Great Leap Forward
China's second five-year plan under the leadership of the impatient Mao, it aimed to speen up economic development while simultaneously developing a completely socialitst society. This plan failed and more than 20 million people starved between 1958 and 1960.
Red Guards
The youths who led Mao's Cultural Revolution. Wore red arm bands and carried his book. Terrorized Chinese citizens and determined who went to camps.
Civil Disobedience
strategy in which people non-violently refused to cooperate with injustice; Ghandi's way
Taiwan
a government on the island of Taiwan established in 1949 by Chiang Kai-shek after the conquest of mainland China by the communists led by Mao Zedong
Cultural Revolution
Campaign in China ordered by Mao Zedong to purge the Communist Party of his opponents and instill revolutionary values in the younger generation.
Ghandi
spiritual leader of India who used civil disobedience to expose the British mistreatment and to seek equality for Indians in India
Sun Yat-sen
Chinese physician and political leader who aimed to transform China with patriotic, democratic, and economically progressive reforms.
Mao Zedong
This man became the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and remained its leader until his death. He declared the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and supported the Chinese peasantry throughout his life.
Tiananmen Square
Site in Beijing where Chinese students and workers gathered to demand greater political openness in 1989. The demonstration was crushed by Chinese military with great loss of life.
Great Salt March
Gandhi's protest against the British salt tax on Indians. The followers marched 240 miles from Ahmadabad to Dandi. There were brutal results.
People's Republic of China
Communist government of mainland China; proclaimed in 1949 following military success of Mao Zedong over forces of Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang.
Is China still a communist nation?
Officially, China is still labeled by the West as a communist country. But in reality, it is different than that. The present day communist China is totally different from what it was 30 to 50 years ago (during the leadership of Mao Zedong). They are now allowed to travel anywhere, study or travel abroad if they can afford it. They can start and operate their own business enterprises and keep the profits from it, although the exception to this are major public utility enterprises like power generation, transportation, telecommunication, which are still state-owned enterprises (or semi-government, with private entities owning parts of these enterprises).
So in reality, China nowadays is a capitalist-driven economy. Its people don't refer to themselves as communists anymore, but as private Chinese citizens.
What inequalities exist between China A and China B?
China A is full of cities and has problems that a nation that is growing in wealth would have. China B is the working class. They live in poverty and most can't afford health care of education. These are problems that a developing country has.
Strategies used by Ghandi
Ghandi used all non-violent strategies (civil disobedience); he went on marches (salt march), made speeches, alerted the media, and refused to use violence.