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Mao Zedong's Reign

Jensine Bartholomew

SNHU HIS-100

Historical Lenses and

History's Values

Historical lenses are used to study history in a more precise way. They let you narrow down topics and search for the specific areas that pertain to your research. History’s value is used to teach us about how the past has worked and we are able to use this knowledge to see what has failed in the past and prepare better for the future.

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted

Historical Lenses

Lenses

Mao Zedong had a lot of plans to reform, restructure, and revolutionize the country of China. Before he became the leader of China, he gave a speech where he laid out some of the things he hoped would be changing for China. He announced the new title, "the People's Republic of China" during this speech just days before it was changed. He wanted to reform the country and get them from a third world country, to a world power house. He was able to successfully take them from the former Marxist state to a communist country.

Political Lens

Economic Lens

There were many economic growth and policies put into place by Mao Zedong during his reign. Five of the major plans/policies for economic growth were to become a self sufficient and self reliant country (free from foreign capital and control), elimination of capitalist exploitation and transforming to an equal and involved society, solving the issue of hunger and getting enough food for everyone, rapid industrialization, and providing equality by land reform. He made a lot of changes for the good of the countries economic state, and in the pursuit of pushing the country forward

Economic Chart

Radical collectivization began under Zedong's reign in the late 1950's. Millions of Chinese citizens were forced to live communally and people lost everything "down to their pots and pans" (Xun, p. 17). There was an outbreak of famine as the radical collectivization began to rise, and caused thousands to lose their lives. "In order to not retard The Great Leap Forward, Mao was quite willing to sacrifice half of China's population" (Xun, p. 18). Due to these, and many other reasons, Mao Zedong was not seen as a good leader through a social lens prospective.

Social Lens

Historical Narrative

When looking at all the lenses together (Social, Political, and Economic) we can see a lot of overlap and get a good and detailed picture of how and what happened during the reign of Mao Zedong. These lenses can provide us a clearer view so we can understand why someone who was seen so awful socially was able to do so much good for a country, and why the people went along with his reign on China.

Conclusions

The conclusion is that though Mao Zedong was not the best of people himself, he did a lot of good for the country and Republic of China. As far as economics and politics go, he pushed the country forward in such a giant leap, you really couldn’t recognize the old country. As his motto was “out with old, in with the new". The fact that he was able to do all these things and make the changes, along with his persuasion skills, is ultimately why the Chinese people went along with his reign and followed his rule.

Our Lives

Impact

The current chairman of China has very similar beliefs and policies as Mao did, they go as far as saying “China seems to be experiencing a resurgence of Maoism in recent years, manifest in popular nostalgia for Mao and in Xi’s style of governance” (Ding). Because of the similarities of the two rulers, and how close America is with China (in friendship and war), the policies and government of China affects our lives today. If it didn’t influence our lives, we wouldn’t have the trade system we do, or have gone into a trade war with China. Though this doesn’t particularly involve Zedong himself, his policies and beliefs stay strong in China, even today.

My Opinion

Does History Repeat Itself

I do believe in some instance's history repeats itself. Therefore, we need to be able to research and understand our past, the mistakes that were made, and use that knowledge to our advantage to propel us into a better and brighter future.

Course Evidence

Does History Repeat Itself

Some evidence from the course showing that history repeats itself was in module 5, historical interpretations and how they change over time. Each historian writes their version of the past from a different lens, in turn, some versions may have details altered or left out completely. This alteration or complete loss of historical details, where we no longer have access to the whole story of what happened, makes it inevitable to not repeat our past. When information is missing, we are, as a society, not able to fully and properly learn from it.

Are citizens obligated to know history?

Citizens Obligation

Yes. It is our right and obligation as citizens to have a basic understanding of our past. That is why we are all required to take many years of history in our school years. It is not something each person needs to dedicate their lives to, but it is important and necessary to have a basic grasp on what happened in history, so we are not doomed to repeat the same mistakes due to lack of knowledge.

References

Ding, I. J. J. (2019, May 29). Why Maoism still resonates in China today. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/05/29/why-maoism-still-resonates-china-today/

HAWKINS, J. (2013). Mao Zedong. In Hayhoe R. & Ross H. (Authors) & ZHA Q. (Ed.), Education in China: Educational History, Models, and Initiatives (pp. 129-137). Great Barrington, Massachusetts: Berkshire. Retrieved December 13, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1j0pszw.38

Selden, M. (1988). Mao Zedong and the Political Economy of Chinese Development. China Report, 24(2), 125–139. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000944558802400202?journalCode=chra#articleCitationDownloadContainer

Terror, Repression, and Violence (1958–1961). (2012). In Xun Z. (Ed.), The Great Famine in China, 1958-1962: A Documentary History (pp. 17-21). New Haven; London: Yale University Press. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nq1qr.8

Tse-tung, M. (2004). THE CHINESE PEOPLE HAVE STOOD UP! Retrieved December 20, 2020, from https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_01.htm

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