Transcript intro to china ppt

World Literature
Mr. Nurenberg
CHINA
China is the largest country in the world by population (about
1.5 billion people!) and is one of the five largest countries in
the world by land.
The Chinese government recognizes at least 54 ethnic groups.
The majority group, Han Chinese (92%), speak one of seven
major language dialects (further divided into many subdialects)
Mandarin, the official Chinese language, is the most spoken
language in the world (almost 900 million speakers,
compared to 340 million English speakers worldwide).
Mandarin is spoken in 16 countries.
Two other Chinese dialects, Wu Chinese and Yue Chinese, are
the 12th and 14th most spoken languages in the world,
respectively.
Written Chinese is a pictographic language characters represent concepts as well as just
sounds.
Written Chinese is a pictographic language characters represent concepts as well as just
sounds.
The Chinese invented the
printing press hundreds of years
before Europeans did. In fact,
the oldest surviving printed
book in the world is Chinese - a
Buddhist text printed in 868
AD.
Chinese civilization dates back, by
some estimates, 5000 years, making
it one of the oldest in the World.
The religions of China include
Taoism, Dualism, Confucianism,
Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and
dozens of animistic religions.
Officially, China is atheist, due to its
Communist government (Communism believes
that religion is an obstacle to having an equal,
just society).
China is the largest Communist state in the
world.
Today China has one
of the fastest-growing
economies in the
world.
Some expect it to
outperform the United
States in the next few
years.
China was old when Rome was new. It traded, communicated, and made
war with nations all over Asia, Africa, Europe, and even, according to
some historians, North and South America.
Since it would be impossible to include all major events in Chinese
history from ancient times until the present day, I’ve selected a handful
of major figures and events that helped shape Chinese culture into what
it is today.
Life for the first inhabitants of China was difficult, full of
natural disasters and food shortages. Historical records and
narratives suggest that the early Chinese formed a meritocracy,
a “Society of Great Harmony”, in which everyone did their part
and those who contributed the most were recognized as leaders.
When the people developed agriculture and other technological
and societal structures that allowed for surpluses of food, wars
began to arise over who could control those surpluses.
According to narratives, around 2000 BC a
figure named Huangdi emerges who, through a
combination of force and diplomacy, settles the
wars and unites the Chinese people as the first
emperor (also known as the Yellow Emperor,
yellow being the color of farming and plenty)
Huangdi established moral and civil codes that
would be the cornerstones of Chinese
civilization from then on in.
According to legend, when Huangdi turned
110, a dragon took him up into heaven, where
he became one of the 5 most important gods in
Ancient Chinese mythology.
By the 2000s BC, leadership in China had become based
on heredity, not merit. The sons of Emperors would
become the new Emperors…until and unless, of course, a
revolution overthrew them, which happened from time to
time.
The rule of certain families or groups are referred to as
dynasties. The longest, Chou (or Zhou), lasted 800 years.
Dynasties would rise and fall over the
next thousand years. As China
expanded it fragmented into hundreds of
separate states.
The seven largest and most powerful,
which eventually went to war with one
another, were:
Qi, Chu, Yan, Han, Zhao, Wei and Qin.
The “Warring States Period” lasted for
over 200 years.
Confucius (551-479 BC)
Probably the most highly regarded
Chinese philosopher of all time.
He developed a code of ethics that
dominated Chinese thought and culture
for 2000 years.
His rise to prominence heralds the
tradition scholarly officials as the highest
class in China, next to the Emperor and
his family.
Lao Tzu (500s BC)
Another extremely important Chinese
philosopher.
He developed the ideas of Taoism, a
complex (yet simple!) philosophy of
balance, of “doing but not doing”, of
refusing power in order that one attains
it.
Confucianism believes
that humans need to
follow a definite and
intricate social
structure, to “know
their place” in the
scheme of things, in
order to prosper.
Confucianism believes
that humans need to
follow a definite and
intricate social
structure, to “know
their place” in the
scheme of things, in
order to prosper.
Taoism believes in
avoiding structure…not
to break down in anarchy,
but to instead align
oneself with the “natural”
structure of the universe.
Both ideas remain a part of Chinese thought to this very day.
Look for each of these ideas in the literature we will be
reading.
Emperor Qin Shi Huang
united all seven warring
Chinese states through
skillful warfare and
diplomacy, and led China to
become the first centralized,
multinational empire the
world had ever seen.
Although his dynasty did not
last long, Qin Shi Huang’s
rule created:
•The centralized Chinese
bureaucracy
•A mandatory, widespread
educational system
•The Great Wall of China
(the only man-made object
visible from space)
•The terracotta warriors
He also tried to burn all copies of
Confucius’ writings and killed many
scholars.
Although the next dynasty, the Han
Dynasty, un-banned Confucius’
works again, this “Burning of the
Books” remains an infamous chapter
of Chinese history, a time of political
censorship and persecution.
The Han Dynasty led China
into a “golden age” of art,
literature, sculpture,
exploration, and science.
Chinese civilization was the
first known culture to invent
printing, magnetic-aided
navigation, gunpowder, and
more.
The Chinese were so proud
were the Han Dynasty’s
accomplishments that the
ethnic term for Chinese
people is Han.
By the 900s, all of Chinese government becomes aligned with the
principles of Confucius. Scholar/officials become the highest rank in
society (beneath the Emperor), in the following hierarchy:
Scholars
Farmers
Craftspeople
Merchants
Theoretically, anyone could become a scholar through intensive study
and passing strenuous exams, kind of the equivalent of the “SATs”,
which then “placed” you in the ranks of the ruling bureaucracy. There
were only a limited number of high-ranked “slots”, making
competition intense.
Throughout Chinese history, an idea develops, and persists, of
China as the Middle Kingdom, the civilized world in the
center of lesser, uncivilized, “barbarian” tribes.
Much like in the West, this ethnocentric view of superiority
sometimes led to China pursuing its own policies of
“colonization”…
…but sometimes colonization happened in reverse. Other
cultures, like the Mongols or the Huns, would invade China
and take it over…only to get “assimilated” by Chinese culture
and essentially become just like the Chinese!
China enters a period in the 1500s and 1600s when it
withdraws from world affairs. Other cultures are inferior,
the government feels, so why should the Chinese bother
to interact with them?
This proves to be a mistake. The handful of European missionaries
and merchants who enter China in the 1500s start spreading word of
the spices, teas, drugs, etc that China offers…and soon every
country wants its own “piece of the action.” China is very reluctant
to enter trade agreements, viewing Europeans as irrelevant and
inferior…until it’s too late.
When the British grew tired of the heavy taxes the Chinese
government placed on trade with them…and when the Chinese tried to
halt the sale of opium, which was very profitable for British
merchants, the British made war on China.
A combination of bureaucratic corruption that weakened the Chinese
government, and British technological superiority, made The Opium
Wars disastrous for China. England defeated China and forced it to
accept its trade terms.
From there on in, China starts to fall
apart. Rival factions within Chinese
society start vying for power…and
outside, Britain, the United States, and
Japan all start using military force to
take Chinese resources.
The Chinese fight back, but the colonizing powers easily
play different Chinese factions against one another.
One of the most famous uprisings occurred in 1900, The Boxer
Rebellion, when the Empress of China attempted to oust all
foreign occupiers. An international force of Japanese, Russian,
German, American, British, Italian and Austro-Hungarian troops
assemble to defeat and “keep China in its place.”
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In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen rises to prominence in
a revolution that unseats the corrupt, proWestern Qing Dynasty and establishes China as
a Republic.
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In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen rises to prominence in
a revolution that unseats the corrupt, proWestern Qing Dynasty and establishes China as
a Republic.
However, infighting
between revolutionary
and military factions,
combined with an
invasion and partial
conquest by Japan, and
the devastation of World
War I, keep China in
chaos for the next decade.
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Sun-Yat Sen’s faction, the
Guomindang, starts to
come out on top, but
China on the world scene
becomes victimized by
Japanese and Europeans
alike.
Sun-Yat Sen enters into
negotiations with the
Soviet Union, whose proworker, anti-Western
philosophies appeal to
him.
After Sun Yat-Sen dies of cancer in 1925,
one of his lieutenants, Chiang Kai-shek,
takes over.
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Chiang turns his back on the Communists,
however, and takes the Guomindang in a
different direction.
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Those who are still loyal to the Communist
cause rally behind Mao Zedong.
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At this point, China is now divided between
three factions (the Guomindang, the
Communists, and the warlords, who opposed
Sun Yat-Sen’s revolution to begin with), with
three different capitals!
From the late 1920s into the 1930s, although these
three forces fought one another many times,
Chiang’s Guomindang were coming out on top.
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But the Japanese invasion in World War II severely weakened
Chiang’s power. Even though the Chinese factions all (sort of) teamed
up to fight the Japanese, the Guomindang, as the ruling power,
suffered immense losses of resources and of public faith.
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During and after the war, Mao and
the Communists gained immense
popularity with the people,
particularly the peasants who had
been suffering at the hands of the
warlords, the Japanese, the
West…Communism seemed to offer
them a philosophy that spoke of the
underclasses rising up to cast off
oppression and create a just society.
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The United States and the West backs Chiang’s Guomintang (or
Nationalist) government, but despite this, Chiang’s forces fall to
Mao’s revolution.
In 1948-49, Mao’s forces take power, and the Nationalists flee to
Taiwan, which remains Nationalist to this day.
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Mao’s Communist government begins implementing policies designed to
help China raise its standard of living, become a world power and
compete with the West.
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Some of these plans, like achieving universal literacy, are largely
successful.
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Others, like the Great Leap Forward, prove disastrous. This plan to increase
agricultural production backfires, and hundreds of thousands starve due to farm
and production mismanagement. Mao actually resigns (sort of … he’s still
Party chairman, just not officially Premier) in embarrassment.
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The years that follow see China break
its ties with the Soviet Union, aid the
North Koreans in the Korean war,
and invade and annex Tibet (the
Chinese claim Tibet was always a
part of them, and needed “liberation”
from corrupt religious rulers).
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Although the economy recovers from
the Great Leap forward, personal
freedoms become curtailed, particularly
during the Cultural Revolution.
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The Cultural Revolution occurred when
Mao determined that his successors
were improperly running China, and
were too influenced by Western,
capitalist notions.
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In response, he orders a massive, sweeping destruction and rewriting of all texts and
artwork that didn’t meet his standards as fitting with the ideals of Communism.
Furthermore, people who he determines to be Bourgeois - those with money, status,
education - are publicly humiliated and then “sent down” to live as farmers and
peasants (“re-education”)
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Part of what makes the Cultural Revolution a frightening time is the
Red Guard, mainly composed of young people who passionately
believe in Mao’s policies. They could, on their own, name anyone
as “Bourgeois” and have them arrested and/or sent-down.
They often used this power to settle personal grudges or attain power
for themselves.
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Although the Cultural
Revolution eventually
subsided, and many of those
who were disgraced were
brought back to their old lives,
this era caused intense division
in the Chinese government. A
series of attempted coups,
counter-coups, public trials, etc
persisted for the next few
decades.
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The 1980s saw a series of reforms and critical looks at history.
Some factions denounced Mao as misguided, while others sought
to uphold his legacy. The leaders of the time, including Deng
Xiaoping, also pursued policies that incorporated some Westernstyle economic reforms. China also opened up and improved its
relations with the Western World.
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Such reforms have come slowly, however. When a large nonviolent
student protest rose up in 1989 to accelerate moves towards
Democracy, the government sent in the army to forcibly disperse
them.
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“Hot” issues in China today
include reintegrating Hong
Kong (which was still run by
the British until 1997),
relating to Taiwan (still
Nationalist and still
supported by the USA),
fighting an AIDS epidemic
and pursing a space
program.
China is a nuclear nation and
holds a permanent seat on
the UN Security Council.
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Today, China continues to
make slow economic and
political reforms, but
maintains a strong identity
as a Communist nation,
informed by 5000 years of
history.
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China is the only country in the world with a literature written in
one language for more than 3000 years. More people live their
lives informed by Chinese stories and authors than any other
literary canon.
The past twenty years have seen the beginnings of a translation
of many of these works into English.
World Literature
Mr. Nurenberg
CHINA
LET’S BEGIN!