The Retreat of Communism China

Cold War Conflicts HIST 1301 | History The Retreat of Communism: China Ironically, the Chinese Revolution and Mao Zedong's authority ended with the excesses of the Cultural Revolution in China. When Lin Biao passed away in 1971, China had suffered greatly. The economy was in utter disarray. The government struggled to carry out its fundamental duties. As Mao withdrew into despair and poor health, "The Gang of Four," which included Mao's wife Jiang Qing, Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen—his selected successor—began to assume more and more of his responsibilities. Nonetheless, maintaining ideological purity and the survival of "revolutionary" political theory was their main priority. Important issues like the economy were entrusted to Premier Zhou Enlai. But Zhou needed assistance since he was terminally ill with cancer, so he brought Deng Xiaoping back to authority with Mao's approval. The administration and economy were run by Zhou and Deng, with Deng handling more of the task as Zhou retreated from public life. The Gang of Four succeeded in removing Deng Xiaoping from power after Zhou's death in January 1976, although this time he did not stay out of office for very long. Hua Guofeng, Mao's successor, arrested the Gang of Four after Mao passed away on September 9, 1976, restoring Deng to power. After becoming the vice premiership in 1977, Deng went about undoing the mistakes that had been done during the Cultural Revolution. He took Hua's position as China's leader in 1978 and maintained that the nation should concentrate on modernising and developing its economy rather than pursuing revolution by adhering to Mao's teachings. Boluan Fanzheng, which means "correct the wrong/return to normal," was the policy he created. Under it, the lives of the imprisoned were "rehabilitated," and the lives of the living were restored to power. After being halted during the Cultural Revolution, Deng brought back admission exams, bringing the Chinese higher education system back to normal. He proclaimed that intellectuals and scientists should be respected for their contributions to modernization, which would not be possible without them. On the basis of the "Four Modernizations" of agriculture, industry, defence, and science and technology, Deng also implemented a comprehensive package of economic reforms. The dissolution of collective farms prompted company owners to launch their own ventures. outside businesses were invited to establish branches in China, and the nation was made open to outside investment. A couple of aspects of capitalism were introduced in the 1980s and 1990s. Although the major state enterprises continued to be governed by the government, numerous state industries were permitted to be managed privately, and as a result, Chinese incomes and living standards quickly increased. Foreign policy was altered in tandem with economic shifts. With notable exceptions, such as its backing for anti-Soviet troops in Afghanistan and for Cambodians against the Vietnamese invasion, China reduced its support for revolutionary activities abroad in the 1980s. Trade between the USSR and China expanded, and ties with the Soviet Union also started to improve in the late 1980s. Deng also demanded political reform in 1980. He demanded a revision of the constitution and term limits for political office in response to the onerous bureaucracy in China. He did not, however, intend to permit resistance to the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) authority. In major Chinese cities, university students started a series of demonstrations in 1986. Although the government put an end to their activities, demonstrations erupted once more in 1989. Beijing students flocked to Tiananmen Square on April 17 to grieve the passing of party official Hu Yaobang, who had been a supporter of theirs. They demanded more rights to protest, an end to government censorship, democratic change, and increased funding for education, having been influenced by Western media. Along with other demonstrators, they denounced the CCP's perceived corruption and poor economic management in China. Farmers' lives had been made better by reforms, while urban and industrial workers had not profited from them. Some students refused to leave the area in the next weeks, while others marched in a furious show of protest through the streets. Tanks arrived in Beijing on the evening of June 3, 1989, and over the course of the following several days, military forces and tanks emptied the plaza, killing anything from a few hundred to a few thousand people. Deng chastised the students on June 9 for trying to topple the government. The demonstrations were peacefully put to an end in other Chinese cities.