Preface

For nearly 1,000 years, people in the West have been fascinated with China, a vast and populous nation located "on the other side of the world." During the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Westerners followed the Silk Route in order to obtain the rare and beautiful fabrics woven by the Chinese, while in the 19th century, Europe and the United States eagerly sought lucrative concessions through trade with China, usually to China’s detriment. The weak Manchu dynasty was unable to resist foreign incursions into its country. During 1839–43 and 1856–60, China fought and lost the Opium Wars with Great Britain, and trade with France, Germany, and the United States proved disadvantageous. War with Japan in 1894–95 further weakened China economically and militarily. The unrest which these humiliations created among the Chinese people culminated in the Boxer Uprising in 1900, a nationalist rebellion against all foreigners and alien influence in China.

During the 20th century, China underwent additional upheavals. The Manchu dynasty fell, bringing an end to imperial rule. A republican government ruled China until 1949, when the Communist forces of Mao Tse-tung seized power. Mao established a dictatorship that rivaled Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union under Josef Stalin in its brutality, repressiveness, and genocide. Some of the worst atrocities occurred during the Cultural Revolution, which began in 1966 as Mao’s attempt to squelch opposition to the Communist Party and his authority. Millions of people from all walks of life—including many Communist leaders—were severely persecuted or killed for expressing ideas or acting in ways that Mao and his Red Guard deemed too "bourgeois."

For over 20 years, the United States sought to isolate China by refusing to recognize the Communist regime and keeping it out of the United Nations. The situation changed when President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China in February of 1972. Nixon sought to exploit China’s rivalry with the Soviet Union and expose China to Western influences, which he hoped would gradually turn it away from Communism. By the end of the decade, the United States had officially recognized the People’s Republic of China and the two nations had established diplomatic relations.

After Mao’s death in 1976, a new leader, Deng Xiaoping, introduced several reforms. Deng abandoned Mao’s hard-line Marxist-Leninist ideology and encouraged the limited ownership of private property and a free market. Deng’s reforms sparked economic growth and improved the standard of living for many people who had languished under Mao’s policies. Deng’s liberalization, however, did not extend to China’s political system, which remained repressive and intolerant of any dissent. In 1989 Deng shocked the world by ordering the massacre of thousands of pro-democracy students in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Today, under President Jiang Zemin, China is one of the world’s great powers, occupying a permanent seat on the United Nations’ Security Council and boasting a strong military with a nuclear arsenal. A large population and substantial resources and capital also make China a formidable competitor in the global marketplace.

The articles collected in this book from a diverse group of sources provide a glimpse into present-day China. The first section discusses the prospects for the liberalization of China’s political system and examines whether there is any chance that China could become a Western-style democracy. The second section looks at Chinese domestic issues, such as the economy, the morale of China’s workers, crime, education, health care, and the plight of abandoned children. One article in this section also assesses the state of Hong Kong five years after the British transferred its administration to China. Section three focuses on human rights, detailing China’s suppression of freedom of expression at the nation’s major universities and the persecution of several religious groups. The fourth section analyses the present state of U.S.-Chinese relations. Despite the fears expressed by many that these nations are on the verge of a cold war, primarily due to their divergent views on China’s treatment of Taiwan and the deployment by the United States of a missile defense shield, both countries have pledged publically to work towards maintaining friendly relations with one another. The fifth and final section offers a look at China’s dealings with other states, including Russia, India, Pakistan, Japan, Taiwan, and the Vatican. An appendix follows with statistics and other important facts about the geography, economy, government, communications, transportation, and population of the People’s Republic of China.

In conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to the periodicals throughout the world that gave their generous permission to have their articles reprinted in this book, and to all those at the H.W. Wilson Company, whose assistance and work made this book possible, especially Lynn Messina, Sandra Watson, Jennifer Peloso, Norris Smith, Richard Joseph Stein, and Gray Young.

Dimitri Cavalli

October 2002