Communism in China
On October 1, 1949, Chinese Communist leader Mao
Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The
announcement ended the costly full-scale civil war between the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) and the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang (KMT), which
broke out immediately following World War II and had been preceded by on and
off conflict between the two sides since the 1920's. The creation of the PRC
also completed the long process of governmental upheaval in China begun by the
Chinese Revolution of 1911. The "fall" of mainland China to communism
in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for
decades.
The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921 in
Shanghai, originally existed as a study group working within the confines of
the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. Chinese Communists joined
with the Nationalist Army in the Northern Expedition of 1926-27 to rid the
nation of the warlords that prevented the formation of a strong central
government. This collaboration lasted until the "White Terror" of
1927, when the Nationalists turned on the Communists, killing them or purging
them from the party.
After the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931, the
Government of the Republic of China (ROC) faced the triple threat of Japanese
invasion, Communist uprising, and warlord insurrections. Frustrated by the
focus of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek on internal threats instead of
the Japanese assault, a group of generals abducted Chiang in 1937 and forced
him to reconsider cooperation with the Communist army. As with the first effort
at cooperation between the Nationalist government and the CCP, this Second
United Front was short-lived. The Nationalists expended needed resources on containing
the Communists, rather than focusing entirely on Japan, while the Communists
worked to strengthen their influence in rural society.
During World War II, popular support for the
Communists increased. U.S. officials in China reported a dictatorial
suppression of dissent in Nationalist-controlled areas. These undemocratic
polices combined with wartime corruption made the Republic of China Government
vulnerable to the Communist threat. The CCP, for its part, experienced success
in its early efforts at land reform and was lauded by peasants for its
unflagging efforts to fight against the Japanese invaders.
Japanese surrender set the stage for the resurgence of
civil war in China. Though only nominally democratic, the Nationalist
Government of Chiang Kai-shek continued to receive U.S. support both as its
former war ally and as the sole option for preventing Communist control of
China. U.S. forces flew tens of thousands of Nationalist Chinese troops into
Japanese-controlled territory and allowed them to accept the Japanese
surrender. The Soviet Union, meanwhile, occupied Manchuria and only pulled out
when Chinese Communist forces were in place to claim that territory.
In 1945, the leaders of the Nationalist and Communist
parties, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, met for a series of talks on the
formation of a post-war government. Both agreed on the importance of democracy,
a unified military, and equality for all Chinese political parties. The truce
was tenuous, however, and, in spite of repeated efforts by U.S. General George
Marshall to broker an agreement, by 1946 the two sides were fighting an all-out
civil war. Years of mistrust between the two sides thwarted efforts to form a
coalition government.
As the civil war gained strength from 1947 to 1949,
eventual Communist victory seemed more and more likely. Although the Communists
did not hold any major cities after World War II, they had strong grassroots
support, superior military organization and morale, and large stocks of weapons
seized from Japanese supplies in Manchuria. Years of corruption and
mismanagement had eroded popular support for the Nationalist Government. Early
in 1947, the ROC Government was already looking to the island province of
Taiwan, off the coast of Fujian Province, as a potential point of retreat.
Although officials in the Truman Administration were not convinced of the
strategic importance to the United States of maintaining relations with
Nationalist China, no one in the U.S. Government wanted to be charged with
facilitating the "loss" of China to communism. Military and financial
aid to the floundering Nationalists continued, though not at the level that Chiang
Kai-shek would have liked. In October of 1949, after a string of military
victories, Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the PRC; Chiang and his
forces fled to Taiwan to regroup and plan for their efforts to retake the
mainland.
The ability of the PRC and the United States to find
common ground in the wake of the establishment of the new Chinese state was
hampered by both domestic politics and global tensions. In August of 1949, the
Truman administration published the "China White Paper," which
explained past U.S. policy toward China based upon the principle that only
Chinese forces could determine the outcome of their civil war. Unfortunately
for Truman, this step failed to protect his administration from charges of
having "lost" China. The unfinished nature of the revolution, leaving
a broken and exiled but still vocal Nationalist Government and army on Taiwan,
only heightened the sense among U.S. anti-communists that the outcome of the
struggle could be reversed. The outbreak of the Korean War, which pitted the
PRC and the United States on opposite sides of an international conflict, ended
any opportunity for accommodation between the PRC and the United States.
Truman's desire to prevent the Korean conflict from spreading south led to the
U.S. policy of protecting the Chiang Kai-shek government on Taiwan. For more
than twenty years after the Chinese revolution of 1949, there were few
contacts, limited trade and no diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Timeline
May 1966:
Articles in Communist Party newspapers introduce the
concept of a Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.
August 1966:
Mao officially
launches the Cultural Revolution with a speech at Central Committee of the
Communist Party.
August 1966:
At a mass meeting in Tiananmen Square Mao puts on a
red armband, the emblem of the Red Guards. He decrees that Red Guards can
travel for free on public transportation.
October 1966:
At mass meeting
in Tiananmen Square for National Day Mao calls for the Red Guards to destroy
the Four Olds: old ideas, old behavior etc.
Fall 1966:
Mao closes schools and calls for the formation of the
Red Guards to challenge Party officials and to attack anything bourgeois.
Millions heed his call. Officials, intellectuals and generally older people in
positions of power and influence are attacked verbally and physically by the
Red Guards. Mao leaves Beijing, leaving Liu Shaoqi and other top leaders with
the problem of dealing with the Red Guards and the social turmoil that had been
created. Mao later returns to Beijing after a much publicized swim in the Chang
Jiang (Yangtze River). Mao deems Liu Shaoqi a counter-revolutionary. Later
Liu's wife is publically humiliated at mass meeting. She and Liu are arrested
and imprisoned. Liu is beaten and tortured and dies.
January 1967:
Red Guards achieve the overthrow of provincial party
committee officials and replace them with radicals.
February 1967:
Party officials call for an end to the Cultural
Revolution but Mao continues to support the Cultural Revolution.
July 1967:
The Wuhan Incident: Red Guards attack the political
leadership of the city of Wuhan. The city administration and supporters
militarily resist the Red Guards. The Incident has the aspects of a
full-fledged civil war. Zhou Enlai personally intercedes to resolve the
situation. The city administrators are arrested but Zhou sees that the
radicalism of the Red Guards must be curbed.
Summer 1967:
Rival factions of Red Guards and Rebel groups fight
each other. Armed battles involving thousands and tens of thousands of people
take place. Mao ultimately orders Lin Biao to use the Army to bring order to
the Red Guards movement. The attempt to unify the factions of the Red Guards
fails. Mao replaces the pre-Cultural Revolution party officials with radicals
who support the Cultural Revolution.
1968:
The disorder caused by the Cultural Revolution results
in a 12 percent decline in industrial production in 1968 compared to 1966. The
Army takes control of government offices, schools and factories. Millions of
young people are sent to the countryside to "learn from the
peasants."
April 1969:
Border clashes with the Soviets leads to a declaration
of martial law under Lin Biao, Minister of Defense. Communist Party and its
Central Committee become dominated by military people. Lin Biao is declared the
official successor to Mao.
April 1969:
Mao decides to open talks with the U.S. to form a
relationship to counter the threat of the Soviet Union.
1970-71:
Jiang Qing and other radicals begin to oppose Lin Biao
as successor to Mao.
August 1971:
Chen Boda, a supporter of Lin Biao, is arrested and
disappears.
September 1971:
Lin Biao is killed in a plane crash in Mongolia
attempting to flee China. Lin is accused of plotting to kidnap or kill Mao and
take control of China himself.
Late 1971-mid 1973:
Zhou Enlai tries to organize a recovery of China from
the Cultural Revolution. Mao has a stroke and Zhou finds he has cancer.
February 1972:
President Richard
Nixon visits China. The Shanghai Communique is issued which defines a new
relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China.
Early 1973:
Deng Xiaoping
is rehabilitated and brought back to organize the recovery.
Mid-1973 to mid-1974:
Jiang Qing and her radicals are dominant in the
government.
July 1974:
Mao shifts support to Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.
Fall 1975:
Mao shifts support back to Jiang Qing and her
radicals. Deng Xiaoping formally removed from power.
January 1976:
Zhou Enlai dies.
February 1976:
Hua Guofeng is appointed as acting Premier.
April 1976:
There are public tributes to Zhou Enlai in Tiananmen
Square which Jiang Qing get Mao to declare to be counter-revolutionary.
Authorities use the military to break up the public demonstrations.
July 1976:
A major earthquake devastates North China. Hundreds of
thousands die. Beijing government turns down outside aid.
September 1976:
Mao Zedong dies. Hua Guofeng was made
Party Chairman but did not long wield much power.
October 1976:
Armed forces arrest Jiang Qing and her radical
associates. They are called The Gang of Four to emphasize that they represent
only a small cabal of radicals.
1977:
Deng Xiaoping emerges as paramount leader of the
People's Republic of China. Deng had been dropped from the leadership roles
after the April 1976 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. In July 1977 he
returned to his official positions and in addition he was the chief of staff of
the People's Liberation Army. Deng's leadership was not a result of the formal
offices he held but instead from a concensus among the top leaders to follow
his lead, although it did not hurt for him to have control of the army. In the
power struggle between Deng Xiaoping and Hua Guofeng, Hua had the offices of
Premiership and Party Chairmanship but Deng had the PLA.
Source: History.State.gov
Christianity in China during the Cultural Revolution
by Margaret Chu
In China there are tens of thousands of silent martyrs
who have died namelessly. Many are still in jail and others suffer
discrimination and poverty because they are ex-prisoners. I was fortunate to
have been born in a Christian family. When I was a child, I had no deep
understanding of religion; it was simply a way of life for me. Then, in my
early teens, full of hope and dreaming of a great future filled with love,
freedom, opportunity and a great career, China turned communist.
I will always remember the date September 8 as the
darkest day of persecution in my city of Shanghai. Maybe I should say as the
glorious day when so many Chinese Martyrs were made. Suddenly, Christians had
to decide whether to follow God's law or to follow the government's
anti-Christian policy. To follow God meant prison. To follow the government
meant security and opportunity for education and a job. On this quiet night, in
one swift operation, the Communist government paralyzed the Shanghai Diocese.
Bishop Ignatius Kung Pin-mei, together with hundreds of priests, nuns, and lay ministers
were arrested. The seminaries were closed and many Christians were placed under
house arrest and ordered to report to the police station daily for
"re-education" or brainwashing.
In the brainwashing session, the government wanted us
to sign a declaration stating that Bishop Kung was the leader of a
counter-revolutionary gang dedicated to overturn the Communist government. We
had to report on all religious organizations, the names of their members and
their activities. Those who buckled under the pressure and signed the
declaration were set free, their jobs and educational privileges restored.
Those who followed their conscience and followed the Church were dismissed from
their jobs. They were not allowed to attend the university and finally ended in
prison.
I love Jesus, my Lord. I love my church. I love and
respect my priests. I also love my friends as we struggled together prayed
together. We also cried together. To ask me to betray my beloved Bishop,
priests, and friends, and to ask me to support the government's persecution of
the Christian Church, was to ask me to abandon my faith and to betray my Lord.
No. No. My faith did not allow me to betray God. My love for my friends made it
impossible for me to betray them. I refused to participate and remained
completely silent. While they read their propaganda, I simply prayed in my
heart. It worked for a short while.
Within two months, however, many of those priests who
were still free signed a declaration supporting the government's action to
charge Bishop Kung with high treason. I was shocked. I was young and innocent.
I had unquestionable faith for all priests. It never occurred to me that they
would give in so quickly to the government's pressure and betray their own
bishop and the Church.
I was particularly shocked when I learned what my
spiritual director, Father Aloysius Jin, S.J., had done after his arrest. He
was a very eloquent priest, the rector of the Shanghai Seminary, and had great
influence among the faithful. Soon after he was arrested, he recorded a tape to
persuade loyal Christians to support the Communist government. This tape was
used for broadcast in many prisons. Many of my friends heard this tape in jail.
Father Jin is none other than the current illegitimate bishop of Shanghai of the
Patriotic Association. That was a great blow to the Shanghai diocese and to me
personally. At a time when I most needed spiritual support and consolation, I
was left entirely alone without any priest whom I could trust.
God did not abandon us. At that time I met a priest,
Father Koo, who was under house arrest. In the spring he was allowed to say
public Mass in a small chapel, but not preach. To find a loyal priest was like
finding a light in the midst of the dark raging sea. I found my light. Although
the chapel was far from my house, I attended his Mass daily and received grace
and consolation in his confessional. Before long, more and more people came to
attend his Mass. As a result, the authorities closed the chapel after a few
months.
A Trappist nun helped us to maintain contact with
Father Koo. We hand-copied his sermons and distributed them to the faithful.
Holy Communion was sent to the nun's house and was distributed. Father Koo
heard confessions in the park or while walking on a busy street. Once, we even
secretly organized a pilgrimage to SheShan, a national Shrine near Shanghai.
Father Koo's sermons were distributed even to other cities. It was truly a very
risky yet rewarding time. This, in fact, was the beginning of the underground
Church in China, and I was blessed to be a small part of it.
We never wanted to oppose the government. All we
wanted was to keep our faith. We had no experience in political struggle. We
never suspected that the government would plant a spy among us. As this spy
came to us through the introduction of that good Trappist nun, we blindly
trusted. She joined every religious activity organized by us. Several times she
asked me to mail Father Koo's sermons to her friends. Like a fool, I did. The
addresses were fake. The secret police-intercepted them all. These materials
would later become the government's proof of my accused crimes.
One early morning in May, about ten people from the
Patriotic Association-an agency of the Communist government-broke into my
house. They grabbed my hands and feet and dragged me to a study meeting, which
lasted several days in a dormitory. There were many other Christians also
dragged to the study group. The Association wanted to brainwash us to think
that we had joined this meeting of our own free will. They waged a smear
campaign against the Church to force us to renounce the Faith. I was
criticized, scolded and jeered at by many people. I prayed quietly and ignored
the commotion and insults.
Three months after that forced "religious"
study session, I was arrested and jailed. I was 22. It was the beginning of my
23 years in jail and labor camps. My first feeling when I stepped into my cell
was to feel nausea. The cell was about 250 square feet, housing sixteen
prisoners. There was only one very small window. There were human wastes
collected in the corner of our cell. Everything was simply suffocating.
I met several Christian acquaintances in the cell and
began socializing with them and was accused by my jailers for influencing
others and transferred to another cell. After two months without a trial, I was
sentenced to eight years imprisonment as a counterrevolutionary because I had
participated in many religious activities. After my sentence, I was sent to a
transit jail, waiting to be dispatched to the prisoner labor camp. We had seven
people in one cell, sharing three beds. Four of them slept on the concrete
floor, partly under the beds. It was winter. There was absolutely no heat. The
cell was very drafty and freezing cold. We had two cold meals a day. I started
experiencing stomachaches and cramps.
My family was once allowed to visit me. While waiting
in line, I said a few words to another Christian. An inmate reported me and
consequently my scheduled visit with my family was abruptly canceled. All
prisoners were allowed to shower once a month, but not Christians. Somehow, we
Christian prisoners still managed to keep communicating among ourselves
secretly. After staying in this transit prison for about a month, I was sent to
a prison-knitting factory about 100 miles from Shanghai. There I learned that
two of my good friends sent to this camp had died shortly after their arrival.
This news shocked me. I couldn't understand why anyone should have died. What
was in store for me?
A few days after my arrival, a prison officer asked
me: "What is your crime?" I snapped back angrily: "I did not
commit any crime. I was arrested because I am a Christian and I determined to
keep my faith." The officer became very angry and shouted at me: "if
you did not commit any crime, why are you here?" His extreme anger caused
me to fall silent. The whole factory likewise was dead silent. Because of this
incident, however, I discovered several Christians. We quickly united. Among
them was a girl named Tsou who was turned in by a priest in the government
sponsored by the Patriotic Association. She was especially good to me.
Unfortunately, after four years she had a mental break down. The officers even
used her mental condition as a violation of prison regulations. They tied her.
They hung her up and beat her. They extended her sentence twice. Although she
has already completed her sentence, she is still in the labor camp without
proper care-as are many other friends.
Four months before the end of my eight-year sentence,
the Cultural Revolution began and I was transferred to another labor camp.
Rules there were a little easier and we had wages of about six U.S. dollars a
month. Three of those dollars were deducted for our prison rations. Two years
after I had been in this new camp, I received a parcel from my family.
Immediately, an inmate accused me of giving something out of it to another
prisoner. I was dragged to the office. Without any investigation, the officer
assembled the entire camp to start a "struggle session" against me.
In the session the officer suddenly asked me whether I had committed my alleged
original crime leading to my 8-year sentence. I was stunned. It then dawned on
me that this session was in fact prearranged. The parcel was only a pretense.
Their real motive was once again to force me to admit all my alleged crimes.
"I did not commit any crimes," I asserted firmly. Immediately two
people jumped on me and cut off half of my hair. The officer screamed again:
"Are you guilty?" I replied firmly again, "No." Two people
then used a rope to tie my hands back tightly. It was connected to a loop
around my shoulder and underneath my armpits. It was knotted in such a way that
a slight movement of my hands would cause intense pain. This struggle session
lasted for two hours. Afterwards, they untied me and handcuffed me instead. The
handcuffs became a part of me for the next one hundred days and nights.
I worked in the field with my cuffs on and was
followed every minute. Anyone who dared even to smile at me was punished.
Working under 95-degree heat in the field, I was not allowed to wear a hat. I
could not bathe or change my clothes with the cuffs on. My clothes would get
soaking wet from perspiration, would dry and only get wet again. I could not
appeal. I could not escape. I was isolated. I was too sad to cry. I hoped I
would die. I could not commit suicide, but I could pray for the gift of death.
So, when I was tortured, I hoped that I would be
tortured more so that I could die suddenly. When I was ordered to carry things
on my shoulder, I hoped that they would give me more to carry so that I could
suddenly collapse. But, not only did I not die, I did not even get sick. I
spent my days and months working in the field with my hands cuffed. My
sufferings became unbearable. Where are you, My Lord? I questioned Divine
providence. 0h Lord, for the last ten years I struggled and suffered. Haven't I
already proved myself to you? Let me die, Lord.
In the summer, we had a two-hour rest in the
afternoon. I was too distressed to sleep. In the field were wooden barrels
where human waste was accumulated inside to be used later as fertilizer. I
found my haven right there. It was quiet and peaceful. There no one would come
to accuse me. Once in a while, some kind people would secretly come with a wet
towel to clean my face and rub my back. I could not do it myself because my
hands were still cuffed. Several people came to apologize for accusing me
because they were under pressure. Their good intentions and sympathy moved me
to tears.
When I was handcuffed in the beginning, I was the only
target they attacked. They attacked me physically and verbally. Finding that I
did not give in, they extended their target to include the Christian Church.
They would use foul language to insult the Church, and insult God. I was
extremely saddened by their direct assault against our beloved God.
I prayed for my death, but it was not granted. I was
afraid that I might not endure much longer. I could no longer tolerate the foul
language day and night against God. I finally admitted one of my alleged crimes
as written in the court paper. I admitted that it was counterrevolutionary to
persuade children not to join the Communist youth organization, but I refused
to submit any names of religious organizations and their religious activities.
Nevertheless, that was enough for the camp officer to claim victory over me. My
cuffs were finally taken off.
After 14 years, I was finally allowed to visit home.
When I arrived in Shanghai, I discovered that the underground Christian Church
flourished. I even went to attend an underground service before returning to
the labor camp. That was when I met Ignatius Chu who eventually became my
husband. He was sent to jail three years before I was and for the same reasons.
He too was transferred to hard labor. I knew him before, but had not seen him
for some twenty years. It must be God's providence that we met again. At that
time conditions at the camp were a little better. We were allowed to talk to
each other. After six months, we decided to get married.
The marriage plan was a secret in the labor camp. We
invited Ignatius eldest brother, Father Francis Chu, to come to Shanghai to
marry us. Father Francis was in another labor camp at the time. We both took
home leave and Father Francis applied for permission to go home the same time.
Unfortunately, he did not receive permission in time. By the time he arrived in
Shanghai, we were back in our camps. So, Father Francis came to us. Ignatius
and I received permission to go to the train station to meet with Father
Francis. From there we went to a small restaurant.
At a dinner table, Father Francis took out a few soda
crackers and a few drops of wine. He offered in secret a short Mass and
performed our marriage ceremony with our exchange of marriage vows. We were
finally married before God. There were no flowers. There was no music, no
guests, and no ring. All we had was God's blessing. That was more than enough
for us. After dinner, having taken Father Francis back to the train, we went back
to our separate dormitories, pretending nothing had happened.
Source: www.cardinalkungfoundation.org
