This might be the sixth draft I’ve written. Today is Modern China 05=08.
Review of an overview:
1911 Qing Dynasty falls
Republican China
Warlord Era
New Culture Movement – May 4th 1919 – end of WW1
1927 – Guomindang and Communists split
1937 – Invasion of Manchuria by Japan (Nanjing Massacre)
1945 – War with Japan ends
1948 – Communist Revolution
Today we’re talking about The Great Leap Forward.
Hurrah – 1956 Land Reforms
five year plan by Mao to catch up with Western capitalist countries ~
The program was intended to massively increase agricultural and industrial production – implemented collectivization that led to disaster and a wide-scale famine.
Industrialization – home-made steel (useless)* – (something about) nationally owned companies
Economic Realists: Deng Xioping and Liu Shaoqi <—Mao slandered and started a Cultural Revolution (1966) – elite Communist leaders were criticized along with their parents. The Red Guard, young Mao loyalists who kept the Cultural Revolution going – catalyzed the “Revival of Revolution” as my professor phrases it. A sustaining force of the Communist party under Mao was this continuous and vehement attack on cultural products like music and poetry. Of what kind?
*We’re watching a really really good movie called Two Lives. I wrote about it last time. But in it the citizens also smelt steel to reach their “production quota,” and then they have dumplings or something. The kids are all really really tired, because the weird higher ups (District Chief) are asking all the kids to smelt steel in school.
They have lots of dumplings. Food is abundant.
The dad is giving his very tired son a piggy back ride to school where he has to smelt steel. A couple adults on bikes with children riding in the front past by the walking duo.
The kid has suffered something. Death. His body is being taken away so the mom doesn’t have to see. She wants to see him. The citizens crowd around the mom. She cries loudly, and an extra can’t help but smile.
The District Chief (Chunsheng) is a former puppet entertainer with the dad. He’s inadvertently killed the boy. The kid and Chunsheng were both so tired, and the latter leans on a wall that then crushes the boy. The family brings dumplings to his grave, and the mom says she’ll visit everyday.
Chunsheng does not want his Jeep.
June 1966 – start of the Great Proletariat Revolution…
So the Red Guard hats were super cool. Also the mute daughter might start dating an older man with a slight limp. The match is ok. There’s a scene where the daughter stares in the mirror, puts on the Red Guard hat and pushes her braids to the front of her body. “Not all Red Guards are bad,” says my professor.
The couple has dressed up in comrade clothing, and I think they’re getting married. This is apparently very trendy. Lots of clapping. They’re singing a song. They’re taking a photo, and it’s a whole production. They’re posing in front of a Mao wall painting, and there’s also a cut out of a small boat they stand in front of.
Fengxia cries. People are telling her to not be sad. She looks about 15.
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