In April of 1989 thousands of Chinese students gathered in Tiananmen Square. Their goal was to rally for democracy. Li Peng ordered for the PLA to stop the rallies at any cost. The PLA rolled their tanks in at the beginning of June and began shooting at the crowd. This caused a crackdown on domestic and foreign media censorship. The largest effect though was an economic effect. After the massacre the World Bank and other NGOs refused to lend China much needed money. Also China lost billions in tourism and foreign investment. This event caused a 10 year slow in the Chinese economy.
A new economic plan brought to China in 1956. This resulted in a lack of food production and a famine. This famine caused 30 million deaths across china. I believe that this does not rate as highly as some of the atrocities committed by other world leaders such as stalin or hitler. This is because these deaths were an unaccounted mistake that occurred because of the new policy. They weren't expected. Also this was only 6% of China's population at the time. This is abysmal when compared to the nearly 25% death rate during the Irish famine. Therefore I believe that this tragedy cannot be placed highly among other mass causalities.
When China went to war with Japan the Communist party was given an opportunity with a coalition government. This gave Mao the role of propaganda leader. He would then proceed to be seen as a figure for ant-Japanese movements and support for his ideals grew. After the war Mao continued to gain support and his belief in communism was adopted by the nation. Japan can be partially responsible for this political change simply because the conflict they caused allowed for Mao to influence the Chinese population. However as in many cases of the adoption of communism, there was a need for greater equality among the people. Communism provided a resolution to the problems faced across the country.
|
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |