This lecture sets the stage for the saga of modern China. Uncover the underpinnings of the empire's extraordinary longevity, including its ingenious civil service system, its Confucian moral code, and its sophisticated military base.
Complex social and economic forces ended China's millennium of supremacy as an empire. Learn about the empire's era of global exploration, followed by long, complacent isolationism. Then chart the economic strain of the 18th-century population explosion and the effects of European economic expansion and the opium trade.
The escalating British trade in opium sparked conflicts that crippled the Manchu dynasty. Track the Court's efforts to suppress widespread addiction, leading to the First Opium War and the humiliating Treaty of Nanking. Also, follow increasing foreign encroachments and violent reprisals, forcing a Second Opium War and the opening of multiple ports to Western commerce.
Nineteenth-century China also saw a prolonged agrarian crisis that spurred major peasant revolts, weakening the empire from within. Examine the explosive Taiping Rebellion, a decade-long, religiously themed struggle that threatened to unseat the empire.
Facing external and internal pressures, China's faltering empire attempted fundamental reforms. Investigate the Manchus' multifaceted effort to absorb Western science and technology while preserving Confucian institutions. Learn also about the internal sabotage of reform and the other factors in its ultimate failure, as Japan effectively wins the race to modernize.
The 19th century closed with further measures of reform within the empire and violent conflict with foreigners on Chinese soil. Study the progressive thinkers who influenced the young emperor Guangxu in his 100 Days of Reform. Then follow the siege of foreign legations by the fanatical Boxers and its bloody aftermath.
Witness the death spasms of the Manchu dynasty and the tumultuous events leading to the Chinese Republican Revolution of 1911. Afterward, track the rise of the revolutionary Sun Yat-sen, the military commander Yuan Shikai, and the establishment of the Provisional Republic of China.
China's short-lived republic fell to corrupt power plays and maneuvering to restore the dynasty. Trace the country's descent into political chaos and rule by warlords, and ensuing encroachments by Japan. In addition, follow events leading to the birth of modern Chinese Nationalism.
Probe the emerging ideologies that fueled two revolutionary movements—Nationalism and Communism. Also, consider the importation of Lenin's theory of imperialism into China and the covert efforts of Soviet agents to forge a "united front" between Sun Yat-sen's Nationalists and the newborn Chinese Communist Party.
Explore the state of China after the death of Sun Yat-sen. Follow Chiang K'ai-shek's unified national revolutionary army as it wages a brutal campaign against the Communists. From the ashes of defeat, the Communists are reborn in the countryside under the leadership of Mao Zedong.
Over the following decade, escalating Japanese encroachments on China coincide with mounting violence between China's revolutionary factions. Examine the rise of Japanese militarism and the 1931 invasion of Manchuria. Later, follow Chiang K'ai-shek's attempts to liquidate the Maoist Communists and his dramatic kidnapping.
In the fireball of World War II, witness the brutal Japanese offensives in China and their grim consequences for the Nationalists, while paradoxically sparing the Communists from annihilation. Learn also about growing U.S. ambivalence toward Chiang K'ai-shek and how Japanese brutality actually aided the Communists' seizure of power.
Study the final confrontations between Nationalist and Communist forces. Track the Nationalists' effort to dominate urban centers and the Communists' guerrilla methodology, their success in mobilizing the rural Chinese, and their strategic moves to victory.
Explore features of Mao's new regime and its program to rebuild China's shattered economy. Also, learn about the Communist Party's delineation of "enemies of the people," its policies of ideological "thought reform," and its national campaigns of land reform.
Investigate critical strategic and military actions of the Maoist regime in the early 1950s. Uncover the factors behind Mao's alignment with the Soviets and his uneasy relationship with Stalin. Then, probe the events of the Korean War, the repercussions of China's military intervention, and the tactical conflict over Taiwan.
In 1953 the Maoist government undertook the full transition to Socialism. Examine key features of Mao's economic program, focusing on the process of agricultural collectivization—the hurried implementation of which violated core party policies and created widespread resentment in rural China.
By 1957, domestic and international conflicts disrupted Mao's Socialist vision. Trace his deepening differences with Moscow as Khrushchev rejects Stalinism. Examine Mao's proposed liberalization toward intellectuals, followed by a harsh crackdown on dissenters and party members, as Mao steers a leftist course, finally rejecting the Soviet model of Socialism.
Mao's "Great Leap Forward" aimed to galvanize China's economic development. Review the major components of this initiative, including mass mobilization of rural workers in water works projects, backyard steel production, impersonal people's communes, and their final catastrophic failure through faulty engineering and massive bureaucratic errors.
Systemic mismanagement of the Great Leap created horrific consequences. Uncover the circumstances of a deepening agricultural crisis and Mao's confrontations with the dissenting defense minister, Peng Dehuai, as the party's denial of reality leads to starvation for tens of millions.
Core Great Leap policies were reversed under Mao's lieutenants Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Follow growing hostility between Mao and Khrushchev, and bitter conflict between Liu and Deng's anticorruption campaign and Mao's offensive against class struggle and capitalist thinking, embodied in a new program of mass ideological indoctrination.
Conflicting ideological currents set the stage for Mao's infamous Cultural Revolution. Examine efforts to enforce Mao's "cult of personality" through his "Little Red Book" of sayings and Maoist attacks on literary trends and the educational system.
Chart Mao's unleashing of the Cultural Revolution. First, trace his orchestration of the downfall of Beijing's mayor and party propaganda chief in a strike against "counterrevolutionary revisionists." In the second stage, Mao foments radicalization and agitation among students, enlisting youth in retaliation against "bourgeois power holders."
As the Cultural Revolution escalates, witness Mao's shakeup of high-level politicians and the formation of student "Red Guard" units, which subject educators and party leaders across China to humiliation and extreme brutality. As Maoist "revolutionary rebels" attack commercial and industrial interests, China veers toward anarchy.
In the final stages of the Cultural Revolution, spiraling chaos leads to ritualized violence and deadly wars between rival rebel factions. Study Mao's measures to restore order, including the relocation of millions of youths to rural areas and the rebuilding of the party.
Smoldering hostility between Beijing and Moscow foreshadowed a critical turning point in the cold war. Investigate Sino-Soviet competition for dominance within the Communist bloc, highlighting conflicts over Czechoslovakia and Vietnam, the resulting tense military standoff, and the emerging strategic role of the United States.
Professor Baum portrays the momentous shift in Sino-American relations under the Nixon presidency. Track the factors influencing the mutual moves toward détente, the internal resistance on both sides, and the complex maneuvering that led to Nixon's historic visit to China.
In the 1970s, the Maoist era came to a close with the declining health of the Chairman. Focus on the dramatic surrounding events, including the demise of Lin Baio, Mao's designated successor; Mao's political "rehabilitation" of Deng Xiaoping; and the power mongering of radical leftists led by Jiang Qing, who wage political war against Deng and Premier Zhou Enlai.
Professor Baum pauses to assess the complex and contradictory figure of Mao. First, he reflects on key events in Mao's early life and factors in his psychological makeup and youthful sensitivity. Then, he traces Mao's revolutionary embrace of violence and his legendary ruthlessness as they inform the strategic brilliance that drove his actions.
Following Mao's passing, a high drama of succession ensued. The lecture details the rise of Hua Guofeng, Mao's successor, and his clashes with Jiang Qing and the supporters of Deng. Professor Baum reflects on his own meeting with Hua and his experience as a "China watcher" in this tumultuous era.
Hua Goufeng's guiding mandate was the remaking of China's economy. Probe Hua's educational and cultural reforms, followed by massive industrial projects ending in grand-scale failure through flaws in design and planning.
Simmering political conflicts mandated a showdown between Hua and Deng. Follow Deng's strategic power moves and economic initiatives and their effects in marginalizing Hua. Then witness a historic shift as Deng's faction assails the Cultural Revolution and Mao's iconic status begins to crumble.
Deng's assumption of power brought major new policies and unprecedented openness to debate. Study the poignant events of the Democracy Wall Movement, as Beijingers write wall posters voicing passionate political commentary. Tensions rise as posters indicting the system lead to activism for democratic reforms and human rights.
The 1970s saw dramatic progress in diplomatic engagement between Beijing and Washington. Analyze the converging factors that led to Deng's triumphal visit to the United States in 1979, including China's need to speed modernization and the U.S. choice to "play the China card" against the Soviet Union.
Political setbacks and economic breakthroughs marked Deng's early regime. Investigate China's ill-fated military action against the Vietnamese Communists and groundbreaking domestic policy shifts, including the decollectivization of farming and the creation of Special Economic Zones for export trade.
Trace a storm of conflicts concerning Cultural Revolution grievances and Deng's proposed legal and political reforms. Assess the regime's new criminal codes and responses to social discontent, as a period of liberalization and increasing popular activism ends in a crackdown on challenges to party authority.
Ideological rifts within Deng's ruling coalition flared in the early '80s over the official assessment of Mao's legacy. Learn about the expression of suffering under Mao in a new literary outpouring, and conservative opposition to liberalization in art and the "spiritual pollution" of consumerism and foreign influences in Chinese culture.
Far-reaching market reforms gathered momentum in the early '80s. Chart China's changing economic landscape as self-employment and new management policies challenge the ingrained patterns of Socialist "command" economics. Also, see how the growth of foreign investment, imports, and tourism mark China's opening to the outside world.
New societal stresses appeared in the wake of economic competition. Consider the effects of globalization, individual enrichment, and the widening income gap across China. Then observe the conservative backlash against reform and widespread student unrest.
Escalating social and political tensions led toward tragedy. Trace the split between moderates and hard-liners within the Communist Party and the political marginalization of progressive party Secretary-General Zhao Ziyang. Then see how enterprise failures, corruption, inflation, and unemployment fueled renewed student protests, ending in a defiant hunger strike in Tiananmen Square.
Study the converging events of the deadly clash at Tiananmen Square as the regime imposes martial law, igniting massive demonstrations ending in the massacre of hundreds of civilian protesters. In the aftermath, witness the trauma to the Chinese national psyche, as reprisals against protesters and repressive surveillance deal a death blow to political idealism.
Following the events of Tiananmen Square, Deng's economic reforms came under concerted attack by party hard-liners. As you study Communist regimes toppling across Europe and party conservatives imposing an economic "austerity program," you trace Deng's strategic campaign to quell an ideological firestorm and save his hard-won "pro-market" policies for China.
In the 1990s, China's economic transformation surged forward. Explore the surrounding factors, including new enterprise autonomy, thriving stock markets and foreign investment, and concurrent corruption. Also note Premier Zhu Rongji's important achievements in restructuring state enterprises and leading China into the World Trade Organization.
China's burgeoning power reawakened both Chinese national pride and its converse: long-standing resentment of foreigners. Uncover these currents in the 1990s, fueled by American diplomatic errors, Sino-American conflict over Taiwan, and Western unease at China's global presence.
Examine the reunification of Hong Kong with China in 1997 and the new system granting domestic autonomy to Hong Kong under Chinese sovereignty. Then track Taiwan's transition to democracy, the turbulent movements for and against independence from China, and Beijing's ongoing strategic efforts to reclaim the island.
Analyze key elements in China's economic ascent, from sharp market growth and a new urban middle class to rampant official corruption and a vast "floating population" of migrant workers. Observe moves by the party to court the new business elite and focus resources on "have-nots," while retaining iron-handed political control.
Assess the explosion of print media, the Internet, and cell phone use as they affect the regime's efforts to control the spread of information. Also, consider the role of nongovernmental organizations, "cybercops," and burgeoning grassroots "mass disturbances" in an escalating war between the forces of free communication and media censorship.
This lecture investigates international movements to boycott the Beijing games and the ways in which the games saw tightening governmental censorship and repression. Explore the mixture of stunning spectacle and behind-the-scenes maneuvering as the regime manages its image and tightens its political grip during China's national celebration.
Contemplate China's current and future presence in the global arena. Probe sensitive questions, including the future of Taiwan, trade controversies, and China's growing military power. Evaluate China's claim of a "peaceful rise" and possible indicators of future Sino-American cooperation and conflict.
