The time after Chaing Kai-Shek
By: Nathan Tong
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was the leader of China after Chaing Kai-Shek died. He revolutionized China making China a mixed-market economy from a command economy. He created the 4 modernizations which focused building up the agriculture, industry, science & technology, and defense.
The 4 modernizations
- On the agricultural side, the responsibility system was implemented. This is where every family that farms have to make their own living by producing crops. If they did not have enough land, the government leased land to them. After a harvest, the family would sell a portion to the government in return for some money. The rest could be with sold at any price they wanted to make a profit. This encouraged farmers to produce more crops, which benefited both the country and the people. The science and technology area was more focused on repairing the damage caused by the Cultural Revolution.
- On the industry side, he let managers of the factories have the ability to choose what they were going to sell however, they were still responsible for making a profit. The responsibility system was also implemented in the industry allowing the managers to make money themselves.
- On the science & technology side, Deng Xiaoping removed the isolation from the world policy. He wanted ideas of technology and science to modernize China again. He also opened up foreign trade and investment.
- On the defense side, he noticed that China lacked up-to-date weapons. Xiaoping quickly development of modern weaponry. He prioritized research over production and used both old and new weapons in the army. Also, Xiaoping encouraged modern training for his soldiers, learning the newest of tactics and strategies to improve battle techniques. This increased nationalism in China and increased the number of people that joined the army.
The Tiananmen Square Massacre
The Tiananmen Square Massacre was in Beijing, China and happened on June 4th of 1989. The Chinese students didn't like their communist government and wanted a democratic government so they protested in Tiananmen Square. The Chinese government wanted the protest to stop so they sent troops and tanks to Tiananmen Square. At night, they turned off all the lights for 10 minutes and killed almost everyone in the protest. The 2 student leaders, Chai Ling and Wu'erkaixi were lucky enough to survive and escape to America.