indirectly from places to the west.
No written documents survive to link the earliest Bronze Age
sites unambiguously to Xia. With the Shang dynasty, however, the historical and
archaeological records begin to coincide. Chinese accounts of the Shang rulers
match inscriptions on animal bones and tortoise shells found in the 20th
century at the city of
the valley of the
|
B1 |
|
The Shang Dynasty (1570?-1045? bc)
|
Archaeological remains provide many details about Shang civilization. A
king was the religious and political head of the society. He ruled through
dynastic alliances; divination (his subjects believed that he alone could
predict the future by interpreting cracks in animal bones); and royal journeys,
hunts, and military campaigns that took him to outlying areas. The Shang were
often at war with neighboring peoples and moved their capital several times.
Shang kings could mobilize large armies for warfare and huge numbers of workers
to construct defensive walls and elaborate tombs.
The Shang directly controlled only the central part of
proper, extending over much of modern
and
Shang influence extended beyond the state’s borders, and Shang art motifs are
often found in artifacts from more-distant regions.
The Shang king’s rule was based equally on religious and
military power. He played a priestly role in the worship of his ancestors and
the high god Di. The king made animal sacrifices and communicated with his
ancestors by interpreting the cracks on heated cattle bones or tortoise shells
that had been prepared by professional diviners. Royal ancestors were viewed as
able to intervene with Di, send curses, produce dreams, and assist the king in
battle. Kings were buried with ritual vessels, weapons, jades, and numerous
servants and sacrificial victims, suggesting that the Shang believed in some
form of afterlife.
The Shang used bronze more for purposes of ritual than war.
Although some weapons were made of bronze, the great bulk of the surviving
Shang bronze objects are cups, goblets, steamers, and cauldrons, presumably
made for use in sacrificial rituals. They were beautifully formed in a great
variety of shapes and sizes and decorated with images of wild animals. As many
as 200 of these bronze vessels might be buried in a single royal grave. The
bronze industry required centralized coordination of a large labor force to
mine, refine, and transport copper, tin, and lead ores, as well as to produce
and transport charcoal. It also required technically skilled artisans to make
clay models, construct ceramic molds, and assemble and finish vessels, the
largest which weighed as much as 800 kg (1,800 lb).
The writing system used by the Shang is the direct ancestor
of the modern Chinese writing system, with symbols or characters for each word.
This writing system would evolve over time, but it never became a purely
phonetic system like the Roman alphabet, which uses symbols (letters) to
represent specific sounds. Thus mastering the written language required
learning to recognize and write several thousand characters, making literacy a
highly specialized skill requiring many years to master fully.
|
B2 |
|
The Zhou Dynasty (1045?-256 bc)
|
In the 11th century bc
a frontier state called Zhou rose against and defeated the Shang dynasty. The
Zhou dynasty is traditionally divided into two periods: the Western Zhou
(1045?-771 bc), when the capital
was near modern Xi’an in the west, and the Eastern Zhou (770-256 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc), when the capital was moved further
east to modern Luoyang.
Like the Shang kings, the Zhou kings sacrificed to their
ancestors, but they also sacrificed to Heaven (Tian). The Shu jing (Book
of History), one of the earliest transmitted texts, describes the Zhou’s
version of their history. It assumes a close relationship between Heaven and
the king, called the Son of Heaven, explaining that Heaven gives the king a
mandate to rule only as long as he does so in the interest of the people.
Because the last Shang king had been decadent and cruel, Heaven withdrew the
Mandate of Heaven (Tian Ming) from him and entrusted it to the virtuous
Zhou kings. The Shu jing praises the first three Zhou rulers: King Wen
(the Cultured King) expanded the Zhou domain; his son, King Wu (the Martial
King), conquered the Shang; and King Wu's brother, Zhou Gong (often referred to
as Duke of Zhou), consolidated the conquest and served as loyal regent for Wu’s
heir.
The Shi jing (Book of Poetry) offers
another glimpse of life in early Zhou
Its 305 poems include odes celebrating the exploits of the early Zhou rulers,
hymns for sacrificial ceremonies, and folk songs. The folk songs are about
ordinary people in everyday situations, such as working in fields, spinning and
weaving, marching on campaigns, and longing for lovers.
In these books, which became classics of the Confucian
tradition, the Western Zhou dynasty is described as an age when people honored
family relationships and stressed social status distinctions (see Confucianism).
The early Zhou rulers did not attempt to exercise direct control over the
entire region they conquered. Instead, they secured their position by selecting
loyal supporters and relatives to rule walled towns and the surrounding
territories. Each of these local rulers, or vassals, was generally able to pass
his position on to a son, so that in time the domain became a hereditary vassal
state. Within each state, there were noble houses holding hereditary titles.
The rulers of the states and the members of the nobility were linked both to
one another and to their ancestors by bonds of obligation based on kinship.
Below the nobility were the officers (shi) and the peasants, both of
which were also hereditary statuses. The relationship between each level and
its superiors was conceived as a moral one. Peasants served their superiors,
and their superiors looked after the peasants’ welfare. Social interaction at
the upper levels was governed by li, a set of complex rules of social
etiquette and personal conduct. Those who practiced li were considered
civilized; those who did not, such as those outside the Zhou realm, were
considered barbarians.
The Zhou kings maintained control over their vassals for more
than two centuries, but as the generations passed, the ties of kinship and
vassalage weakened. In 770 bc
several of the states rebelled and joined with non-Chinese forces to drive the
Zhou from their capital. The Zhou established a new capital to the east at Chengzhou
(near present-day Luoyang), where they were safer from barbarian attack, but
the Eastern Zhou kings no longer exercised much political or military authority
over the vassal states. In the Eastern Zhou period, real power lay with the
larger states, although the Zhou kings continued as nominal overlords, partly
because they were recognized as custodians of the Mandate of Heaven, but also
because no single feudal state was strong enough to dominate the others.
The Eastern Zhou period witnessed various social and economic
advances. The use of iron-tipped, ox-drawn plows and improved irrigation
techniques produced higher agricultural yields. This in turn supported a steady
population increase. Other economic advances included the circulation of coins
for money, the beginning of private ownership of land, and the growth of
cities. Military technology also advanced. The Zhou developed the crossbow and
methods of siege warfare, and adopted cavalry warfare from nomads (wandering
pastoral people) to the north. Social changes were just as important,
particularly the breakdown of old class barriers and the development of
conscripted infantry armies.
As the king’s political authority declined, the states on the
periphery of the old heartland gained the most power because they had room to
expand their territory. During the 7th and 6th centuries bc, brief periods of stability were achieved through
alliances among states, under the domination of the strongest member. By the
late 5th century bc, however, the
system of alliances had proved untenable. The years from 403 to 221 style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc became known as the Warring States
Period because the conflicts were particularly frequent and deadly.
In addition to warring with and sometimes absorbing other
Zhou states, the peripheral states of Chao, Yen, Qin, and
expanded outward, extending Chinese culture into a larger area. The southern
state of
also defeated and absorbed at least 50 small states as it extended its reach north
to the heartland of the Zhou territory and east to absorb the old states of Wu
and Yue. By the 3rd century bc,
was on the forefront of cultural innovation. It produced the greatest literary
masterpieces of the late Zhou period, which were later collected in the
ci (Songs of the South). The
an anthology of fantastical poems full of images of elusive deities and shamans
who can fly through the spirit world.
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B2a |
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The Golden Age of Chinese Philosophy |
The late Zhou was a turbulent period. To maintain
and increase power, state rulers sought the advice of teachers and strategists.
This fueled intellectual activity and debate, and intense reappraisal of
traditions. Thus the period became known as the time when the “hundred schools
of thought contended.” There were thinkers fascinated by logical puzzles;
utopians and hermits who argued for withdrawal from public life; agriculturists
who argued that no one should eat who does not plough; military theorists who
analyzed ways to deceive the enemy; and cosmologists who developed theories of
the forces of nature, including the opposite and complementary forces of yin
and yang. The three most influential schools of thought that evolved during
this period were Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism.
Kongfuzi, or Confucius as he is known in the West, was a teacher
from the state of Lu (in present-day
5th centuries bc. Confucius
revered tradition and encouraged his disciples to master historical records,
music, poetry, and ritual. He tried in vain to gain high office, traveling from
state to state with his disciples in search of a ruler who would employ him.
Confucius talked repeatedly of his vision of a more perfect society in which
rulers and subjects, nobles and commoners, parents and children, and men and
women would wholeheartedly accept the parts assigned to them, devoting
themselves to their responsibilities to others.
Confucius exalted virtues such as filial piety (reverent respect
and obedience toward parents and grandparents), humanity (an unselfish concern
for the welfare of others), integrity, and a sense of duty. He redefined the
term junzi (gentleman) to mean a man of moral cultivation rather than a
man of noble birth. He repeatedly urged his students to aspire to be gentlemen
who pursue integrity and duty, rather than petty men who pursue personal gain.
Confucius’s teachings are known through the Lunyu (Analects), a
collection of his conversations compiled by his followers after his death. The
eventual success of Confucian ideas owes much to Confucius's followers in the
two centuries after his death, particularly to Mencius (371?-289?style='font-variant:small-caps'> bc) and Xunzi (300?-235?style='font-variant:small-caps'> bc).
Mencius, like Confucius, traveled to various states, offering
advice to their rulers. He repeatedly tried to convince them that the ruler who
governed benevolently would earn the respect of the people and would unify the
realm. Mencius proposed concrete political and financial measures for easing
tax burdens and otherwise improving the people's lot. With his disciples and
fellow philosophers, he discussed other issues in moral philosophy, arguing
strongly, for instance, that human nature was fundamentally good as everyone is
born with the capacity to recognize what is right and act upon it.
Xunzi took the opposite view of human nature, arguing that
people are born selfish and that it is only through education and ritual that
they learn to put moral principle above their own interests. Xunzi stressed the
importance of ritual to social and political life, but took a secular view of
it. For instance, Xunzi argued that the ruler should pray for rain during a
drought because to do so is the traditional ritual, not because it moves Heaven
to send rain.
The doctrines of Daoism, the second great school of
philosophy that emerged during the Warring States Period, are set forth in the Daodejing
(Classic of the Way and Its Power), which is attributed traditionally to Laozi
(570?-490? bc), and in the
compiled writings of Zhuangzi (369?-286?
bc). Both works share a disapproval of the unnatural and artificial.
Whereas plants and animals act spontaneously in the ways appropriate to them,
humans have separated themselves from the Way (Dao) by plotting and
planning, analyzing and organizing. Both texts reject social conventions and
call for an ecstatic surrender to the spontaneity of cosmic processes. At the
political level, Daoism advocated a return to primitive agricultural
communities, in which life could follow the most natural course. Government
policy should be one of extreme noninterference, permitting the people to
respond to nature spontaneously. The Zhuangzi is much longer than the Daodejing.
A literary masterpiece, it is full of tall tales, parables, and fictional
encounters between historical figures. Zhuangzi poked fun at people mired in
everyday affairs and urged people to see death as part of the natural cosmic
processes.
Legalism differed from both Confucianism and Daoism in its narrow
focus on statecraft. Thinkers like Han Fei (280?-233? bc) reasoned that the extreme disorders of their day called
for new and drastic measures. They rejected the Confucian theory that strong
government depended on the moral quality of the ruler and his officials and
their success in winning over the people. Rather, they argued, it depended on
effective systems of rewards and punishments. To ensure his power, the ruler
had to keep his officials in line with strict rules and regulations and his
people obedient with predictably enforced laws.
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C |
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Imperial |
Despite the reality of interstate strife throughout the
Eastern Zhou period, people retained the idea that “all under Heaven” should be
ruled by the Son of Heaven. Unification was achieved through force of arms in
the 3rd century bc, and from then
until modern times, the norm for
was a unified, centralized government ruled by a monarch. No dynasty lasted for
more than a few centuries, and disorder and disunity marked the decades or
centuries between dynasties; each time, however, military strongmen eventually
regained control and imposed centralized rule.
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C1 |
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The Qin Unification (221-206
|
During the 4th century
bc, the state of Qin, the westernmost of the Zhou states, embarked on a
program of Legalist administrative, economic, and military reforms. The Qin abolished
the aristocracy, granting power instead to appointed military heroes. The king
had absolute power, and he ruled by means of strict laws and harsh punishments.
During the 3rd century
bc the states destroyed each other to the point where only seven states
were still in contention for control of
Then from 230 to 221 bc, Qin
conquered the remaining states. In 221 bc
the king of Qin decided that his title, wang (king), was inadequate. He
invented the title huangdi (emperor) and called himself Qin Shihuangdi(First
Emperor).
Chinese historians later severely criticized Qin Shihuangdi,
calling him a cruel and suspicious megalomaniac. With the assistance of the
shrewd Legalist minister Li Si, Qin Shihuangdi welded the formerly independent
states into an administratively centralized and culturally unified empire. He
abolished the aristocracies and divided the empire into provinces. He appointed
officials to administer the provinces and controlled the new administrators
through a mass of regulations, reporting requirements, and penalties for
inadequate performance. To guard against local rebellions, Qin Shihuangdi
outlawed private possession of arms and ordered hundreds of thousands of
prominent or wealthy families from the conquered states to move to the Qin
capital, Xianyang (near modern Xi’an). To administer all regions uniformly, the
Qin adopted a standardized set of written characters, as well as standardized
weights and measures, and coinage. When Li Si complained that scholars were
using records of the past to criticize the emperor’s policies and undermine
popular support, Qin Shihuangdi ordered the burning of all writings that were
not on useful topics like agriculture, medicine, and divination.
Even after conquering all the Zhou states, Qin Shihuangdi took
aggressive measures to secure and expand the size of his territories. He made
several tours to inspect his new realm and awe his subjects.
Qin Shihuangdi assumed that his dynasty would last for thousands
of generations, but the stability of the Qin government depended on the
strength and character of the emperor. After Qin Shihuangdi died in 210style='font-variant:small-caps'> bc, the Qin imperial structure
collapsed. Qin Shihuangdi’s heir was murdered by his younger brother, and
uprisings soon followed. In 209 bc
a group of conscripted peasants, delayed by rain, decided to become outlaws
rather than face death for arriving late for their frontier service. To their
surprise, they soon found thousands of malcontents eager to join them. Soon Qin
generals were defecting, and former nobles of the old states were taking up
arms.
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C2 |
|
The Han Dynasty (206 bc- style='font-variant:small-caps'>ad 220) |
In 206 bc Liu Bang, a
minor Qin official who had mobilized forces against the government, proclaimed
himself king of Han, one of the states within the Qin empire. Four years later,
after he had defeated his chief rivals, he took the title emperor. The Han
dynasty that he founded is normally divided into two periods: the Western Han
dynasty and the Eastern Han dynasty. The Western Han (also called the Former
Han) is so named because the capital was to the west at Chang’an (modern
During the Eastern Han (also called the Later Han), the capital was to the east
at
from 206 bc to style='font-variant:small-caps'>ad 9, and the Eastern Han from style='font-variant:small-caps'>ad 25 to 220 (a brief interregnum
occurred between the two periods).
Liu Bang, better known in history as Emperor Gaozu (Kao-tsu),
did not disband the centralized government created by Qin, but rather
concentrated on making it less burdensome. The Han rescinded harsh laws,
sharply reduced taxes, and allowed merchants to operate without government
interference in an effort to promote economic recovery. Gaozu experimented with
granting large and nearly autonomous vassal states to his relatives, but he
came to see dispersed power as a threat to his rule, and by the middle of the
2nd century bc most of these
states had been eliminated. Under the Qin, one of the aims of Legalism had been
direct rule by the emperor of all subjects of the empire. The Han government
retained this policy in its tax and labor service obligations, which were
imposed directly on each subject according to age, sex, and rank, instead of on
families or communities.
The most significant difference between the Han government
and the previous Qin administration was in the choice of men to staff
government offices. Around the 1st century bc,
Wudi, the most activist of the Han emperors, decreed that officials should be
selected on the basis of Confucian virtues, which gave Confucian scholars a
privileged position in society. Wudi established a national university to train
officials in the Confucian classics. Wealthy and prominent men began to compete
for recognition of their Confucian learning and character so that they could
gain access to office.
Credit for the political success of Confucianism belongs in
large part to thinkers like Dong Zhongshu (179-104 bc), who developed Confucianism in ways that legitimized the
new imperial state and elevated the role of the emperor. Dong joined Confucian
ideas of human virtue and social order to notions of the workings of the cosmos
in terms of yin and yang and the five agents (wood, metal, fire, water, and
earth). He argued that the ruler occupies a unique position because he can link
the realms of Heaven, earth, and human beings through his actions.
Another important intellectual accomplishment of the Han dynasty
was the development of historical writing. Sima Qian (l45?-90? style='font-variant:small-caps'>bc) wrote a comprehensive history of
from the time of the Yellow Lord to his own day, dividing his account into
chronological chapters that included discussions of political events,
biographies of key individuals, and treatises on such subjects as geography,
taxation, and court rituals. During the Eastern Han dynasty, the historian Ban
Gu followed a similar model in his account of the Western Han dynasty. From
then on, new dynasties regularly had the histories of the preceding dynasty
compiled, following the standards established by these two pioneers.
At the same time that the Qin and then Han governments were
consolidating their power, the nomadic Xiongnu tribes in the arid steppe region
north of
was growing stronger and posing a threat. Defending against the raids of
non-Chinese tribes had been a problem since Shang times, but with the rise of
nomadism, the problem became much more severe. These nomads were skilled
horsemen and hunters, and their ability to shoot arrows while riding horseback
made them a potent striking force. When the Xiongnu formed a huge confederation
in the late 3rd century bc, northern
strong government to oppose them. The Xiongnu were capable of sending tens of
thousands of horsemen into northern
to raid towns and then withdrawing before Chinese armies could be organized to
oppose them.
The early Han rulers tried conciliatory policies, but
after Wudi came to power he took the offensive, sending several expeditions of
100,000 to 300,000 troops into Xiongnu territory. These campaigns were
enormously expensive, requiring long supply lines, and rarely led to direct
engagement with the Xiongnu, who were able to evade the Han troops easily.
Nevertheless, the Han gained territory in the northwest, and more than a
million people were sent to colonize the region. To search for allies, Wudi
sent the explorer-diplomat Zhang Qian far into
where he learned of the countries of central and western
including the
these regions were already importing Chinese products, particularly silk, from
merchants who traded along overland routes across
A single item might change hands many times before arriving at its final
destination in western
Eventually, the overland trade route between the capitals of
and Chang’an became known as the
To generate revenue to pay for his military campaigns, Wudi
manipulated coinage, confiscated the lands of nobles, sold offices and titles,
and increased taxes. He established government monopolies in the production of
iron, salt, and liquor—enterprises that previously had been sources of great
profit for private entrepreneurs. The government also took over large-scale
grain dealing. Confucian scholars questioned the morality of these economic
policies. They thought that farming was an essential activity, while trade and
crafts produced little of real value and should be discouraged. The government,
they argued, was teaching people mercantile “tricks” by setting itself up in
commerce. Despite their complaints, the Chinese economy seems to have grown
rapidly in Han times. By ad 2, the
population had reached 58 million. Trade and industry flourished, cities grew,
and Chang’an and
important cultural centers attracting the best writers and scholars from all
over
During the last decades of the Western Han, a series of child
emperors occupied the throne. Regents, generally from the families of the
emperors’ mothers, ruled in their place. One of these regents, Wang Mang,
deposed an infant emperor in ad 9
and declared himself emperor of the Xin dynasty. Although condemned as a
usurper, Wang Mang was a learned Confucian scholar who wished to implement
policies described in the Confucian classics. He renamed offices, asserted
state ownership of forests and swamps, built ritual halls, revived public granaries,
outlawed slavery, limited land holdings, and reduced court expenses. Some of
his policies, such as issuing new coins and nationalizing gold, led to economic
turmoil. Matters were made worse when the
breached its dikes and shifted course from north to south, flooding huge
regions and driving millions of peasants from their homes. Rebellion broke out,
and when Wang Mang was killed by rebels in ad
23, a member of the Han imperial clan reestablished the Han dynasty.
In the 2nd century ad
maternal relatives of the emperors again came to dominate the court. Emperors
turned to palace eunuchs (castrated men who served as palace servants) for help
in ousting the maternal relatives, only to find that the eunuchs were just as
difficult to control. In 166 and 169, scholars who had denounced the eunuchs
were arrested, killed, or banished from the capital and from official life. In
184 a Daoist sect rose in revolt. The imperial generals sent to suppress the
rebels soon took to fighting amongst themselves. In 189, one general
slaughtered 2,000 eunuchs in the palace and took the Han emperor captive.
Fighting continued for two decades until a stalemate was reached between three
warlords, each controlling a distinct territory—one in the north, one in the southeast,
and one in the southwest.
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C3 |
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Period of Disunion (220-589) |
When the last Han emperor abdicated in 220, each of the
warlords proclaimed himself ruler, beginning what is known as the Three
Kingdoms Period (220-265). The northern state, Wei, was the strongest, but
before it had succeeded in unifying the realm, Sima Yan, a Wei general, led a
successful coup in 265 and founded the Jin dynasty. By 280 he had reunited the
north and south, but unity was only temporary, as the Jin princes began
fighting among themselves. The non-Chinese groups of the north seized the
opportunity to attack, and by 317 the Jin had lost all control of
China
by numerous non-Chinese dynasties, while the south was ruled by a sequence of
four short-lived Chinese dynasties, all centered at present-day Nanjing.
The southern rulers had to contend with a powerful,
hereditary aristocracy that had become entrenched in government posts. The Wei
had granted public offices based on the nine rank system, which was
originally determined by assessments of character and talent. However, in the
south the system had degenerated to the point where the standing of the
candidate’s family determined his post. The aristocratic families judged
themselves and others by the status of their ancestors, would marry only with
families of equivalent pedigree, and compiled lists and genealogies of the most
eminent families. By securing nearly automatic access to higher government
posts through the nine rank system, the aristocrats were assured of government
salaries and exemptions from taxes and labor service. These families saw
themselves as maintaining the high culture of the Han, and many excelled in
poetry writing and witty conversation. At the same time, many also were able to
amass large estates, which were worked by poor refugees from the north. At
court, the aristocrats often looked on the emperors of the successive dynasties
as military men rather than men of culture.
Despite the political instability of the successive dynasties, the
southern economy prospered. To pay for an army and support the imperial court
and aristocracy in high style, the government had to expand the area of taxable
agricultural land, which it accomplished by both settling migrants on the land
and improving tax collection. The potential of the south for agriculture was
greater than that of the north because of its temperate climate and ample water
supply.
In the north, none of the states established by
non-Chinese lasted very long until the Xianbei tribe founded the Northern Wei
dynasty (386-534). By 420 the Xianbei had secured control. During the second
half of the 5th century, the Xianbei adopted a series of policies designed to
strengthen the state. To promote agricultural production, they adopted a system
to distribute land to peasants. The capital was moved from its site near the
northern border to
capital of the Eastern Han and Jin. The population within the Northern Wei
realm contained considerably more Chinese than Xianbei. Recognizing this, the
Xianbei rulers employed Chinese officials, adopted Chinese-style clothing and
customs at court, and made Chinese the official language. Xianbei tribesmen,
however, still formed the main military force. They resented the growth of
Chinese influence and rebelled in 524, sparking a decade of constant warfare.
For the next 50 years,
struggles between different contenders for power.
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C3a |
|
The Spread of Buddhism |
During this period of near-constant political and military
strife, Buddhism found a receptive audience in
while the influence of Confucianism waned. Buddhism had arrived in
in the 1st century ad as the
religion of merchants from
three centuries, the Chinese encountered a great variety of ideas and practices
identified as Buddhist. Buddhism differed markedly from earlier Chinese
religions and philosophies. A universal religion, it embraced all people,
regardless of their ethnicity or social status. It also had a founding figure,
the Indian prince Siddhartha (Buddha), who lived during the 6th and 5th
centuries BC. To many Chinese, Buddhism seemed at first a variant of Daoism, as
Daoist terms were used to translate Buddhist concepts. A more accurate
understanding of Buddhism became possible after Kumarajiva (343?-413?), a
Buddhist monk from
directed several thousand Chinese monks in the translation of Buddhist texts.
The Buddhist monastic establishment grew rapidly in
By 477 there were reportedly 6,478 Buddhist temples and 77,258 monks and nuns
in the north. The south was said to have 2,846 temples and 82,700 clerics some
decades later. Given the traditional importance of family lines in
it was a major step for a man to become a monk. He had to give up his surname
and take a vow of celibacy, breaking from the ancestral cult that connected the
dead, the living, and the unborn. Buddhists who did not become monks or nuns
often made generous contributions to the construction or beautification of
temples. Among the most generous patrons were rulers, in both the north and
south. Women turned to Buddhism as readily as men. Although being born a woman
was considered inferior to being born a man, it was also considered temporary
because in the next life a woman could be reborn as a man, and women were
encouraged to pursue salvation on terms nearly equal to men.
of Buddhism, who labeled it immoral, unsuited to
or a threat to the state because monastery land was not taxed. By the end of
the 6th century, critics had twice convinced the court to close monasteries and
force monks and nuns to return to lay life. These suppressions did not last
long, however, and no attempt was made to eliminate private Buddhist belief.
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C4 |
|
Reunification Under the Sui Dynasty (581-618) |
The division of the north and south, although largely
following natural geographic divisions, was never stable, and there were
repeated efforts at reunification. In the 570s and 580s, the long period of
division was brought to an end. The successors of the Xianbei Northern Wei
(whose dynastic names changed from Western Wei, to Northern Zhou, to Sui
because of palace coups) took the area around modern-day
in 553, the northeast in 577, and the south in 589.
The founder of the Sui dynasty was Yang Jian, also known
as Wendi or Emperor Wen. He was ethnically Chinese but had married into a
non-Chinese military family. In 581 Wendi deposed the child emperor of the
Northern Zhou dynasty and secured his position by killing 59 princes of the
Zhou royal house. He then sought to legitimate his position by presenting
himself as a Buddhist cakravartin king, a monarch who uses force to
defend the Buddhist faith.
In 604 Wendi was succeeded by his son, Yang Guang. The
new emperor, known as Yangdi or Emperor Yang, launched several ambitious
projects, including construction of the section of the
from the city of
River
the
the rich agricultural products of the
fostered increased north-south communication. The Sui strengthened the power of
the central government by curtailing the power of local officials to appoint
their own subordinates. Some civil service posts were filled through a new
method called the Examination System, which was designed to be free of
favoritism by allowing all men, regardless of status, to compete in tests on
the Confucian classics.
Yangdi pursued an aggressive foreign policy. He reasserted
imperial Chinese control over what is now northern Vietnam, which the Han
dynasty had conquered in the 2nd century bc,
and undertook campaigns against Central Asian tribes to the north and west.
Yangdi also twice launched campaigns against the Korean state of Koguryŏ
(Goguryeo), although both ended disastrously for his armies.
The Sui dynasty lasted only two reigns. Yangdi’s ambitious
projects and military campaigns led to exhaustion and unrest, and in 617 a Sui
general, Li Yuan, captured the capital. After the emperor’s death in 618, Li
Yuan declared himself emperor of a new dynasty, the Tang.
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C5 |
|
The Tang Dynasty (618-907) |
The Tang dynasty was one of the high periods of
traditional Chinese civilization. During the period of Tang rule, but
especially during the dynasty’s first hundred years,
was the cultural center of
pilgrims, missionaries, and students traveled to Chang’an, the Tang capital, in
numbers never seen before or after in imperial
Under the Tang,
enjoyed a more cosmopolitan culture than in any other period before the 20th
century.
|
C5a |
|
Tang Political History |
The first two Tang monarchs—Li Yuan, who ruled as
Emperor Gaozu, and his son Li Shimin, who ruled as Emperor Taizong—were able
rulers who strengthened the state. The empire was divided into about 300
prefectures under direct central control, with none large enough to challenge
Tang rule. Tax revenue was based on the so-called equal-field system of
allotting equal amounts of land to all adult males, a system originally begun
by the Northern Wei. Similarly, like the armies of the northern dynasties, the
early Tang armies were composed of volunteer farmer-soldiers. In return for
allotments of farmland, men served in rotation in armies at the capital or on
the frontiers. Using this army, as well as auxiliary troops composed of Turks,
Tanguts, Khitans, and other non-Chinese, and led by their own chiefs, the Tang
rulers extended their control beyond
proper.
In 630 the Tang turned against their former allies the
Turks, gained territory from them, and won for Tang emperor Taizong the
additional title of Great Khan. Over the next several decades, the Tang
continued their westward expansion. By allying with Central Asian city-states,
the Tang gained dominance over the Tarim Pendi (Tarim Basin) and eventually
made their influence felt as far west as present-day Afghanistan. The early
Tang also succeeded in extending their influence to the northeast and allying
with the Korean
The third Tang ruler, Emperor Gaozong (646-683), was sickly
and a weak monarch, and his consort Empress Wu soon dominated the court. She
took full charge when Gaozong suffered a stroke in 660. Gaozong died in 683,
but Empress Wu maintained power during the reigns of her two sons. Then, in
690, she proclaimed herself emperor of a new dynasty, the Zhou. To gain
support, she circulated the Great Cloud Sutra, which predicted the
imminent reincarnation of the Buddha Maitreya as a female monarch, under whom
the entire world would be free of illness, worry, and disaster. Empress Wu is
the only woman in Chinese history who took the title of monarch. Later
historians judged her as an evil usurper, and she was without question a
forceful ruler. She moved quickly to eliminate rivals and opponents, suppressed
rebellions of Tang princes, and maintained an aggressive foreign policy. Her
hold on the government was so strong that she was not deposed until 705, when
she was more than 80 years old and ailing.
Empress Wu’s death was followed by a power struggle. In 712
her grandson Xuanzong became emperor. Xuanzong presided over a dazzling court
and patronized some of the greatest poets and painters in Chinese history. In
Chinese folklore, Xuanzong’s passions led to his downfall, for in his older
years he became infatuated with his favorite concubine Yang Guifei and
neglected his duties. Yang was allowed to place her friends and relatives in
important positions in the government. One of her favorites was the able
general An Lushan, who after getting into a quarrel with Yang's brother over
control of the government, rebelled in 755. Xuanzong had to flee the capital,
and the troops who accompanied the emperor forced him to have Yang Guifei
executed.
More lay behind this crisis than imperial foolishness.
The Tang had outgrown the institutions of the northern dynasties. In many areas
of the empire, men received only a fraction of the land they were promised because
population growth had exceeded the supply of land. However, each allotment
holder still had to pay the standard per capita tax, so many peasants fled
their allotments, which reduced government income. Moreover, as problems of
defending the empire grew, especially warfare with the Turks and Tibetans, the
militia system proved inadequate. The government had to establish military-run
provinces along the borders and entrust defense to professional armies and
non-Chinese auxiliary troops. It was because An Lushan commanded one of these
armies that he was able to launch an attack on the central government.
The rebellion of An Lushan was devastating to the Tang.
Peace was restored only by calling on the Uygurs, a Turkic people allied with
the Tang, who reclaimed the capital from the rebels but then looted it. After
the rebellion was finally suppressed in 763, the central government never
regained control of the military provinces on the frontiers. Abandoning the
equal-field system and instituting taxes based on actual land holdings helped
restore the government’s finances, but many military governors came to treat
their provinces as hereditary kingdoms and withheld tax returns from the
central government.
|
C5b |
|
Tang Culture |
The Tang created a vibrant, outward-looking culture. The
main capital of Chang'an, and the secondary capital of
became great metropolises. Chang'an and its suburbs grew to house more than 2
million inhabitants. Knowledge of the outside world was stimulated by the
presence of envoys, merchants, and travelers who came from Central Asian
tributary states and from
neighboring states such as
Because of the presence of many foreign merchants, a number of religions were
practiced in Tang China, including Nestorian Christianity (see Nestorian
Church), Manichaeism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Islam, although none spread
among the Chinese population the way Buddhism had a few centuries earlier.
Foreign fashions in hair and clothing were often copied, and foreign pastimes,
such as the sport of polo, found followings among wealthy Tang subjects.
Musical instruments and melodies from
Asia
The Tang was the great age of Chinese poetry. Skill in
composing poetry was tested in the civil service examinations, and educated men
were expected to compose poems at social gatherings. Among the most famous of
the great poets of this age were Wang Wei, Li Bo, Du Fu, and Bo Juyi. In the
late Tang period, courtesans in the entertainment quarters helped popularize a
new verse form called ci by singing lyrics written by famous poets and
composing lyrics themselves.
In Tang times, Buddhism fully penetrated Chinese daily life.
Buddhist monasteries ran schools for children. In remote areas, monasteries
provided lodging for travelers, and in towns they offered places for educated
people to gather for social occasions. Monasteries held huge tracts of land
worked by serfs, which gave them the financial resources to establish
enterprises like lumber mills and oil presses. Buddhist tales became widely
known, and Buddhist festivals, like the summer festival for feeding hungry
ghosts (known by its Sanskrit name, Ullambana), became among the most popular
holidays. Another important feature of the period was the growth of Chinese
schools of Buddhism. Adherents of Pure Land Buddhism, for example, honored the
Buddha Amitabha in order to be reborn in his paradise, the
form of Buddhism in
Among the educated elite, Chan (known in
as Zen) gained popularity. Chan teachings rejected the authority of the sutra
writings as the words of the Buddha and claimed the superiority of mind-to-mind
transmission of Buddhist truth. According to Chan Buddhism, enlightenment could
be achieved suddenly through insight into one’s own true nature.
During the late Tang dynasty, when
international position weakened and the court faced financial difficulties,
opposition to Buddhism as a foreign religion emerged among influential
intellectuals. In 845 the Tang emperor began a full-scale persecution of the
Buddhist establishment. More than 4,600 monasteries and 40,000 temples and
shrines were destroyed, and more than 260,000 Buddhist monks and nuns were
forced to return to secular life. Although the suppression was lifted a few
years later, the monastic establishment never fully recovered.
In the mid-9th century the Tang government began losing
control of the country. Like the Han before it, the Tang was finally destroyed
by ambitious generals who suppressed peasant rebellions and then fought one
another for control. A brief period of disunion known as the Five Dynasties
period followed. From 907 to 959, five short-lived military regimes quickly
succeeded one another in
rest of the former Tang domain was split into ten independent states.
|
C6 |
|
The Song Dynasty (960-1279) |
In 960 Zhao Kuangyin founded the Song dynasty. Zhao, who
ruled as Emperor Taizu, established his capital in the north at
and thus the first period of the Song Dynasty is known as the Northern Song.
The early Song emperors concentrated on strengthening the central government.
To overcome the separatist threat posed by generals with their own armies, the
Song severely limited the power of the military in the provinces and
subordinated the entire military to the civil government. In time, civil
bureaucrats came to dominate every aspect of Song government and society. The
Song expanded the civil service examination system to provide a constant flow
of talent into civil service positions.
Meanwhile, the Song economy benefited from a commercial
revolution that had begun during the mid-Tang. Agricultural advances and
technological improvements in industry created unprecedented growth. Increased
rice cultivation in the
fostered a population shift southward. As part of a general shift toward
applying more time, labor, and fertilizer to smaller pieces of land, peasants
adjusted their work patterns to grow two or three crops annually on the same
field. Increased agricultural yield supported an ever-larger population, which
grew to exceed 100 million during the Song period. In the major cities, a
distinctly urban lifestyle evolved. Numerous amenities, including a great
variety of food, entertainment, and luxury goods, were available to city
residents. The division of labor reached a very high level, with many workers
engaged in highly specialized enterprises.
Military weakness, however, proved to be a chronic problem, and
the Song never regained all the territory held by the Tang. After repeated
failure to defeat the Liao dynasty of the Khitans in the northeast, the Song
signed a treaty with them in 1004, ceding permanently the area the Liao
occupied along
northern border and agreeing to pay an annual subsidy. After a prolonged
struggle with Xixia, a Tangut state to the northwest, in 1044 the Song again
purchased peace by promising to make annual payments.
By the mid-11th century the Song government had serious
financial problems, largely because military expenses consumed half of its
revenues. In 1070 Emperor Shenzong appointed Wang Anshi as his chief counselor.
Wang proposed a series of sweeping reforms designed to increase government
income, reduce expenditure, and strengthen the military. Realizing that
government income was ultimately linked to the prosperity of peasant taxpayers,
Wang instituted measures such as low-cost loans to help the peasants.
In the early 12th century the Jurchens to the northeast
rose against the Liao dynasty. The Song saw this as an opportunity to regain
the territory held by the Liao and entered into an alliance with the Jurchens.
After defeating the Liao, however, the Jurchens turned on the Song and marched
into
and capturing the emperor in 1126. This marked the end of the Northern Song
period. In 1127, however, a Song prince who had fled the invasion restored the
Song dynasty in the south at
Despite the precarious military situation, the Southern Song period (1127-1279)
was one of prosperity and creativity.
|
C6a |
|
The Scholar-Officials and Neo-Confucianism |
The Song period was in many ways the great age of the
scholar-official. Printing had been invented in the late Tang, and by Song
times books were more widely available and much less expensive. Increased
access to education and the expanded civil service examination system brought
more scholars into government service than ever before. As competition for civil
service positions increased, the prestige of scholar-officials also grew, and
by the end of the Song period, the scholar-official had achieved significant
cultural, social, and political importance.
The Song period also saw a revival of Confucianism, known
as Neo-Confucianism. The revival was accomplished by master teachers who
gathered around them adult students. Particularly notable teachers include the
brothers Cheng Hao (1032-1085) and Cheng Yi (1033-1107), who developed theories
about the workings of the cosmos in terms of li (immaterial universal
principle) and qi (the substance of which all material things are made).
Zhu Xi, an important 12th-century teacher, served several times in government
posts; wrote, compiled, or edited nearly a hundred books; corresponded with
dozens of other scholars; and still regularly taught groups of disciples. After
his death, his commentaries on the classics became required reading for
everyone studying to take the civil service examinations.
From the Song period to the early 20th century, men in
who aspired to hold office or be part of the educated elite pursued years of
intensive Confucian study and formed close, often lifelong relationships with
their teachers. Many scholars also pursued refined activities such as
collecting antiques and cultivating the arts, especially poetry, calligraphy,
and painting.
|
C7 |
|
The Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368) |
The Mongols were the first non-Chinese people to conquer
all of
Through the 12th century, the Mongols were one of many nomadic tribes in the
area of modern
Their rise and rapid creation of a powerful empire began when Mongol ruler
Genghis Khan was declared Great Khan in 1206. Genghis embarked on wars of
conquest, and within 70 years the Mongols had conquered
and much of central and west
largest empire the world had ever seen. In the process, the Mongols visited
great destruction on settled populations but also created the conditions for
unprecedented exchange of ideas and goods across
in stages. Xixia, the Tangut state, submitted in 1211. The Jin state of the
Jurchens fell bit by bit from 1215 to 1234. Song territory in
fell in 1252, but most of the south held out until the 1270s. By that point,
Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis, had succeeded to Mongol leadership in
Kublai moved the Mongol capital from
(in modern
to a site close to
then, Mongol lands stretched from
to the Indian subcontinent, but the empire was fractured into four separate
khanates (states) that often were at war with each other.
The Mongol dynasty in
called the Yuan, remained a fundamentally foreign dynasty. Non-Chinese, including
Persians, Uygurs, and Russians, were assigned to governmental posts, and the
Mongols themselves retained their identification as warriors. East-west
communications vastly improved. The Mongols supported foreign trade and
welcomed foreign religious teachers of many faiths. Missionaries and traders
traveled back and forth between
and areas to the west, bringing to
new ideas, foods, and medicines. Best known of the foreigners believed to have
reached
during this period was the Venetian merchant Marco Polo, whose account of his
travels portrays the wealth and splendor of Chinese cities. Foreigners found
new government opportunities in
but educated Chinese often found political careers under the Yuan impossible or
uninviting, and had to turn to other ways of supporting themselves. Some
Chinese took to writing songs and librettos for the stage, and as a result,
operatic drama experienced a considerable advance during the Yuan dynasty.
Most of the economic advances of the Song slowed or
reversed under the Yuan. Chinese peasants had to cope with harsh taxation and
confiscation of their land. The 1330s and 1340s were marked by crop failure and
famine in
He
the 1350s several major rebel leaders had emerged. One of these leaders, Zhu
Yuanzhang, was successful in extending his power throughout the
Mongol commanders were paralyzed by internal rivalries, Zhu marched north and
seized the Yuan capital near
The Yuan dynasty in
ended, but the Mongols continued to make raids into
from their base in
|
C8 |
|
The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) |
In 1368 Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed the Ming dynasty and
established the capital at
on the
become emperor in 1,500 years. Known as the Hongwu Emperor, he proved one of
most despotic rulers. At first a secretariat, headed by a chief counselor,
dominated the administrative affairs of the central government. In 1380,
however, Hongwu abolished all executive posts in the secretariat because he
suspected treason on the part of the chief counselor. Hongwu became the sole
coordinator of the central government. Throughout his 30-year reign, Hongwu
humiliated, dismissed, and even cruelly executed officials he came to suspect.
After Hongwu’s death in 1398, a grandson succeeded him as
emperor. However, in 1402, Zhu Di, Hongwu’s son and the new emperor’s uncle,
usurped the throne. Known as the Yongle Emperor, he pursued aggressive and
expansionist policies. He led five campaigns against the Mongols in the north
and acquired territory from them. To oversee his new territory more closely, he
moved the capital north from
to
elaborate palace compound known as the
He also reacted to turbulence in what is now
by sending an expeditionary force to the area. Yongle sent the admiral Zheng He
on tribute-collecting voyages into the
the
On one early voyage, Zheng He intervened in a civil war in Java and established
a new king there; on another, he captured the hostile king of Sinhala (now
Lanka
as a prisoner.
Most Ming emperors after Yongle, who died in 1424, were weak.
In the 16th century
problems with foreign encroachment multiplied. Japanese pirates plundered the
southeastern coast, while Mongols routinely raided the Ming’s northern frontier
despite the presence of defensive walls, known collectively today as the Great
Wall, that the Ming had constructed to keep the Mongols out of
Internally, the Ming bureaucracy became absorbed by partisan
controversies. The harassed emperors abandoned more and more of their
responsibilities to eunuchs. In 1592, when Japanese forces under Toyotomi
Hideyoshi invaded
the Ming sent its armies in support of
The seven-year war left the Ming exhausted and the imperial treasuries
depleted. Sporadic peasant uprisings began in 1628, and soon rebellions were
occurring all over
steadily, especially after a group of rebels cut the dikes of the
He
and subsequent famine.
to the rebel Li Zicheng in 1644, the day after the last Ming emperor committed
suicide.
|
C8a |
|
The Tribute System and the Arrival of Europeans |
The early Ming emperors worked hard to reestablish
preeminence in
Chinese had viewed their emperor as properly everyone’s overlord, and the
rulers of non-Chinese tribes, regions, and states as properly his vassals.
Foreign rulers were expected to honor and observe the Chinese ritual calendar,
to accept nominal appointments as members of the Chinese nobility or military
establishment, and to send periodic tribute missions to the Chinese capital.
All foreign envoys received valuable gifts in acknowledgement of the tribute
they presented to the emperor, and they were permitted to buy and sell goods at
official markets. In this way, copper coins, silk, tea, and porcelain flowed
out of
and horses, spices, and other goods flowed in. On balance, the combined tribute
and trade activities were highly advantageous to foreigners—so much so that
limited the size and cargoes of foreign missions and prescribed long intervals
between missions.
To preserve the government's monopoly on foreign contacts and
keep the Chinese people from being contaminated by foreign customs that the
Ming considered barbarian, the Ming rulers prohibited the Chinese from
traveling abroad. They also prohibited unauthorized dealings between Chinese
and foreigners. These prohibitions were unpopular and unenforceable, and from
about the mid-15th century, the Chinese readily collaborated with foreign
traders in widespread smuggling. By late Ming times, thousands of Chinese had
relocated to various places in
to conduct trade.
Ming policies on foreign trade shaped the Chinese reception
of Europeans, who first appeared in Ming China in 1514. The Portuguese had
already established themselves in southern
and at the port city of
(now Melaka) on the
of the huge profits that could be made in the trade between
and
smugglers and pirates and did not welcome them in
By 1557, however, the Portuguese had taken control of
a small trading station on
coast. Soon, the Spanish also were trading illegally along the coast.
Representatives of the Dutch East India Company, after unsuccessfully trying to
capture
Portuguese, took control of coastal
in 1624 and began developing trade contacts on the mainland in nearby
and
squadron of five English ships shot its way into
(
cargoes there.
Christian missionaries followed the traders. Jesuits, members of a
Roman Catholic religious order, showed respect for Chinese culture and overcame
the foreigners’ reputation for lawlessness. The most eminent of the Jesuit
missionaries was Matteo Ricci, who acquired a substantial knowledge of the
Chinese language and of Confucian learning. During the latter part of the Ming
dynasty, the Jesuits established communities in many cities of south and
central
and built a church in
imperial patronage. Jesuits even served as astronomers in the Ming court. Some
officials and members of the court became Jesuit converts or sympathizers, and
European books on scientific subjects and Christian theology were published in
Chinese.
|
C8b |
|
Intellectual Trends |
State power had a pervasive impact on Ming intellectual
life. Through the civil service examination system, the government controlled
the content of education, forcing aspiring candidates to study Zhu Xi’s
interpretations of the Confucian classics, which had been declared orthodox.
Nevertheless, in the second half of the Ming, independent thinkers took Chinese
thought in many new directions. Particularly important was Wang Yangming, a
scholar-official who rejected Zhu Xi's emphasis on the study of external
principles and advocated striving for wisdom through cultivation of one’s own
innate knowledge.
|
C9 |
|
The Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) |
Although the Ming was overthrown by peasant rebellions, the
next dynasty to rule
was founded not by a warlord or rebel leader but by the chieftains of the
Manchus, a federation of Jurchen tribes. In late Ming times the Jurchens,
formerly a nomadic people, had been building up the political and military
institutions needed to govern sedentary farming populations. In the 1630s the
Jurchen leader Abahai renamed his people the Manchus and proclaimed a new
dynasty, the Qing. In 1644, when Chinese rebels reached
the best Ming troops were deployed elsewhere, at the Great Wall, guarding
against invasion by the Manchus. The Ming commander accepted Manchu aid to
drive the rebels from the capital. Once this was accomplished, the Manchus
refused to leave
they made the capital of the Qing dynasty, and soon set about conquering the
rest of
Like the Mongols, the Manchus were foreign conquerors.
However, the Qing dynasty did not represent nearly as fundamental a break with
Chinese traditions as did the Yuan dynasty. The Manchus tried to maintain their
own identity and traditions but largely left Chinese customs and institutions
alone (with the important exception that they forced Chinese men to adopt the
Manchu hairstyle, with its shaved front and braid down the back of the head).
By the end of the 17th century, the Qing had eliminated all Ming opposition and
had put down a rebellion led by Chinese generals in the south. Although Chinese
intellectuals who had served the Ming often refused to serve the Manchus, the
Qing worked hard to recruit well-respected scholars to the government. The Qing
emperor Kangxi, who came to power in 1661, was intrigued by European science
and technology, and initially kept on the Jesuits who had served as astronomers
under the Ming. However, Kangxi turned against the Jesuits after the Catholic
pope ruled that the Jesuits had been wrong to allow Chinese converts to
continue to practice ancestral rites.
As rulers of
Manchus based their political organization on that of the Ming, although they
tightened central control. A new central organ, the Grand Council, conducted
the military and political affairs of the state under the direct supervision of
the emperor. The chief bureaus in the capital had both a Chinese and a Manchu
head. Manchu governor-generals generally supervised Chinese provincial
governors.
|
C9a |
|
Prosperity, Population Growth, and Territorial Expansion |
In the mid-18th century, during the 60-year reign of the
Qianlong Emperor, the Qing dynasty reached the height of its power. The Qing
firmly established domestic order, which led to unprecedented peace and
prosperity in
Traditional scholarship and arts flourished, and even in rural areas schools
were common and basic literacy relatively high.
Population grew rapidly under the Qing, and by the end of the 18th
century
had at least 300 million people.
borders also expanded.
and
all brought securely under Qing control, making the Qing empire larger than
either the Han or the Tang. For the first time in 2,000 years, the northern
steppe was not a serious threat to
defenses. Tributary ties to neighboring countries were maintained and were
especially strong with
(now
the
northern
In the 19th century the Qing government faced problems
associated with population growth. By 1850 the population had surpassed 400
million, and all the land that could be profitably exploited using traditional
farming methods was already under cultivation. More and more people lived in
poverty, unable to cope when floods or droughts occurred. The Qing government
was unprepared for the effects of population growth. The size of the government
remained static throughout the Qing period, which meant that by the end of the
dynasty, government services and control had to cover two or three times as
large a population as at the beginning. At the local level, wealthy and
educated people assumed more authority, especially men who had passed the
lower-level civil service examinations.
|
C9b |
|
External Threats |
In the late 18th century the Manchus had grudgingly
accepted commercial relations with
and other Western countries. Trade was confined to the
of
were required to conduct trade through a limited number of Chinese merchants.
Initially, the balance of trade was in
favor, as
and other countries paid for huge quantities of tea not with British goods but
with money in the form of silver.
The British were intent on expanding trade beyond the
restrictive limits imposed at
They also wanted to establish diplomatic relations with the Qing court similar
to those that existed between sovereign states in the West. In the 1790s the
British sent an ambassadorial mission to
headed by Sir George Macartney, who brought the emperor samples of British
goods. The Qianlong Emperor was not impressed with the goods and made no major
concessions. The British, for their part, saw that
soldiers still used traditional weaponry and thus gained a better sense of
military vulnerability.
In order to reverse the balance of trade, British
merchants during the 1780s introduced Indian opium, an addictive narcotic drug,
to
Addiction spread, and by 1800 the opium market had mushroomed, shifting the
balance of trade in favor of
Trade in opium was illegal in
but British and other merchants unloaded their cargo offshore, selling it to
Chinese smugglers. By the 1830s the threat to
posed by opium had become acute. Opium addiction destroyed peoples’ lives, and
the drain of silver was causing fiscal problems for the Qing. Furthermore, many
Qing officials, tempted by the profits they could make in the opium trade,
became corrupt.
The Qing appointed Lin Zexu in late 1838 and sent him to the
city of
year to put an end to the illegal trade. Lin dealt harshly with Chinese who
purchased opium and applied severe pressure to the British trading community in
demanding assurances that the British would not bring opium into Chinese
waters. In response the British sent an expeditionary force from
with 42 warships and shut down the ports of
and
Wars). The Qing negotiated with
but the first settlement reached was unsatisfactory to both sides, and the
British sent a second, larger expeditionary force. The Treaty of Nanjing
(Nanking), concluded at gunpoint in 1842, ceded the Chinese island of Hong
Kong, near Guangzhou, to Britain and opened five ports—Guangzhou, Xiamen,
Fuzhou, Ningbo, and Shanghai—to foreign trade and residence. Known as treaty
ports, these cities contained large areas called concessions that were leased
in perpetuity to foreign powers. Through its clause on extraterritoriality, the
treaty stipulated that British subjects in
were answerable only to British law, even in disputes with Chinese. The treaty
also had a most-favored-nation clause, which meant that whenever a nation
extracted a new privilege from
that privilege was extended automatically to
Treaty of Nanjing as an unpleasant but necessary concession dictated by unruly
barbarians. Eager to gain more trading privileges,
aided by
renewed hostilities against
and during the Second Opium War (1856-1860) applied military pressure to the
capital region in
was forced by
and
sign the Treaty of Tianjin, which further expanded Western advantages in
However, the Qing government declined to ratify the treaty, and hostilities
resumed. A joint British-French expeditionary force penetrated
where they burned the Qing’s summer palace in retaliation for Chinese treatment
of Western prisoners. With the capital occupied by foreigners, the Qing
ratified the treaty in 1860.
Other countries, including
States
Militarily weak, the Qing agreed to these treaties, which curtailed
sovereignty. In
the treaties became known collectively as the unequal treaties. By the 1860s
there were 14 treaty ports. Because the foreigners had demanded the right to
impose their own laws instead of obeying Chinese laws, the concessions,
especially those in
to resemble international cities. Foreigners in
sold imported manufactured goods that competed with Chinese products, but the
treaties prohibited
from setting tariffs to protect its industries.
Beginning in 1875 the Western powers and
began to dismantle the Chinese system of tributary states.
brought the
1870s, and in the mid-1880s
completed its subjugation of
and
annexed
In 1860
gained the
northern
River
from Chinese dominance resulted in the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894 and
1895.
victory was decisive, and
was forced to recognize the independence of
pay an enormous war indemnity, and cede to Japan the
of
reacted immediately to the cession of the
giving
stranglehold on the most economically valuable area of
They intervened, demanding that
return the
in exchange for an increased indemnity from
In return for their intervention, the Europeans demanded privileges themselves.
and received the right to construct railroads across
as well as additional exclusive economic rights throughout that region. The
Qing granted other exclusive rights to railroad and mineral development to
in
in the southern border provinces,
in the
in the southeastern coastal provinces.
lost the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and 1905, and thereafter most of
rights in southern
The
attempting to preserve its trading rights in
without competing for territory, initiated the Open Door Policy in 1899 and
1900. That policy, to which the other foreign powers assented, guaranteed the
equal position of the powers with regard to trade with
as well as the preservation of Chinese territorial integrity.
|
C9c |
|
Internal Threats |
Meanwhile, in the 1850s and 1860s, the Qing faced even
greater threats from internal rebellions, in particular the Taiping Rebellion
begun by Hong Xiuquan. Hong was an ethnic Hakka from
province in southern
the area that had suffered the most disruption from the Opium Wars and the
opening of new ports. During an illness, Hong had visions of an old man and a
middle-aged man who addressed him as “younger brother” and told him to
annihilate devils. Later Hong read about Christianity and interpreted his
visions to mean that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ. Hong gathered
many Hakka and anti-Manchu followers in southern
and instructed them to give up opium and alcohol and adhere to a strict moral
lifestyle. In 1851 Hong proclaimed the
(Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace), and by 1853 the Taipings had moved north and
established their capital at
By 1860 they were firmly entrenched in the
In 1864 the Qing finally suppressed the Taiping and recaptured
but only after the rebellion had spread to 16 provinces and 20 million people
had died in the fighting.
Many other rebellions occurred during or after the Taiping. By
1860 the Manchu rulers, ravaged by domestic rebellions and harassed by the
Western military powers, knew they had to take drastic action if the empire was
to survive. To suppress the rebellions, they turned to Chinese
scholar-officials, who raised armies in the provinces. After the rebellions
were suppressed, the Manchu rulers turned to the same men, especially Zeng
Guofan, Li Hongzhang, and Zuo Zongtang, to lead the effort to revitalize the
dynasty and modernize the military along Western lines. The Qing officials
established arsenals, dockyards (to produce Western weapons and ships), and
mines and factories to develop industries. In addition, Chinese envoys went abroad
to learn Western diplomatic protocols. These measures drew resistance from
conservatives who thought employing Western practices was compounding defeat.
Moreover, the results were disappointing. In 1884 and 1885, when
was drawn into a conflict with
over
it took only an hour for the French to destroy the warships built at the
dockyard.
Fears about foreign intrusion in
provoked a variety of responses among the Chinese. Intellectual leaders and
high officials became divided into opposing groups of reformers and
conservatives; reformers thought adopting Western science and military
technology would strengthen
while conservatives resisted efforts to copy from the West. The gentry,
convinced that the dynasty was on an inevitable downward slide, felt
demoralized. Peasants and townspeople protested the foreign intrusions and the
changes they caused. Small groups of revolutionaries blamed the Manchu
leadership and agitated to have the Manchus overthrown.
By 1898 a group of young reformers, including Kang
Yuwei and Liang Qichao, had gained access to the young and open-minded Guangxu
Emperor. In the summer of that year, the emperor and Kang instituted a sweeping
reform program designed to transform
into a constitutional monarchy and to modernize the economy and the educational
system. The program threatened the entrenched power of Empress Dowager Cixi
(Guangxu’s aunt and former regent) and the clique of conservative Manchu
officials she had appointed. They seized the emperor, and with the aid of loyal
military leaders, suppressed the reform movement.
The Chinese peoples’ frustration reached its peak at the turn
of the 20th century with the nationalist revolt against foreigners known as the
Boxer Uprising. The Yihetuan (Society of Righteousness and Harmony),
known by Westerners as the Boxers, were xenophobic, blaming
ills on foreigners, especially the Christian missionaries who told the Chinese
that their beliefs and practices were wrong and backward. In 1898 the Boxers
emerged in impoverished
province in the northwest. As they seized and destroyed the property of foreign
missionaries and Chinese converts, the Boxers attracted more and more followers
from the margins of society. Small groups of Boxers began to appear in
and
powers protested and prepared for war. The empress dowager at first wavered but
then decided to support the Boxers. When a small contingent of foreign troops
attempted to secure their interests and citizens in
Cixi ordered an attack on the foreigners, and a general uprising ensued. After
the Boxers laid siege to the foreign concessions in
a multinational force of 20,000 foreign troops entered
to lift the siege. In the negotiations that followed,
had to accept a staggering indemnity of 450 million ounces of silver, almost
twice the government's annual revenues, to be paid over forty years, with
interest.
In 1902 the Manchu court finally adopted a reform
program and made plans to establish a limited constitutional government.
However, many Chinese thought the reforms were too little, too late. In 1894
anti-Manchu revolutionary Sun Yat-sen began organizing groups committed to the
overthrow of the Manchus and the establishment of a republican government. Sun
traveled abroad in search of support from overseas Chinese. In 1905 he joined
forces with revolutionary Chinese students studying in
to form the T’ung-meng Hui (or Tongmeng Hui; Chinese for “Revolutionary
Alliance”), which sponsored numerous attempts at uprisings in
In October 1911 one of the alliance’s plots finally
triggered the collapse of
imperial system. A bomb accidentally exploded in the group’s headquarters in
Wuchang, and Qing army officers mutinied, fearful that their connections to the
revolutionaries would be exposed. Provincial military forces began declaring
their independence from the Qing, and by the end of the year most of the
provinces in South and
rebellion and sent representatives to the new government. In December the
delegates chose Sun Yat-sen as provisional president of a republican
government. The Manchus turned to their top general, Yuan Shikai, but Yuan
applied only limited military pressure. Yuan ultimately negotiated with the
rebel leadership for a position as president of a new republican government in
exchange for getting the Qing emperor to abdicate. The revolutionaries
consented because Yuan was widely viewed as the only figure powerful enough to
ward off foreign aggression. In February 1912 a revolutionary assembly in
elected Yuan first president of the Republic of China, and
long history of monarchy came to an end (see Republican Revolution).
|
D |
|
Modern |
|
D1 |
|
The Republic of |
For much of the period from 1912 to 1949,
was a republic in name only. At first, although the government adopted a
constitution, Yuan held most of the power. In 1913 the Kuomintang (KMT, or
Nationalist Party), a new political party that brought together the T’ung-meng
Hui and other revolutionary groups, attempted to limit Yuan's power by
parliamentary tactics. Yuan dismissed the parliament, outlawed the KMT, and
ruled through his personal connections with provincial military leaders. In
1915 Yuan announced plans to restore the monarchy and install himself as
emperor, but he was forced by popular opposition to abandon his plans.
This period of political confusion was also one of intense
intellectual excitement in
Modern universities, started in the last years of the Qing, began to produce a
new type of Chinese intellectual who was deeply concerned with
fate and attracted to Western ideas, ranging from science and democracy to
communism and anarchism. Thousands of young people went abroad to study in
journal New Youth, begun in the mid-1910s, called on young people to
take up the cause of national salvation. Writers imitated Western forms of
poetry and fiction, and started writing in the vernacular rather than the
classical language that had formerly marked the educated person. Widely
circulated periodicals brought this new language and new ideas to educated
people throughout the country. One of the issues most strongly promoted was
women’s rights. Such traditional practices as arranged marriage, concubinage,
and the binding of girls’ feet to prevent normal growth (tiny feet were
considered to enhance women’s beauty) were ridiculed as backward, and young
women were encouraged to enroll in China’s many new schools for women.
from Western pressure from 1914 to 1918, when European powers were preoccupied
by World War I. Chinese industries expanded, and a few cities, especially
and Hankou (now part of
became industrial centers. However, European powers’ preoccupation with the war
at home also gave
an opportunity to try and gain a position of supremacy in
In 1915
presented
with the Twenty-one Demands, the terms of which would have reduced
to a virtual Japanese protectorate. Yuan Shikai's government yielded to a
modified version of the demands, agreeing, among other concessions, to the
transfer of the German holdings in
to
After Yuan died in 1916, the central government in
lost most of its power, and for the next decade power devolved to warlords and
cliques of warlords. In 1917
entered World War I on the side of the Allies (which included
France, and the
in order to gain a seat at the peace table, hoping for a new chance to halt
Japanese ambitions.
expected that the
with its Open Door Policy and commitment to the self-determination of all
peoples, would offer its support. However, as part of the negotiation process
at the peace conference in
Woodrow Wilson withdrew
support for
on the
indignant Chinese delegation refused to sign the Treaty of Versailles.
Young people in
who looked to the West for political ideals were crushed by the decisions at
When news of the peace conference reached
on
3,000 students from
universities assembled in the city to protest. The
governor suppressed the demonstrators and arrested the student leaders, but
these actions set off a wave of protests around the country in support of the
students and their cause (see May Fourth Movement).
|
D1a |
|
The Nationalist and Communist Revolutionary Movements |
After Yuan outlawed the KMT parliamentary party in 1913, Sun
Yat-sen worked to build the revolutionary movement, eventually establishing a
KMT base in
became more anti-imperialist during this period. In speeches and writings he
stressed that
could not be strong until it rid itself of imperialist intrusions and was
reconstituted as the nation of the Chinese people. Other forms of revolution
also attracted adherents. Marxism gained a following among urban intellectuals
and factory workers in
particularly after the success of the Communists in the Russian Revolution of
1917. In 1921 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was organized in
During the warlord period after the death of Yuan Shikai,
most Western powers dealt with whichever warlord had control of
and ignored the revolutionaries. By contrast, the
of Soviet Socialist Republics
or
international Communist organization), offered to help the Chinese
revolutionaries. Believing that the KMT had the best chance of succeeding, the
Comintern instructed CCP members to join Sun Yat-sen’s KMT. In 1923 Sun agreed
to accept Soviet advice in reorganizing the crumbling KMT party and army and to
admit Communists into the KMT as part of a united-front policy.
Despite Sun's death in 1925, the rejuvenated KMT launched the
Northern Expedition in 1926 from its base in
The expedition, an attempt to rid
of warlords and reunify the country under KMT rule, was led by the young
general Chiang Kai-shek, who had been trained in
and
of the KMT’s military academy. Communists aided the advance of Chiang
Kai-shek's army by organizing peasants and workers along the way. However, the
alliance between the two groups was fragile because the KMT drew its strength
from wealthy intellectuals and landowners, while the Communists advocated
redistribution of wealth. In 1927, as the KMT army approached
Chiang ordered members of the Green Gang, a
underworld gang, to kill labor union members and Communists, whom he feared
were becoming too powerful. The alliance ended, and the KMT began a bloody
purge of the Communists.
From 1927 to 1937 the KMT under Chiang ruled from
Chiang's foremost goal was to build a strong modern state and army. He employed
many Western-educated officials in his government, and progress was achieved in
modernizing the banking, currency, and taxation systems, as well as
transportation and communication facilities. However,
remained fragmented. While a small, Westernized elite and an industrial force
developed in the cities, the vast majority of people were poor peasants in the
countryside. The rural economy suffered from continued population growth and
from the collapse of some local industries, such as silk production and cotton
weaving, due to foreign competition. Chiang's highest priority was not
improving the lives of peasants but gaining full military control of the
country. Many regions remained under warlords, the Communists controlled some
areas, and the Japanese were encroaching in North and
China
The Chinese Communists had gone underground after they were purged
from the KMT in 1927 and had organized areas of Communist control. The most
successful group settled in the countryside near the border between
and
they called the Jiangxi Soviet. From there, the group mobilized peasant support
and formed a peasant army. One of the top leaders of the Jiangxi Soviet was Mao
Zedong. Mao was from a peasant family in
but was educated through the new school system. After graduating from a
teacher’s college in
went to
involved with Marxist discussion groups. In the 1920s, when most of the early
CCP members were organizing workers in the cites, Mao worked in the
countryside, developing ways to mobilize peasants.
Chiang’s army attempted four extermination campaigns against the
base, all of which failed against the Communists’ guerrilla tactics. In the
fifth campaign in October 1934, the KMT encircled the base. Eighty thousand
Communists broke out of the KMT encirclement and started what became known as
the Long March. For a year, the Communists steadily retreated, fighting almost
continuously against KMT forces and suffering enormous casualties. By the time
the 8,000 survivors had found an area where they could establish a new base,
they had marched almost 9,600 km (6,000 mi), crossing southern and southwestern
China before turning north to reach Shaanxi province. This triumph of will in
the face of incredible obstacles became a moral victory for the Communists. For
the next decade the CCP made its base at Yan’an, a city in central
Although the KMT had forced the Communists to flee, they
still faced a major threat from
In 1922
had agreed to return the former German holdings in
to
it continued to expand its dominance in
1931 the Japanese retaliated for an alleged instance of Chinese sabotage by
extending military control over all of
Kai-shek knew his armies were no match for
and ordered the KMT to withdraw without fighting. In 1932
established the puppet state of
in
the Qing dynasty, its chief of state. Early in 1933 eastern
Mongolia
As Japanese aggression intensified, popular pressure mounted
within
end internal fighting and unite against
Chiang, however, resisted allying with the Communists until late 1936, when he
was kidnapped by one of his own generals. During his captivity at
(
Communist leaders, who urged the adoption of a united front against
After his release, Chiang moderated his anti-Communist stance, and in 1937 the
KMT and CCP formed a united front to oppose
|
D1b |
|
Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II |
In July 1937 the Japanese tried once again to extend
their territory in
Chiang resisted, and
launched a full-scale offensive (see Second Sino-Japanese War). Chiang’s
forces had to abandon
but his troops held out for three months in
before retreating to
the Japanese captured
December, they went on a rampage for seven weeks, massacring more than 100,000
civilians and fugitive soldiers, raping at least 20,000 women, and laying the
city to waste.
By late 1938
seized control of most of northeast
the
as far inland as Hankou, and the area around
on the southeastern coast. The KMT moved its capital and most of its military
force inland to
southwestern
Free
the KMT-ruled area was called, contained 60 percent of
population but only 5 percent of its industry, which hampered the war effort.
In 1941 the
entered World War II after
attacked
Thereafter, American advisers and aid were flown to
from
which enabled Chiang to establish a number of modern military divisions.
However, the bulk of
5 million military troops consisted of ill-trained, demoralized conscripts.
During the first few years after the Japanese invasion,
some genuine cooperation took place between the CCP and the KMT. However,
animosity between the groups remained, and the cooperation largely ended after
the KMT attacked the CCP’s army in 1941. From then on, although both sides
continued to resist
they concentrated more on preparing for their eventual conflict with each
other. The KMT imposed an economic blockade on the CCP base at Yan’an, making
it impossible for the Communists to get weapons except by capturing them from
the Japanese. Defeating
was left largely to the
which was fighting the war in the Pacific.
During the war period, the Communists made major gains in
territory, military forces, and party membership. They infiltrated many of the
rural areas behind Japanese lines, where they skillfully organized the
peasantry and built up the ranks of the party and their army (known as the Red
Army). The CCP grew from about 300,000 members in 1933 to 1.2 million members
by 1945. While in Yan’an, Mao Zedong had time to read Marxist and Leninist
works and began giving lectures at party schools in which he spelled out his
versions of Chinese history and Marxist theory. Whereas neither Marx nor Lenin
had seen significant revolutionary potential in peasants, Mao came to glorify
peasants as the true masses. During these years, Mao also perfected methods of
moral and intellectual instruction and party discipline, which involved close
discussion of assigned texts, personal confessions, struggle sessions (meetings
in which people were publicly criticized and punished for past offenses), and
dramatic public humiliations.
The KMT emerged from the war in a weakened state. Severe
inflation had begun in 1939, when the government, cut off from its main sources
of income in Japanese-occupied eastern
printed more currency to finance the mounting costs of wartime operations.
Despite substantial
economic aid, the inflationary trend worsened and official corruption
increased. The financial problems also caused a loss of morale in the KMT armed
forces and alienation of the civilian populace.
After
in 1945, bringing World War II to an end, both the CCP and the KMT were
rearmed, the KMT by the
and the Communists by the
accepted the surrender of Japanese troops in
and turned over large stockpiles of Japanese weapons and ammunition to the CCP.
|
D1c |
|
Civil War |
Shortly after
surrender, civil war broke out between CCP and KMT troops over the reoccupation
of
through the mediation of
general George Catlett Marshall. Although fighting soon resumed,
continued his efforts to bring the two sides together. In August 1946 the
States
hand as an impartial mediator by suspending its military aid to the KMT
government. Nevertheless, hostilities continued, and in January 1947, convinced
of the futility of further mediation,
left
resumed aid to the KMT in May. In 1948 military advantage passed to the
Communists, and in the summer of 1949 the KMT resistance collapsed.
The KMT government, with the forces it could salvage, sought
refuge on the
Until his death in 1975, Chiang Kai-shek continued to claim that his government
in
the legitimate government of all of
Meanwhile, on
Mao Zedong, as chairman of the CCP, proclaimed the establishment of the
People’s Republic of
(PRC) in
|
D2 |
|
The People's Republic |
The new Communist government, a one-party state under the
rule of the CCP, brought an end to the long period of Western imperialist
involvement in
Regions within the country’s historic boundaries that had fallen away since the
overthrow of the Manchus were reclaimed, including
and Xinjiang in western
(see
Reincorporation into
Xinjiang Uyghur Automomous Region: History).
established alliances with the countries of the emerging Socialist bloc. In
1950
the
a treaty of friendship and alliance, and in supplementary agreements the
Soviets gave up their privileges in
During the Korean War (1950-1953), Chinese troops aided the Communist regime of
against South Korean and United Nations forces.
also aided the Communist insurgents fighting the French in
and Chinese premier Zhou Enlai played an important role in negotiating the 1954
Geneva Accords that ended the hostilities known as the First Indochina War.
|
D2a |
|
Transformation of the Economy and Society |
During the first few years of Communist leadership, the
new government reorganized nearly all aspects of Chinese life. To revive the
economy, which had been disrupted by decades of warfare, the CCP adopted
measures to curb inflation, restore communications, and reestablish the
domestic order necessary for economic development. The government also
orchestrated campaigns and struggle sessions to mobilize mass revolutionary
enthusiasm and remove from power those likely to obstruct the new government.
In the 1951 campaign against individuals who had been affiliated with KMT
organizations or had served in its army, tens of thousands were executed and
many more sent to labor reform camps.
The CCP made fundamental changes to society. New marriage
laws that prohibited men from taking more than one wife and interference with
remarriage by widows assured women of a more equal position in society. Women
also received equal rights with respect to divorce, employment, and ownership
of property. The CCP made every effort to control the spread of ideas. Through
the press and through schools, the government directed youth to look to the
party and the state rather than to their families for leadership and security.
The CCP assumed strict control over religion, forcing foreign missionaries to
leave the country and installing Chinese clerics willing to cooperate with the
Communists in positions of authority over Christian churches. Intellectuals
were made to undergo specialized programs of thought reform directed toward
eradicating anti-Communist ideas.
Government takeover of businesses undermined the power of the
urban-based capitalists who had gained influence under the KMT. To make use of
their expertise, however, the government often enlisted previous business
owners to manage companies. The government’s first five-year plan, initiated in
1953 and carried out with Soviet assistance, emphasized the expansion of heavy
industry at the expense of consumer goods.
Through the progressive socialization of Chinese agriculture
(making ownership of land collective, not individual or family), the landowning
elite was eliminated, the source of its income and influence abolished. As the
CCP took control of new areas, it taught the peasants in those areas that
social and economic inequalities were not natural but rather a perversion
caused by the institution of private property. Wealthy landowners were not
people of high moral standards but were exploiters.
To create a new communal order where all would work
together unselfishly for common goals, the Communists first redistributed
property. Their usual method was to send a small team of cadres (party
administrators) and students to a village to cultivate relations with the poor,
organize a peasant association, identify potential leaders, compile lists of
grievances, and organize struggle sessions. Eventually the inhabitants would be
classified into five categories: landlords, rich peasants, middle peasants,
poor peasants, and hired hands. The government then would confiscate the
holdings of landowners, and sometimes land owned by rich and middle peasants,
and redistribute it more evenly. The wealthy also endured struggle sessions,
which sometimes led to executions of landlords. This stage of land reform
resulted in the creation of a castelike system in the countryside. The lowest
caste was composed of the descendants of those labeled landlords, while the
descendants of former poor and lower-middle peasants became a new privileged
class.
Agricultural collectivization followed land reform in several stages.
First, farmers were encouraged to join mutual-aid teams of usually less than 10
families. Next, they were instructed to set up cooperatives, consisting of 40
or 50 families. From 1954 to 1956 the Communists created higher-level
collectives (also called production teams) that united cooperatives. At this
point, economic inequality within villages had been virtually eliminated. The
state took over the grain market, and peasants were no longer allowed to market
their crops.
The reorganization of the countryside created a new elite of rural
party cadres. Illiterate peasants who kept the peace among villagers and
exceeded state production targets had opportunities to rise in the party
hierarchy. This created social mobility far beyond anything that had existed in
imperial
which had only provided advancement opportunities to educated peasants. Another
byproduct of the reorganization of the countryside was the extension of social
services, because collectives throughout the country coordinated basic health
care and primary education for their members.
|
D2b |
|
The Hundred Flowers and the Great Leap Forward |
In 1956 Mao Zedong launched a campaign to expose the
party to the criticism of Chinese intellectuals under the slogan “Let a Hundred
Flowers Bloom.” Mao was afraid that the revolutionary fervor of CCP members was
waning, that they were losing touch with the people and becoming authoritarian
bureaucrats. Although most intellectuals were cautious at first, Mao repeatedly
urged people to speak up, and once the criticism had started, it became a
torrent. In 1957 Mao and other party leaders abruptly changed course and
launched the so-called Antirightist campaign on the critics for harboring
rightist ideology. About half a million educated people lost their jobs and
often their freedom, usually because something they had said during the Hundred
Flowers period had been construed as anti-Communist.
Next Mao launched a radical development plan known as
the Great Leap Forward. Mao announced the plan in November 1957 at a meeting of
the leaders of the international Communist movement in
claiming that
would surpass
in industrial output within 15 years. Through the concerted hard work of
hundreds of millions of people laboring together, he claimed,
would transform itself from a poor nation into a mighty one. In 1958, in a wave
of utopian enthusiasm, the CCP combined agricultural collectives into gigantic
communes, expecting huge increases in productivity. Throughout the country,
communes, factories, and schools set up backyard furnaces in order to double
steel production. As workers were mobilized to work long hours on these and
other large-scale projects, they spent little time at home or in normal farm
work.
of defense and a military hero, offered measured criticisms of the Great Leap
policies at a 1959 party meeting. Mao was furious and forced the party to choose
between Peng and himself. The CCP ultimately removed Peng from his positions of
authority. Within a couple of years, the Great Leap had proved an economic
disaster. Industrial production dropped by as much as 50 percent between 1959
and 1962. Grain was taken from the countryside on the basis of wildly
exaggerated production reports, contributing, along with environmental
calamities, to a massive famine from 1960 to 1962 in which more than 20 million
people died.
|
D2c |
|
Growing Isolation |
The economic hardship created by the Great Leap was made worse in
1960 by the Soviets’ withdrawal of economic assistance and technical advice. As
the
toward peaceful coexistence with the West, its alliance with
deteriorated. In 1962
openly condemned the
for withdrawing its missiles from Communist Cuba under pressure from the
States
reneged on its agreements to aid
economic development. The Chinese began to compete openly with the
for leadership of the Communist bloc and for influence among the members of the
Nonaligned Movement, a loose association of countries not specifically allied
with either of the power blocs led by either the
States
In 1963 Zhou Enlai toured
to gain support for the Chinese model of socialism.
Meanwhile, other actions taken by
kept many nonaligned nations wary. In 1959 the United Nations condemned
actions in
when
suppressed a rebellion there. The Dalai Lama (
ruler at that time) and thousands of Tibetans fled south to
and
in 1959, Chinese troops penetrated and occupied 31,000 sq km (12,000 sq mi) of
territory claimed by
Negotiations between the two countries proved inconclusive, and fighting erupted
again in 1962 when Chinese troops advanced across the claimed Indian borders.
In
lent moral support and technical and material assistance to Communist-led
insurgency movements in
and
during the Vietnam War (1959-1975). In
Chinese embassy officials aided Communist insurgents until the Chinese embassy
was expelled in 1965.
|
D2d |
|
The Cultural Revolution |
In mid-1966 Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution, known simply as the Cultural Revolution. The announced goals of the
revolution were to eradicate the remains of so-called bourgeois ideas and
customs and to recapture the revolutionary zeal of early Chinese Communism. Mao
also wanted to increase his power over the government by discrediting or
removing party leaders who had challenged his authority or disagreed with his
policies. Earlier in the year, Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, and a few other Mao
supporters had begun calling for attacks on cultural works that criticized
Mao’s policies. Soon radical students at
denounce elitist elements of society, were agitating against university and
government officials who they believed were not sufficiently revolutionary. Liu
Shaoqi, a veteran revolutionary who had been designated as Mao’s successor,
tried to control the students, but Mao intervened. He launched an intense
public criticism of Liu and sanctioned the organization of
students into militant groups known as Red Guards. Soon students all over
were responding to the call to make revolution, happy to help Mao, whom many
worshiped as a godlike hero.
In June 1966 nearly all Chinese schools and universities
were closed as students devoted themselves full-time to Red Guard activities.
Joined by groups of workers, peasants, and demobilized soldiers, Red Guards
took to the streets in pro-Maoist, sometimes violent, demonstrations. They made
intellectuals, bureaucrats, party officials, and urban workers their chief
targets. The central party structure was destroyed as many high officials,
including Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, were removed from their positions.
During 1967 and 1968 bloody fighting among various Red Guard factions claimed
thousands of lives. In some areas, rebellion deteriorated into a state of
lawlessness. Finally, the army was called in to restore order, and in July 1968
the Red Guards were sent back to school or to work in the countryside. In many
areas, the army quickly became the dominant force.
During the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Mao and
his supporters continually promoted “class struggle” against so-called
revisionists and counterrevolutionaries. To this end, educated people were
singled out for persecution. College professors, middle-school teachers,
newspaper journalists, musicians, party cadres, factory managers, and others
who could be categorized as educated suffered a wide variety of brutal
treatment. Men and women were tortured, imprisoned, starved, denied medical
treatment, and forced to leave their children unsupervised when they were sent
to labor camps in the countryside. Tens of thousands were killed or committed
suicide.
CCP delegates to the Ninth Party Congress in April 1969
reelected Mao party chairman with a great deal of fanfare. They named Defense
Minister Lin Biao, Mao's personal choice, to be Mao’s eventual successor. For
several years, Lin was regularly referred to as Mao's closest comrade in arms
and best student. Yet, according to the official CCP account, in 1971 Lin
turned against Mao, plotted unsuccessfully to assassinate him, and then died in
an airplane crash while attempting to flee to the
Lin was officially condemned as a traitor.
Much of the political and social turmoil that characterized
the first half of the Cultural Revolution subsided in the second half. In 1976
the government arrested a group of four revolutionaries, known as the Gang of
Four, and charged them with the crimes of the Cultural Revolution. This event
came to mark the official end of the campaign.
|
D2e |
|
Shifting Foreign Relations |
In the early years of the Cultural Revolution,
already strained foreign relations worsened. Propaganda and agitation in
support of the Red Guards by overseas Chinese strained relations with many
foreign governments. A successful Chinese hydrogen bomb test in 1967 did
nothing to allay apprehension. Tension with the
worsened when
accused Soviet leaders of imperialism after the Soviet-led invasion of
in 1968. Clashes between Soviet and Chinese border guards along the Amur and
Ussuri rivers in 1969 created a tense situation.
was largely isolated from the outside world, maintaining good relations only
with
In the early 1970s, however,
foreign relations began to improve dramatically. In 1971 the People’s Republic
of
given the
seat in the United Nations, replacing the nationalist government on
which had continued to hold the seat after losing the civil war with the
Communists in 1945. In 1972
president Richard Nixon made an official visit to
during which he agreed to the need for Chinese-American contacts and the
eventual withdrawal of
troops from
In the wake of these developments, many other nations transferred their
diplomatic recognition from
to the mainland Communist government. In 1972
restored diplomatic relations with
|
D2f |
|
|
Premier Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao both died in 1976,
precipitating a struggle for power between moderate and radical leaders within
the party. As a compromise, Hua Guofeng, an administrator without close ties to
either faction, became premier. About the same time, he was named to succeed
Mao as party chairman. Hua then concentrated on stabilizing politics, aiding
recovery from massive earthquakes that had struck
near
fostering economic development.
Hua’s prominence was short-lived. In 1977 the party
reinstated moderate reformer Deng Xiaoping to a leadership post, making him
first deputy premier. (Deng had returned to public office as China’s vice
premier in 1973 but then had been purged again by the Gang of Four in 1976.) By
1978 Deng was in firm control of the government.
Deng focused on the problem of relieving poverty through
economic growth. As his guiding slogan, he promoted the “Four Modernizations”
of agriculture, industry, technology, and defense. In agriculture, Deng
sanctioned steps toward dismantling the commune system. He instituted a
so-called responsibility system under which rural households were assigned land
and other assets that they could treat as their own. Anything a household
produced above what it owed the collective was its own to keep or sell. The
state encouraged sideline enterprises, such as growing vegetables and setting
up small businesses, and the income of farmers rapidly increased, especially in
the coastal provinces, where commercial opportunities were greatest.
Deng imported foreign technology to help modernize industry. He
also abandoned Mao’s insistence on Chinese self-sufficiency and began courting
foreign investors.
on the border with
leading financial centers) was especially well situated to benefit from foreign
investment. Deng reinstated examinations as the means of selecting college
students in 1977, and Chinese students began to be sent abroad for advanced
technical and management training. In the late 1970s and early 1980s
revived and expanded the system of military academies, which had been obliterated
during the Cultural Revolution. Deng’s policies set in motion an economic boom
that led to a tripling of average incomes by the early 1990s.
With its population of more than 1 billion already pressing
the limits of its resources,
began to confront the need to control population growth. The state set targets
for the total numbers of births in each place and then assigned quotas to
smaller units, down to individual factories and other workplaces. Young people
had to get permission from their work units to get married and then to have a
child. Women who became pregnant outside the system faced strong pressure from
birth-control workers and local party officials to have an abortion. The
government promoted one-child families through financial incentives and
bureaucratic regulations. In the cities, one-child families became commonplace.
In the countryside, families with two or even three children remained common,
because families who first bore a girl were usually allowed to try again for a
boy. Because of a preference for boys, families that could only have one or two
children often would take extreme measures to get a boy, such as aborting
female fetuses. This created an unbalanced sex ratio.
In the post-Mao period,
relationship with Western nations and
continued to improve, and full diplomatic relations were established with the
States
continued, however, and because Soviet influence was growing in
relations with
deteriorated. In 1978 harassed ethnic Chinese from
streamed into southern
When
invaded
and toppled that country's Chinese-backed government in early 1979,
made a punitive strike into
but soon withdrew.
Under Deng, the Chinese government somewhat relaxed its
control of the expression of ideas and the arts. A so-called literature of the
wounded appeared at the end of the 1970s, as those who had suffered during the
Cultural Revolution found it possible to express their sense of betrayal
without government repression. Greater tolerance on the part of the government
soon resulted in much livelier press and media in
with investigative reporters covering corruption; philosophers reexamining the
premises of Marxism; and novelists, poets, and filmmakers experimenting with
previously forbidden explorations of sexuality. In the 1980s, as television
became commonplace, ordinary Chinese learned more about life in other countries
and began to make new demands on the government for improvements in their
standard of living and more choice in their daily lives. As many young people
began adopting aspects of Western popular culture, especially its music,
hairstyles, and emphasis on individualism, conservatives in the CCP responded
with periodic campaigns against “bourgeois liberalism” and “spiritual
pollution.”
Despite its relative openness in the cultural and economic
spheres, the government kept a tight reign on political criticism. During the
“Democracy Wall” movement in 1978 and 1979, hundreds of people posted so-called
big-character posters on a wall in
to protest against political corruption, injustice, and lack of political
freedom. Although it initially encouraged criticism of previous government
policies, the government closed the wall when posters critical of the existing
Communist leadership and the Communist system began appearing and imprisoned
the author of some of the most outspoken posters, Wei Jingshen.
Student protests occurred in several cities during the 1980s. The
most massive one occurred in
in 1989. In April of that year, students and others marched in the capital to
support freedom of the press, educational reforms, and an end to political
corruption. The protests swelled in May, when Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev
visited
rift between the
and
protesters occupied
Square
the city center, killing hundreds of unarmed civilians. Zhao Ziyang, the CCP
general secretary (as the top party post had been called since 1982), had been
sympathetic to the students and in the ensuing political crackdown he was
dismissed from his party posts. Deng, still extremely influential despite
declining health and lessening direct involvement in government affairs,
designated
Zemin to replace Zhao as CCP general secretary. See
Square
|
D2g |
|
|
With the fall of the Communist governments in
Europe
in 1991,
became the only remaining major world power with a Communist government. The
Chinese government worked to ensure that its own system did not follow a
similar demise as the
The state continued to pursue economic policies that reduced poverty, such as
allowing workers to move to search for jobs. Meanwhile, the government also
maintained tight control over political expression and suppressed any sign of
separatism by ethnic Tibetans in
and Muslims in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
Deng remained the dominant figure in
throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, retaining behind-the-scenes influence
even as he steadily surrendered his public titles. With Deng’s help, Jiang
gradually consolidated his power and influence within the party and government.
In 1993 Jiang became president, while maintaining his role as party general
secretary. Unlike the period following Mao’s death,
political climate remained calm after Deng died in February 1997, and Jiang
continued the economic liberalization begun by Deng.
Deng and Jiang’s reforms in the 1990s were particularly
successful at stimulating economic growth, but they also created problems for
the Communist leadership.
foreign debt began to increase rapidly, and growing consumer demand led to
rising inflation. Uncontrolled industrial and agricultural growth caused
environmental degradation in much of
Moreover, there was pervasive corruption among party and government officials
who profited from their power to grant permits and licenses and from their
control over basic supplies needed by private businesses. The government
attempted to combat the corruption, imprisoning a number of prominent party
officials convicted of using their positions for personal gain.
During the late 1990s
international standing improved. In 1997
transferred from British to Chinese control, and
followed in 1999, reverting from
to
Chinese economy fared relatively well in a currency crisis that swept the
region. In 1998
president Bill Clinton visited
and debated political issues on live television. In November 1999
and the
reached a trade agreement in which
agreed to significantly reduce obstacles to imported goods and foreign
investments in exchange for
support of
application for membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).
also secured similar bilateral agreements with other countries to gain support
for its entry in the trade organization.
formally became a member of the WTO in December 2001.
Jiang retired as general secretary of the CCP in November
2002, launching a generational shift in the leadership of
All but one of the members of the Standing Committee of the Politburo, the
CCP’s inner policymaking circle, retired along with Jiang. The remaining
incumbent member, Hu Jintao, was chosen to succeed Jiang as the party’s general
secretary. Hu also succeeded Jiang as president of
in March 2003. However, Jiang retained his post as head of the Central Military
Commission, which controls the military, and was expected to exert considerable
behind-the-scenes influence in the governance of
The new leadership immediately faced a public health crisis,
working to contain the spread of a pneumonia-like illness that had emerged in
the southern
in late 2002. By February 2003 new cases of the illness were reported in
Kong
prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue a global alert.
Scientists identified the illness as a new contagious disease of unknown cause,
naming it severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). By the time WHO declared
the SARS outbreak contained in July 2003, more than 8,000 cases had been
reported in 32 countries, and the disease had caused 800 deaths.
initial failure to report the outbreak of a contagious disease attracted much
international criticism, and even the Chinese news media exposed official
efforts to conceal the outbreak.
Meanwhile,
an ambitious space program, which had been the focus of accelerated development
since late 2001. Signaling to the world its technological advancement,
launched a piloted spacecraft into Earth orbit in October 2003, becoming only
the third nation to accomplish this feat. Astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the
Earth 14 times over a 21-hour period in the spacecraft Shenzhou 5 (Divine
Vessel 5) before returning to Earth on October 16. The successful launch and
orbit demonstrated
commitment to its space program, which also included plans for other space
missions, including an unpiloted spaceflight to the Moon.
In March 2004 the legislature of
approved a constitutional amendment that provided the first legal protection of
private property since the founding of the People’s Republic of
in 1949. In March 2005 the legislature passed a law authorizing the use of
military force against
if its government moved toward a formal declaration of independence. The
anti-secession law heightened cross-strait tensions. In late April the leader
of the KMT (or Nationalist Party), Lien Chan, arrived from Taiwan to meet with
CCP officials, marking the first visit by a KMT leader since the party withdrew
to Taiwan at the end of China’s civil war in 1949.
Patricia Ebrey contributed the History section of this article.
information about USA:
|
I |
|
INTRODUCTION |
popularly referred to as the
or as
a federal republic on the continent of
consisting of 48 contiguous states and the noncontiguous states of
and
States
overview, as well as separate articles on
States
States
States
States
States
States
These six topics—geography, people, culture, economy, government,
and history—comprise the interrelated elements of the nation’s experience.
Geography is the first element because landforms, resources, and climate
affected how people who came to the
States
their variety, are the second element because they formed communities and built
a society. The next three elements are major parts of that society—its culture,
economy, and government. History tells the story of how people created a
society. It details how people adapted to geographical settings, how they
constructed and changed their economy and government, and how their culture
changed along the way. Thus all of the six topics—geography, people, culture,
economy, government, and history—form a progression of interconnected topics.
|
II |
|
|
E Pluribus Unum is the
States
coins and paper money, and on many of its public monuments. It means “From
many, one.” First used to unify the 13 British colonies in
America
acquired new meaning when the
received wave after wave of immigrants from many lands. These immigrants had to
find ways to reconcile their varied backgrounds and fit together under a
constitution and a set of laws. That process of creating one society out of
many different backgrounds is one of the biggest stories of the American
experience.
“What then is the American, this new man?” asked one of
thousands of immigrants who came to
18th century. “He is an American, who leaving behind him all his ancient
prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has
embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds. The American
is a new man, who acts upon new principles…Here individuals of all nations are
melted into a new race of men.”
Michel Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur, who wrote under the pseudonym
J. Hector St. John, wrote these words more than 200 years ago. In 1759, at the
age of 24, Crèvecoeur emigrated from
to the American colonies. Learning English quickly and making a success of
himself as a farmer in upstate
he married an English woman and became a celebrated observer of the American
scene. Amazed at the mingling of people from many parts of the world,
Crèvecoeur pointed to a family headed by an Englishman who had married a Dutch
woman, whose son married a French woman, and whose four sons had each married a
woman of a different nationality. “From this promiscuous breed that race now
called Americans have arisen,” he proclaimed.
A hundred years later, on the other side of the continent,
Harriette Lane Levy wrote of growing up as a Jew. In her
Francisco
German; the fish man, Italian; the grocer, a Jew; the butcher, Irish; the steam
laundryman, a New Englander. The vegetable vendor and the regular laundryman who
came to the house were Chinese.”
The
as an immigrant society, and it has continued to be a mingling of immigrants
ever since. Even Native Americans, the first people to live in
America
many thousands of years ago. Since 1820, 63 million immigrants have arrived in
the
Never in the history of the world has a country been braided together
from so many strands of people arriving with different languages, histories,
and cultures.
How could a nation of such diversity meld together so
many different humans? Alexis de Tocqueville, another Frenchman who traveled to
the
was fascinated with this question. He knew that the nation had to find some
kind of glue to bind together so many different peoples. He found that glue in
the American political system that had developed by the 1830s—a politics of
participation based on the notion that to be legitimate and lasting, a
government had to derive its power from the people. These principles were part
of the political system created by the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the
This system aimed to create “one federated whole,” but this was an ideal yet to
be accomplished. Today, the American people are still reaching for that ideal.
The goal of E pluribus unum has been closely
connected with an ongoing debate: What is the meaning of the three resounding
words that open the Constitution of the
States
has faced the question, How wide is the circle of “we”? The various answers to
that question have defined the degree of democracy in the
States
has been inseparable from deciding how democratic the nation will be.
Accordingly, a second theme of this set of articles on the
States
nation and in its institutions and culture. This process has sometimes been
tumultuous and often dramatic. The idealistic agenda set forth by the Founding
Fathers—that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable
rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—remains the
standard by which we judge ourselves.
These two themes help connect the various parts of the American
experience, each of which is described in one of the six articles on the United
States. Each of the articles is one part of the jigsaw puzzle that is the
American experience. The puzzle forms a picture, which can only be fully
understood when all the pieces are in place.
|
III |
|
UNITED STATES GEOGRAPHY |
Early school geography lessons begin with names and locations of
the 50
states and their capitals. But geography is much more than places on a map.
Geography more broadly involves peoples, places, and environments—and how these
three are connected. The
(Geography) article describes the physical features of the
States
and climate. It also examines the distinctive regions of the
States
people transformed the landscape and how they grappled with environmental
issues connected to population growth, urbanization, and industrialization.
In the article on geography, the interactions of people,
places, and environments are related to one of the themes—the search for unity,
for oneness, among what one early observer of the American scene called the
nation’s “mixed multitude.” Every immigrant to this country comes with a
geographical, historical, and cultural background, and all three become part of
the American mosaic. Some, because of geographical closeness to their home
country, especially those from
retain more of their home culture (and maintain it longer) than those whose
place of origin lies an ocean away. Similarly, the place where an immigrant
takes up a new life—in a city filled with people from the same country or in a
small community with few friends from the home country friends—can affect how
they absorb American ways and how they meld into the larger society.
Geography affects every human, every community, every region, and
every nation. Hence, a geographical dimension will be found in the other five
major articles on the
Geography is one reason why so many people immigrated to the
States
another. The
economy depends heavily on geographic factors such as natural resources,
climate, and the transportation provided by its waterways. Some local
governments are organized around geography. For example, rivers may mark the
boundaries of counties. History, in integrating all parts of the American
experience, always has geography as one of its parts.
|
IV |
|
UNITED STATES PEOPLE |
When Europeans first reached
in the 1520s, they encountered other people—Native Americans—and they also
encountered a new geography. Some imagined they were entering “a howling
wilderness”—an environment filled with exotic flora and fauna but sparsely
populated. In reality, they found their way to a landmass that was thickly
settled. But soon after the Europeans’ arrival, the population of the
plummeted, largely because Native Americans lacked immunity to smallpox,
influenza, and other infectious diseases that the Europeans brought with them.
Europeans mostly by choice and Africans almost entirely by coercion came to the
western hemisphere. However, the number of people living in what is today the
continental
did not regain the population level before European contact (estimated to be 8
million to 10 million indigenous people) until the 1840s.
How did the population of the
States
largest in the world? The article
(People) traces this growth. It is closely connected with the first theme of E
pluribus unum and the second theme of striving for greater democracy.
The article details the diversity of the
population as it grew from natural increase and from immigration. More than
that of any other country in the world, the population of the
States
of immigration. Immigration gives the
States
wave of immigration changed the ethnic, racial, and religious composition of
society. This diversity provided a rich mingling of cultures, but it has also
been a source of tension and conflict, clouding the American promise of
equality, freedom, and justice, and impeding the pursuit of E pluribus unum.
The article also shows how the population of the
States
example, has fallen steadily over the past two centuries. In the colonial era,
the average American woman gave birth to eight children; in the 1990s, she had
two children. This profound revolution in the biological history of the nation
connects with another major change in
society—women working outside the home. The connection between changing
birthrates and the shifting composition of the labor force is very powerful. Or
consider life expectancy. People live much longer than they did in the early
years of the
raising questions about how to maintain the social security system and provide
care for the elderly. This is just one example of how the people, the economy,
and the government are bound together.
|
V |
|
UNITED STATES CULTURE |
The American people, like all peoples, create a culture—a
word that used most broadly includes everything related to a people organized
in a society. The United States (Culture) article discusses how Americans
live—the communities they build, the buildings they construct, the food they
eat, the clothes they wear, their sports and recreation, celebrations, and
holidays. The article then turns to the life of the mind and the
spirit—education in the
and American arts and letters.
American culture has been influenced by the goal of E
pluribus unum and by the democratization of American society. The people
who came to the
brought their culture with them and once here, they borrowed from each other.
As the
became the favored destination of people leaving their homelands in search of a
new country, American culture became a rich and complex blending of cultures
from around the world. Generation by generation, decade by decade, American
culture has received infusions of new elements from
America
improvisational music and rhythms of blues and jazz that became the nation’s
most globally popular cultural form. An American can savor the flavors and
foods of many parts of the world and can hardly read a novel that does not
partake of regional culture or immigrant backgrounds.
Democracy has also influenced American culture, as indicated
by the gradual merging of elite and popular cultures. Nowhere has this merging
had greater importance than in education. Before World War II, only a minority
of Americans completed high school, and very few graduated from college. Today,
graduation from high school is nearly universal, and a majority of young
Americans intend to go to college. With the dramatic increase in the amount of
education they receive, Americans have become enormous consumers of books,
museums, and concerts. Never have so many people known so much about literature
and the arts.
At the end of the 20th century, an elite no longer
controls cultural expression in the
States
formal boundaries between fine art and popular art have always been artificial,
and they have dismantled older, European-based traditions in painting,
sculpture, music, dance, and literature. Many people now contribute to a myriad
of cultural forms from cartoons to public-access television programs. With
creativity arising from unexpected places, American culture now reaches out to
all the nation’s diverse peoples. This change has paralleled the extension of
political rights to more people, including women and African Americans.
Just as the American economy and American political
institutions have assumed an unprecedented position on the world scene,
American cultural forms—from music and movies to football and fast food to blue
jeans and blues—have become international in reach. No longer bound by
geography, American culture has become an ambassador of goodwill, enabling
people of different nations, different religions, and different forms of
government to find something in common.
|
VI |
|
UNITED STATES ECONOMY |
The American economy produces and Americans consume more than
any other economy in the world. It also plays a pivotal role in a global
economy, where the economies of all nations have to various degrees become
interdependent. The article
(Economy) first describes the workings of this economy. For example, it
explains the four main factors governing production: natural resources, labor,
capital, and entrepreneurship. The article also discusses the goods and
services produced in the
the role of capital, and saving and investment in the American economy. It
details how money and financial markets work, the makeup of the labor force,
how the world economy affects the American economy and vice versa, and how
different types of businesses—from megacorporations to mom-and-pop grocery
stores—function in the American economy.
The Economy article also describes the economy at the end of
the 20th century. It is closely aligned with several other articles on the
States
choices and governmental actions have resulted in the American economy of the
late 20th century. By reading the Economy and History articles together, we can
see how striving for a democratic society affects many economic decisions, from
raising the minimum wage to adjusting tax schedules. The Geography article
discusses the tension between robust economic development and concerns about
the environment. The Government article helps explain the role the political
system plays in regulating the economy and shaping economic priorities. Many
economic decisions, such as deregulating the airlines or imposing a hefty tax
on cigarettes, must be decided at the polling place or in the legislative
halls.
|
VII |
|
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT |
Much admired in most parts of the world, the system of
government devised by Americans over nearly four centuries is integral to the
American experience. Like all societies, Americans have wrestled with timeless
questions: What is the proper source of political authority? Who has the power
to make and enforce rules by which all must live? Over the course of human
history, people around the globe have invented many forms of government to
answer these questions: monarchy, aristocracy, fascism, communism, democracy,
and even anarchism. The American government is based on democracy—a word that
is easier to use than to implement effectively.
Democracy begins with the idea that government exists to serve the
people and that as the source of governmental authority, the people have the
right to change the government if it does not serve them justly. The people are
sovereign. From that pivotal idea flow a number of complementary principles:
commitment to majority rule, protection of the rights of the minority,
acceptance of a rule of law, and equality of all citizens before the law. Also,
democracy requires safeguarding liberties such as the free exchange of ideas
and opinions, freedom of religion, freedom to assemble, and the right to be
tried by a jury of one’s peers.
The article United States (Government) describes how a nation
of immigrants, of many nationalities, religions, and creeds, has attempted to
form one nation through the political system, emphasizing civil liberties,
equality of opportunity, and equal justice before the law. Americans have
disagreed sharply, and even violently, on how to interpret or achieve liberty,
equality, and justice. But their political system, under the Constitution,
provides mechanisms for reconciling differences and for achieving goals derived
from the nation’s civil creed.
Sections of the Government article give overviews of the
Constitution of the
and provide basic information on how the executive, legislative, and judicial
branches of government operate. Other sections discuss the election process,
political parties, state and local government, the law and courts, and crime
and safety.
The
cannot be fully understood without knowledge of the nation’s history. Both the
Government and History articles show how democracy has been an evolving concept
based on political institutions that have been refurbished and modified
generation by generation. At first the “we” in “We, the people” did not
generally include women, Native Americans, black Americans, immigrants from
Asia, 18- to 21-year-olds, or even white males who owned no land. Nearly a
century and a half would pass before all of these groups gained basic civil
rights through amendments to the Constitution and laws passed by Congress.
|
VIII |
|
UNITED STATES HISTORY |
An inscription on the wall of the Chinatown History Project
in
that history cannot satisfy our appetite when we are hungry, nor keep us warm
when the cold wind blows. But it is also true that if younger generations do
not understand the hardships and triumphs of their elders, then we will be a
people without a past. As such, we will be like water without a source, a tree
without roots.”
For people to understand the American experience, they must
look to the past. History encompasses every aspect of society—its geography,
people, culture, economy, and government. Thus, the
States
with, and gives greater depth to, the other articles. It also pays considerable
attention to the two themes that thread their way through the other
articles—the process of making one nation out of its many people and the
arduous work of implementing the country’s democratic principles.
The History article provides much insight into the work of
making one people out of many constituent parts. It would take the work of
generations of Americans to fulfill this dream—and the work is not yet
complete. Until slavery was abolished and former slaves were incorporated into
free society, the oneness of the American people could never be accomplished.
Successive waves of immigration intensified and complicated the quest for a
unified people. A nearly catastrophic Civil War in the 1860s interrupted the
process and perpetuated regional tensions that blocked it. Finding ways of
reaching accommodation with Native Americans has remained a thorny issue to the
present day. Nor could American women be fully incorporated into the society at
large until they gained political rights, including the right to vote and hold
office, which took until 1920.
The History article also provides a wealth of material on
efforts to bring all the various people who compose American society under the
canopy of democracy. It describes the successive movements for reform that have
taken up the uncompleted agenda first set forth by the Revolutionary
generation. These movements began with the American Revolution and included
social and political reform before the Civil War, populism and progressivism in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the New Deal, and the civil rights
movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Beyond this, readers will find fascinating
material that helps answer the question asked at the beginning of this
introduction by French immigrant Crèvecoeur: “What then is the American, this
new man?”
