Rising Sun; Mao Zedong

So·ci·e·ty

· Warlords and land lords had most power

· Farmers living in poverty

· Bad economy - low levels of gross domestic output, high rates of inflation, and high levels of urban unemployment

· “The Chinese have always been a great, courageous and industrious nation; it is only in modern times that they have fallen behind. And that was due entirely to oppression and exploitation by foreign imperialism and domestic reactionary governments.”

· New government would explain for naïve-ness , audience not skeptical

OCCASION OF THE SPEECH-

Mao Zedong

Power Structures

Effectiveness of speech

• At the time of this speech, Mao was thought to be a god by the majority of the Chinese People

• The Communist Party of China (CPC) was significantly more popular than the KMT, whom had recently lost the war and had fled the mainland to Taiwan

• Mao was de-facto supreme leader of China at the time of this speech; speech laid the groundwork for him to be official Supreme Leader

• Made this speech around the peak of his popularity (the more controversial Cultural Revolution and Great Leap Forward were still to come)

Born to a peasant family, in Central china ; 1893

· Studied at First Normal School in Changsa

· Became a teacher 1918

· worked at Beijing University Library & became interested in

reading Marxist literature 1921

· lead Long March and People's Liberation Army

· became chairman of CPC in 1945 , still in civil war

• The encouragement for his people. "Great unity"
• Showing how China is now strong "Chinese people have won liberation"
• Show the determination and effort that China will make
• To show how the Peoples Republic of China is renewed and no longer weak.

• Various range of political party 7 organization in China
• First meeting to rally support for new government , + discuss communist regime
• Conference was set up because a political consultative conference was needed to set up a democratic coalition government.

At the conference that day -

• The founding of the People's Republic of China as the will of Chinese
• Central People's Government and CPPCC members elected
• Mao Zedong - the first chairman of the CPPCC National Committee.

Translation

Let the domestic and foreign reactionaries tremble before us! Let them say we are no good at this and no good at that. By our own indomitable efforts we the Chinese people will unswervingly reach our goal.

The heroes of the people who laid down their lives in the People's War of Liberation and the people's revolution shall live for ever in our memory!

Hail the victory of the People's War of Liberation and the people's revolution!

Hail the founding of the People's Republic of China!

Hail the triumph of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference!

China was...

• "Our state system, the people’s democratic dictatorship, is a powerful weapon for safeguarding the fruits of victory of the people’s revolution and for thwarting the plots of domestic and foreign enemies for restoration, and this weapon we must firmly grasp."

**When Mao says the people’s democratic dictatorship, he is referring to himself**

• Mao represented the soon to be dictator, the Political Consultative Congress represented the soon to be National People’s Congress, China’s unicameral rubber stamp legislature which did whatever Mao ordered

◦

• Kuomintang , a dictatorship in China 1928( Chiang Kai -Shek)

• Military force to keep power

• Stay focused to exterminate communist

• ◦Communists took over mainland China and had better public support

To whom?: The delegates, those with no hope in China, Chinese people, the enemies, The Kuomintang and their "foreign friends" Russia

Ràng nàxiē nèiwài fandòngpài zài women miànqián fādou! Ràng tāmen shuō, women méiyou shàncháng zhège, bù shàncháng nàgè. Tōngguò women de bùqūbùnáo de nalì, women zhōngguó rénmín jiāng jiāndìng bù yí dì shíxiàn women de mùbiāo.

Shuí xiàn chūle zìji de shēngmìng zài rénmín jiěfàng zhànzhēng hé rénmín gémìng yīngdāng zài women de jìyì yongyuan huó zài rénmín de yīngxióng!

Bīngbáo rénmín jiěfàng zhànzhēng de shènglì hé rénmín de gémìng!

Bīngbáo zhōngguó rénmín gònghéguó chénglì!

Bīngbáo zhōngguó rénmín zhèngzhì xiéshāng huìyì de shènglì!

Why?: Because China had won the Civil War against the Kuomintang and now with that victory that had everything they needed to now... STAND UP! They were powered by their victory

•Mao represented the average 20th century dictator (like Hitler, Stalin, etc.) who tricked his people into supporting his dictatorship by promising them ungrounded visions of hope and big claims with no support (ex. An upsurge in economic construction is bound to be followed by an upsurge of construction in the cultural sphere. The era in which the Chinese people are regarded as uncivilized is now ended. We shall emerge in the world as a nation with an advanced culture.) how?

(Ex. Our people’s armed forces must be maintained and developed with the heroic and steeled People’s Liberation Army as the foundation. We will have not only a powerful army but also a powerful air force and a powerful navy) how? China still has no navy

•Rhetorically, Mao never painted himself as particularly high and ,ighty

In actuality, Mao was though of as god/the savior to his audience (a product of his rhetoric), who therefore went along with whatever he said, no matter the claim.

Nakijah King

Gena Gordon

Doug Thompson

Rising Sun; Mao Zedong