Transcript The New Asia - History: A Cultural Approach

The New Asia
SSWH18:d;19:e; 20:d.
Time and Geography
POLITICAL
Mao’s China
• Chairman Mao
– Creator of Chinese communism
– Believed correct path to socialism was
through revolutionary peasantry
– Extremely distrustful of intellectuals
Mao Zedong
Mao’s China
• Rural policies
– At first, regime instituted basic policies to
keep control
• Expropriated land, redistributed and
collectivized it
• Peasants did not resist, regarded
government as legitimate authority
– Commune became basis of rural
production, government, with disastrous
results; eventually abolished
• Unclear responsibilities
• Food production barely matched growing
population; mass famine was inevitable
Statue of young Mao
in Changsha, the capital
of Hunan
Law and Government
ECONOMIC
China
• Industrialization
– Emphasized heavy industry at
expense of consumer goods
– Great Leap Forward
• Attempt at overnight mass
industrialization
• Enormously costly failure
• Accelerated growing gap between
Chinese, Russia
Backyard furnaces in China during the Great Leap
Forward era.
POLITICAL
China
• Sino-Soviet conflict
– Russians criticized Mao for
trying to be another “Great
Father” like Stalin
– Mao told Russians they had
strayed from revolutionary path
and that he intended to be
spokesman for masses
– Rift was very visible by time of
Cuban Missile Crisis
The Soviet T-62 tank captured by the Chinese
during the 1969 clash, now on display at
the Military Museum of the Chinese People's
Revolution
Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
• Mao wanted to create new relationship between party, people,
revolutionary power
• Attack aimed primarily at intellectuals
• Wanted to introduce permanent, self-perpetuating revolution
• Used Red Guards to rid China of reverence for tradition, make war
on older generations
The Chinese People's
Liberation Army is the
great school of Mao
Zedong Thought, 1969. A
poster from the Cultural
Revolution, featuring an
image of Chairman Mao,
and published by the
government of
the People's
Republic of
China
Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
• 3-4 years of barely controlled anarchy, severe
damage to economy
• Mao’s “Little Red Book” became required
reading
• Called off Red Guards, used army to handle
everyday affairs
• Continued tensions with Russians – Amur
River War
• Cultural Revolution survived until Mao’s death
– Was then condemned as mistake
– Party officials began putting Mao’s contributions
into historical perspective
Red Guards on the cover of an
elementary school textbook.
Recent China
• Deng Xiaoping
– Determined to return China
to “normal” socialism
– Prosperity gradually spread
– Particularly interested in
establishing better relations
with foreign capitalists
Deng Xiaoping
ECONOMIC
Recent China
• Rise of China - an important economic power
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1984 to 2004, GDP increased avg.9.7%/year
Fastest growing economy - world’s sixth highest
Problems: disparities in income - urban and rural
Civil servants and professionals (teachers and
physicians) grossly underpaid than private sector
– Public corruption pervasive problem - resentment,
wealth by whatever means
Recent China
• China/US relations
warmed
– Increased interest in
understanding US better
– Progress in opening country
to foreigners, democratizing
Communist Party
POLITICAL
Recent China
• Tiananmen Square Massacre
– Spread of freedoms frightened party leaders
– Students demonstrators erected a “Goddess of
Democracy” statue in Beijing
– China reasserted Party control, army fired and killed
hundreds, perhaps thousands
Chinese man
blocking a line of
tanks during
demonstrations in
Tiananmen Square
US/China Relations
• Have remained ambivalent
• Problem areas
– US military alliances with Japan,
South Korea
– Taiwan is particularly sore spot
• Both sides have realized
importance of maintaining
cooperative relations
– US supports China’s membership
in World Trade Organization
– Common ground in War on Terror
US President Barack Obama
shaking hands with Chinese
President Xi Jinping
ECONOMIC
China’s Relations with Pariahs
• Spectacular Industrial expansion
– Aggressive international search for raw materials
– Courting international pariahs, Iran and Sudan for oil
– China a barrier to UN’s ability to curb Iran’s nuclear
ambitions or Sudan’s genocidal actions
– China (and Russia) reluctant to impose economic
sanctions
• China allied with US, Japan, and Russia in exerting
pressure on North Korea to halt its development of
nuclear bombs
POLITICAL
Postwar Japan to 1952
• Defeat and occupation
– Constructive shock,
unleashed energy and
innovative thinking
– Economy rebounded
quickly
The bombing of Nagasaki
Postwar Japan to 1952
• Occupation
– American-supervised under MacArthur
– Native government allowed to
function, but limited
– Japanese accepted reform decrees in
politics, social matters
– Japanese accepted new basis for
social, political organization
– New constitution formed a government
similar to British, with emperor as
symbol only
Gen. Douglass MacArthur
Postwar Japan to 1952
• Korean War
– US went from conqueror to
protector
– Armed forces recognized
as essential for protecting
disarmed Japan
Crew of an M-24 tank along the Nakdong River
front, August 1950
Independent Japan
• 1952, Japan became
independent again
– Signed alliance allowing US to
maintain bases
– Liberal party was major force in
postwar politics, dominated by
big business
Picture of Hirohito and
MacArthur
ECONOMIC
Independent Japan
• Economic progress
benefited from several
developments
Cheap oil
– Spending on housing,
pensions etc. instead of
military
– Korean War stimulated
industry
– Cheap oil
– International credit institutions
eager to lend money
Economic Progress
• Internal progress
– World’s highest savings rate, reinvested in
industry
– Disciplined, skilled, educated labor force
– Labor pool also meant larger market
– Labor worked with employers rather than as
adversaries
• Result of government support of business
– Money available for research, development
– Zaibatsu re-established, more powerful than
before
– Industry, government made major efforts to
expand foreign trade
• Result was highest growth rate in the
world, 1970-75
Japanese-made TV sets
during the economic boom
Japan 1980’s to Present
• 1980s - slower rate of growth:
• Competition in global markets by other Asian countries
– Big loan defaults
– Government-business corruption weakened capacities and selfconfidence
– 1990s, Japanese recession - not yet overcome; better in 2006
Japan is currently
facing a recession
See Notes for Video
Japan 1980’s to Present
Japan/China Relationship:
• 1890s through World War II, Japan was
an occupier and aggressor
• Now, China reluctant to share world
power standing with old enemy
• But, competition has been peaceful,
even cooperative
• Each country is the other’s second
biggest trading partner, but disputes
over oil rights in the East China Sea
• China is a nuclear and aerospace
power
• Japan, perhaps ominously, is starting to
pursue its own nuclear and space
programs
China vs. Japan
POLITICAL
India
• Severe social, economic problems,
but solved politically
• Nehru
– Believed western-style industrialization
was necessary
– Also wanted to use strong hand in
dealing with Pakistan, kept India on
semi-war footing over Kashmir
– Moderate democratic socialism, mix of
state ownerships and private enterprise
– Relatively successful for some, but
poverty was widespread
– Biggest problem was overpopulation
Jawaharlal Nehru
India
• Indira Gandhi
– First female prime minister in Asia
– Dictatorial style led to conflicts, turned out of office, returned in
1980
See Notes for Video
RELIGIOUS
India
• Increased ethnic, religious friction
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Hindus and Muslims
Conflict with Pakistan nearly caused nuclear war
Sikhs demanding autonomy
Tamil, Sinhalese conflict
• Democratic government has held together
– Monolithic party
– Army has not gotten involved in politics
ECONOMIC
India Today
• Economic expansion on a stupendous scale
• 1994-2004, GDP grown at an average of 6.1% a year
• Foresight in investments in technical and professional
training for its best minds
• West companies “outsourcing” skilled jobs to well-trained
Indians who work for a fraction of US/European wages
and benefits
• Hurdles to Expansion
– keeping up with the demand for highly trained
graduates
– electrical grid that is vulnerable to frequent shutdowns
POLITICAL
Pakistan and Bangladesh
• West and East Pakistan
created out of Muslim
minority
• Suffered severe handicaps
– Underdeveloped countries
– No infrastructure
– Few leaders
• East Pakistan became
Bangladesh in 1971, one of
poorest countries in world
See Notes for Video
East and West Pakistan before 1971
Pakistan and Bangladesh
• East Pakistan became Bangladesh in 1971, one
of poorest countries in world
• Pakistan’s problems
– Afghani refugees
– Tribalism in north, hotbed of Islamic extremism,
origins of the Taliban
Taliban fighters
SOCIAL/ ECONOMIC
Society and Economy
POLITICAL
Southeast Asia since World War II
• Area of stark contrasts
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Areas of violence, other areas of peace
Communist governments in French Indochina
Indonesian independence was peaceful
Unsuccessful minority rebellions in Burma, Thailand
Southeast Asia since World War II
• Vietnam War began as nationalist rebellion
against French
– Ho Chi Minh’s guerrillas drove out French
– Communist government established in north
– US took over French role in south, installed puppet
government, planned elections (never held)
See Notes for Video
Vietnam War
• Kennedy decided to prevent
communist takeover
• Johnson determined to conclude what
was then a small-scale war
– By 1968, there were half million US
troops in Vietnam
– US national debate over war, sharp
decline of white liberal support
Lyndon Johnson
John F. Kennedy
Vietnam War
• Nixon opted to withdraw
forces
– Peace signed in 1973, South
Vietnamese took over their
own defense
– North and South united in 1975
Richard Nixon
Post-Vietnam War
• In Vietnam
– Diplomatic limbo - Russia, China unwilling to support
them
– Renewed fear of Chinese dominance
– Now seeking economic aid from anybody
• Changes in US
– Influenced views about government, public affairs
– Protest movements, resistance
– To many of today’s generation, invasion of Iraq
seems to be Vietnam revisited
Progress and Promise of
Future Prosperity
• “Four Little Tigers” – South Korea, Taiwan,
Singapore, Hong Kong
– Superior growth rates, information-based
economies
– Being joined by Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia
• Government priorities are to foment rapid
growth based on modified free market
• Vital part of global exchange
ECONOMIC
Transition to a Modern Economy
• Major danger is still overpopulation
• Partly countered by steady industrial
growth
• Hong Kong, Singapore are most
successful
• More democracy developing in South
Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia
• Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam are still on the
bottom rung
Discussion Questions
1.
2.
What comparisons can you make between Russia’s
Stalin and China’s Mao? Which leader was more
successful at making communist rule permanent in his
country? What was the final outcome in each of these
countries? What mark did these men leave on their
national histories?
Japan’s postwar development was a modern economic
miracle. How do you explain it? How and why did
Japan become an economic superpower in less than
30 years? What lessons can the Japanese experience
teach other countries emerging from warfare and
chaos? Be specific.