Communist Revolution Essay

“Since the Communist Revolution, the Chinese government has just about always have had had the best interests of China’s people in mind.”


Whether or not the Chinese government has had the best interests of China’s people in mind depends on the ruler/ government. A selfish ruler would not do any good for the people. A dumb ruler might want to fix problems, but would not have any idea where to start. Since the Communist Revolution, there have been several different rulers/ governments. Right before the Revolution, there were two parties: the Nationalists and the Communists. Why did the Communists win over the Nationalists?

The peasants have long suffered from landlords and taxes, and the Communists promised to redistribute land and end oppression by landlords. The Nationalists gave little thought to women. Remember Confucian ideas did not acknowledge women as equals to men. Communists rejected the inequalities of the old Confucian ideas. Assuming that half of the population of China was women, that is one big win for the Communists. In fact, even educated Chinese saw Chiang’s government as immoral. They hoped the Communists would build a better China and end foreign domination. Realize that the Communists won because they had better interests for the Chinese than the Nationalists.
Today many of us see Chairman Mao as the leader who is responsible for thousands of lives – the leader who has possibly brain washed a whole generation of young people, etc. So let me ask you…so what? People those days were proud to participate in The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. They looked up to Chairman Mao as if he were their father. They waved their little red books with pride! I am not just talking about the poor, I mean the rich, too. In the book, Red Scarf Girl, Ji-Li, a girl who is from a rich family, wants more than anything to be a Red Guard. Her family is equally as excited about the Revolution despite the fact that they must work much harder because they are not supposed to show their wealth. Mao Zedong’s plans were disastrous, but the point is his intentions were good. Deng Xiao Ping was a more practical leader; under his guidance, farmers were able to increase their production by 8% more than the previous year. Both Deng Xiao Ping’s intentions and plans were beneficial for the Chinese. Then, the Chinese wanted political freedom. The Chinese started to protest in Tiananmen Square and the Chinese government opens fire without warning. Chinese governments are accused of abusing human rights by western powers. Since 1997, Communist ideology has been weakening. People were more interested in profit than socialism. In other words, people stopped caring about the people.

Many of my classmates argue that Mao Zedong did this wrong and did that wrong so he did not have the best interests for his people. My opinion is that Mao Zedong was not a selfish leader, and that he really believed in what he was doing. After all, it was the leaders after Mao Zedong and Deng Xiao Ping that were selfish and cared more about power than the people. In modern day China, there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor, but China is economically strong because the poor get cheap pay for their labor. If labor cost were high, foreign investment would drop dramatically. So is it necessary to have this gap? This is a matter of opinion. You see, there is no best interest. What I am trying to say is that although today’s government ruled differently from the government during the Revolution; they both cared about the people. For the most part, governments since the Communist Revolution have been trying their best to promote a higher standard of living for the Chinese people.
























Bibliography
Baerwald T. J., and Celeste Fraser. (2003). World Geography: Building a Golden Perspective. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Classmates. Interviewed November 2, 2006.

Ellis, E.G.., and Anthony Esler. (2003). World History: Connections to Today. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Jiang, Ji-Li. (1997). Red Scarf Girl: A memoir of the cultural revolution. New York: HarperCollins.