In 1911, with the fall of the Manchu dynasty, china went into total chaos.
Widespread poverty- hunger and desperation. The people of china wanted change; .
hence modernization. However, modernization resulted in a rejection of many .
traditions. Many realizing that the old Confucius ways were no longer helping .
with the ever growing problems of china, decided that modernization was the only .
answer.
The Chinese communists under their leader Mao truly desired for the .
revival of their nation. "Passivity must be replaced by productive energy, and .
personal loyalty must be diverted from family to state to create one citizenry out of .
a collectivity of kinships." These were the words of Mao Zedong, who believed .
that the people should act in the favor of the communist party as a whole, above .
personal advantages and interests. He created his own Marxist ideals based on .
revolution of the peasant class instead of the working class. He ensured the .
humanitarian treatment of the peasant class, the one thing that other previous .
moevements failed to offer. This won the support of enormous amounts of people .
in tge peasantry. The 2 most important industrial and political contributions are: .
the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. The Great Leap Forward .
forced China to become industrilazed and proved that the nation could make major .
technological advances. Yet these were all at the expense of widespread famine .
and political opposition. Thus, the Great Leap Forward became the Great Famine. .
The Cultural Revolution portrayed only and all of the accomplishments and .
benefits of the revolution. Another purpose of this Cultural Revolution was to be .
rid of all traces of the old culture through the acts of the red guards. The red .
guards were students whose jobs were to destroy old customs, thoughts, culture .
and habits. Although many went against the ideal that an individual meant .
nothing, and the party meant all- those who did not cooperate were often beaten, .