Tiananmen Square

The interview with Lee Kuan Yew didn't complicate my views on how Deng handled the protests in Tiananmen square.  I think Deng could have handled the protests differently. I don't think it was necessary to kill all those people. The army shouldn't have used military weaponry on the civilizations. There were alternatives to the situations. The interview didn't complicate my views but strengthened them.

Thought and Understanding of the film "To Live"

After watching more of the film “To Live,” I was sad to see the Fugui’s son die. He was forced to awake and go to school to melt steel even though he hadn’t slept in three days. I thought this really showed the dedication of the people to strive for the economic growth of China.  Fugui said his son had to go even though his wife wanted him to sleep. Fugui said they “must not be politically backward.” They were afraid if they started slacking and “moving backward,” they would get in trouble. I think people feared getting in trouble so they worked harder. After the reading about the new 10-year plan, I think China really needed. The backyard steel productions and over work of people were in the end not beneficial. Steel was so poorly made that factories couldn’t even use it and many of the workers were tired that it led to accidents in factories just like what happened with Fugui’s son. The new 10-year plan added to the successful growth of modernization of China.

Life under Mao Zedong in the 50's

During Mao Zedong’s reign in the 1900s, the people of china had to sacrifice a lot. In the movie, “The life” there are many examples that show this.  People were forced to gather their household items made of steel and donate it to the government for military purposes. This included their cooking supplies because they were made of steel. Due to the lack of cooking supplies, there were community food centers created in which everyone had to go to eat.  Landlords or people who were wealthier than the common people were forced to give up their homes because in a communist society, civilization is classless. People who would not give up their home, like Long’er from the movie, were considered to be counter revolutionary and therefore prosecuted. If one was a hard worker that gained more income and therefore was more privileged than most, one was basically forced to give up what they had worked for to be equal to lower class. Even though people had to sacrifice during life under Mao, they still strived for a communist based society. 

My thoughts on the most interesting themes throughout Ming and Qing Dynasties:

Throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Europeans continually oppressed the Chinese. When George MaCartney, a colonial diplomat, came to China in 1793 he wanted to trade with the Chinese but they didn’t want to. They weren’t a commercial country. They had no need to trade with the Europeans. Around the end of the 15^th century, Christianity game to China. At first, the Chinese tolerated it. Even some of the Chinese converted to Christianity but Kangxi, the emperor of China at the time, kicked the Christians out because they wouldn’t allow Confucian practices to mix with traditional Christian worship. They didn’t leave for good though. They came back after the first opium because of the treaty of Nanking. The Chinese were forced to sign the treaty by the Europeans and forced to be open to Christian ideas. That directly led to the Tiaping rebellion then led to the second opium war. The Chinese were forced to sign the Treaty of Tianjin. This allowed missionaries and travelers freedom to be and travel through China. Throughout all these events one can see the Europeans as bullies. They forced the Chinese to sign two treaties that allowed what they wanted to happen in China. This is kind of ironic because a treaty is an agreement between to countries, but these events clearly show it wasn’t an agreement. The Chinese were forced to sign the treaties.

         The influence of Christianity greatly impacted China. The Rites Controversy, the Tiaping rebellion, and the boxer rebellion were all significant times of unrest in China. The Chinese were forced to tolerate Christianity due to the treaty of Nanking and Tianjin. The Chinese eventually wanted to once and for all purge china of Christianity. This occurred in the violent events of the boxer rebellion. Without these disturbances in China, one wonders whether China would have flourished economically, socially and politically, rather than being distracted by these events. Would Confucianism have survived if the west hadn’t imposed on China?