Chinese History

Running head: CHINESE HISTORY
Chinese History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CHINESE HISTORY
Source: (nytimes, 2019)
Figure 1
The image is of the Chinese citizens in Tiananmen (Gate of Heavenly peace). Mao Zedong
announced the base of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October in the square in the year
1949. In the beginning of PRC’s establishment, militaries paraded in this square. A
mausoleum was created near this square in the year of Mao’ death. The popular incident of a
man standing right in front of moving tanks and refusing to move was captured near the
square. Jonathan D. Spence also spoke about the square in order to discuss the history of
China in his book “Search for modern china”. The book has explained the comprehensive
history of China. He covered history, military events, politics, economics, society and art in
his book (Spence 2013). He found Modern China in the citizens’ voice emerging through
protest or perpetually. Individual freedom implying democracy marked the beginning of

2CHINESE HISTORY
modern China. He marked the various strands influencing the development and changes in
this country. He has mentioned about the internal conditions of China. He also mentioned
about the philosophical and sociological trends and foundations and its relationship with rest
of the world. He has portrayed the role of various political leaders (Spence 2013). Mainly he
has discussed the rule of Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. He was unable to depict the real
personalities of these leaders. It also speaks about the Tiananmen Massacre which occurred in
the year 1989. Cultural trends of the Chinese people were mentioned. Jonathan D. Spence
focused on discussing the evolution of modern China and its background. The difficulties
faced by the citizens were also explained vividly. The supporter of Chiang Kai Shek and his
actions along with history of bloodbath because of the Cultural Revolution were mentioned in
the book.
Political leader and a member of the military in China, Chiang Kai-shek had joined
the National Party or KMT in the year 1918. In the year 1925, he expelled the communists of
the party and concentrated on the unification of China. Chiang’s governance mainly focused
on the battle with communist party in China and to manage the aggression of Japan. Chiang
expelled the nationalist party to Taiwan, which was considered as the legitimate government
of china by many countries all over the world. Chiang wanted to put forward various reforms,
improvement in the Chinese infrastructure and reviving the Confucianism. This was done by
‘New Life Movement’ campaign. This acted as threat in the stability of economy outside and
within the country. His generals seized him on December 1936 until he decided to support
Mao Zedong’s forces of communism against Japan. China was invaded by Japan the next
year. China struggled for four years until war was declared on Japan in the year 1941. The
citizens due to his passivity towards the Japanese did not support Chiang’s government and
conservative policies that only favored the mercantile interests and the landowners. In the
year 1946, Japan surrendered and civil war was announced between the Communist forces