China, Mandarin Zhonghua renmin gongheguo (JUNG-hwah REN-min gung-HUH-gwaw) [people’s republic of China], country (3,691,502 sq mi/ 9,561,000 sq km, 1996 estimated population 1,217,600,000; 2004 estimated population 1,298,847,624), E Asia; (cap.) Beijing. Mainland China, now called the People’s Republic of China; for the Republic of China (referred to as Nationalist China), see Taiwan.
Geography and Climate
The most populous country in the world, China has a 4,000-mi/6,400-km coast that fronts on the Yellow, East China, and South China seas. It is elsewhere bounded NE by Russia and North Korea; N by Russia and Mongolia; W by Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakstan, and Afghanistan; and SW by Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Bhutan; and SE by Myanmar, Laos, and Vietnam. China comprises twenty-two provinces: Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Gansu, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Zhejiang, and—in Northeast China, Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning—five autonomous regions (Tibet, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, and the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region; and four central-government-controlled municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin, Chongqing, and Shanghai). Hong Kong is a special administrative region. Hainan, an island in the South China Sea, became China’s twenty-second province in 1988. In 1983, the cities of Chongqing, Wuhan, Shenyang, Lüda, Guangzhou, Harbin, and Xi’an were separated from their provinces for economic adminstration, and thus made directly subordinate to the central government. In 1997, Chongqing became directly controlled by the central government.
China may be divided into the following geographic regions: the 12,000-ft/3,660-m-high Tibetan plateau, bounded in the N by the Kunlun mountain system; the Tarim and Junggar basins of Xinjiang, separated by the Tianshan; the vast Inner Mongolian tableland; the E highlands and central plain of Northeast; and what has been traditionally called China proper. This last region, which contains some 80% of the country’s population, falls into three divisions: N China, which coincides with the Huang He (Yellow River) basin and is bounded in the S by the Qinling mountains and the Huai River., includes the Loess Plateau of the NW, the North China Plain, and the mountains of the Shandong peninsula. Central China, watered by Chang Jiang (the Yangzi River), includes the basin of Sichuan, the central Chang Jiang lowlands, and the Chang Jiang delta. S China includes the plateau of Yunnan and Guizhou and the valleys of the Xi He and Pearl rivers.
In general, China may be described as wet in the summer and dry in the winter. Regional differences are found in the highlands of Tibet, the desert and steppes of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, and in China proper. Here the Qinling mountains and Huai River are the major dividing range not only between semiarid N China and the more humid central and S China but also between the grain-growing economy of the N and the rice economy of the S. After the 1950s there was a steady migration to growing industrial areas in outlying regions such as Xinjiang, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, and Qinghai, in addition to increasing urbanization since the late 1970s.
Population
The Han Chinese (so called for the Han dynasty) make up approximately 92% of the total population. They are linguistically homogeneous in the N, where they speak the Mandarin language (the basis of the national language of China) with varieties of local dialects, while in the S, Cantonese, Wu, and Hakka are only a few of the many languages spoken (some 108 dialects are spoken in Fujian province alone). The written language is universal; Chinese ideographs are common to all the languages and dialects. The non-Chinese groups represent only 8% of the population, but the interior regions in which they live constitute over half of the total area of the country. Among the main non-Chinese minorities are the Zhuang, a Thai-speaking group, found principally in Guangxi; the Hui (Muslims), found chiefly in Ningxia; the Uygurs, who live mainly in Xinjiang; the Yi (Lolo), who live on the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan; the Tibetans, concentrated in Tibet and Qinghai; the Miao, widely distributed throughout the mountainous areas of S China; the Mongols, found chiefly in the Mongolian steppes; and the Koreans, who are concentrated in the NE. There are 9.8 million Manchus; they are very similar to the Han. The constitution of the People’s Republic of China provides for religious freedom, but religious practice is subject to rigorous government control. Traditionally, Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and ancestor worship were practiced in an eclectic mixture with varying appeals. Islam, the largest monotheistic sect, is found chiefly in the NW. Christianity, which had a small number of adherents, had been repressed since the Communists took power in 1949 but currently is growing rapidly in coastal cities and open economic zones.
Economy - Agriculture
Agriculture is by far the leading occupation in China, involving about 50% of the population, although extensive rough, high terrain and large arid areas—especially in the W and N—limit cultivation to only about 15% of the land surface. Since the late 1970s China has decollectivized agriculture, yielding tremendous gains in production. Except for the oasis farming in Xinjiang and Qinghai, some irrigated areas in Inner Mongolia and Gansu, and sheltered valleys in Tibet, agricultural production is restricted to the E. China is the world’s largest producer of rice and wheat, and a major producer of sweet potatoes, kaoliang, millet, barley, peanuts, corn, soybeans, and potatoes. In terms of cash crops, China ranks first in cotton and tobacco, and is an important producer of oilseeds, silk, tea, ramie, jute, hemp, sugarcane, and sugar beets.
Livestock raising on a large scale is confined to the border regions and provinces in the N and W; it is mainly of the nomadic pastoral type. China ranks first in world production of red meat (including beef, veal, mutton, lamb, and pork). Sheep, cattle, and goats are the most common types of livestock. Horses, donkeys, and mules are work animals in the N, while oxen and water buffalo are used for plowing chiefly in the S. Hogs and poultry are widely raised in China proper, furnishing important export staples, such as hog bristles and egg products. Fish and pork supply most of the animal protein in the Chinese diet. Due to improved technology, the fishing industry grew over 10% a year from the late 1970s to the mid-1990s.
Economy - Natural Resources
China is one of the world’s major mineral-producing countries; extensive exploration since 1950 has yielded significant new deposits. Coal is the most abundant mineral (China ranks first in coal production, producing 1.2 billion tons/1.1 billion metric tons per year and employing five million workers in 1994); high-quality, easily mined coal is found throughout the country, but especially in the N and NE. China also has extensive iron-ore deposits; the largest mines are at Anshan and Benxi, in Liaoning province. China used to import about 90% of its petroleum, but new fields have been discovered since the 1960s, and the country is now a net exporter. In the late 1980s, there were over fifty major oil refineries in the country, although transportation of the oil was still a problem. Offshore and interior-basin explorations have become important, where massive deposits are believed to exceed all the world’s known oil reserves. China’s leading export minerals are tungsten (China has the world’s largest supply), antimony, tin, molybdenum, mercury, manganese, barite, and salt. China is among the world’s four top producers of tin, tungsten, zinc, and antimony, and ranks second (after the U.S.) in the production of salt, sixth in gold, and eighth in lead ore. There are large deposits of uranium in the NW, especially in Xinjiang; there are also mines in Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces. Aluminum is found in many parts of the country; China is the world’s sixth-largest producer. It also has deposits of copper, fluorite, nickel, asbestos, phosphate rock, pyrite, and sulfur. Coal is the single most important energy source; coal-fired thermal electric generators provide over 70% of the country’s electric power. China has extensive hydroelectric energy potential, notably in Yunnan, W Sichuan, and E Tibet, although hydroelectric power accounts for only 5% of China’s total energy production. Hydroelectric projects are in all the provinces served by major rivers where near-surface coal is not abundant.
Economy - Industry
Changes in economic policy in the late 1970s led to considerable industrial growth, especially in light industries that produce consumer goods. Major industrial products are textiles, chemicals, fertilizers, machinery (especially for agriculture), processed foods, iron and steel, building materials, plastics, toys, and electronics. Before 1945 heavy industry was concentrated in the Northeast (Manchuria), but important centers have now been established in other parts of the country, notably in Shanghai and Wuhan. After the 1960s the emphasis was on regional self-sufficiency, and many factories have sprung up in rural areas. The iron and steel industry is organized around several major centers (including Anshan, one of the world’s largest), but thousands of small iron and steel plants have also been established throughout the country. Brick, tile, cement, and food-processing plants are found in almost every province. Shanghai and Guangzhou are the traditionally great textile centers, but many new mills have been built, concentrated mostly in the cotton-growing provs. of N China and along Chang Jiang (the Yangzi River).
Economy - Transportation
Coastal cities, especially in the SE, have benefited greatly from China’s increasingly open trade policies. Most of China’s large cities, e.g., Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou, are also the country’s main ports. Other leading ports are railroad termini, such as Dalian, on the South Liaoning Railroad, and Qingdao, on the line from Jinan. In the Northeast (Manchuria) are large cities and railroad centers, notably Shenyang (Mukden), Harbin, and Changchun. Great inland cities include Beijing and the river ports of Nanjing, Chongjing, and Wuhan. Taiyuan and Xi’an are important centers in the less populated interior, and Lanzhou is the key communications junction of the vast NW. Rivers and canals (notably the Grand Canal, which connects the Huang He and the Chang Jiang River) remain important transportation arteries. The E and NE are well served by railroads and highways, and there are now major railroad and road links with the interior. There are railroads to North Korea, Russia, Mongolia, and Vietnam, and road connections to Pakistan, India, Nepal, and Myanmar. Although a British crown colony, Hong Kong has long been a major maritime outlet of S China. China’s economy, though strengthed by the more liberal economic policies of the 1980s, continues to suffer from inadequate transportation, communication, and energy resources.
History - Prehistory to c.1523 B.C.
The fossils of Sinanthropus pekinensis found in N China are the earliest discovered protohuman remains in NE Asia. About 20,000 years ago, after the last glacial period, modern man appeared in the Ordos desert region. The subsequent culture shows marked similarity to that of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, and some scholars argue a Western origin for Chinese civilization. However, since the second millennium B.C. a unique and fairly uniform culture has spread over almost all of China. China’s history is traditionally viewed as a continuous development with certain repetitive tendencies, as described in the following general pattern. The area under political control would tend to expand from the E Huang He (Yellow River) and Chang Jiang River basins, the heart of Chinese culture, and then, under outside military pressure, to shrink back. Conquering barbarians from the N and the W would supplant native dynasties, take over Chinese culture, lose their vigor, and be expelled in a surge of nationalistic feeling. Following a disordered and anarchic period, a new dynasty would arise. Its predecessor, by engaging in excessive warfare, tolerating corruption, and failing to keep up public works, would forfeit the right to rule—in the traditional view, the dynasty would lose “the mandate of Heaven.” Under the new administrators, central authority would be reestablished, public works constructed, taxation modified and equalized, and land redistributed. After a prosperous period, disintegration would reappear, inviting barbarian intervention or native revolt.
History - Shan to Tang Dynasties (1523 B.C. to 907 A.D.)
The Shang dynasty (c.1523–1027 B.C.) is the first in documented Chinese history. During the succeeding, often turbulent, Zhou (also Chou) dynasty (c.1027–256 B.C.), Confucius, Lao-zi (Lao-Tzu), and Mencius lived, and the literature that formed the basis of traditional Chinese education was written. The use of iron was the main material advance. The Qin (Chin, or Ch’in) dynasty (221–206 B.C.) first established the centralized imperial system that was to govern China during stable periods. The Great Wall was begun in this period. The Han dynasty period (202 B.C.–A.D. 220), traditionally deemed China’s imperial age, is notable for long peaceful rule, expansionist policies, and great artistic achievement. The Three Kingdoms period (A.D. 220–265) opened four centuries of warfare among petty states and of invasions of the N by the barbarian Xiong-nu (Huns). Feudalism partly revived under the Jin dynasty (265–420) with the decay of central authority. Under the Sui (581–618) and the Tang (618–907) a vast domain, much of which had first been assimilated to Chinese culture in the preceding period, was unified. The civil-service examination system based on the Chinese classics and a renaissance of Confucianism was an important development of this brilliant era.
History - Tang to Ming Dynasties (907 to 1557)
The end of the Tang was marked by a withdrawal from conquered border regions to the center of Chinese culture. The period of the Five Dynasties and the Ten Kingdoms (906–960), which was a time of chaotic social change, was followed by the Song (or Sung) dynasty (960–1279), a time of scholarship and artistic progress, marked by authentication of the Confucian literary canon and the improvement of printing techniques through the invention of movable type. Gunpowder was first used for military purposes in this period. While the Song ruled central China, barbarians—the Khitai, the Jurchen, and the Tangut—created N empires that were swept away by the Mongols under Jenghiz Khan. His grandson Kublai Khan, founder of the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), retained Chinese institutions. The great realm of Kublai was described in all its richness by one of the most celebrated of all travelers, Marco Polo. Improved roads and canals were the dynasty’s main contributions to China. The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) set out to restore Chinese (specifically Song-era) culture. Its initial territorial expansion was largely lost by the early 15th century.
History - European Influence and the Qing Dynasty (1557 to 1900)
European trade and infiltration began with the Portugese settlement of Macao in 1557 but immediately ran into official Chinese opposition. Meanwhile the Manchu peoples advanced steadily S in the 16th and 17th centuries and had completely conquered China by 1644, establishing the Qing (or Ch’ing), or Manchu, dynasty (1644–1911). Under emperors Kang Xi (reigned 1662–1722) and Qian Long (reigned 1735–1796), China was perhaps at its greatest territorial extent. The Qing opposition to foreign trade, at first even more implacable than that of the Ming, relaxed ultimately, and in 1834, Guangzhou was opened to limited overseas trade. One of the factors in this event was the illegal importation of opium by British traders in exchange for such desired Chinese products as tea and silk. Great Britain, dissatisfied with trade arrangements, provoked the Opium War (1839–1842), obtained commercial concessions, and established the precedent of extraterritoriality, where China relinquished legal authority over both foreign citizens and foreign-administered areas of the country. Soon France, Germany, and Russia successfully put forward similar demands. The Qing regime, already weakened by internal problems, was further enfeebled by European intervention, the devastating Taiping Rebellion (1848–1865), and, toward the end of the century, Japanese military incursions (Sino-Japanese War, 1894–1895).
History - Uprising and Revolution (1900 to 1917)
Great Britain and the U.S. promoted the Open Door Policy—that all nations enjoy equal access to China’s trade, but foreign powers ignored the proposal, and China was divided into separate zones of influence. Chinese resentment of foreigners grew, and the Boxer Uprising (1900), encouraged by Empress Ci Xi, was a last desperate effort to suppress foreign influence. Belated domestic reforms failed to stem a revolution long plotted, chiefly by Sun Yat-sen (Mandarin Sun Zhong-Shan), and set off in 1911 after the explosion of a bomb at Wuchang. With relatively few casualties, the Qing dynasty was overthrown and a republic was established. Sun, the first president, resigned early in 1912 in favor of Yuan Shi-kai, who commanded the military power; Yuan established a repressive regime, which led Sun’s followers to revolt sporadically. Early in World War I, Japan seized the German leasehold in Shandong province and presented China with “21 Demands,” designed to make all of China a virtual Japanese protectorate. China was forced to accept a modified version of the Demands, although the treaties were never ratified by the Chinese legislature.
History - World War I and Civil War (1917 to 1921)
China entered World War I on the Allied side in 1917, but at the Versailles peace conference was unable to prevent Japan from being awarded the Shandong territory. Reaction to this provision in the Versailles treaty led to nationalist flare-ups and the May 4th Movement of 1919. At the Washington Conference (1921–1922), Japan finally agreed to withdraw its troops from Shandong and restore full sovereignty to China. The Nine-Power Treaty, signed at the conference, guaranteed China’s territorial integrity and the Open Door Policy. Meanwhile, Yuan had died (1916) and China was disintegrating into rival warlord states. Civil war raged between Sun’s new revolutionary party, the Kuomintang, which established a government in Guangzhou and received the support of the S provinces, and the national government in Beijing, supported by warlords (semi-independent military commanders) in the N. As cultural ferment seethed throughout China, intellectuals sought inspiration in Western ideals; Hu Shi, prominent in the burgeoning literary renaissance, began a movement to simplify the Chinese written language. Labor agitation, especially against foreign-owned companies, became more common, and resentment against Western religious ideas grew.
History - Nationalism and Communism (1921 to 1936)
In 1921, the Chinese Communist party (CCP) was founded. Failing to get assistance from the West, Sun made an alliance with the Communists and sought aid from the USSR. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek (Mandarin Jiang Jie-shi) led the army of the Kuomintang N to victory by consolidating most of China proper under the Nationalists. Chiang reversed Sun’s policy of cooperation with the CCP and executed many of its leaders. Thus began the long civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists. Chiang established (1928) a government in Nanjing and obtained foreign recognition. A Communist government was set up in the early 1930s in rural Jiangxi, but Chiang’s continued military campaigns forced (1934) them on the Long March to the NW, where they settled in Yan’an, Shaanxi. Japan, taking advantage of China’s internal strife, occupied Northeast (Manchuria) in 1931 and established (1932) the puppet state of Manchukuo. While Japan moved S from Northeast, Chiang ignored them and chose to campaign against the CCP.
History - World War II (1936 to 1948)
In the “Xi’an Incident” (December 1936), Chiang was kidnapped by troops from Northeast and held until he agreed to accept Communist cooperation in the fight against Japan. In July 1937, after manufacturing a hostile “incident,” the Japanese attacked and invaded China proper; Nanjing, in particular, was taken with great brutality. By 1940, N China, the coastal areas, and the Chang Jiang valley were all under Japanese occupation, administered by the puppet regime of Wang Jing-wei, based in Nanjing. The Nationalist government was moved inland to Chongqing. After 1938, Chiang resumed his military harrassment of the CCP, who were an effective fighting force against the Japanese. With Japan’s attack (1941) on U.S. and British bases and the onset of World War II in Asia, China received U.S. and British aid. The country was much weakened at the war’s close. The end of the Japanese threat and the abolition of extraterritoriality did not bring peace to the country. The hostility between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists flared into full-scale war as both raced to occupy the territories evacuated by the Japanese. The U. S., alarmed at the prospect of a Communist success in China, arranged through ambassadors Patrick J. Hurley and George C. Marshall for conferences between Chiang and the CCP leader Mao Zedong, but these proved unsuccessful. When the Soviets withdrew from Northeast, which they had occupied in accordance with agreements reached at the Yalta Conference, they turned the Japanese military equipment in that area over to the CCP, giving them a strong foothold in what was then the industrial core of China.
History - Communism Ascendant (1948 to 1953)
Complete Communist control of Northeast was realized with the capture of Shenyang (Mukden) in November 1948. Elsewhere in the country, Chiang’s Nationalists, supplied by U.S. arms, were generally successful until 1947, when the CCP gained the upper hand. Sweeping inflation, increased police repression, and continual famine weakened public confidence in the Nationalist government, and much of the population came to support, at least passively, the Communists. Beijing fell to the Communists without a fight in January 1949, followed (April–November 1949) by the major cities of Nanjing, Wuhan (Hankou), Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing. In August 1949, when little Nationalist resistance remained, the U.S. Department of State announced that no further aid would be given to Chiang’s government. The Communists, from their capital at Beijing, proclaimed a central people’s government on October 1, 1949. The seat of the Nationalist government was moved to Taiwan in December. The new Communist government was immediately recognized by the USSR and shortly thereafter by Great Britain, India, and other nations. However, recognition was refused by the U.S., which maintained close ties with Taiwan. By April 1950, the last pockets of Nationalist resistance were cleaned out, and all of mainland China was secure for the Communists. The Communists brought the soaring inflation under control and effected a more equitable distribution of food. A land-reform program was launched, and police control was tightened.
History - Tibet, Korea, and the Great Leap Forward (1953 to 1959)
During the First Five-year plan (1953–1957), agriculture was collectivized and industry was nationalized. With USSR assistance, construction of many modern large-scale plants was begun, and railroads were built to link the new industrial complexes of the N and NW. On the international scene, Chinese Communist troops took possession of Tibet in October 1950. That same month Chinese forces intervened in the Korean War to meet a drive by UN forces toward the NE border. Large-scale Chinese participation in the war persisted until the armistice of July 1953, after which China emerged as a diplomatic power in Asia. Zhou En-lai became internationally known through his role at the Geneva (1954) and Bandung (1955) conferences. The Great Leap Forward, an economic program aimed at making China a major industrial power overnight, was under way by 1958. It featured the expansion of cooperatives into communes, which disrupted family life but offered a maximum use of the labor force. The program was not successful.
History - Economic and International Discord (1959 to 1962)
The worst weather conditions in a cent. brought three successive crop failures (1959–1961), with the ensuing food shortages dramatizing the dangers of neglecting agricultural development while emphasizing industrial expansion. The industrialization program, pushed too fast, resulted in the overproduction of inferior goods and the deterioration of the industrial plant. A severe blow was the termination of Soviet aid in 1960 and the withdrawal of Soviet technicians and advisers—events that revealed a growing ideological rift between China and the USSR. The rift, which began with the institution of a destalinization policy by the Soviets in 1956, widened considerably after the USSR adopted a more conciliatory approach toward the West in the Cold War. There were massive military buildups along the border, and border clashes erupted in Northeast and Xinjiang. Meanwhile, hostility continued between Communist China and the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, who pledged himself to the reconquest of the mainland. The Communist government insisted on its right to Taiwan, but the U.S. made clear its intention to defend that island against direct attack, having even given (1955) a qualified promise to defend the Nationalist-held offshore islands of Jinmen (Quemoy) and Mazu (Matsu) as well. China’s relations with other Asian nations (e.g., Indonesia), at first cordial, were adversely affected by China’s encouragement of Communist activity within their borders, the suppression of a revolt in Tibet (1959–1960), and undeclared border wars with India in 1959 and 1962 over disputed territory.
History - New Diplomacy and Cultural Revolution (1962 to 1971)
In the Vietnam War, China provided supplies, armaments, and technical assistance as well as militant verbal support to North Vietnam. In the late 1960s and early 1970s the emphasis of China’s foreign policy changed from revolutionary to diplomatic; new contacts were established, and efforts were made to improve relations with many governments. China continued to strengthen its influence with other underdeveloped nations, extending considerable economic aid to countries in South America, Africa, and Asia. Important steps in the Chinese progression toward recognition as a world power were the successful explosions of China’s first atomic (1964) and hydrogen (1967) bombs, and the launching of its first satellite (1970). Internal dissension and power struggles were revealed in such domestic crises as the momentous Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), where the radical faction within the party moved to get rid of the moderates and to take control of the party and government. Initiated by Mao and implemented by radicals Lin Biao (then defense minister) and the “Gang of Four,” including Jiang Qing (Mao’s wife), Zhang Chun-qiao, Yao Wen-yuan,and Wang Hong-wen. Due to encouragement by Mao and his radical supporters, students, workers, and peasants organized into the Red Guards and other political organizations. Moderate economic policies, Western culture, and traditional Chinese ideologies were under attack. Moderate officials, intellectuals, scientists, artists, college professors, schoolteachers, and cultural celebrities were prosecuted, stripped of their work, or sent to physical camps.
History - International Recognition (1971 to 1976)
In 1971 Lin Biao died in an airplane crash while he was allegedly fleeing to the USSR after an abortive attempt to stage a military coup and to assassinate Mao. Economically, the emphasis in the 1960s and early 1970s was on agriculture. During the Cultural Revolution, economic programs were initiated, featuring the establishment of many small factories in the countryside and stressing local self-sufficiency. Both industrial and agricultural production records were set in 1970, and, despite serious droughts in some areas in 1972, output continued to increase steadily. The requirement, set by the U.S., of a two-thirds majority for granting admission of Communist China to the UN, was met in 1971; that October, Communist delegates were seated as the representatives of all China and, despite the opposition of the U.S., which favored a “Two-China” membership, the Nationalist delegation was expelled. A breakthrough in the hostile relations between the U.S. and Communist China came with the dramatic visit of President Richard M. Nixon to Beijing in February 1972. Although U.S. support of Taiwan remained a sensitive issue, the visit resulted in a joint agreement to work toward peace in Asia and to develop closer economic, cultural, and diplomatic ties.
History - Political Balance and the Death of Mao (1976 to 1980)
Political power in the People’s Republic of China resides in the CCP, which operates through the government structure; the party had been dominated since the 1930s by Mao Zedong. Although Mao resigned his position as chairman of the People’s Republic during the failures of the Great Leap Forward, as chairman of the central committee of the CCP he remained the most powerful political figure in China. Liu Shao-qi, who succeeded Mao as chairman of the Republic in 1959, was deposed and tortured to death during the Cultural Revolution. By the mid-1970s, political power was balanced between the moderates, led by premier Zhou En-lai and vice premier Deng Xiao-ping, and the radicals, led by the Gang of Four. Mao mediated between the two factions. With the death of Zhou in January 1976, the Gang of Four convinced Mao that Deng’s economic plan, the “Four Modernizations,” would overturn the legacy of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. On April 5, Memorial Day, hundreds of thousands of students and citizens of Beijing gathered in Tiananmen Square in honor of the late premier. The gathering turned into a demonstration against the Gang of Four and their radical policies. The demonstration was crushed by police and government-led militia. Deng was arrested in April, along with many of his supporters. After Mao’s death in September 1976, however, a coalition of political and military leaders arrested (October) the Gang of Four, and Hua Guo-feng, who had succeeded Zhou as premier, became party chairman. Deng was rehabilitated in 1977 and was soon recognized as the most powerful party member, although he was nominally deputy chairman to Hua.
History - Economic Modernization and Tiananmen (1980 to 1990)
In 1980 Hua stepped down in favor of Zhao Zi-yang, Deng’s choice for premier. From 1977, Deng began to work toward his two main objectives, which were to modernize and strengthen the economy and to forge closer political ties with Western nations. To this end, four coastal cities were named (1979) special economic zones (SEZ) in order to attract foreign investment, trade, and technology. Fourteen more cities were given this designation in 1984. Shenzhen has become the most successful example of the SEZ. Thanks to capital investment from Hong Kong, and the shift of Hong Kong manufacturing plants to Shenzen, it has grown into a prosperous export city of 1.92 million people. China also decollectivized its cooperative farms, which led to a dramatic increase in agricultural production. The People’s Republic of China reached a political milestone when formal diplomatic relations were established with the U.S. on January 1, 1979. In 1980, the People’s Republic took Taiwan’s place in the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. China had a brief border war with Vietnam in 1979 over Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia and harassment of ethnic Chinese Vietnamese. China is also in conflict with Vietnam, the Philippines, and Malaysia over the ownership of the Spratly and Paracel islands; at issue are fishing rights and offshore-oil and gas potential. The 1980s saw further clashes between China and Vietnam over border disputes, but China generally has been able to maintain peaceful foreign relations in order to advance its domestic agenda.
In the 1970s, in order to control population growth, the government instituted a law limiting families to one child. However, economic reform has led the government to loosen its control and the policy has become less effective. In the early 1980s, China reorganized the structure of the government, and the CCP rehabilitated many people attacked during the Cultural Revolution. Declaring a policy of “One Country, Two Systems,” China reached agreements with both Great Britain (1984) and Portugal (1987) to return to Chinese sovereignty the territories of Hong Kong (in 1997) and Macao (in 1999). In 1987, following a series of student demonstrations, Hu Yao-bang, a reformist who had been named general secretary in 1982, was replaced by Zhao Zi-yang, who was in turn replaced as premier by Li Peng. The death of Hu (April 1989) led to the series of demonstrations for democracy in Beijing that culminated in the violent military suppression at Tiananmen Square. The government arrested thousands of suspected dissidents and replaced Zhao with Jiang Ze-min. The incident inspired international outrage, including international economic sanctions, which sent China’s economy into decline.
History - 1990 to Present
International trade gradually resumed during the course of the next year, and in June 1990, after China released several hundred dissidents, the U.S. renewed China’s most-favored-nation trade status. Since the Tiananmen Square Incident, China has sought to concentrate on its economic development, avoiding political conflict, as in its support of the UN coalition in the Persian Gulf War. However, until the mid-1990s, the issue of human rights continued to be a major dispute in China’s relations with the West. In addition, China’s trade surplus with the U.S. and China’s piracy of American products caused serious concern for the U.S. in the mid-1990s. A sticking point in Sino-U.S. relations is the issue of Taiwan. Although diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Taiwan were terminated in 1979, the two countries have maintained semiofficial offices in each other’s cities functioning as de facto embasies. China has criticzed U.S. arms deals with Taiwan since the 1980s and rejected U.S. demands for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue. In 1995, Beijing was outraged at the U.S. for permitting Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui’s U.S. visit. China launched missles in waters near Taiwan later that year. In March 1996, China conducted an air–naval joint military exercise in the Taiwan Strait, coinciding with the first presidential election in Taiwan, while the U.S. Seventh Fleet monitored the maneuvers. After the death of Deng Xiao-ping in early 1997, China came under the rule of a new generation of CCP leadership headed by Jiang Ze-min. Taiwanese capital continues to flow into China. In September 1997, the CCP’s 15th Congress endorsed Jiang’s policy permitting the sale of 13,000 large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, as well as most of the state’s 300,000 small plants, to public shareholders. This move put Jiang’s stamp on the new post-Deng era, speeding up the pace of economic reform. These market-oriented reforms quadrupled output by 2000.
Government
The chief of state since 2003 is President Hu Jintao. The head of government is Premier Wen Jiabao (March 2003).
