The Chinese People 's Liberation Army Essay

When the Chinese and Europeans first came into contact with each other, there was a mutual fascination for the other's culture, or way of life. The Chinese began to look at the European culture. They became interested in Western thinking. They were also beginning to look at the religion that the European missionaries were preaching about, Christianity. On the other end, the Europeans who came in contact with the Chinese were fascinated by their culture and their philosophy, mainly the philosophy of Confucius. While the two cultures seemed to be a good match, each respecting and admiring the other, it came to an abrupt halt. The end result was China and Europe both rejecting the other culture.

Three areas of philosophy emerged amidst the chaos and constant warring of the Zhou era. The three were called Confucianism, Daoism, and legalism. They were Chinese philosophies that were thought to be the best ways to rule and achieve order in the society. Confucianism believed that a ruler 's job was to set a good example, and not order. Since people were thought of as naturally good, they would following the right path based on their own conscience. Legalism was a more harsh way of ruling, led by Hanfeizi. They thought people were evil, and needed strict laws and punishment to keep them in line. Daoism was very different from either of the other two. It was led by Laozi, who taught that the best kind of government was one who governed

The Han China and Classical Athens’ culture also had a huge different to how the arts were created. The arts of the Athenians were more focus on themselves, the human body. For example, on the front cover page, there is a drawing or statue of a Greek man, the Greek man is standing in a weird position with his arms pointing down, there are a few lines emphasizing his muscles, torso, biceps, etc. (Front Cover). While the art of the Han China were more focus on the landscapes and scenes surround them, along with the serenity and balance of the world drawn on to canvases in great details (document L). In most paintings, the five Chinese elements called Wu Xing will most likely be included in the paintings; the five elements are wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Looking at Ch’iu Ying’s painting, you can clearly see the how Wu Xing is being presented in the painting, how the trees and mountains were presented in the background (document L). However, as you can see in the painting, there are only two men in the painting, this could mean that humans were inconsiderable in their arts (document L). As a conclusion, the two artistic styles were complete different from each other, the Han’s arts were more focus on nature in great details, while the Athenians’ art were more focus on the human body.

Systems of government have a major influence on the development and success of a civilization and culture. This can be said about Athens during its Golden Age and about China during the Han dynasty. Han China was ruled by an imperial bureaucracy based upon the teachings of Confucius which allowed only a tiny part of its population to participate in government. In contrast, 5th Century Athens was a direct democracy which allowed a greater number of its inhabitants to take part in governing. These civilizations differed greatly in geography, population and size which influenced their development. They also held contrasting beliefs regarding the source of political authority and how it was maintained. However, these civilizations also shared

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.

As stewards of our profession, commanders ensure that military expertise continues to develop and be passed on to aspiring professionals through operational development. It is during this developmental phase that Professional Soldiers put their knowledge and skills to the test. Operational Army units certify and recertify their Professional Soldiers through repetitive and realistic training events including the Combat Life Saver Course, platoon live fires, and exercises at the National Training Center. In the course of these challenging and realistic experiences, the Army’s operational units develop Soldiers and leaders prepared to maintain high standards, discipline, and operational readiness. Operational development and adaptability will continue to drive changes in Army doctrine, organization, leadership, and education as we enter the post-war era. Without this kind of development, the Army could not maintain a well-disciplined professional fighting force.

No one can deny from recent news that there has been a strong surge of Chinese nationalism, and that this nationalism has turned heads in the international community. The nationalism that the CCP has affected is taking on a life of its own. In its strategy of pragmatic nationalism, the CCP tried to blur the lines between love of country with love of the state and governing body. What has resulted is a whole new breed of nationalism that is very much independent of the Chinese Communist Party and in fact has caused the CCP great concern. This new form of nationalism is much more vibrant, passionate, virulent and uncontrollable than the government had intended with its post 1989 strategy of obtaining legitimacy through nationalism. This

China has about five thousand years history which is a very long period of time. Also, the Chinese civilization was growing with these periods of time and it will continues greater than ever. Many wars and unhappinesses were happening during this period. Although, the time has passed, the histories and the civilizations have not passed. These family virtues, serious, working attitudes, sense of justice and the great Confucian tradition have been deeply assimilated into the Chinese people. Some Chinese traditions are different from North American’s. The Chinese culture has many special characteristics which are very interesting for people to learn.

Communism is a system of government, a political ideology that rejects private ownership and promotes a classless, stateless society based on common ownership of all property and the means of production, where by all work is shared and all proceeds are commonly owned. Communism is practised in China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. However most of the world’s communist governments have been disbanded since the end of World War II. Soon after the Japanese surrendered at the end of World War II, Communist forces began a war against the Kuomintang in China. The Communists gradually gained control of the country and on the 1st October, 1949, Mao Zedong announced the victory of the Communist party and the establishment of the People's

The Second World War was coming to an end with the surrender of Germany in May 1945. At the Potsdam Conference, the leaders of the Allied states came together to determine the postwar order of Europe and took decisions on the strategies of the ongoing war in the Pacific. Despite the repeated Allies demand for the surrender of its forces, Japan maintained fighting against the Allies. This situation left no more choice to the United States other than using atomic bomb to break the Japanese resistance and provide its surrender. The destruction caused by the bombing led Japan to surrender and obey the Allies terms. The next Allied move was to discuss and make decisions about the future of the Japanese colonies in the East Asia. Korea was

Though Mao Zedong would argue the people wield the power to change history, they do not. Perhaps they should, but that concerns epistemological questions. And while elements of Mao’s perspective—that the people comprise the “motive force in the making of world history”—wafted around in compelling the U.S. to intervene in Iraq in 2003, it is not a sufficient explanation. The people did not form the chief reason for the Iraqi campaign, and certainly did not originate the intervention “alone”, as Mao’s philosophy would suggest. Alternatively, Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle contends, “The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” He rightly locates the locus of watershed moments in history: great men. At the very least, a few powerful men ultimately control the people’s destiny—both near to and far from home. In reality, a small, elite group of individuals set the agenda for world order. As evidenced by the 2003 Iraq War, a tight circle of plutocrats—the president, his advisors, and those with skin in the financial game—can steer the course for two entire nations for a decade.

East and west. The relationship between the two has never been truly set in stone. Both Europe and Asia have been through many large-scale power shifts throughout the millennia. Empires have risen – and inevitably been razed. If not by conquerors, then by time itself. These empires were often led by those who yearned to increase their land and holdings, and because of this the tendrils of civilization often stretched to seek uncharted territory. This undying curiosity eventually culminated in what is now referred to as the “Age of Discovery,” which spanned from the 1500s to the 1800s. By the beginning of the 20th century, most of the world’s lands had already been discovered. Trade links between China and Europe had been around since the Hellenic Age. And in the year 1900 it had been 124 years since the founding of the United States of America. Cross the Pacific Ocean, and one would find themselves face-to-face with the United States’ distant neighbor, East Asia. In East Asia, two of the most historically significant nations are China and Japan. For a number of reasons, – which will be detailed further later on – the early 1900s were a somewhat tumultuous time for both of said nations. The 20th century was by and large a time of political and economic power consolidation for both China and Japan. It is arguable that the United States played an integral role in this consolidation. The interactions between the United States, China, and Japan highlight a time when the way that

The poor peasants in China did not own their own land and had to pay

Along with Prince Gong’s active role in ‘seeking to improve China’s diplomatic relations and advance the military’11, the dominant leaders of modernization sought to ‘take the foreigners as their teachers and models; then they may come to the same level and be their equals; finally they may move ahead and surpass them’. Their ideas were supported by a number of provincial governors and scholar-officials who began to ‘seek out an effective path for reform’12. These efforts would become known as the Self-Strengthening Movement. The leading theorist of the movement was the scholar-official Feng Guifen who believed in order to ‘strengthen the Qing state, traditional Confucian culture and institutions must be preserved’ and ‘supplemented by Western weapons and technological learning’. Although the reforms proposed modernization, a cultural change was needed for it to truly be in effect. With the establishment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Zongli Yamen), Zeng advised to send students to Western countries for technical training and in result a mission was sent to the United States of America the following year. However after a few years the students were instructed to return to China claiming that they spent to much time on Western learning and not enough on their Chinese studies. Although, the officials most likely feared that the students were ‘learning democratic or republican ideas’13

The Coming to Power of the Communists in China in 1949 The leadership of China at the beginning of the 20th Century was very different to how it is today. The Communists did not come to power without a long and bitter struggle against the many foes that came across their path between the time of their creation, in 1921, and their eventual success in 1949. The Double Tenth Revolution of 1911 overthrew the emperor of China, as he was only a child and could not contain the ever-depleting condition of the nation.