L-24+To+discuss+the+collapse+of+Imperial+China

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In the early 1900's China was ready for revolution. They had faced many years of humiliation from other countries. Foreign countries controlled China's trade and economic resources. China wanted to build up an army and navy, to construct modern factories, and to reform education but many feared change. Unlike China, who believed that modernization and nationalism held their country together, other countries believed that China's greatness laid in the traditional ways. ======

=Nationalists Overthrow Qing Dynasty =

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In 1912 Sun became the president of the new Republic of China. He tried to establish a government based on the “Three Principles of the People.” These principles are, nationalism(an end to foreign control), people’s rights(democracy), people’s livelihood(economic security for all Chinese people). Unfortunately Sun lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity. Sun was forced to turn his presidency over to Yuan Shikai. Yuan quickly betrayed the democratic ideals that Sun tried to establish. This angered Chinese citizens who in return started local revolts. Once Yuan died in 1916 the local revolts turned into a civil war in China. ======

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After China’s civil war there were several weaknesses in the new Republic of China. Within the country warlords claimed territory which divided the country. The competition between warlords ruined the land by destroying bridges and roads, and ruining valuable crops. With this conflict going on a famine struck China causing millions of peasants to perish. ======

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In 1917 China declared war on Germany in order to try and regain lost territory. Once the Allied powers defeated the Germans the land China hoped to regain was given to Japan through the Treaty of Versailles. Outrage swept through out China. On May 4, 1919, 3,000 Chinese students marched in anger through out Beijing. The demonstrations of anger shown in Beijing spread and started a national movement. This movement was called the May Fourth Movement because it began on May 4th. ======

** Tiananmen Square ** Tiananmen Square, also known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace, was the place for many political activities during the 20th century. This includes the May Fourth Movement.On that day thousands of students gathered to protest the Treaty of Versailles. Seventy years later students gathered again to demand political reforms. Soon after the anniversary of the May Fourth Movement millions gathered at the square and the Chinese army was told to take out any protesters. Thousands were killed or injured.

[[image:180px-Treaty_of_Versailles,_English_version.jpg width="218" height="327"]] Treaty of Versailles
=The Communist Party In China =

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Mao Zedong was an assistant librarian at Beijing University. Later he became China's greatest revolutionary leader. He already began to develop his own brand of communism. He believed he could bring revolution to a rural country where peasants could be true revolutionaries. Jiang Jieshi headed the Kuomintang. He was the son of a middle merchant. Many of his followers were business people and bankers. They all feared the communist goal of creating a socialist economy modeled after the socialist unions. Jiang promised democracy and political rights to all Chinese. But with him in power his reign of rule became less democratic and more corrupt. Jiang and Mao are different because Mao is for communism and Jiang is for democracy. Mao wanted to bring revolution to the rural country, but Jiang promised his people democracy and political and democracy rights to all Chinese. ======



**Jiang Jeshi and Mao Zedong **
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He said that the force of peasantry is like the raging winds and driving rain. It is rapidly increasing in violence. No force can stand in its way. The peasantry will tear apart all nets which bind it and hasten along the road to liberation. They will bury beneath them forces of imperialism, militarism, corrupt, officialdom, village bosses and evil gentry. ======

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Mao told them that the revolution was in danger and that they needed to do everything in their power to stop it. He told them that they need to stop the emergence of privileged class in China. He told the peasants that this is what happened in the Soviet Union during the powers of Joseph Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev. Both of these people were very harsh and murderous dictators. Mao told his peasants that, thats what is going to happen if they don't do something to stop a privileged class from coming into and taking over China.======

**4. In what way was the Nationalist government legitimized?**
Sun Yixian overthrew the Qing Dynasty. He was the ruler of the nationalist party for a while. The Qing had ruled china since 1644. Then in 1912 Sun had become the president of the new Republic of China. He hoped to establish a modern government based on the "Three principles of the people" 1. nationalism 2. peoples rights 3. peoples livelihood. But unfortunately Sun lacked the authority and military support to secure national unity. So Sun decided to turn his presidency over to a powerful general, who could hopefully unite China under one government. That powerful general was Yuan Shikai. But he quickly betrayed the democratic ideals of the revolution. His actions sparked local revolts. After the general died in 1916 civil war broke out. The real authority fell into the hands of real warlords. They ruled territories as big as their armies could conquer. But then in 1927 Jiang put his differences aside with communists and they fought together to defeat the warlords. The nationalists nearly wiped out the entire Chinese Communist Party. In 1928 Jiang became president of the Nationalist Republic of China which the U.S. formally recognized. But because of the slaughter of the communist party at Shanghai the soviet Union did no recognize the new government. Jiangs treachery lead to long-term affects. The communists deep-seated rage over the massacre erupted in civil war that would last until 1949.

=Civil War Rages In China = ==== **1. What was the Long March? ** 1,000,000 communists went on a 6,000 mile journey. This journey was very dangerous. It was about the distance from New York to San Fransisco and back. They went on this journey because Jiang's army of 700,000 men was too big for the Communist Party and they knew they were going to be defeated. Between 1934 and 1935 the Communists were only a little bit ahead of Jiang's forces. Thousands of communists died from hunger, exposure, cold, and battle wounds. The Red Army had to cross snowy mountains and the men carried enough food to last them for 10 days. Each day they marched six to seven hours. In total they crossed 18 mountain ranges and 24 rivers. One very difficult and dangerous task the Red Army had to conquer was crossing a bridge of iron with the planks having been removed. After a little more than a year Mao and the other communist that survived settled in caves in China and while they were there they gained new followers. ====



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In 1930 the Nationalists and the Communists were fighting in the civil war and the Communists established themselves on the south-central side of China. I think that "swimming in the peasant sea" means that there were lots of peasants on the countryside because Mao's tactic was to take his revolution to the countryside. He picked peasants to go into the red army and trained them using guerrilla warfare. Nationalists attacked the Communists over and over but never fully defeated them. ======

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Yes because in the end the forces of Jiang and Mao united. They united because of a threat Japan forced on them. Japan could do this because they had taken almost all control over China. They had done an all out invasion on China. In doing this China's farms got destruction done to them which caused death due to starvation. When the forces joined together, the civil war came to a halt. The Nationalists and the Communists united to fight the Japanese. The Japanese won in this fight. But as soon as the fight was over Jiang and Mao's forces went back to hating each other again. ======