Dear readers,
Here in Shanghai, along with the rest of the country, people have began to realize how weak the society has become as other countries are gaining power and influence over the rest of the world. Though we are deeply emerged in our Chinese traditions, the country could improve through some sort of reform. Today, I am reporting on some of the significant reasons why the citizens of China believe that a revolution is needed to change the country for the better.
Over the past 20 years of my life, China has had a lost identity. Though groups of revolt had been forming, it wasn’t until the reform of 1911, where the ‘republic of china’ went against the Qing Dynasty to demand a change in society. These people stood against the Qing Dynasty to stand up to social injustice. There was a range of people who supported these views such as women and peasants. The Confucian views that the Qing dynasty reigned under supported the norms that had been practiced in China for many years. The family structured had long remained unchanged with the patriarchal system where it supported the elders in the family and really restricted the roles of women in family.
With the capitalism growing in China, the leaders were more worried about the higher classes who were supporting their economic system. This left out the peasant class who was supporting China’s growth through agricultural production and other basic needs. Most of the wage-laborers were working all day for a wage that wouldn’t cover their families basic needs as they were eating more than they made financially! The peasant class was sick of the way that the landlords and bosses treated them since the gap of living standards between them was so large. However, these peasants and workers didn’t really have a way to organize themselves to fight against the wealthier population so they continued to struggle without much change for generations. There had to be a way for the workers and peasants to have an alliance to fight against the inequality and capitalism they were presented with.
The societal norms had been another factor that was presenting China with some issues. People began to realize they were in unhappy marriages and had even ended up killing themselves over their arranged marriages. Women, even though they were still unequal to men, started being sent to cities from the country side to work in textiles and other professions. This extended liberation was a step for them as they were in a sense gaining more freedom but were still under control by the patriarchal system. The May 4th Movement had initiated this way of thinking but it wasn’t leaning to restore the confucian ways or to restore it in terms of women rights.
The people who had the least amount of power had no say in which the country was run and their struggles led them to search for a more equal society. The main goal of some of these people was to spread the notion of moralizing the holders of authority. People were unhappy with many of the ways China was run but the question remains: is a revolution necessary and how will these people be able to carry out necessary change in society?
I agree change is needed. But, have people just now begun to realize that they are unhappy in arranged marriages and other limiting social norms or do you think this generation of youth is more revolutionary than its predecessors? However, I believe that poor families sending their daughters to cities to work has helped bluster the youth’s revolutionary spirit.
This period in China was unstable, and I also agree that they needed revolutionary change in society. As your blog pointed out, the essential points of this era situation, there were significant changes in the economic system, and they still had social issues such as gender equality or the financial status gap. Although there were only limited people who could know other countries’ situation, more and more people began to realize they needed change as you mention.
I like that you highlight the importance of unification of the urban proletariat and peasants. This could either be done through unified revolution, as the communists propose, or through leadership that spans both cities and the countryside. However, on your question of revolution, I wonder if such chaos and danger would be worth it. It should also be noted that although you remark on women in industrial jobs as liberated, they are simply going from patriarchal oppression to capitalist oppression.
I agree that Mao’s message especially resinates with peasant laborers. I believe that these peasants think that they are destined to do these low-paying manual labor jobs for the rest of their lives, and once they heard Mao and the CCP say that doesn’t have to be the case, it must have felt like a miracle. Finally, someone that speaks for them and doesn’t see them as the lowest form of human.