How far did the CCP control China through fear?

Bob Fu conveys clearly the inexorable control that Communist leaders in China have over their people. For example, after Fu and his friends participated in the Tiananmen Square protests, Fu was coerced, day in day out, to write a confession of his purported misdeeds against China and her people as a “counterrevolutionary” (79-82, 85, 87).

Even with her previous experiences at Beijing University and at Big Joy Farm, Wong still held some belief that the Chinese system wasn’t as bad as it was sometimes made out to be. This event proved to her that it was. “The enormity of the massacre hit home…Although it had been years since I was a Maoist, I still had harbored some small hope for China. Now even that was gone” (259). As a reporter Wong was able to view the progression of the protests in leading up to the massacre, and in viewing it understood that the Chinese people were much more independent than they had previously demonstrated over the past 50 years. She had continuously seen the Chinese people following what they were told between learning in school or with physical labor, yet this protest was one of the first large scale displays of the unacceptance of the regime by the people, and the government did not know what to do with it. But because of this, Wong was able to recognize that the people were not reliant on this way of life that they had previously been bound to, but truly could lead for themselves and take control. The massacre awakened Wong both to the reality that the government was not acting to benefit the people, and that the people were more than capable of acting for

The cultural revolution is a strange period in Chinese history laced with intense struggle and anguish. The cultural revolution mobilized the all of society to compete for all opposing factions that they belonged to (Ong, 2016). Mao mobilized the young people of society during a background of political turmoil, which helped Mao to mobilize the students in order to enforce his political legitimacy and ideas (Ong, 2016). Mao’s charismatic authority created his personality cult and most defiantly leant a helping hand in mobilizing the red guard movement (Ong, 2016) (Weber, 1946) (Andreas, 2007). No matter which faction of the red guard they belonged to, they all mobilized against their common enemy; the better off, upper class. (Ong, 2016). Multiple ideologies within the youth led red guard movement explain why the movement gained momentum and became incredibly powerful (Walder, 2009).

The method applied by Zedong focused on uniting China under one belief in order to implement communist ideas in the country, widely changing the country’s structure. (Doc 7). At his defense trial, Cuban revolution leader Fidel Castro appealed to those struggling in his country. He spoke to those who hoped for a brighter future and who have been betrayed by their country. By addressing their battle, Castro urged them to fight for a better Cuba. His relentless and undying commitment ultimately granted Castro his wish for a revolution. (Doc 8). An additional document consisting of a diary entry from a Chinese citizen during the communist revolution would create a clearer vision as to how convincing Mao Zedong truly was.

These two tragic deaths, both filled with dramatic irony, reveal Zhang Yimou’s critique of communist collectivist culture and the class structure and power in revolutionary China. Communist collectivist culture may produce benefits such as communal kitchens and giving poor townspeople a sense of hope. However, the class antagonisms between revolutionaries and counterrevolutions produces an environment where no one challenges authority and where blind patriotism sometimes morphs into hysteria like

One of the most significant changes in the Communist Party has been the distribution of power. In the days of Deng and Mao, for instance, the leader held the majority of power in the Chinese political system. In more recent years, however, the Communist Party has dictated more of the government's actions while the leader, Hu, has relinquished a fair amount of power and authority. This shift is exemplified by the author's idea, “In Mao’s and Deng’s days, the leaders towered

“As one of the Red Guards in the middle school, I was given power through Mao to torture and humiliate our teachers, headmaster or anyone we didn’t like. I didn’t know it was wrong. I thought I was doing the right thing to continue the revolution, to fight and win the class struggle”- Zhao, Lin Qing. As a teenager Zhao was a Red Guard in Guangzhou during the Cultural Revolution. When asked what her impression was a member of the Red Guards, Zhao answered with two words: “naïve and senseless”. She refused answering anything more about her experience. She said, “The memories are still too painful to recall.”

“There is danger0from all men.0The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man0living with power to endanger the0public liberty.” says Ayn Rand. The novel Forbidden City by William Bell tells us a real story about students and civilians democracy in0Beijing, China in 1989. The government no0longer works for people when the movement0becomes violent and a power struggle between the government and people appears. In a word, power0can take over0freedom when a certain0group of people controls it all, but it can’t control people’s0thoughts forever. Firstly, the setting shows the background0which is thousands of students were doing hunger strike in Tian An0Men Square because of freedom. The Character Lao Xu is one of the leaders in the activity of hunger strike Lao Xu sacrificed because saving students. Finally the conflict between China0and citizen shows that government cannot ignore any citizens and controls their thoughts.

“The Party: The Secret World Of China’s Communist Rulers,” by Richard McGregor is a book which provides detailed insight into the Communist Party of China, revealing many of the secret underpinnings of how the party is run, and explores the question of how they have continued to stay in power for so long. While other strong socialist powers, such as the Soviet Union and Eastern Germany, fell at the end of the 20th century, the CPC was able to stay in control and ultimately come out of that period even stronger. In McGregor’s own words “the party picked itself up off the ground, reconstituted its armor and reinforced its flank. Somehow, it has outlasted, outsmarted, outperformed, or simply outlawed its critics, flummoxing the pundits who have predicted its demise at numerous junctures.” Instead of letting its own ideologies weaken its power, the CPC has continually adapted and transformed its policies and goals in order to maintain their stronghold over the nation. Through his impressive list of Chinese scholars and political contacts, McGregor is able to lay out the fundamental workings inside the Chinese government and the impressive actions they’ve taken to remain such a powerful organization.

Looking back in history, one of the most dominant figures in Chinese politics in the 1930’s was Mao Zedong. Mao is very well known as the leader of the CCP as well as a dictator. Mao was inspired by revolutionary potential of peasantry and wanted to create a revolutionary strategy that would rely on their strength. During the First Five-Year Plan, a period between 1953 and 1957, some of the goals of the communist Chinese government were to increase heavy industrial production, collectivize light industry and retail enterprises, and create agricultural communes.

The author uses Xu Sanguan as an example to show how disillusioned people became because of Chinese propaganda. After realizing the impact and change the Cultural Revolution had brought on, Xu Sanguan states, “I’m only just now starting to understand what the Cultural Revolution is all about. It’s actually just a time for settling old scores. If someone offended you in the past, now’s the time to write a big-character poster about him”(Hua 164). Here Xu Sanguan attempts to validate the events of the Cultural Revolution. Although the process of the Cultural Revolution has been going on, it’s intentions are finally becoming clear to Xu Sanguan. Xu Sanguan’s tone is one of rationalization and dedication. For Xu Sanguan, events that are perpetuated by the Cultural Revolution are ways to help improve the country. Public humiliation becomes a way to solve problems of the past. Unfortunately, this causes China to become divided within it’s own people because everyone is seen as a potential threat to the country. Xu Sanguan embodies the loyalty Mao was able to cease on the people of China through its propaganda and empty promises. “Mass Persuasion in Communist China” by Frederick T.C Yu analyzes Mao’s strategies of propaganda. Yu describes the way in which communist China was able to manipulate the mind’s of it’s people, he states “The Communists try to make the ideas of the Party sound as if they were ideas of the people”(Yu 15). Through strategic forms of manipulation, Mao was

As the Communist Party of China was established in 1949, China was under Mao Ze Dong’s regime, anti western and anti imperialism ideology was imposed on the people in China. Individual thoughts as well as critical thinking of the government was restricted in China under Mao’s rule. The excess of Maoism and its inability to accomplish sustained economic development caused many people in Rural China to suffer from poverty. However, this was all changed due to a man called Deng Xiao Ping. Deng joined the communist party in 1923, and he was a political commissar for the Red Army in rural regions. Despite Mao favors him in the beginning, he’s political ideologies were at odds with Mao, therefore Deng was purged twice during the cultural revolution.

Since the purge of the communists in 1927, the communists had lacked access to cities. In order for them to achieve revolutionary success though they had to accumulate a large following. Karl Marx’s and Vladimir Lenin’s forms of socialism argued that in order for socialism to be achieved a nation’s urban workers, its working class, would fight for and ultimately bring about socialism. Due to their exhilization from cities though the Chinese Communist Party was unable to garner the support of China’s working class. Mao Zedong decided to attempt something that was against Marxs’ and Lenin’s socialist theories and revolutionize China’s peasant population. The Chinese Communist Party would go onto gain the support of the nation's peasants in large

China has been a communist country since the communist revolution took place in 1949, since then China has been ruled by the dictator Mao Tse-Tung. However the Chinese dictator died in September 1976, he was hailed abroad as one of the worlds’ great leaders. Certainly one of the more impressive aspects of the Chinese communist government, has been the willingness of the people to protest against it (3, pg. 4).

As many other countries around the world China has its long history of a struggle for equality and prosperity against tyrants and dictatorships. The establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949 seemed to have put an end to that struggle for a better life. “The Chinese people have stood up!” declared Mao Tse-tung, the chairman of China’s Communist Party (CPP) – a leading political force in the country for the time. The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes: the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie and the national-capitalists. The four classes were to be led buy the CPP, as the leader of the working class.