Reflection Paper 1 Ancient and Imperial China September 19, 2014 Summary of Intellectual Foundations of China In his book, Intellectual Foundations of China, Frederick Mote discusses the importance of the various schools of thought that appeared in the years leading up to the imperial period of ancient China, and how their influence impacted Chinese intellectual thought that persists to this day. Confucius began the legacy of intellectual thinking by lighting the torch that would be carried on to create Confucianism. Taoism ran parallel to Confucianism, and acted as a polar opposite, but not an adversary. Mote describes both in detail, dedicating a great deal of his book to the two ideologies specifically. Mote describes Confucius as the first self-conscious philosopher that we know of in the Chinese tradition.
“To what extent was Mao Zedong’s rule over China beneficial for the Chinese people of the time?” The Rise and Rule of Single Party States Research Assignment Karen Tran McSkimin April 25, 2012 Word Count: 2,000 Page Count: 13 Abstract This paper will explore the question of “To what extent was Mao Zedong’s rule over China beneficial for the Chinese people of the time?” Mao Zedong, sometimes known as Mao Tse-Tung, was a significant single party leader during the twentieth century, being the architect and founding father of the People’s Republic of China as well as one of the instigators of the Cold War. With that, he helped to spread communism during a time where communism and democracy were at odds with one another. To answer this question considering the extent of the benefits of Mao’s rule, this paper will be covering the topics of origin and establishment, consolidation and maintenance, styles and policies, and the success of the regime. It will consider the effects of events that led to his rise of power, his consolidation and maintenance of power, the actions he took with that power, and the effects of the decisions he made with his power on the Chinese people. Word Count: 162 Table of Contents • Abstract - 2 • Introduction - 4 • Origins and Establishment - 4 • Consolidation and Maintenance of Power - 5 • Styles and Policies of Regime - 7 • Success and Impact - 8 • Conclusion - 10 • Bibliography - 12 Introduction Mao Zedong, referred to commonly as Chairman Mao, was born in the Chinese province of Hunan in 1893.
These Sages, who were given “Zi” at the end of their names, went around the kingdoms, explaining to the ruler what they thought the best solution was for uniting China. The most prominent ideas were usually any of the three sects, Daoist, Confucianist or Legalist. Daoism was based on the ideas of Laozi and Zhuangzi, Confucianism on those of Confucius (Kongzi) and Mencius (Mengzi), and Legalism on those of Han Feizi. Confucianism was not adopted in Confucius’ life time. It developed later,
However, by the time of his graduation, Sun believed that whilst the Manchu dynasty still existed, China would remain corrupt and backwards. His experiences abroad shaped his political ideas as at the beginning of the 20th century, the West were advancing and modernising their countries quicker than Sun’s own country of China. He toured Europe and America in hope to raise funds for the “Save China League” and made attempts to start a revolution against the Qing for example, the unsuccessful uprising in Canton, 1895. Sun worked hard travelling around to different countries, gaining more foreign funds and support. Sun Yatsen influenced the Chinese with his Three Principles – Nationalism, Democracy and Socialism and later in 1905; he formed the United League which was a revolutionary
Liberal internationalism Two main bases; The first is the fear of and international ‘state of nature’ Idea that self-determination is a mixed blessing, While preserves self-government it creates a world of sovereign nation states controlling own freedoms and interests, possibly at the extent of other nations. In conditions of international anarchy, self-restraint may not be enough to ensure enduring peace. Two forms of prevention have been proposed First being international independence with the intention of promoting cooperation; (this is why liberal s support free trade between free nations) material cost would be huge in conflict, war would therefore be unthinkable. Libs also proposed a supernatural body/ bodies to bring order to otherwise lawless international structure. Seen in social contract theory; government is the solution to problem of disorder.
Qin Shihuang unified all of China and established the Qin Dynasty. Qin Shihuang who became the first emperor of China believed that building walls was the best way to defend his country from foreign invaders. He found that earlier walls had been disconnected and in 215 B.C. he ordered 2,000,000 people to help build walls and all of these people who got ordered were prisoners of war, and people who were found guilty of crimes and the majority of them were soldiers in the army. During the building of the Great Wall it took many lives and a heavy amount of money and materials.
From Guerrilla Insurgency to Revolutionary Uprising: Examining Mao Zedong’s Concept of “People’s War” and it’s Connection with Southeast Asian Conflicts in the 1960s and 1970s By Joshua Lee 100210475 History 3350 Dr. Collin Green April 10, 2013 Mao Zedong’s concept of “People’s War” is a school of military theory at the strategic level that was shaped by the experiences, realities, and challenges faced by the Chinese Communist Party. More specifically, the time frame of these experiences, realities, and challenges which shaped “People’s War” started from the collapse of China’s “First United Front”, until the end of the Chinese Civil War with the Chinese Communist Party achieving victory and asserting dominance over the entirety of mainland China. It is undisputable that People’s War has its foundations in Guerrilla Warfare (Spanish for “Little War”) however the conceptual dimension of People’s War is broader than that of Guerrilla Warfare. The Maoist theory of People’s War” directly contributed to, and helped make possible the communist victories in Southeast Asia against non-Communist Western-Allied regimes. The Communist victories in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were achieved through effective implementation of the principles of People’s War”.
Art and China’s Cultural Revolution Traditional Chinese art has always been a major aspect of Chinese history. However, shortly after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Mao Zedong declared that art should serve the people. In the three decades following the establishment of China’s Communist party art and China’s Revolution undergone one of the most disastrous and tumultuous eras in modern Chinese history. During this time, the Mao Zedong led government sought to modernize all aspects of Chinese society, a process that included suppressing or destroying much of traditional culture. The government also wanted to produce a new visual culture to communicate its philosophy and objectives to the people of China.
In this paper an effort is made to study the Chinese political system and the reforms made after the Cultural Revolution. CHAPTER 1 GENESIS OF THE CHINA’S POLITICAL SYSTEM 3. More than a century ago Napoleon Bonaparte had remarked, " China, there lies a sleeping giant let him sleep, for when he wakes he will shake the world.” Within a century of Napoleon's death, China began to awaken, and its awakening has indeed shaken the world. Therefore, to have a more clearer understanding of the political system of this giant nation we shall go into its historical and political past since in order to understand the problems faced by Chinese modernisers, it is important to have some sense of the tradition that provides the focus for their efforts. 4.
In this essay, I will show that democratic peace theory which state that liberal democracies do not go to war against each another provide reasonable arguments in promoting democracy to nondemocratic states. Democratic proponents emphasize that the shared norm between liberal states is one of the factor that ensure peace among them. Besides that, citizens play a major role in declaring war by liberal democracies which result in a lower frequency of wars between the nations. Next, declaring war is complex and democratic leaders will not opt for it unless inevitable. Firstly, democratic peace is able to promote greater stability in the world as a result of the shared norms between liberal democracies.