China

Communism and Great Leap Forward

• The Mao regime proclaimed the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1, 1949

• In an attempt to restructure China's primarily agrarian economy, Mao undertook the “Great Leap Forward” campaign in 1958, a program that aimed to combine the establishment of rural communes with a program of village industrialization.

• The Great Leap forced the abandonment of farming activities, leading to widespread famine in which more than 20 million people died of malnutrition.

Tibet• In 1959, a failed uprising against China's invasion and occupation of

Tibet forced Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and 100,000 of his followers to flee to India.

• The invasion of Tibet and a perceived rivalry for the leadership of the world Communist movement caused a serious souring of relations between China and the USSR, former allies.

• In 1965 Tibet was formally made an autonomous region of China. China's harsh religious and cultural persecution of Tibetans, which continues to this day, has spawned growing international protest.

Cultural Revolution• The failure of the Great Leap Forward touched off a power struggle between

Mao and his supporters and a reformist faction including future premier Deng Xiaoping.

• Mao waged what he called the Cultural Revolution. Beginning in the spring of 1966.

• Mao ordered the closing of schools and the formation of ideologically pure Red Guard units, dominated by youths and students.

• The Red Guards campaigned against “old ideas, old culture, old habits, and old customs.”

• Millions died in a series of violent purges. By early 1967, the Cultural Revolution had succeeded in bolstering Mao's position as China's paramount leader.

Recognition of China• The Nixon administration made an announcement in July 1971 that the U.S.

had reached an agreement whereby Nixon would visit China. • The movement toward reconciliation, which signaled the end of the U.S.

containment policy toward China, provided momentum for China's admission to the UN.

• Despite U.S. opposition to expelling Taiwan, the UN overwhelmingly voted to oust Taiwan in favor of Beijing's Communist government.

• President Nixon went to Beijing for a week early in 1972, meeting Mao.

Successor?• Following Zhou Enlai’s death in 1976, Hua

Guofeng became premier in April. • In Oct. he was named successor to Mao as

chairman of the Communist Party.

Challenges to Power• Mao's death on Sept. 10 unleashed the bitter intraparty rivalries that had been

suppressed since the Cultural Revolution. • Old opponents of Mao launched a campaign against his widow, Jiang Qing, and three

of her “radical” colleagues. • The so-called Gang of Four was denounced for having undermined the party, the

government, and the economy. • They were tried and convicted in 1981. • Meanwhile, in 1977, Deng Xiaoping was reinstated as deputy premier, chief of staff of

the army, and member of the Central Committee of the Politburo.

China and Vietnam• Beijing and Washington announced full diplomatic relations on Jan. 1, 1979• Deng sealed the agreement with a visit to the U.S. that coincided with the

opening of embassies in both capitals on March 1. • On Deng's return from the U.S., Chinese troops invaded and briefly

occupied an area along Vietnam's northern border. The action was seen as a response to Vietnam's invasion of Cambodia and ouster of the Khmer Rouge government, which China had supported.

Opening Up• Deng became chairman of the Central Committee's military commission, giving

him control over the army.• The body concluded the session with a statement holding Mao Zedong

responsible for the “grave blunder” of the Cultural Revolution.• Under Deng Xiaoping's leadership, meanwhile, China's Communist ideology

went through a massive reinterpretation, and sweeping economic changes were set in motion in the early 1980s.

• The Chinese scrapped the personality cult that idolized Mao Zedong, muted Mao's old call for class struggle and exportation of the Communist revolution, and imported Western technology and management techniques to replace the Marxist tenets that had slowed modernization.

Tiananmen Square• The removal of Hu Yaobang as party chairman in Jan. 1987 signaled a

hard-line resurgence within the party.• Hu had become a hero to many reform-minded Chinese was replaced

by former premier Zhao Ziyang. • With the death of Hu in April 1989, the ideological struggle spilled into

the streets of the capital, as student demonstrators occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square in May, calling for democratic reforms.

• Less than a month later, the demonstrations were crushed in a bloody crackdown as troops and tanks moved into the square and fired on protesters, killing several hundred.

Still opening economically

• In annual sessions of the National People's Congress in 1992 and 1993, the government called for accelerating the drive for economic reform

• The sessions were widely seen as an effort to maintain China's moves toward a market economy while retaining political authoritarianism.

• At the session in 1993, Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin was elected president, while hard-liner Li Peng was reelected to another five-year term as prime minister.

Death of Xaioping• Deng Xiaoping's death in Feb. 1997 left a younger

generation in charge of managing the country. • In 1998, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji introduced a

sweeping program to privatize state-run businesses and further liberalize the nation's economy.

Hong Kong• On July 1, 1997, when Britain's lease on the New

Territories expired, Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, and in 1999, the Portuguese colony of Macao also was returned to Chinese rule.

Hu Jintao• China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in Nov. 2001. Its entry

ended a 15-year debate over whether China is entitled to the full trading rights of capitalist countries.

• In Nov. 2002, Vice President Hu Jintao became general secretary of the Communist Party at the 16th Party Congress, succeeding President Jiang. Hu Jintao also assumed the presidency in March 2003.

SARS• Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), a worldwide health

threat, hit China in March 2003. After coming under fire by the World Health Organization for underreporting the number of its SARS cases, China finally revealed the alarming extent of its epidemic.

Taiwan• Tension between China and Taiwan intensified in March 2005,

when China passed a law that said the country could use force if Taiwan moved toward achieving independence.

• “The state shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures to protect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the legislation said. Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian called the bill a “law of aggression.”

Oppression• The police shot and killed about 20 people who

were protesting the construction of a power plant in the southern city of Dongzhou in December. Chinese officials blocked the spread of information about the event.

Growth and innovation• Government officials announced in December that China's economy had grown by 9% in

2005. China is poised to have the world's fourth-largest economy, after the United States, Japan, and Germany.

• In May 2006, China completed construction on the Three Gorges Dam, the largest hydroelectric dam in the world.

• In July 2006, China opened a $4.2-billion, 710-mile-long railway from Qinghai Province to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. The highest railway in the world, it ascends as high as 16,500 ft, requiring all compartments to have regulated oxygen levels. The railway will increase ethnic Chinese migration into Tibet, which many see as a deliberate attempt to dilute Tibetan culture.

Anti-Satellite• China tested its first antisatellite weapon in January 2007, successfully destroying

one of its own weather satellites. Analysts deemed the move a provocative challenge to the United States' supremacy in space-based technology.

Tibet Uprising• In March 2008, 400 Buddhist monks participated in a protest march in

Lhasa to commemorate the failed uprising of 1959, that resulted in the Dalai Lama fleeing to India.

• Chinese police used force to suppress the demonstrations. Tibetan leaders said that more than 100 Tibetans were killed, but Chinese officials claimed only 16 fatalities occurred and denied that police had used lethal force.

• China barred many international news organizations from the country and limited the flow of information out of the country. The demonstrations and violence spilled into other provinces in western China.

• Chinese officials accused the Dalai Lama of masterminding the protests, a charge the spiritual leader denied.

Earthquake• At least 68,000 people were killed and thousands

injured when a 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan Provinces in western China on May 12, 2008.

• It was China's worst natural disaster in three decades.

Olympics• The 2008 Summer Olympic Games were hosted by China• In the lead-up to the games, however, China was dogged by its abysmal human-

rights record, crackdown on the Buddhist monks, nearly intolerable air quality, attempts to censor some journalists reporting on the Games, and continued ties to the Sudanese government.

Space Travel• On Sept. 27, 2008, astronaut Zhai Zhigang stepped out of the Shenzhou VII

spacecraft and made the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut. The achievement was an important step in China's quest to build a space station by 2020 and someday land on the Moon.

Stimulus• With countries all over the world facing a financial crisis, China's State Council

announced in November that it will spend about $586 billion, or about 7% of China's GDP, on a stimulus package that will include building new airports, subways, low-income housing, and rail systems.

China and Taiwan• Taiwan and China signed a landmark free-trade agreement in June 2010

that lifts or reduces hundreds of tariffs for both sides. Officials from both Taiwan and China described the deal as the most important achievement since the 1949 civil war. Taiwan seems poised to benefit more economically from the deal than China, and China sees a political benefit as the agreement brings the two closer together.

New Leader for Tibet• The exiled Dalai Lama sent a shockwave through Tibet in March 2011 when he

stepped down as leader• While he has made a clear break with politics, the Daliai Lama remains the

spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism. • In April 2011, the government-in-exile of Tibet swore in a new prime minister,

the first to be elected since the Dalai Lama renounced his position. • Lobsang Sangay, a 42-year-old fellow at Harvard Law School, campaigned for an

autonomous future for Tibet under Chinese sovereignty. The new prime minister polled 27,051 votes, 55% of the total electorate, to beat two other secular candidates. China has not acknowledged him.

Censorship• In reaction to popular uprisings going on around the

world, leaders in China proposed new limits on Internet use and media in October 2011.

• The proposal included some of the strictest measures in years. For example, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television limited 34 major television stations to two 90-minute entertainment shows per week.

• The same TV stations were also limited to two hours of news every evening. The two hours of news must be approved by the state. Audience ratings were ordered to be ignored.

Syrian Protests• In February 2012, China joined Russia in making international headlines by blocking

an effort by the United Nations Security Council to end the violence in Syria. • Both countries vetoed the resolution just hours after the Syrian military launched an

assault on the city of Homs. The Security Council voted 13 to 2 for a resolution backing an Arab League peace plan for Syria.

New Leadership• On February 14, 2012, Xi Jinping, vice president of China, arrived in the

United States for a visit. China's presumptive next president, Jinping was watched closely on his visit by American leaders, who looked for clues to his future policies on critical issues such as the nuclear programs of North Korea and Iran.

• He has since become president in March of 2013

Bo Xilai• On Sept. 22, 2013, prominent Chinese politician Bo Xilai was sentenced to life in

prison. He had been found guilty of embezzlement, accepting bribes, and abuses of power, including a failed attempt to stifle the murder allegations against his wife.

Air Defense• In Nov. 2013, China announced a new air defense zone in an area over disputed

islands in the East China Sea that have been the source of a dispute between Japan and China for years. The new air defense zone overlapped with an air zone declared by Japan decades ago. China's announcement included a warning that it would take "relevant measures according to different air threats" against any aircraft flying through the zone without first notifying the country.

• The United States challenged the new military action threat by sending two unarmed B-52 bombers into the new air defense zone. Soon after, Japan and South Korea announced that they had also flown military planes over the zone and that the flights had been uninterrupted by China. China responded by sending fighter jets into the airspace.

Flight 370• A Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to

Beijing carrying 239 individuals (mostly Chinese citizens) disappeared and is presumed crashed over the Indian Ocean.

• Hijacking or Suicide has not been ruled out at this time.

China-Vietnam• In 2014, tensions increased between China and Vietnam when Vietnamese officials

reported that their vessels had been hit by Chinese ships. • "Chinese ships, with air support, sought to intimidate Vietnamese vessels."• The situation intensified three days later when Vietnamese ships confronted Chinese

ships. The Chinese vessels were placing an oil rig off the coast of Vietnam when the confrontation occurred.

• The placement of the rig also led to protests throughout Vietnam and some of those protests turned violent. On May 14, anti-China protesters set fire to at least 15 foreign-owned factories throughout Vietnam, according to state media. Protesters also destroyed and looted offices of manufacturing companies owned or managed by Chinese workers.

• The Vietnamese government asked China to remove the rig. The rig was placed in waters claimed by both Vietnam and China.

Hackers• For four months in late 2012 and early 2013, hackers in China attacked The New York

Times. • A day after The New York Times reported the incident, The Wall Street

Journal revealed in a statement that hackers had infiltrated it, too, "for the apparent purpose of monitoring the newspaper's China coverage."

• On Feb. 19, 2013, a 60-page study released by Mandiant, a U.S. computer security firm, showed evidence linking Unit 61398, a Chinese military unit, to the groups responsible for a large portion of the recent hacking in the United States. The study, which included digital forensic evidence, didn't prove that the hackers were inside the military unit's headquarters, but did show evidence that they were either inside or very close to Unit 61398.

Charges• In May 2014, The U.S. Justice Department unsealed an indictment of five members of

Shanghai-based Unit 61398, the cyber division of Chinese People's Liberation Army, charging them with hacking into the computer networks of Westinghouse Electric, U.S. Steel Corp., and other companies. The move was considered largely symbolic since there was little chance the men would surrender.

Hong Kong issues• China said in December 2007 that Hong Kong citizens will directly elect the chief

executive in 2017 elections and the legislature by 2020. Under the current system, an election committee loyal to the Chinese government elects the chief executive, and a body made up of pro-China business groups elects half of the legislators.

• In late August 2014, China's National People's Congress Standing Committee ruled that the 1,200-member election committee would vote on candidates for chief executive, and those garnering votes from more than half of the committee could run. The decision sparked much larger protests, which intensified throughout September, with tens of thousands of demonstrators shutting down the heart of the business district

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