Abstract
It has been more than 50 years since the New China was established. In order to revitalize the great Chinese nation, the Communist Party has unceasingly explored ways and means to build up a powerful and modern country. The objective has been not only to achieve a higher level of national prosperity but to ensure the comprehensive progress of society for all its citizens. Guided by three generations of Communist Party leaders, including Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and Jiang Zemin, this exploration has undergone a transition from new democracy to socialism. With the framework of a socialist construction in place, it is possible to take a look back at this historic turning point in the overall growth of China, to carve out a future path and stride together into the twenty-first century. This transition has rejuvenated the great nation by bringing about a historical change in China’s national and social outlook. It has laid a solid foundation for a prosperous and strong state government and provided the people with the opportunity to live a moderately prosperous life. This chapter will endeavor to offer insights into socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics and to provide a historical review of modern China’s exploration in this regard as well as its overall development.
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Notes
- 1.
The concept of a “democratic dictatorship” may seem like an oxymoron when translated into the English language. Essentially it enshrines the belief that the Communist Party of China governs the state on behalf of and in the interests of the people. In order to ensure that civil order is maintained and that institutions do not fall under the control of reactionary forces or the bourgeoisie, the Party gave itself the right to deploy direct, even what some might call “dictatorial,” measures.
- 2.
When Mao Zedong used the phrase “Seek truth from facts” (shí shì qiu shì), he was actually invoking a “set phrase” (chengyu) which goes back long into the Chinese past. The four-character expression appeared as early as the History of the Han Dynasty (Hanshu) and may have been remembered by Mao from an inscription at his alma mater, Hunan’s First Teachers Training School. Whereas it originally denoted an attitude towards study and research, Mao Zedong deployed it during a speech at the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 1938, in reference to pragmatism.
- 3.
Although the roots of the Cultural Revolution can be traced back to earlier events, such as Mao Zedong’s rejection of Revisionism in 1960, its starting point is on May 1966 when the Politburo released a series of documents which touched upon the recent dismissals of the director of the Party’s General Office Yang Shangkun, the Chief of Staff of the People’s Liberation Army Luo Ruiqing, the Mayor of Beijing Peng Zhen, and the Director of the Propaganda Department Lu Dingyi. The documents alleged that there were enemies within the Party which could only be rooted out by using the scrutinizing lens of Mao Zedong Thought. The decade which followed witnessed a series of mass movements and purges, with much of the grassroots activities being undertaken by youths belonging to the Red Guards. Party cadres accused of being “capitalist roaders” (Zou zipai) were frequently humiliated and persecuted in public, even to the point of death. By 1968 (largely aided by the “Gang of Four”), the movement spread to the military, and the cult of Mao’s personality was ubiquitous and enshrined by the publication of his Quotations (Mao Zhuxi Yulu) in the form of the so-called Little Red Book, the foreword of which was written by Lin Biao. With Mao Zedong Thought becoming the guideline for life and conduct, university students were compelled to suspend their studies and spend time being “reeducated” through working among the proletariat on the land. Campaigns were also launched against traditional Chinese modes of thought, such as Confucianism. Although Mao declared that the Cultural Revolution had come to an end in 1969, in reality it continued until the arrest of its key players, the Gang of Four, in 1976.
- 4.
Khrushchev’s speech at the Twentieth Soviet Congress had explicitly addressed the problems caused by the Cult of Personality as had latterly grown up around the late paramount leader Stalin. The Eighth Congress of the CCP removed Mao Zedong Thought from the Party Constitution and placed greater emphasis on pragmatic construction.
- 5.
In the People’s Republic of China since 1967, the terms “Ultra-Left” and “left communist” (Gongchan zhuyi zuoyi) refer to political theory and practice which defined themselves as being further “left” than those of the central Maoist leaders at the height of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
- 6.
An economic and social campaign by the Communist Party from 1958 to 1961. The campaign was led by Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a communist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. The success of the campaign was disputed, with some critics arguing that it led directly to the Great Chinese Famine.
- 7.
Mao Zedong Thought is the political theory derived from the teachings of Mao.
- 8.
Lin Biao (1907–1971) was one of the leading communist military leaders in the Chinese Civil War. Lin was recognized as Mao’s designated heir during the Cultural Revolution, from 1966 until his death, and was responsible for promoting Mao’s Quotations (Mao Zhuxi Yulu) as the standard primer in political thought for the entire nation. He died under mysterious circumstances in a plane crash while apparently fleeing the country. Along with Jiang Qing, he came to be considered to be a prime mover behind the excesses of the Cultural Revolution.
- 9.
Jiang Qing (1914–1991), known in Western countries as Madame Mao, was the final wife of Chairman Mao. Having taken the place of Mao’s previous wife He Zizhen, a respected revolutionary, she deliberately kept a low public profile for around 20 years. Her reemergence in the 1960s, by which time she and her husband had become increasingly estranged, coincided with the Cultural Revolution. During this period she became Deputy Director of the Central Cultural Revolution Group and gained a reputation for both promoting Maoist cultural art forms and harshly persecuting her enemies. Shortly after Mao’s death – when she was widely expected to usurp power – she and her accomplices, known as the “Gang of Four,” were arrested, put on trial, and imprisoned for life (in her case, commuted from the initial death sentence).
- 10.
This included President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 to reestablish US-China diplomatic relations.
- 11.
This was a policy of then Communist Party chairman Hua Guofeng, Mao’s successor, who had earlier ended the Cultural Revolution and arrested the Gang of Four. It stated: “We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave.”
- 12.
An element of Maoism referring to pragmatism. Beginning in 1978, it was promoted by Deng Xiaoping as a central ideology of Socialism with Chinese characteristics and applied to economic and political reforms thereafter.
- 13.
Goals first set forth by Zhou Enlai in 1963 and enacted by Deng Xiaoping from 1978 to strengthen the fields of agriculture, industry, national defense, science, and technology in China.
- 14.
China’s Four Cardinal Principles, instituted by Deng Xiaoping after the Cultural Revolution, include upholding (1) the basic spirit of communism, (2) the people’s democratic dictatorship political system, (3) the leadership of the Communist Party, and (4) Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought.
- 15.
Refers to posthumous reinstatement, regaining honor, title, or credit for their work in the Communist Party movement.
- 16.
Liu Shaoqi (1898–1969) was the most high-profile victim of the Cultural Revolution. Liu succeeded Mao as President of the People’s Republic of China in 1959, having defended the Great Leap Forward at the 8th National Congress of the CCP. He seemed likely to be Mao’s successor as paramount leader until it became known that he was critical of the policies favored by Mao’s. After the launch of the Cultural Revolution, he and Deng Xiaoping became the main targets of Jiang Qing and her supporters for allegedly being “capitalist roaders.” He endured public beatings and denunciations before finally disappearing from public view. The cause of his death was unclear. Liu was posthumously rehabilitated in 1980, and his ashes spread into the sea off Qingdao as per his wishes.
- 17.
The “Anti-Rightist Movement” began as a reaction to the freedom of expression encouraged at the initial stage of the “One Hundred Flowers Campaign” (1956). The first phase began in July 1957 when 300,000 individuals were purged from their positions, having been accused of holding Rightist sympathies. Generally, intellectuals bore the brunt of these attacks and those who were not imprisoned were sentenced to being reeducated through labor. The Minister of Communications, Zhang Bojun, was labeled “China’s number one rightist” and the politician and intellectual Luo Longji was labeled “number two rightist. A second phase began in the wake of the Lushan Conference in the summer 1959, where General Peng Dehuai, a critic of the Great Leap Forward, became the main target for condemnation.
- 18.
Hu Feng (1902–1985) spent 24 years in prison (1955–1979) owing to his criticisms of Mao’s views on literary realism. In the “Report on the Practice and State of Art and Literature in Recent Years” (Guanyu ji nianlai wenyi shijian qingkuan de baogao), published by the Politburo in 1954, he alleged that the depictions of ordinary proletarian life favored by the Party where not realistic since they were always inflected by a political message supportive of Mao’s ideas. This promptly made Hua himself a target for criticism.
- 19.
Also known as the “Southern Tour” (nanfang xun).
- 20.
The “Three Represents” refers to Jiang Zemin’s political thought. The CCP (the Party) should (1) always represent the developmental needs of China’s advanced social productive forces, (2) always represent the forward direction of China’s advanced culture, and (3) always represent the fundamental interests.
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© 2015 Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Co., Ltd and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Zhang, Q. (2015). A General Progression to the Socialist Modernization of the People’s Republic of China. In: An Introduction to Chinese History and Culture. China Academic Library. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-46482-3_15
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