TIME AND SPACE

PREHISTORY

MESOPOTAMIA

ANCIENT EGYPT

WESTERN RELIGIONS

THE CRUSADES

THE MIDDLE EAST

CONFLICTS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

ANCIENT AFRICA

COLONIAL AFRICA

AFRICA TODAY

INDIA

CHINESE HISTORY

CHINA

SOUTHEAST ASIA

JAPAN

ANCIENT GREECE

ROME

MIDDLE AGES

RENAISSANCE

ENLIGHTENMENT

WORLD WARS

RUSSIA AND COMMUNISM

EUROPE TODAY

CANADA

CARIBBEAN

MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA

SOUTH AMERICA

Mao Ze-dong

     A dynasty is a succession of rulers from the same family. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Manchu Dynasty was still nominally in power, but warlords actually controlled most of China. Warlords were local rulers who controlled small armies. In 1912, the final emperor of China, a six year old boy, was dethroned and a new government replaced two thousand years of dynastic rule. 

     The new government of China was not much stronger than the emperor. Japan invaded China and took control of Manchuria in northeastern part of the nation. A civil war soon broke out between the Nationalists, led by Chaing Kai-shek, and the Communists, led by Mao Ze-dong. 

Communism and Mao

     Communists believe in the teachings of Karl Marx, a nineteenth century German who urged workers of the world to unite. The Communists believed that a communist revolution would allow all people to share the wealth of a nation. Communists held power for many years in the Soviet Union (now known as Russia) and continue to hold power in China. By 1949, the Communists, under the leadership of Mao, took control of mainland China. The old government, led by Chaing, was forced into exile on the tiny island of Taiwan. 

     Mao was a brutal leader who wanted to revolutionize the Chinese way of life. The Communists demanded loyalty to the state over loyalty to friends and family. Any opposition to the regime was brutally crushed. All private property was nationalized, or taken over by the government. 

     Mao began the "Great Leap Forward" to enable the China to catch up to the more modern nations of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and the United States. Mao demanded that workers produce more goods. Citizens were used to build "backyard furnaces" to produce iron. Farmers were grouped together into vast communes in order help modernize the nation. Mao made profits illegal, so the workers were not encouraged to do more than their share. The "Great Leap Forward" was a failure. 

     Many of Mao’s changes were positive. Nationalizing private property freed many Chinese from cruel property owners. The government removed many corrupt officials from power. Mao gave women full equality with men and made it a priority to teach every person in the nation to learn how to read. 

The Cultural Revolution

     In 1966 Mao began the Cultural Revolution in China in an attempt to remove the "four olds:" old ideas, old customs, old culture, and old habits. He hoped to completely erase the ideas of Confucius and demand total loyalty to Communism. Mao organized a violent group of students called the Red Guard. Communism is usually associated with red. The Red Guard attacked anyone who did not agree with Mao. Many "enemies of the revolution" simply disappeared. 

     Mao died in 1976, but Communism continued. In 1989, a group of students gathered in Tiannamen Square in Beijing to protest the government. The government responded by rolling tanks through the square, killing hundreds of unarmed students.