In Marxist theory, a semi-colony is a country which is officially an independent and sovereign nation, but which is in reality very much dependent and dominated by an imperialist country (or, in some cases, several imperialist countries).
192-569: Mao Zedong (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) and led the country from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao also served as the chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1943 until his death, and as the party's de facto leader from 1935. His theories, which he advocated as
384-561: A failed war in northern Korea provoked widespread unrest. Under the succeeding Tang and Song dynasties , Chinese economy, technology, and culture entered a golden age. The Tang dynasty retained control of the Western Regions and the Silk Road, which brought traders to as far as Mesopotamia and the Horn of Africa , and made the capital Chang'an a cosmopolitan urban center. However, it
576-548: A "political consciousness" from Zheng Guanying 's booklet which lamented the deterioration of Chinese power and argued for the adoption of representative democracy . Mao also read translations of works by Western authors including Adam Smith , Montesquieu , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Charles Darwin , and Thomas Huxley . Interested in history, Mao was inspired by the military prowess and nationalistic fervour of George Washington and Napoleon Bonaparte . His political views were shaped by Gelaohui -led protests which erupted following
768-581: A "traitor to the nation", on 5 May, he telegrammed the Military Council of the Nanjing National Government proposing a military alliance, a course of action advocated by Stalin. Although Chiang intended to ignore Mao's message and continue the civil war, he was arrested by one of his own generals, Zhang Xueliang , in Xi'an , leading to the Xi'an Incident ; Zhang forced Chiang to discuss the issue with
960-595: A CCP regiment led by General Zhu De and Lin Biao ; they united, and attempted to retake Jinggangshan. They were initially successful, but the KMT counter-attacked, and pushed the CCP back; over the next few weeks, they fought an entrenched guerrilla war in the mountains. The Central Committee again ordered Mao to march to south Hunan, but he refused, and remained at his base. Contrastingly, Zhu complied, and led his armies away. Mao's troops fended
1152-551: A CCP victory would spark the overthrow of global imperialism and capitalism. In this, they disagreed with the official line of the Soviet government and Comintern. Officials in Moscow desired greater control over the CCP and removed Li from power by calling him to Russia for an inquest into his errors. They replaced him with Soviet-educated Chinese Communists, known as the " 28 Bolsheviks ", two of whom, Bo Gu and Zhang Wentian , took control of
1344-462: A Chinese adaptation of Marxism–Leninism , are known as Maoism . Mao was the son of a peasant in Shaoshan , Hunan . He was influenced early in his life by the events of the 1911 Revolution and May Fourth Movement of 1919, supporting Chinese nationalism and anti-imperialism . He later adopted Marxism–Leninism while working as a librarian at Peking University , and in 1921 was a founding member of
1536-545: A Cultural Book Society which opened a bookstore to propagate revolutionary literature throughout Hunan. He was involved in the movement for Hunan autonomy, in the hope that a Hunanese constitution would increase civil liberties and make his revolutionary activity easier. When the movement was successful in establishing provincial autonomy under a new warlord, Mao forgot his involvement. By 1921, small Marxist groups existed in Shanghai, Beijing, Changsha, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Jinan; it
1728-401: A climate very suitable for agriculture and the country has been the world's largest producer of rice, wheat, tomatoes, eggplant, grapes, watermelon, spinach, and many other crops. In 2021, 12 percent of global permanent meadows and pastures belonged to China, as well as 8% of global cropland. China is one of 17 megadiverse countries , lying in two of the world's major biogeographic realms :
1920-587: A colony but are nonetheless dominated by a superpower such as the United States or they were formerly dominated by the Soviet Union . The concept of a semi-colony originated in the earlier years of the Communist International , which initially classified the countries of the world as being either imperialist countries, semi-colonies, and colonies. From that definition followed a political strategy for
2112-521: A cultural identity among its populace still remembered in the ethnonym of the modern Han Chinese . The Han expanded the empire's territory considerably , with military campaigns reaching Central Asia, Mongolia , Korea , and Yunnan , and the recovery of Guangdong and northern Vietnam from Nanyue . Han involvement in Central Asia and Sogdia helped establish the land route of the Silk Road , replacing
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#17330945643962304-547: A disputed land border with India and Bhutan . China is additionally involved in maritime disputes with multiple countries over territory in the East and South China Seas , such as the Senkaku Islands and the entirety of South China Sea Islands . The People's Republic of China is a one-party state governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP is officially guided by socialism with Chinese characteristics , which
2496-460: A famine in Changsha , the capital of Hunan; Mao supported the protesters' demands, but the armed forces suppressed the dissenters and executed their leaders. The famine spread to Shaoshan, where starving peasants seized his father's grain. He disapproved of their actions as morally wrong, but claimed sympathy for their situation. At age 16, Mao moved to a higher primary school in nearby Dongshan, where he
2688-700: A far-reaching popular uprising (the May Fourth Movement ). In the late 1920s, the Kuomintang under Chiang Kai-shek was able to reunify the country under its own control with a series of deft military and political maneuverings known collectively as the Northern Expedition . The Kuomintang moved the nation's capital to Nanjing and implemented "political tutelage", an intermediate stage of political development outlined in Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of
2880-412: A force of around 1,800 troops. He laid down rules for his soldiers: prompt obedience to orders, all confiscations were to be turned over to the government, and nothing was to be confiscated from poorer peasants. In doing so, he moulded his men into a disciplined, efficient fighting force. 敵進我退， 敵駐我騷， 敵疲我打， 敵退我追。 When the enemy advances, we retreat. When the enemy rests, we harass him. When
3072-565: A general strike in Hunan, securing some concessions, but Mao and other student leaders felt threatened by Zhang, and Mao returned to Beijing, visiting the terminally ill Yang Changji. Mao found that his articles had achieved a level of fame among the revolutionary movement, and set about soliciting support in overthrowing Zhang. Coming across newly translated Marxist literature by Thomas Kirkup, Karl Kautsky , and Marx and Engels—notably The Communist Manifesto —he came under their increasing influence, but
3264-566: A great goal. His father saw no use in his son's intellectual pursuits, cut off his allowance and forced him to move into a hostel for the destitute. Mao wanted to become a teacher and enrolled at the Fourth Normal School of Changsha, which soon merged with the First Normal School of Hunan , widely seen as the best in Hunan. Befriending Mao, professor Yang Changji urged him to read a radical newspaper, New Youth ( Xin qingnian ),
3456-688: A guerrilla force, he laid out a destination: the Shenshi Soviet in Shaanxi , Northern China, from where the Communists could focus on fighting the Japanese. Mao believed that in focusing on the anti-imperialist struggle, the Communists would earn the trust of the Chinese people, who in turn would renounce the KMT. From Zunyi, Mao led his troops to Loushan Pass , where they faced armed opposition but successfully crossed
3648-471: A high density of plant species including numerous rare endemics. Tropical and seasonal rainforests , though confined to Yunnan and Hainan , contain a quarter of all the animal and plant species found in China. China has over 10,000 recorded species of fungi . In the early 2000s, China has suffered from environmental deterioration and pollution due to its rapid pace of industrialization. Regulations such as
3840-698: A job as assistant to the university librarian Li Dazhao , who would become an early Chinese Communist. Li authored a series of New Youth articles on the October Revolution in Russia, during which the Communist Bolshevik Party under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin had seized power. Lenin was an advocate of the socio-political theory of Marxism , first developed by the German sociologists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , and Li's articles added Marxism to
4032-489: A major focus, special economic zones (SEZs) were created. Inefficient state-owned enterprises (SOEs) were restructured and some closed. This marked China's transition away from planned economy. China adopted its current constitution on 4 December 1982. In 1989, there were protests such those in Tiananmen Square , and then throughout the entire nation. Zhao Ziyang was put under house arrest for his sympathies to
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#17330945643964224-404: A permanent navy which was supported by the developed shipbuilding industry along with the sea trade. Between the 10th and 11th century CE, the population of China doubled to around 100 million people, mostly because of the expansion of rice cultivation in central and southern China, and the production of abundant food surpluses. The Song dynasty also saw a revival of Confucianism , in response to
4416-980: A result of its involvement in the Korean War , lasting until Richard Nixon 's improvements of relations. At least 180,000 Chinese troops died during the war. As the Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), he was also the Supreme Commander in Chief of the PLA and the People's Republic and Chairman of the Party. Chinese troops in Korea were under the overall command of then newly installed Premier Zhou Enlai , with General Peng Dehuai as field commander and political commissar. During
4608-521: A school essay. As a symbol of rebellion against the Manchu monarch, Mao and a friend cut off their queue pigtails, a sign of subservience to the emperor. Inspired by Sun's republicanism, the army rose up across southern China, sparking the Xinhai Revolution . Changsha's governor fled, leaving the city in republican control. Supporting the revolution, Mao joined the rebel army as a private soldier , but
4800-741: A soldier. Around this time, Mao discovered socialism from a newspaper article; proceeding to read pamphlets by Jiang Kanghu , the student founder of the Chinese Socialist Party, Mao remained interested yet unconvinced by the idea. Over the next few years, Mao Zedong enrolled and dropped out of a police academy, a soap-production school, a law school, an economics school, and the government-run Changsha Middle School . Studying independently, he spent much time in Changsha's library, reading core works of classical liberalism such as Adam Smith 's The Wealth of Nations and Montesquieu 's The Spirit of
4992-515: A typical semi-colony features a large mass of peasants and unemployed, a relatively small urban working class and middle class, a strong landowning class, and an urban comprador bourgeoisie. Many semi-colonies in Africa, Asia and Latin America are, according to some Marxists, dominated by the imperialist countries which once colonised them, or by other imperialist powers. Some countries may never have been
5184-454: Is Marxism adapted to Chinese circumstances . The Chinese constitution states that the PRC "is a socialist state governed by a people's democratic dictatorship that is led by the working class and based on an alliance of workers and peasants," that the state institutions "shall practice the principle of democratic centralism ," and that "the defining feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics
5376-644: Is "China" ( 中国 ; 中國 ; Zhōngguó ), from zhōng ('central') and guó ('state'), a term which developed under the Western Zhou dynasty in reference to its royal demesne . It was used in official documents as an synonym for the state under the Qing . The name Zhongguo is also translated as 'Middle Kingdom' in English. China is sometimes referred to as " mainland China " or "the Mainland" when distinguishing it from
5568-829: Is bounded by the Bohai , Yellow , East China and South China seas. China connects through the Kazakh border to the Eurasian Steppe . The territory of China lies between latitudes 18° and 54° N , and longitudes 73° and 135° E . The geographical center of China is marked by the Center of the Country Monument at 35°50′40.9″N 103°27′7.5″E / 35.844694°N 103.452083°E / 35.844694; 103.452083 ( Geographical center of China ) . China's landscapes vary significantly across its vast territory. In
5760-569: Is commonly agreed that pre-modern China's population experienced two growth spurts, one during the Northern Song period (960–1127), and other during the Qing period (around 1700–1830). By the High Qing era China was possibly the most commercialized country in the world, and imperial China experienced a second commercial revolution by the end of the 18th century. On the other hand, the centralized autocracy
5952-595: Is considered one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. His policies were responsible for a vast number of deaths, with estimates ranging from 40 to 80 million victims of starvation, persecution, prison labour , and mass executions, and his regime has been described as totalitarian . He has been also credited with transforming China from a semi-colony to a leading world power by advancing literacy, women's rights, basic healthcare, primary education, and life expectancy. Under Mao, China's population grew from about 550 million to more than 900 million. Within China, he
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6144-461: Is home to a variety of forest types. Cold coniferous forests predominate in the north of the country, supporting animal species such as moose and Asian black bear , along with over 120 bird species. The understory of moist conifer forests may contain thickets of bamboo . In higher montane stands of juniper and yew , the bamboo is replaced by rhododendrons . Subtropical forests, which are predominate in central and southern China, support
6336-611: Is increasingly common, the Wade–Giles-derived spelling Mao Tse-tung continues to be used in modern publications to some extent. Mao Zedong was born on 26 December 1893, near Shaoshan village in Hunan . His father, Mao Yichang , was a formerly impoverished peasant who had become one of the wealthiest farmers in Shaoshan. Growing up in rural Hunan, Mao described his father as a stern disciplinarian, who would beat him and his three siblings,
6528-451: Is protected by law, and as of 2005 , the country has over 2,349 nature reserves , covering a total area of 149.95 million hectares, 15 percent of China's total land area. Most wild animals have been eliminated from the core agricultural regions of east and central China, but they have fared better in the mountainous south and west. The Baiji was confirmed extinct on 12 December 2006. China has over 32,000 species of vascular plants, and
6720-515: Is revered as a national hero who liberated the country from foreign occupation and exploitation. He became an ideological figurehead and a prominent influence within the international communist movement, inspiring various Maoist organisations. During Mao's lifetime, the English-language media universally rendered his name as Mao Tse-tung, using the Wade–Giles system of transliteration though with
6912-518: Is the country's capital, while Shanghai is its most populous city by urban area and largest financial center . China is considered one of the cradles of civilization : the first human inhabitants in the region arrived during the Paleolithic . By the late 2nd millennium BCE, the earliest dynastic states had emerged in the Yellow River basin. The 8th–3rd centuries BCE saw a breakdown in
7104-447: Is the direct ancestor of modern Chinese characters . The Shang were overthrown by the Zhou , who ruled between the 11th and 5th centuries BCE, though the centralized authority of Son of Heaven was slowly eroded by fengjian lords. Some principalities eventually emerged from the weakened Zhou and continually waged war with each other during the 300-year Spring and Autumn period . By
7296-401: Is the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party." The PRC officially terms itself as a democracy , using terms such as "socialist consultative democracy", and " whole-process people's democracy ". However, the country is commonly described as an authoritarian one-party state and a dictatorship , with among the heaviest restrictions worldwide in many areas, most notably against freedom of
7488-559: Is the world's leading investor in renewable energy and its commercialization , with $ 546 billion invested in 2022; it is a major manufacturer of renewable energy technologies and invests heavily in local-scale renewable energy projects. Long heavily relying on non-renewable energy sources such as coal, China's adaptation of renewable energy has increased significantly in recent years, with their share increasing from 26.3 percent in 2016 to 31.9 percent in 2022. In 2023, 60.5% of China's electricity came from coal (largest producer in
7680-672: The Encyclopædia Britannica , to 9,596,961 km (3,705,407 sq mi) according to the UN Demographic Yearbook , and The World Factbook . China has the longest combined land border in the world , measuring 22,117 km (13,743 mi) and its coastline covers approximately 14,500 km (9,000 mi) from the mouth of the Yalu River (Amnok River) to the Gulf of Tonkin . China borders 14 nations and covers
7872-452: The 18th CCP National Congress in 2012. Shortly after his ascension to power, Xi launched a vast anti-corruption crackdown , that prosecuted more than 2 million officials by 2022. During his tenure , Xi has consolidated power unseen since the initiation of economic and political reforms. China's landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from the Gobi and Taklamakan Deserts in the arid north to
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8064-704: The Autumn Harvest Uprising , in the hope of sparking peasant uprisings across Hunan. On the eve of the attack, Mao composed a poem—the earliest of his to survive—titled "Changsha". His plan was to attack the KMT-held city from three directions on 9 September, but the Fourth Regiment deserted to the KMT cause, attacking the Third Regiment. Mao's army made it to Changsha, but could not take it; by 15 September, he accepted defeat and with 1000 survivors marched east to
8256-616: The Communist Party of the Philippines characterize their respective countries as "semi-colonies". However, with the expansion of the world market and globalisation especially from the 1970s onwards, the "semi-colonial" status of particular countries became more ambiguous because a number of them were able to industrialise to a significant extent so that they became at least "semi-industrialised" countries. They gained somewhat more financial, political and cultural autonomy, and in some cases,
8448-738: The Cultural Revolution , sparking a decade of political recrimination and social upheaval that lasted until Mao's death in 1976. In October 1971, the PRC replaced the ROC in the United Nations, and took its seat as a permanent member of the Security Council. After Mao's death, the Gang of Four was arrested by Hua Guofeng and held responsible for the Cultural Revolution. The Cultural Revolution
8640-470: The Dixie Mission , to the Chinese Communist Party. The American soldiers who were sent to the mission were favourably impressed. The party seemed less corrupt, more unified, and more vigorous in its resistance to Japan than the Kuomintang. The soldiers confirmed to their superiors that the party was both strong and popular over a broad area. In the end of the mission, the contacts which the U.S. developed with
8832-561: The Jinggang Mountains of Jiangxi . 革命不是請客吃飯，不是做文章，不是繪畫繡花，不能那樣雅緻，那樣從容不迫，文質彬彬，那樣溫良恭讓。革命是暴動，是一個階級推翻一個階級的暴烈的行動。 Revolution is not a dinner party , nor an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. The CCP Central Committee, hiding in Shanghai, expelled Mao from their ranks and from
9024-636: The Korean War , and began the Hundred Flowers and Anti-Rightist Campaigns . In 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward , which aimed to transform China's economy from agrarian to industrial ; it resulted in Great Chinese Famine . In 1966, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution , a campaign to remove "counter-revolutionary" elements, marked by violent class struggle , destruction of historical artifacts, and Mao's cult of personality . From
9216-572: The Kuomintang and the Communists led to the resumption of civil war. Constitutional rule was established in 1947, but because of the ongoing unrest, many provisions of the ROC constitution were never implemented in mainland China. Afterwards, the CCP took control of most of mainland China, and the ROC government retreated offshore to Taiwan . On 1 October 1949, CCP Chairman Mao Zedong formally proclaimed
9408-422: The Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–1879 , in which between 9 and 13 million people died. The Guangxu Emperor drafted a reform plan in 1898 to establish a modern constitutional monarchy , but these plans were thwarted by the Empress Dowager Cixi . The ill-fated anti-foreign Boxer Rebellion of 1899–1901 further weakened the dynasty. Although Cixi sponsored a program of reforms known as the late Qing reforms ,
9600-445: The Palearctic and the Indomalayan . By one measure, China has over 34,687 species of animals and vascular plants, making it the third-most biodiverse country in the world, after Brazil and Colombia . The country is a party to the Convention on Biological Diversity ; its National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan was received by the convention in 2010. China is home to at least 551 species of mammals (the third-highest in
9792-427: The RCEP . It is a member of the BRICS , the G20 , APEC , the SCO , and the East Asia Summit . Making up around one-fifth of the world economy, the Chinese economy is the world's largest economy by PPP-adjusted GDP , the second-largest economy by nominal GDP , and the second-wealthiest country , albeit ranking poorly in measures of democracy , human rights and religious freedom . The country has been one of
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#17330945643969984-459: The Republic of China (ROC) was established the following year. The country under the nascent Beiyang government was unstable and ultimately fragmented during the Warlord Era , which was ended upon the Northern Expedition conducted by the Kuomintang (KMT) to reunify the country. The Chinese Civil War began in 1927, when KMT forces purged members of the rival Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who proceeded to engage in sporadic fighting against
10176-572: The Republic of China or the PRC's Special Administrative Regions . Archaeological evidence suggests that early hominids inhabited China 2.25 million years ago. The hominid fossils of Peking Man , a Homo erectus who used fire , have been dated to between 680,000 and 780,000 years ago . The fossilized teeth of Homo sapiens (dated to 125,000–80,000 years ago) have been discovered in Fuyan Cave . Chinese proto-writing existed in Jiahu around 6600 BCE, at Damaidi around 6000 BCE, Dadiwan from 5800 to 5400 BCE, and Banpo dating from
10368-446: The Second United Front during the Second Sino-Japanese War , China's civil war resumed after Japan's surrender in 1945; Mao's forces defeated the Nationalist government , which withdrew to Taiwan in 1949. On 1 October 1949, Mao proclaimed the foundation of the PRC , a one-party state controlled by the CCP. He initiated campaigns of land redistribution and industrialisation , suppressed counter-revolutionaries , intervened in
10560-412: The Silk Road , and the building of the Great Wall , Chinese culture flourished and has heavily influenced both its neighbors and lands further afield. However, China began to cede parts of the country in the late 19th century to various European powers by a series of unequal treaties . After decades of Qing China on the decline, the 1911 Revolution overthrew the Qing dynasty and the monarchy and
10752-414: The State Council , China's cabinet, composed of four vice premiers, state councilors , and the heads of ministries and commissions. The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) is a political advisory body that is critical in China's " united front " system, which aims to gather non-CCP voices to support the CCP. Similar to the people's congresses, CPPCC's exist at various division, with
10944-421: The Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in 1989. China is a unitary one-party socialist republic led by the CCP. It is one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council ; the UN representative for China was changed from the ROC to the PRC in 1971. It is a founding member of several multilateral and regional organizations such as the AIIB , the Silk Road Fund , the New Development Bank , and
11136-419: The Treaty of Versailles , wherein Japan was allowed to receive territories in Shandong which had been surrendered by Germany . These demonstrations ignited the nationwide May Fourth Movement and fuelled the New Culture Movement which blamed China's diplomatic defeats on social and cultural backwardness. In Changsha, Mao had begun teaching history at the Xiuye Primary School and organising protests against
11328-438: The Turpan Depression . China's climate is mainly dominated by dry seasons and wet monsoons , which lead to pronounced temperature differences between winter and summer. In the winter, northern winds coming from high-latitude areas are cold and dry; in summer, southern winds from coastal areas at lower latitudes are warm and moist. A major environmental issue in China is the continued expansion of its deserts , particularly
11520-414: The U.S. State Department estimated as many as a million were killed in the land reform, and 800,000 killed in the counter-revolutionary campaign. China China , officially the People's Republic of China ( PRC ), is a country in East Asia . With a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the second-most populous country after India , representing 17.4% of the world population. China spans
11712-481: The World Trade Organization in 2001. At the 16th CCP National Congress in 2002, Hu Jintao succeeded Jiang as the general secretary. Under Hu, China maintained its high rate of economic growth, overtaking the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Japan to become the world's second-largest economy. However, the growth also severely impacted the country's resources and environment, and caused major social displacement. Xi Jinping succeeded Hu as paramount leader at
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#173309456439611904-433: The Xi , Mekong , Brahmaputra and Amur . To the west sit major mountain ranges, most notably the Himalayas. High plateaus feature among the more arid landscapes of the north, such as the Taklamakan and the Gobi Desert. The world's highest point, Mount Everest (8,848 m), lies on the Sino-Nepalese border. The country's lowest point, and the world's third-lowest, is the dried lake bed of Ayding Lake (−154 m) in
12096-426: The Xiang River after heavy fighting, and then the Wu River , in Guizhou where they took Zunyi in January 1935. Temporarily resting in the city, they held a conference ; here, Mao was elected to a position of leadership, becoming Chairman of the Politburo , and de facto leader of both Party and Red Army, in part because his candidacy was supported by Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin . Insisting that they operate as
12288-426: The Xinhai Revolution of 1911–1912 ended the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China . Puyi , the last Emperor, abdicated in 1912 . On 1 January 1912, the Republic of China was established, and Sun Yat-sen of the Kuomintang (KMT) was proclaimed provisional president. In March 1912, the presidency was given to Yuan Shikai , a former Qing general who in 1915 proclaimed himself Emperor of China . In
12480-418: The Yan'an Soviet during October 1935 and settled in Bao'an , until spring 1936. While there, they developed links with local communities, redistributed and farmed the land, offered medical treatment, and began literacy programs. Mao now commanded 15,000 soldiers, boosted by the arrival of He Long 's men from Hunan and the armies of Zhu De and Zhang Guotao returned from Tibet. In February 1936, they established
12672-422: The campaigns against Western Xia by Genghis Khan , who also invaded Jin territories . In 1271, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty , which conquered the last remnant of the Song dynasty in 1279. Before the Mongol invasion, the population of Song China was 120 million citizens; this was reduced to 60 million by the time of the census in 1300. A peasant named Zhu Yuanzhang overthrew
12864-438: The fastest-growing major economies and is the world's largest manufacturer and exporter , as well as the second-largest importer . China is a nuclear-weapon state with the world's largest standing army by military personnel and the second-largest defense budget . It is a great power , and has been described as an emerging superpower . China is known for its cuisine and culture, and has 59 UNESCO World Heritage Sites ,
13056-427: The land reform campaigns , large numbers of landlords and rich peasants were beaten to death at mass meetings as land was taken from them and given to poorer peasants, which reduced economic inequality . The Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries targeted bureaucratic bourgeoisie, such as compradors, merchants and Kuomintang officials who were seen by the party as economic parasites or political enemies. In 1976,
13248-399: The second-highest number of any country . The word "China" has been used in English since the 16th century; however, it was not used by the Chinese themselves during this period. Its origin has been traced through Portuguese , Malay , and Persian back to the Sanskrit word Cīna , used in ancient India . "China" appears in Richard Eden 's 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of
13440-422: The subtropical forests in the wetter south. The Himalaya , Karakoram , Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia . The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third- and sixth-longest in the world, respectively, run from the Tibetan Plateau to the densely populated eastern seaboard. China's coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 km (9,000 mi) long and
13632-449: The " Red Army ", to battle Chiang. A battalion led by General Zhu De was ordered to take the city of Nanchang on 1 August 1927, in what became known as the Nanchang Uprising . They were initially successful, but were forced into retreat after five days, marching south to Shantou , and from there they were driven into the wilderness of Fujian . Mao was appointed commander-in-chief of the Red Army and led four regiments against Changsha in
13824-501: The "Border Region" (as the Soviet had been renamed); most notable were Edgar Snow , who used his experiences as a basis for Red Star Over China , and Agnes Smedley , whose accounts brought international attention to Mao's cause. On the Long March, Mao's wife He Zizhen had been injured by a shrapnel wound to the head. She travelled to Moscow for medical treatment; Mao proceeded to divorce her and marry an actress, Jiang Qing . He Zizhen
14016-440: The 1979 Environmental Protection Law are fairly stringent, though they are poorly enforced, frequently disregarded in favor of rapid economic development. China has the second-highest death toll because of air pollution, after India , with approximately 1 million deaths. Although China ranks as the highest CO 2 emitting country, it only emits 8 tons of CO 2 per capita , significantly lower than developed countries such as
14208-528: The 2010s. In 2020, the Chinese government announced its aims for the country to reach its peak emissions levels before 2030, and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060 in line with the Paris Agreement , which, according to Climate Action Tracker , would lower the expected rise in global temperature by 0.2–0.3 degrees – "the biggest single reduction ever estimated by the Climate Action Tracker". China
14400-497: The 5th millennium BCE. Some scholars have suggested that the Jiahu symbols (7th millennium BCE) constituted the earliest Chinese writing system. According to traditional Chinese historiography , the Xia dynasty was established during the late 3rd millennium BCE, marking the beginning of the dynastic cycle that was understood to underpin China's entire political history. In the modern era,
14592-497: The Anyuan mines also involved his wife Yang Kaihui, who worked for women's rights, including literacy and educational issues, in the nearby peasant communities. Although Mao and Yang were not the originators of this political organizing method of combining labor organizing among male workers with a focus on women's rights issues in their communities, they were among the most effective at using this method. Mao's political organizing success in
14784-573: The Anyuan mines resulted in Chen Duxiu inviting him to become a member of the Communist Party's Central Committee. Mao claimed that he missed the July 1922 Second Congress of the Communist Party in Shanghai because he lost the address. Adopting Lenin's advice, the delegates agreed to an alliance with the "bourgeois democrats" of the KMT for the good of the "national revolution". Communist Party members joined
14976-640: The British under the 1842 Treaty of Nanking , the first of what have been termed as the " unequal treaties ". The First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895) resulted in Qing China's loss of influence in the Korean Peninsula , as well as the cession of Taiwan to Japan . The Qing dynasty also began experiencing internal unrest in which tens of millions of people died, especially in the White Lotus Rebellion ,
15168-650: The CCP lost approximately 15,000 of its 25,000 members. The CCP continued supporting the Wuhan KMT government, a position Mao initially supported, but by the time of the CCP's Fifth Congress he had changed his mind, deciding to stake all hope on the peasant militia. The question was rendered moot when the Wuhan government expelled all Communists from the KMT on 15 July. The CCP founded the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of China, better known as
15360-446: The CCP. The NPC is dominated by the CCP, with another eight minor parties having nominal representation under the condition of upholding CCP leadership. The president is elected by the NPC. The presidency is the ceremonial state representative, but not the constitutional head of state. The incumbent president is Xi Jinping, who is also the general secretary of the CCP and the chairman of
15552-558: The Central Committee. In addition to land redistribution, Mao promoted literacy and non-hierarchical organizational relationships in Jinggangshan, transforming the area's social and economic life and attracted many local supporters. Mao proclaimed that "Even the lame, the deaf and the blind could all come in useful for the revolutionary struggle", he boosted the army's numbers, incorporating two groups of bandits into his army, building
15744-539: The Central Committee. Mao disagreed with the new leadership, believing they grasped little of the Chinese situation, and he soon emerged as their key rival. In February 1930, Mao created the Southwest Jiangxi Provincial Soviet Government in the region under his control. In November, he suffered emotional trauma after his second wife Yang Kaihui and sister were captured and beheaded by KMT general He Jian . Facing internal problems, members of
15936-539: The Central Military Commission , making him China's paramount leader and supreme commander of the Armed Forces. The premier is the head of government , with Li Qiang being the incumbent. The premier is officially nominated by the president and then elected by the NPC, and has generally been either the second- or third-ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee (PSC). The premier presides over
16128-464: The Chinese Communist Party led to very little. After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued their diplomatic and military assistance to Chiang Kai-shek and his KMT government forces against the People's Liberation Army (PLA) led by Mao Zedong during the civil war and abandoned the idea of a coalition government which would include the CCP. Likewise, the Soviet Union gave support to Mao by occupying north-eastern China , and secretly giving it to
16320-624: The Chinese Communist Party. After the start of the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang (KMT) and CCP in 1927, Mao led the failed Autumn Harvest Uprising and founded the Jiangxi Soviet . He helped establish the Chinese Red Army and developed a strategy of guerilla warfare . In 1935, Mao became the leader of the CCP during the Long March . Although the CCP allied with the KMT under
16512-603: The Chinese communists in March 1946. In 1948, the People's Liberation Army starved out the Kuomintang forces occupying Changchun . At least 160,000 civilians are believed to have perished during the siege , which lasted from June until October. PLA lieutenant colonel Zhang Zhenglu, in his book White Snow, Red Blood , compared it to Hiroshima : "The casualties were about the same. Hiroshima took nine seconds; Changchun took five months." On 21 January 1949, Kuomintang forces suffered great losses in decisive battles against Mao's forces. In
16704-752: The Communist Party in Shanghai in June 1923, the delegates reaffirmed their commitment to working with the KMT. Supporting this position, Mao was elected to the Party Committee, taking up residence in Shanghai. At the First KMT Congress, held in Guangzhou in early 1924, Mao was elected an alternate member of the KMT Central Executive Committee, and put forward four resolutions to decentralise power to urban and rural bureaus. His enthusiastic support for
16896-510: The Communists as a greater threat than the Japanese and returned to Jiangxi, where he initiated the fifth encirclement campaign , which involved the construction of a concrete and barbed wire "wall of fire" around the state, which was accompanied by aerial bombardment, to which Zhou's tactics proved ineffective. Trapped inside, morale among the Red Army dropped as food and medicine became scarce. The leadership decided to evacuate. On 14 October 1934,
17088-514: The Communists, resulting in the formation of a United Front with concessions on both sides on 25 December 1937. The Japanese had taken both Shanghai and Nanjing —resulting in the Nanjing Massacre , an atrocity Mao never spoke of all his life—and was pushing the Kuomintang government inland to Chongqing . The Japanese's brutality led to increasing numbers of Chinese joining the fight, and the Red Army grew from 50,000 to 500,000. In August 1938,
17280-504: The Gobi Desert. Although barrier tree lines planted since the 1970s have reduced the frequency of sandstorms , prolonged drought and poor agricultural practices have resulted in dust storms plaguing northern China each spring, which then spread to other parts of East Asia, including Japan and Korea. Water quality, erosion , and pollution control have become important issues in China's relations with other countries. Melting glaciers in
17472-766: The Himalayas could potentially lead to water shortages for hundreds of millions of people. According to academics, in order to limit climate change in China to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) electricity generation from coal in China without carbon capture must be phased out by 2045. With current policies, the GHG emissions of China will probably peak in 2025, and by 2030 they will return to 2022 levels. However, such pathway still leads to three-degree temperature rise. Official government statistics about Chinese agricultural productivity are considered unreliable, due to exaggeration of production at subsidiary government levels. Much of China has
17664-508: The Hunan Provincial Committee, as punishment for his "military opportunism", for his focus on rural activity, and for being too lenient with "bad gentry". The more orthodox Communists especially regarded the peasants as backward and ridiculed Mao's idea of mobilizing them. They nevertheless adopted three policies he had long championed: the immediate formation of workers' councils , the confiscation of all land without exemption, and
17856-613: The Jiangxi Soviet accused him of being too moderate, and hence anti-revolutionary. In December, they tried to overthrow Mao, resulting in the Futian incident , during which Mao's loyalists tortured many and executed between 2000 and 3000 dissenters. The CCP Central Committee moved to Jiangxi which it saw as a secure area. In November, it proclaimed Jiangxi to be the Soviet Republic of China , an independent Communist-governed state. Although he
18048-572: The KMT and an Islamic cavalry militia before crossing the Min Mountains and Mount Liupan and reaching the Shenshi Soviet; only 7,000–8,000 had survived. The Long March cemented Mao's status as the dominant figure in the party. In November 1935, he was named chairman of the Military Commission. From this point onward, Mao was the Communist Party's undisputed leader, even though he would not become party chairman until 1943. Mao's troops arrived at
18240-444: The KMT earned him the suspicion of Li Li-san, his Hunan comrade. In late 1924, Mao returned to Shaoshan, perhaps to recuperate from an illness. He found that the peasantry were increasingly restless and some had seized land from wealthy landowners to found communes. This convinced him of the revolutionary potential of the peasantry, an idea advocated by the KMT leftists but not the Communists. Mao and many of his colleagues also proposed
18432-549: The KMT off for 25 days while he left the camp at night to find reinforcements. He reunited with the decimated Zhu's army, and together they returned to Jinggangshan and retook the base. There they were joined by a defecting KMT regiment and Peng Dehuai 's Fifth Red Army. In the mountainous area they were unable to grow enough crops to feed everyone, leading to food shortages throughout the winter. In 1928, Mao met and married He Zizhen , an 18-year-old revolutionary who would bear him six children. In January 1929, Mao and Zhu evacuated
18624-510: The KMT, hoping to push its politics leftward. Mao enthusiastically agreed with this decision, arguing for an alliance across China's socio-economic classes, and eventually rose to become propaganda chief of the KMT. Mao was a vocal anti-imperialist and in his writings he lambasted the governments of Japan, the UK and US, describing the latter as "the most murderous of hangmen". At the Third Congress of
18816-589: The KMT-led Nationalist government . Following the country's invasion by the Empire of Japan in 1937, the CCP and KMT formed the Second United Front to fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War eventually ended in a Chinese victory; however, the CCP and the KMT resumed their civil war as soon as the war ended. In 1949, the resurgent Communists established control over most of the country, proclaiming
19008-638: The Kuomintang and the CCP. Japanese forces committed numerous war atrocities against the civilian population; as many as 20 million Chinese civilians died. An estimated 40,000 to 300,000 Chinese were massacred in Nanjing alone during the Japanese occupation. China, along with the UK, the United States, and the Soviet Union , were recognized as the Allied " Big Four " in the Declaration by United Nations . Along with
19200-555: The Laws , as well as the works of western scientists and philosophers such as Darwin , Mill , Rousseau , and Spencer . Viewing himself as an intellectual, years later he admitted that at this time he thought himself better than working people. He was inspired by Friedrich Paulsen , a neo-Kantian philosopher and educator whose emphasis on the achievement of a carefully defined goal as the highest value led Mao to believe that strong individuals were not bound by moral codes but should strive for
19392-561: The National Committee of the CPPCC being chaired by Wang Huning , fourth-ranking member of the PSC. Semi-colony This domination could take different forms: The term semi-colony is often used interchangeably with " neo-colony ". Some semi-colonies were "settler colonies" attracting large numbers of foreign immigrants, while in other semi-colonies the indigenous population always remained
19584-535: The North West Anti-Japanese Red Army University in Yan'an, through which they trained increasing numbers of new recruits. In January 1937, they began the "anti-Japanese expedition", that sent groups of guerrilla fighters into Japanese-controlled territory to undertake sporadic attacks. In May 1937, a Communist Conference was held in Yan'an to discuss the situation. Western reporters also arrived in
19776-580: The PRC initially allied closely with the Soviet Union , the relations between the two communist nations gradually deteriorated , leading China to develop an independent industrial system and its own nuclear weapons . The Chinese population increased from 550 million in 1950 to 900 million in 1974. However, the Great Leap Forward , an idealistic massive industrialization project, resulted in an estimated 15 to 55 million deaths between 1959 and 1961, mostly from starvation. In 1964, China detonated its first atomic bomb. In 1966, Mao and his allies launched
19968-788: The People program for transforming China into a modern democratic state. The Kuomintang briefly allied with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Northern Expedition, though the alliance broke down in 1927 after Chiang violently suppressed the CCP and other leftists in Shanghai, marking the beginning of the Chinese Civil War . The CCP declared areas of the country as the Chinese Soviet Republic (Jiangxi Soviet) in November 1931 in Ruijin , Jiangxi . The Jiangxi Soviet
20160-509: The People's Republic of China and forcing the Nationalist government to retreat to the island of Taiwan . The country was split, with both sides claiming to be the sole legitimate government of China . Following the implementation of land reforms , further attempts by the PRC to realize communism failed: the Great Leap Forward was largely responsible for the Great Chinese Famine that ended with millions of Chinese people having died, and
20352-526: The People's Republic of China in Tiananmen Square , Beijing . In 1950, the PRC captured Hainan from the ROC and annexed Tibet . However, remaining Kuomintang forces continued to wage an insurgency in western China throughout the 1950s. The CCP consolidated its popularity among the peasants through the Land Reform Movement , which included the state-tolerated executions of between 1 and 2 million landlords by peasants and former tenants. Though
20544-557: The Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa . Barbosa's usage was derived from Persian Chīn ( چین ), which in turn derived from Sanskrit Cīna ( चीन ). Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata (5th century BCE) and the Laws of Manu (2nd century BCE). In 1655, Martino Martini suggested that the word China is derived ultimately from
20736-415: The Red Army broke through the KMT line on the Jiangxi Soviet's south-west corner at Xinfeng with 85,000 soldiers and 15,000 party cadres and embarked on the " Long March ". In order to make the escape, many of the wounded and the ill, as well as women and children, were left behind, defended by a group of guerrilla fighters whom the KMT massacred. The 100,000 who escaped headed to southern Hunan, first crossing
20928-595: The Red Army formed the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army , which were nominally under the command of Chiang's National Revolutionary Army . In August 1940, the Red Army initiated the Hundred Regiments Offensive , in which 400,000 troops attacked the Japanese simultaneously in five provinces. It was a military success that resulted in the death of 20,000 Japanese, the disruption of railways and
21120-650: The Renovation of the People Study Society in April 1918 to debate Chen Duxiu's ideas. Desiring personal and societal transformation, the Society gained 70–80 members, many of whom would later join the Communist Party. Mao graduated in June 1919, ranked third in the year. Mao moved to Beijing, where his mentor Yang Changji had taken a job at Peking University. Yang thought Mao exceptionally "intelligent and handsome", securing him
21312-640: The Self-Study University, through which readers could gain access to revolutionary literature, housed in the premises of the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi , a Qing dynasty Hunanese philosopher who had resisted the Manchus. He joined the YMCA Mass Education Movement to fight illiteracy, though he edited the textbooks to include radical sentiments. He continued organising workers to strike against
21504-514: The Three Kingdoms and Water Margin . At age 13, Mao finished primary education, and his father united him in an arranged marriage to the 17-year-old Luo Yixiu , thereby uniting their land-owning families. Mao refused to recognise her as his wife, becoming a fierce critic of arranged marriage and temporarily moving away. Luo was locally disgraced and died in 1910 at 20 years old. Working on his father's farm, Mao read voraciously and developed
21696-483: The United States (16.1), Australia (16.8) and South Korea (13.6). Greenhouse gas emissions by China are the world's largest . The country has significant water pollution problems; only 89.4% of China's national surface water was graded suitable for human consumption by the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in 2023. China has prioritized clamping down on pollution, bringing a significant decrease in air pollution in
21888-493: The Xia is the earliest for which there are both contemporary written records and undisputed archaeological evidence. The Shang ruled much of the Yellow River valley until the 11th century BCE, with the earliest hard evidence dated c. 1300 BCE . The oracle bone script , attested from c. 1250 BCE but generally assumed to be considerably older, represents the oldest known form of written Chinese , and
22080-508: The Xia's historicity came under increasing scrutiny, in part due to the earliest known attestation of the Xia being written millennia after the date given for their collapse. In 1958, archaeologists discovered sites belonging to the Erlitou culture that existed during the early Bronze Age ; they have since been characterized as the remains of the historical Xia, but this conception is often rejected. The Shang dynasty that traditionally succeeded
22272-656: The Yuan in 1368 and founded the Ming dynasty as the Hongwu Emperor . Under the Ming dynasty, China enjoyed another golden age, developing one of the strongest navies in the world and a rich and prosperous economy amid a flourishing of art and culture. It was during this period that admiral Zheng He led the Ming treasure voyages throughout the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa. In
22464-511: The administration of Hunan Governor Zhao Hengti . Yet labour issues remained central. The successful and famous Anyuan coal mines strikes [ zh ] (contrary to later Party historians) depended on both "proletarian" and "bourgeois" strategies. Liu Shaoqi and Li Lisan and Mao not only mobilised the miners, but formed schools and cooperatives and engaged local intellectuals, gentry, military officers, merchants, Red Gang dragon heads and even church clergy. Mao's labour organizing work in
22656-448: The authority of the Zhou dynasty , accompanied by the emergence of administrative and military techniques, literature , philosophy , and historiography . In 221 BCE, China was unified under an emperor , ushering in more than two millennia of imperial dynasties including the Qin , Han , Tang , Yuan , Ming , and Qing . With the invention of gunpowder and paper , the establishment of
22848-511: The base with 2,000 men and a further 800 provided by Peng, and took their armies south, to the area around Tonggu and Xinfeng in Jiangxi. The evacuation led to a drop in morale, and many troops became disobedient and began thieving; this worried Li Lisan and the Central Committee, who saw Mao's army as lumpenproletariat , that were unable to share in proletariat class consciousness . In keeping with orthodox Marxist thought, Li believed that only
23040-504: The boys Zemin and Zetan , as well as an adopted sister/cousin, Zejian . Mao's mother, Wen Qimei , was a devout Buddhist who tried to temper her husband's strict attitude. Mao too became a Buddhist, but abandoned this faith in his mid-teenage years. At age 8, Mao was sent to Shaoshan Primary School. Learning the value systems of Confucianism , he later admitted that he did not enjoy the classical Chinese texts preaching Confucian morals, instead favouring classic novels like Romance of
23232-801: The bulk of East Asia, bordering Vietnam , Laos , and Myanmar in Southeast Asia; India , Bhutan , Nepal , Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia; Tajikistan , Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan in Central Asia; and Russia, Mongolia , and North Korea in Inner Asia and Northeast Asia . It is narrowly separated from Bangladesh and Thailand to the southwest and south, and has several maritime neighbors such as Japan , Philippines , Malaysia , and Indonesia . China has resolved its land borders with 12 out of 14 neighboring countries, having pursued substantial compromises in most of them. China currently has
23424-518: The bureaucracy. Mao pushed the Party to organise campaigns to reform society and extend control. These campaigns were given urgency in October 1950, when the People's Volunteer Army was sent into the Korean War and fight as well as to reinforce the armed forces of North Korea, the Korean People's Army , which had been in full retreat. The United States placed a trade embargo on the People's Republic as
23616-436: The circumflex accent in the syllable Tsê dropped. Due to its recognizability, the spelling was used widely, even by the PRC's foreign ministry after Hanyu Pinyin became the PRC's official romanisation system for Mandarin Chinese in 1958; the well-known booklet of Mao's political statements was officially entitled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung in English translations. While the pinyin-derived spelling Mao Zedong
23808-428: The creation of his friend Chen Duxiu , a dean at Peking University . Although he was a supporter of Chinese nationalism , Chen argued that China must look to the west to cleanse itself of superstition and autocracy. In his first school year, Mao befriended an older student, Xiao Zisheng ; together they went on a walking tour of Hunan, begging and writing literary couplets to obtain food. A popular student, in 1915 Mao
24000-594: The death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone found guilty of counter-revolutionary activity, arguing that in a revolutionary situation, "peaceful methods cannot suffice". In April 1927, Mao was appointed to the KMT's five-member Central Land Committee, urging peasants to refuse to pay rent. Mao led another group to put together a "Draft Resolution on the Land Question", which called for the confiscation of land belonging to "local bullies and bad gentry, corrupt officials, militarists and all counter-revolutionary elements in
24192-428: The defence of China against Japanese expansionism, the Red Army was able to expand its area of control, eventually encompassing a population of 3 million. Mao proceeded with his land reform program. In November 1931 he announced the start of a "land verification project" which was expanded in June 1933. He also orchestrated education programs and implemented measures to increase female political participation. Chiang viewed
24384-400: The doctrines in Chinese revolutionary movement. Becoming "more and more radical", Mao was initially influenced by Peter Kropotkin 's anarchism , which was the most prominent radical doctrine of the day. Chinese anarchists , such as Cai Yuanpei , Chancellor of Peking University, called for complete social revolution in social relations, family structure, and women's equality , rather than
24576-599: The earlier path over the Himalayas to India. Han China gradually became the largest economy of the ancient world. Despite the Han's initial decentralization and the official abandonment of the Qin philosophy of Legalism in favor of Confucianism , Qin's legalist institutions and policies continued to be employed by the Han government and its successors. After the end of the Han dynasty , a period of strife known as Three Kingdoms followed, at
24768-537: The early Ming dynasty, China's capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. With the budding of capitalism, philosophers such as Wang Yangming critiqued and expanded Neo-Confucianism with concepts of individualism and equality of four occupations . The scholar-official stratum became a supporting force of industry and commerce in the tax boycott movements, which, together with the famines and defense against Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) and Later Jin incursions led to an exhausted treasury. In 1644, Beijing
24960-412: The early morning of 10 December 1949, PLA troops laid siege to Chongqing and Chengdu on mainland China , and Chiang Kai-shek fled from the mainland to Taiwan. Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China from the Gate of Heavenly Peace (Tian'anmen) on 1 October 1949, and later that week declared "The Chinese people have stood up" ( 中国人民从此站起来了 ). Mao went to Moscow for talks in
25152-425: The east, along the shores of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea, there are extensive and densely populated alluvial plains , while on the edges of the Inner Mongolian plateau in the north, broad grasslands predominate. Southern China is dominated by hills and low mountain ranges, while the central-east hosts the deltas of China's two major rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River. Other major rivers include
25344-605: The end of cooperation with the KMT, which was rejected by the Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin . In the winter of 1925, Mao fled to Guangzhou after his revolutionary activities attracted the attention of Zhao's regional authorities. There, he ran the 6th term of the KMT's Peasant Movement Training Institute from May to September 1926. The Peasant Movement Training Institute under Mao trained cadre and prepared them for militant activity, taking them through military training exercises and getting them to study basic left-wing texts. When party leader Sun Yat-sen died in May 1925, he
25536-421: The end of which Wei was swiftly overthrown by the Jin dynasty . The Jin fell to civil war upon the ascension of a developmentally disabled emperor ; the Five Barbarians then rebelled and ruled northern China as the Sixteen States . The Xianbei unified them as the Northern Wei , whose Emperor Xiaowen reversed his predecessors' apartheid policies and enforced a drastic sinification on his subjects . In
25728-438: The enemy avoids a battle, we attack. When the enemy retreats, we advance. In spring 1928, the Central Committee ordered Mao's troops to southern Hunan, hoping to spark peasant uprisings. Mao was skeptical, but complied. They reached Hunan, where they were attacked by the KMT and fled after heavy losses. Meanwhile, KMT troops had invaded Jinggangshan, leaving them without a base. Wandering the countryside, Mao's forces came across
25920-450: The entire globe, 1,134 million live in the colonies and dependent countries, 143,000,000 live in the U.S.S.R., 264,000,000 live in the intermediate countries, and only 363,000,000 live in the big imperialist countries, which oppress the colonies and dependent countries.” The term "semi-colony" has continued to be used particularly in the Maoist movement, for instance, all three of the Shining Path , Communist Party of India (Maoist) and
26112-411: The equivalent of five time zones and borders fourteen countries by land . With an area of nearly 9.6 million square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third-largest country by total land area. The country is divided into 33 province-level divisions : 22 provinces , five autonomous regions , four municipalities , and two semi-autonomous special administrative regions . Beijing
26304-418: The face of popular condemnation and opposition from his own Beiyang Army , he was forced to abdicate and re-establish the republic in 1916. After Yuan Shikai's death in 1916, China was politically fragmented. Its Beijing-based government was internationally recognized but virtually powerless; regional warlords controlled most of its territory. During this period , China participated in World War I and saw
26496-413: The failed Taiping Rebellion that ravaged southern China in the 1850s and 1860s and the Dungan Revolt (1862–1877) in the northwest. The initial success of the Self-Strengthening Movement of the 1860s was frustrated by a series of military defeats in the 1880s and 1890s. In the 19th century, the great Chinese diaspora began. Losses due to emigration were added to by conflicts and catastrophes such as
26688-431: The first congress ignored Lenin's advice to accept a temporary alliance between the Communists and the "bourgeois democrats" who also advocated national revolution; instead they stuck to the orthodox Marxist belief that only the urban proletariat could lead a socialist revolution. Mao was party secretary for Hunan stationed in Changsha, and to build the party there he followed a variety of tactics. In August 1921, he founded
26880-443: The growing class and ideological divide within the revolutionary movement. In March 1927, Mao appeared at the Third Plenum of the KMT Central Executive Committee in Wuhan, which sought to strip General Chiang of his power by appointing Wang Jingwei leader. There, Mao played an active role in the discussions regarding the peasant issue, defending a set of "Regulations for the Repression of Local Bullies and Bad Gentry", which advocated
27072-460: The growth of Buddhism during the Tang, and a flourishing of philosophy and the arts, as landscape art and porcelain were brought to new levels of complexity. However, the military weakness of the Song army was observed by the Jin dynasty . In 1127, Emperor Huizong of Song and the capital Bianjing were captured during the Jin–Song wars . The remnants of the Song retreated to southern China . The Mongol conquest of China began in 1205 with
27264-400: The informal paramount leader . The current general secretary is Xi Jinping , who took office on 15 November 2012. At the local level, the secretary of the CCP committee of a subdivision outranks the local government level; CCP committee secretary of a provincial division outranks the governor while the CCP committee secretary of a city outranks the mayor. The government in China is under
27456-405: The labour movement in each type of country (for example as regards nationalisation of industry, workers' rights, democratisation, the ownership of land). The general perspective of the Communist International was that it was impossible for semi-colonial countries to achieve substantive industrialisation and transform property relations without a socialist and democratic revolution. In other words,
27648-409: The largest importer of Russian crude oil in 2022. China is the third-largest country in the world by land area after Russia , and the third- or fourth-largest country in the world by total area. China's total area is generally stated as being approximately 9,600,000 km (3,700,000 sq mi). Specific area figures range from 9,572,900 km (3,696,100 sq mi) according to
27840-509: The late 1950s, Mao's foreign policy was dominated by a political split with the Soviet Union , and during the 1970s he began establishing relations with the United States ; China was also involved in the Vietnam War and Cambodian Civil War . In 1976, Mao died after suffering a series of heart attacks . He was succeeded as leader by Hua Guofeng and in 1978 by Deng Xiaoping . The CCP's official evaluation of Mao's legacy both praises him and acknowledges he made errors in his later years. Mao
28032-449: The liberation of women in Chinese society; Mao was influenced by his forced arranged-marriage. In fall 1919, Mao organized a seminar in Changsha studying economic and political issues, as well as ways to unite the people, the feasibility of socialism, and issues regarding Confucianism. During this period, Mao involved himself in political work with manual laborers, setting up night schools and trade unions. In December 1919, Mao helped organise
28224-412: The local elite became a major foreign investor in its own right. On the other side, it was no longer very clear that they were under the control of another foreign country, rather than being dominated by a bloc of several wealthier countries, or by international financial institutions. This raised the question of whether the concept of a "semi-colony" is still relevant. Whatever the case, the definition of
28416-405: The loss of a coal mine. From his base in Yan'an, Mao authored several texts for his troops, including Philosophy of Revolution , which offered an introduction to the Marxist theory of knowledge; Protracted Warfare , which dealt with guerrilla and mobile military tactics; and On New Democracy , which laid forward ideas for China's future. In 1944, the U.S. sent a special diplomatic envoy, called
28608-524: The majority of China's populace, he advocated the need for a "Great Union of the Popular Masses", and strengthened trade unions able to wage non-violent revolution. His ideas were not Marxist, but heavily influenced by Kropotkin's concept of mutual aid . Zhang banned the Student Association, but Mao continued publishing after assuming editorship of the liberal magazine New Hunan ( Xin Hunan ) and authored articles in popular local newspaper Ta Kung Pao . Several of these advocated feminist views, calling for
28800-592: The mountain ranges around Ma'anshan ), and together proceeded to Maoerhkai and then Gansu . Zhang and Mao disagreed over what to do; the latter wished to proceed to Shaanxi, while Zhang wanted to retreat west to Tibet or Sikkim , far from the KMT threat. It was agreed that they would go their separate ways, with Zhu De joining Zhang. Mao's forces proceeded north, through hundreds of kilometres of grasslands , an area of quagmire where they were attacked by Manchu tribesman and where many soldiers succumbed to famine and disease. Finally reaching Shaanxi, they fought off both
28992-472: The movement, however. At the university, Mao was snubbed by other students due to his rural Hunanese accent and lowly position. He joined the university's Philosophy and Journalism Societies and attended lectures and seminars by the likes of Chen Duxiu , Hu Shih , and Qian Xuantong . Mao's time in Beijing ended in the spring of 1919, when he travelled to Shanghai with friends who were preparing to leave for France. He did not return to Shaoshan, where his mother
29184-478: The multiple consultation mechanisms that exist in Chinese government. According to the CCP constitution , its highest body is the National Congress held every five years. The National Congress elects the Central Committee , who then elects the party's Politburo , Politburo Standing Committee and the general secretary ( party leader ), the top leadership of the country. The general secretary holds ultimate power and authority over party and state and serves as
29376-513: The name of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE). Although use in Indian sources precedes this dynasty, this derivation is still given in various sources. The origin of the Sanskrit word is a matter of debate. Alternative suggestions include the names for Yelang and the Jing or Chu state. The official name of the modern state is the "People's Republic of China" ( simplified Chinese : 中华人民共和国 ; traditional Chinese : 中華人民共和國 ; pinyin : Zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó ). The shorter form
29568-401: The new leadership followed a policy of open confrontation and conventional warfare. In doing so, the Red Army successfully defeated the first and second encirclements . Angered at his armies' failure, Chiang Kai-shek personally arrived to lead the operation. He too faced setbacks and retreated to deal with the further Japanese incursions into China . As a result of the KMT's change of focus to
29760-420: The other three great powers, China was one of the four major Allies of World War II , and was later considered one of the primary victors in the war. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, Taiwan, including the Penghu , was handed over to Chinese control ; however, the validity of this handover is controversial. China emerged victorious but war-ravaged and financially drained. The continued distrust between
29952-434: The philosopher Wang Fuzhi . In spring 1917, he was elected to command the students' volunteer army, set up to defend the school from marauding soldiers. Increasingly interested in the techniques of war, he took a keen interest in World War I , and also began to develop a sense of solidarity with workers. Mao undertook feats of physical endurance with Xiao Zisheng and Cai Hesen , and with other young revolutionaries they formed
30144-431: The power of semi-colonial elite had to be overthrown by the workers and peasants, to liberate the country from its client-relationship with foreign powers, and make comprehensive local economic development possible. The category of "intermediate countries" was introduced in the later 1920s. Thus, for example, at the 15th Congress of the CPSU in 1927, Stalin stated: “Judge for yourselves. Of the 1,905 million inhabitants of
30336-417: The press , freedom of assembly , free formation of social organizations , freedom of religion and free access to the Internet . China has consistently been ranked amongst the lowest as an "authoritarian regime" by the Economist Intelligence Unit 's Democracy Index , ranking at 148th out of 167 countries in 2023. Other sources suggest that terming China as "authoritarian" does not sufficiently account for
30528-417: The pro-Duan Governor of Hunan Province, Zhang Jingyao , popularly known as "Zhang the Venomous" due to his corrupt and violent rule. In late May, Mao co-founded the Hunanese Student Association with He Shuheng and Deng Zhongxia , organising a student strike for June and in July 1919 began production of a weekly radical magazine, Xiang River Review . Using vernacular language that would be understandable to
30720-417: The protests and was replaced by Jiang Zemin . Jiang continued economic reforms, closing many SOEs and trimming down " iron rice bowl " (life-tenure positions). China's economy grew sevenfold during this time. British Hong Kong and Portuguese Macau returned to China in 1997 and 1999 , respectively, as special administrative regions under the principle of one country, two systems . The country joined
30912-419: The rejection of the KMT. Mao's response was to ignore them. He established a base in Jinggangshan City , an area of the Jinggang Mountains, where he united five villages as a self-governing state, and supported the confiscation of land from rich landlords, who were "re-educated" and sometimes executed. He ensured that no massacres took place in the region, and pursued a more lenient approach than that advocated by
31104-415: The river. Chiang flew into the area to lead his armies against Mao, but the Communists outmanoeuvred him and crossed the Jinsha River . Faced with the more difficult task of crossing the Tatu River , they managed it by fighting a battle over the Luding Bridge in May, taking Luding . In Moukung, Western Sichuan, they encountered the 50,000-strong CCP Fourth Front Army of Zhang Guotao (who had marched from
31296-538: The simple change in the form of government called for by earlier revolutionaries. He joined Li's Study Group and "developed rapidly toward Marxism" during the winter of 1919. Paid a low wage, Mao lived in a cramped room with seven other Hunanese students, but believed that Beijing's beauty offered "vivid and living compensation". A number of his friends took advantage of the anarchist-organised Mouvement Travail-Études to study in France, but Mao declined, perhaps because of an inability to learn languages. Mao raised funds for
31488-563: The sole control of the CCP. The CCP controls appointments in government bodies, with most senior government officials being CCP members. The National People's Congress (NPC), with nearly 3,000-members, is constitutionally the " highest organ of state power ", though it has been also described as a " rubber stamp " body. The NPC meets annually, while the NPC Standing Committee , around 150 members elected from NPC delegates, meets every couple of months. Elections are indirect and not pluralistic, with nominations at all levels being controlled by
31680-495: The south, the general Liu Yu secured the abdication of the Jin in favor of the Liu Song . The various successors of these states became known as the Northern and Southern dynasties , with the two areas finally reunited by the Sui in 581. The Sui restored the Han to power through China, reformed its agriculture, economy and imperial examination system, constructed the Grand Canal , and patronized Buddhism . However, they fell quickly when their conscription for public works and
31872-443: The standardization of Chinese characters, measurements , road widths, and currency . His dynasty also conquered the Yue tribes in Guangxi , Guangdong , and Northern Vietnam . The Qin dynasty lasted only fifteen years, falling soon after the First Emperor's death. Following widespread revolts during which the imperial library was burned , the Han dynasty emerged to rule China between 206 BCE and 220 CE, creating
32064-534: The subsequent Cultural Revolution was a period of social turmoil and persecution characterized by Maoist populism. Following the Sino-Soviet split , the Shanghai Communiqué in 1972 would precipitate the normalization of relations with the United States . Economic reforms that began in 1978 moved the country away from a socialist planned economy towards an increasingly capitalist market economy , spurring significant economic growth. The corresponding movement for increased democracy and liberalization stalled after
32256-574: The success of the Northern Expedition against the warlords, Chiang turned on the Communists, who by now numbered in the tens of thousands across China. Chiang ignored the orders of the Wuhan-based left KMT government and marched on Shanghai, a city controlled by Communist militias. As the Communists awaited Chiang's arrival, he loosed the White Terror , massacring 5,000 with the aid of the Green Gang . In Beijing, 19 leading Communists were killed by Zhang Zuolin . That May, tens of thousands of Communists and those suspected of being communists were killed, and
32448-458: The time of the Warring States period of the 5th–3rd centuries BCE, there were seven major powerful states left. The Warring States period ended in 221 BCE after the state of Qin conquered the other six states, reunited China and established the dominant order of autocracy . King Zheng of Qin proclaimed himself the Emperor of the Qin dynasty , becoming the first emperor of a unified China. He enacted Qin's legalist reforms, notably
32640-417: The urban proletariat could lead a successful revolution, and saw little need for Mao's peasant guerrillas; he ordered Mao to disband his army into units to be sent out to spread the revolutionary message. Mao replied that while he concurred with Li's theoretical position, he would not disband his army nor abandon his base. Both Li and Mao saw the Chinese revolution as the key to world revolution , believing that
32832-454: The vast majority . The relationship between the semi-colony and the country (or countries) dominating it is said to benefit: The semi-colonial situation however disadvantages the working majority of the population, insofar as balanced economic development is impossible - only those industries are developed which benefit foreign investors or which benefit the export trade (usually extractive and agricultural industries). The class structure of
33024-587: The villages". Proceeding to carry out a "Land Survey", he stated that anyone owning over 30 mou (four and a half acres), constituting 13% of the population, were uniformly counter-revolutionary. He accepted that there was great variation in revolutionary enthusiasm across the country, and that a flexible policy of land redistribution was necessary. Presenting his conclusions at the Enlarged Land Committee meeting, many expressed reservations, some believing that it went too far, and others not far enough. Ultimately, his suggestions were only partially implemented. Fresh from
33216-537: The winter of 1949–50. Mao initiated the talks which focused on the political and economic revolution in China, foreign policy, railways, naval bases, and Soviet economic and technical aid. The resulting treaty reflected Stalin's dominance and his willingness to help Mao. Following the Marxist-Leninist theory of vanguardism , Mao believed that only the correct leadership of the Communist Party could advance China into socialism. Conversely, Mao also believed that mass movements and mass criticism were necessary in order to check
33408-485: The world), 1,221 species of birds (eighth), 424 species of reptiles (seventh) and 333 species of amphibians (seventh). Wildlife in China shares habitat with, and bears acute pressure from, one of the world's largest population of humans. At least 840 animal species are threatened, vulnerable or in danger of local extinction , due mainly to human activity such as habitat destruction, pollution and poaching for food, fur and traditional Chinese medicine . Endangered wildlife
33600-428: The world), 13.2% from hydroelectric power (largest), 9.4% from wind (largest), 6.2% from solar energy (largest), 4.6% from nuclear energy (second-largest), 3.3% from natural gas (fifth-largest), and 2.2% from bioenergy (largest); in total, 31% of China's energy came from renewable energy sources. Despite its emphasis on renewables, China remains deeply connected to global oil markets and next to India, has been
33792-453: Was wiped out by the KMT armies in 1934, leading the CCP to initiate the Long March and relocate to Yan'an in Shaanxi . It would be the base of the communists before major combat in the Chinese Civil War ended in 1949. In 1931, Japan invaded and occupied Manchuria . Japan invaded other parts of China in 1937, precipitating the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945), a theater of World War II . The war forced an uneasy alliance between
33984-426: Was appointed headmaster of the junior section of the First Normal School. Now receiving a large income, he married Yang Kaihui, daughter of Yang Changji, in the winter of 1920. The Chinese Communist Party was founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the Shanghai French Concession in 1921 as a study society and informal network. Mao set up a Changsha branch, also establishing a branch of the Socialist Youth Corps and
34176-511: Was bullied for his peasant background. In 1911, Mao began middle school in Changsha . Revolutionary sentiment was strong in the city, where there was widespread animosity towards Emperor Puyi 's absolute monarchy and many were advocating republicanism . The republicans' figurehead was Sun Yat-sen , an American-educated Christian who led the Tongmenghui society. In Changsha, Mao was influenced by Sun's newspaper, The People's Independence ( Minli bao ), and called for Sun to become president in
34368-406: Was captured by a coalition of peasant rebel forces led by Li Zicheng . The Chongzhen Emperor committed suicide when the city fell. The Manchu Qing dynasty , then allied with Ming dynasty general Wu Sangui , overthrew Li's short-lived Shun dynasty and subsequently seized control of Beijing, which became the new capital of the Qing dynasty. The Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1644 until 1912,
34560-402: Was decided to hold a central meeting, which began in Shanghai on 23 July 1921. The first session of the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was attended by 13 delegates, Mao included. After the authorities sent a police spy to the congress, the delegates moved to a boat on South Lake near Jiaxing , in Zhejiang, to escape detection. Although Soviet and Comintern delegates attended,
34752-417: Was devastated and weakened by the An Lushan rebellion in the 8th century. In 907, the Tang disintegrated completely when the local military governors became ungovernable. The Song dynasty ended the separatist situation in 960, leading to a balance of power between the Song and the Liao dynasty . The Song was the first government in world history to issue paper money and the first Chinese polity to establish
34944-434: Was elected secretary of the Students Society. He organised the Association for Student Self-Government and led protests against school rules. Mao published his first article in New Youth in April 1917, instructing readers to increase their physical strength to serve the revolution. He joined the Society for the Study of Wang Fuzhi ( Chuan-shan Hsüeh-she ), a revolutionary group founded by Changsha literati who wished to emulate
35136-418: Was gaining increasing support and influence. Yi introduced Mao to General Tan Yankai , a senior KMT member who held the loyalty of troops stationed along the Hunanese border with Guangdong. Tan was plotting to overthrow Zhang, and Mao aided him by organising the Changsha students. In June 1920, Tan led his troops into Changsha, and Zhang fled. In the subsequent reorganisation of the provincial administration, Mao
35328-424: Was not involved in fighting or combat. The northern provinces remained loyal to the emperor, and hoping to avoid a civil war, Sun—proclaimed "provisional president" by his supporters—compromised with the monarchist general Yuan Shikai . The monarchy was abolished, creating the Republic of China , but the monarchist Yuan became president. With the revolution over, Mao resigned from the army in 1912, after six months as
35520-421: Was proclaimed Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Mao's power was diminished, as his control of the Red Army was allocated to Zhou Enlai . Meanwhile, Mao recovered from tuberculosis . The KMT armies adopted a policy of encirclement and annihilation of the Red armies. Outnumbered, Mao responded with guerrilla tactics influenced by the works of ancient military strategists like Sun Tzu , but Zhou and
35712-408: Was rebuked, with millions rehabilitated. Deng Xiaoping took power in 1978, and instituted large-scale political and economic reforms , together with the " Eight Elders ", most senior and influential members of the party. The government loosened its control and the communes were gradually disbanded. Agricultural collectivization was dismantled and farmlands privatized. While foreign trade became
35904-447: Was reportedly "dispatched to a mental asylum in Moscow to make room" for Qing. Mao moved into a cave-house and spent much of his time reading, tending his garden and theorising. He came to believe that the Red Army alone was unable to defeat the Japanese, and that a Communist-led "government of national defence" should be formed with the KMT and other "bourgeois nationalist" elements to achieve this goal. Although despising Chiang Kai-shek as
36096-415: Was still eclectic in his views. Mao visited Tianjin, Jinan , and Qufu , before moving to Shanghai, where he worked as a laundryman and met Chen Duxiu , noting that Chen's adoption of Marxism "deeply impressed me at what was probably a critical period in my life". In Shanghai, Mao met an old teacher of his, Yi Peiji , a revolutionary and member of the Kuomintang (KMT), or Chinese Nationalist Party, which
36288-492: Was strengthened in part to suppress anti-Qing sentiment with the policy of valuing agriculture and restraining commerce, like the Haijin during the early Qing period and ideological control as represented by the literary inquisition , causing some social and technological stagnation. In the mid-19th century, the Opium Wars with Britain and France forced China to pay compensation, open treaty ports, allow extraterritoriality for foreign nationals, and cede Hong Kong to
36480-448: Was succeeded by Chiang Kai-shek , who moved to marginalise the left-KMT and the Communists. Mao nevertheless supported Chiang's National Revolutionary Army , who embarked on the Northern Expedition attack in 1926 on warlords. In the wake of this expedition, peasants rose up, appropriating the land of the wealthy landowners, who were in many cases killed. Such uprisings angered senior KMT figures, who were themselves landowners, emphasising
36672-403: Was terminally ill. She died in October 1919 and her husband died in January 1920. On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing gathered at Tiananmen to protest the Chinese government's weak resistance to Japanese expansion in China. Patriots were outraged at the influence given to Japan in the Twenty-One Demands in 1915, the complicity of Duan Qirui 's Beiyang government , and the betrayal of China in
36864-422: Was the last imperial dynasty of China. The Ming-Qing transition (1618–1683) cost 25 million lives, but the Qing appeared to have restored China's imperial power and inaugurated another flowering of the arts. After the Southern Ming ended, the further conquest of the Dzungar Khanate added Mongolia, Tibet and Xinjiang to the empire. Meanwhile, China's population growth resumed and shortly began to accelerate. It
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