China in the 20th century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

China in the 20th century - Essay Example Twentieth century has been the period of great massive changes for China. This has been a period of revolution with changes all round including governments, economy, political and cultural. Twentieth century China is an epitome of great sociopolitical changes This has been a period of revolution with changes all round including governments, economy, political, social and cultural. Twentieth century China is an epitome of great sociopolitical changes (Schoppa). This changing face of China has its effects on the economic and political future of China. This paper aims at exploring and critically analyzing the three systematic challenges the current leadership is facing namely the challenge of fragile political institutions and structures, growing strength of societal changes and stability and sustainability of economic, social and political progress. This paper will analyze the effectiveness and efficacy of the reform programs initiated by Chinese government. It aims an in-depth study o f the hurdles the economic reforms are challenged with and the weaknesses of the political system along with the predictions of the future. A brief history of China in Twentieth Century China was one of the most advanced and politically powerful country of the world, with its long Chinese history and rich Chinese civilization at the beginning of the twentieth century. Even at that time too it was the most populous and politically unified country with very advanced agriculture. However when Europeans landed on this region China was stuck in its old traditions with no industrialization. The Chinese traditional government began to fail in the early years of the twentieth century and Western Nations were fighting over as much control as possible. The resentment of this foreign influence by the Chinese people was revealed in Boxer rebellion. The Chinese people replaced their imperial system with Chinese republic led by Sun Yat-sen in 1911. The battle with imperial forces and republican f orces of Sun continued for some time. With the outbreak of First World War china found itself providing laborers for alleged mines and factories. While the internal battle of power in china continued weakening it even further Japan capitalized on the situation. By the end of 1939 Japan’s full blown aggression against China yielded them control over most of the east coast of China. First half of the twentieth century for china mostly meant power struggle, high inflation and economic strife. In 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong peoples’ Republic of China was established. The republic of China meant great proletarian cultural reforms. A five year plan which included cultural reform, social reforms, land reforms and economic planning was developed and implemented. China formed a thirty year alliance with Russia against Japan and its allies. It laid the roots of communism in China. Most of the Western world did not establish diplomatic ties with Communist China until 1971. Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai remained China’s leaders until 1976 who transformed China with many of their reforms. With their death power struggle again continued in China resulting in famous incidents like Tiananmen Square. Deng and Zhao Ziyang brought younger generation into power. They implemented policies for modernization of four major sectors namely agriculture, industry, defense and science and technology. (Phill) Future economy of China is the most talked about topic these days. Is this economic growth sustainable? Different aspects of social, political and economic pressures on China along with its weak political structure are the concern of most of the Western world The Institutional Dynamics of China’s Transformation Institutions provide the basic and