On the Ground in China

Dear readers, many Chinese are asking themselves for a proper direction forward, a way out of the political turbulence since the fall of the Qing dynasty. They are asking for relief from the national infighting that has ensued during the warlord years and most Chinese want proper and complete independence from foreigners. Many are longing for a refined and progressive culture independent of our traditional male centric Confucian past. For some, this answer lies in the Chinese Communist Party commonly referred to as the CCP. This brief report will educate the readership on the basic ideology of the CCP and show through a series of interviews why this new ideology resonates with so many.

The CCP was founded in July of 1921 in the city of Shanghai. For most of the party’s early history the CCP was based as an urban movement resembling a typical Marxist approach to economic class struggles, which pitted the wage-earning working class, the proletariat, against the capitalist class or the bourgeoisie. Qiu Hui-ying, a female textile worker explained how many urban dwellers were persuaded by communism because of the promise of less starvation and more rights for the workers. She blames the hardships she faced on her employers “through the labor contract,” and on foreign influence via imperialist powers. Industrial workers have felt displaced by a system that oppresses their ability to lead a prosperous life, and the class uprising called upon by Marx, which clearly reflects Qui’s sentiments and wishes for better treatment within the workplace.

However, the more powerful nationalist Guomindang party soon broke their alliance with the CCP and massacred the communists for fear of their growing influence among many urban dwellers after the communists handed Shanghai over to them peacefully during the Northern Expedition. As a journalist working in Shanghai during this time, I can say that this was an incredibly brutal response and tactic on the part of the nationalists. While this development forced the CCP to relocate and redevelop their strategy for revolution in China, Mao Zedong had been advocating for a different and more rural revolutionary approach for years. Mao argues in his report on the “Peasant Movement in Hunan” that peasants appeared ready to explode against an oppressive feudal and patriarchal system, and that revolution was not a “dinner party” because the goal of the revolution was to overthrow the landlords and foreign elites.

With my curiosity peaked, I decided to leave Shanghai and travel to the heart of the CCP’s new countryside headquarters in Jiangxi, and to other locations of discontent throughout China. This has proven to be a dangerous task as many of the communists are against people of my background and family stature. I have worked hard to conceal my identity to avoid being caught, which would not only be disastrous for me but for this story as well.  Women are particularly interested in revolution as the CCP has promised them equality with men before the law. Wan Xiang explained her fears of being married off at age seven and the fear associated with being a child bride. Xie Pei-lan believed that she would gain her freedom if she joined the revolutionary cause, and she was caught up in the violent overthrow of her landlord and was involved within their daughter’s murder. Women clearly desire a social change from traditional Confucian China, and the openness towards gender equality reflects this.

While women feel compelled to join the revolution because of the promise for equality between sexes. Poor peasant men on the other hand are more focused on alleviating economic disparity between themselves and their landlords because of the immense level of poverty peasants were subjected to in the countryside. However, it has yet to be seen how many poor peasant men will respond to the CCP’s call for gender equality even though many of these men have been promised wives as their birthright. Will men perceive gender equality as a threat to their economic futures? This is something the CCP will certainly need to rectify within the countryside. Will they put men before women when push comes to shove? It has become clear that Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalist party will not tolerate communism as seen in the brutal Shanghai massacre. To what extent will the Guomindang attempt to root out the communists in Xiangxi?  How persistent will they be if they do take direct action against the CCP? If the massacre at Shanghai serves at precedent, they will likely be persistent in their attempts to root out this rural social experiment that is popular among the rural classes and goes so much against the values of nationalists living in major urban centers.

Dear Readers:

I have been given an assignment of utmost importance by my editor, and I will attempt to answer the question I have been given with as much accuracy and information from the people as I can. I have been tasked with answering if China is in need of another revolution, and why many citizens of our great country may or may not believe this to be true.

It has been two decades since the revolution of 1911 that saw the end of the Qing Dynasty as well as the collapse of the entire dynastic system. In the time since then, China has been anything but stable, and many of the problems that the revolutionaries set out to fix in 1911 are still ever present in our society. Confucian ideology is central to the debate that is tearing our country apart. While the dynastic system may be a thing of the past, we have now had to deal with the problem of the Warlords for far too long. These local militarists controlled their own territory and prevented initial efforts for unification as none of them would submit to a single ruler [Dietrich, 23]. The constant conflict between the warlords has proved a headache for the Nationalist Party in its efforts to unify the country under its control. General Chiang Kaishek’s Northern Expedition proved effective in dealing with the warlords and made great progress in uniting the country [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 9:07]. The Nationalist Party’s United Front with the Chinese Communist Party seemed like the best option moving forward until the Nationalists brutally attacked the Communists in 1927, destroying their alliance and any real hope of cooperation in the future.

While our country is currently under the control of Chiang Kaishek and the Nationalist Party, it is not extremely difficult to imagine that another revolution may be coming in the near future. This revolution would be brought about by the Chinese Communist Party, and as time goes on, it appears more and more evident that this may be just over the horizon. Mao Zedong’s Jiangxi Soviet is a revolutionary group that is planning this very revolution [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 26:18]. Nationalist forces have been attempting to wipe out the Communists for good, but have been constantly subjected to extremely effective guerrilla warfare tactics by the Communist Red Army [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 32:04]. The Nationalists are so concerned about the Communist threat because of how popular they are becoming in the regions where they have been able to spread their influence. The reforms that have been suggested and imposed by the Communists in this territory have been immensely popular with the people who are sick of the old ways. Many women who do not want to suffer through an arranged marriage and be treated as property have begun to turn to the Communists in support of their proposed gender reforms. In a traditional Chinese marriage, the period immediately following the marriage has been described as “The most difficult and degrading phase of life for a woman” [Johnson, 10]. The Communists promise women that if they join the movement, they can be free of these traditions that are not desirable to women. One woman who was interviewed (name omitted for her safety,) fiercely exclaimed that she joined the Communists so she wouldn’t have to submit to an arranged marriage to a man twice her age [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 28:55]. Among the younger and poorer peasants, not having to pay a bride price in order to literally buy your wife [Johnson, 11] is also enough of an incentive to break with the old ways.

China is on its way to something big. The Nationalist Party under the control of General Chiang Kaishek are desperately trying to keep its hold on the country as the Communist Party slowly expands its influence across the countryside. However, more and more people seem to be backing the Communists as they are tired of the way things are and are intrigued by the new ideas that they are being exposed to. A Communist revolution may be coming very soon, and I can only think that if the Communists are to make a legitimate play for control of China, we will see a bloody civil war that will determine the future of our country.

Stay safe out there my friends,

孙诚

Dear readers, this is the first blog I will write. Today, I will write why we think the Chinese Communist Party can be the answer to this country’s issues. 

 Recently, our country’s situation has been chaotic because Chang Kaishek started ruling China differently. Our leader Mao said that this person began the economic system, which is like the US. It is critical to imitate other country’s systems, and it can bring new problems that cannot fit our society. I am unsure, but we have already had many issues to change. Now, when society cannot be said to be stable, it is the chance to change the basis of our country and tradition. I will pick up one of the most critical issues in our country. As a woman, I think gender issues should be considered more seriously in this society. The most severe example is footbinding. Before, I didn’t care so much about this custom because it lasted since the Manchus introduced to our country. But please rethink about this custom. Isn’t it cruel to bind children’s feet and avoid their growth? As our leader Mao said, this society continues a very “traditional” way of living. I do not have experience with footbinding. But I’ve heard that a girl’s feet are folded over, and her fingers are wrapped around tightly. I have never actually seen this with my eyes, but I have heard that many girls have to have their fingers cut off or become ill. Why only girls should follow this custom? I know that this custom is now decreasing, but there was the reality only women had to be hurt for following Confucian ideals.

 Even I, who can now study at university, feel a gender gap in many situations. In the past, we followed the rule of Confucianism, and our family system is a so-called patriarchal society. I respect my father, but sometimes, others look down on women. It is a hierarchical system in our community, but sometimes, it is from gender differences, not talent or ability. This kind of system and ideas are all old. This can regulate the possibility and future of our generation and women. We should change in some way to build a new and progressive world. However, I realized that I began to have this idea because of Mao. I didn’t have expressed this idea because it was new for me and China. I was surprised that Mao reminded me that there have been no leaders in the past who focused on this issue. This issue is more significant in the countryside or other social class people. Now, it is usual that many women are forced to marry men decided by their parents. I believe this is because people respect relationships between family, not the individual will. I want to say that our leader can give us revolutionary ideas that can improve our society and solve many future issues. Compared to Chang, Mao should be the leader of our country, and the communist party can improve our community.

 Lastly, I would like to share the book which I recently read. Do you know “A Madman Story”? When I read that for the first time, I was surprised at how chaotic it is. The main character is one man who gets paranoid and thinks everyone around him is trying to eat him. One day; he realizes that they are trying to eat him because of the old tradition of eating humans. I think this idea can be related to today’s situation. Our traditional customs, which allow the gender gap I mentioned above, are “old.” It is time to change this, as the author implied in this book.  I liked it, so if you have time, please read it! Thank you for reading my blog, and see you next time.

Dear Readers,

I have been asked to investigate why many Chinese people have come to believe that the Chinese Communist Party may offer solutions to the myriad problems that China is currently facing. I have found through my work that the multifaceted ideologies of the CCP appeal to many of the downtrodden members of Chinese society, whether they are oppressed socially, economically, politically, or all of the above. They believe that the CCP has the potential to liberate them as individuals, and grow the Chinese economy, all at once. I was able to get out and talk to a few new CCP supporters, including a young woman, a factory worker, a friend from my college, and my brother-in-law’s parents, who are agrarian peasants like most of our country’s people, to gain an understanding of their varied motivations.

First of all, while there are certainly many women, especially older women, who consider themselves content with the status quo, there are also a lot of younger women and especially intellectual women who are entranced by the changes that CCP ideology promises to them. I spoke with a young, single woman named Xie Pie-lan who explained that she was interested in joining the Communist Revolution because she did not want to submit to an arranged marriage to a much older man that she didn’t know: “People told me if I joined the revolution, I would have my freedom. That I could choose who I wanted to marry. Well, if I didn’t join, I’d have to marry this man who was over 30. So I thought if revolution could save me from this, I would join” [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 28:45]. One of Mao Zedong’s earliest published writings is about the tragic death of a young woman from his hometown, named Miss Chao, who committed suicide rather than submitting to an arranged marriage, and he blames the “iron net” cast around Miss Chao and other young women like her by traditional Confucian society for her death [Johnson, 29]. The Party advocates that women and men should get to choose who they get married to, and that women should no longer be subjected to long held traditional practices that limit them, like foot binding. Of course, this is appealing to individual young women vying for their freedoms, but my college friend also told me that it would be good for China as a whole. He read me a quote from Mao’s Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan that said, “With the increasing bankruptcy of the rural economy in recent years, the basis for men’s domination over women has already been undermined [44-46].” What this means is that with China’s economy so poor, and so in need of growth, many people feel it is necessary that half of China’s population no longer be subjugated, because their work is needed to support the new China.

In addition to my conversation with Xie Pie-lan, I also managed to talk with a factory worker named Qui Hui-ying. While factory workers may make up only a small portion of China’s vast population, some Chinese people believe that they will play an integral role in shaping a new China. Qui Hui-ying told me, “I came to Shanghai when I was 12. We were so miserable; we had to work 17 hours a day. Later, a progressive worker in the factory told us that people were not born to be poor. One was poor because of the exploitation by others. There is exploitation by the capitalist on one hand and exploitation by the labor contractor on the other. You do the work and he takes the money” [China: A Century of Revolution, China in Revolution, 24:39]. I found out that this man worked in a factory that produces goods for people in other countries, especially England. He and many others feel as though China is not destined to be poor, but it is exploitation by other nations like England, the United States, and Japan which has rendered it poor. As Marx and Engels write in the Communist Manifesto, “the need of a constantly expanding market for its products chases the bourgeoisie over the whole surface of the globe. It must nestle everywhere, settle everywhere, establish connections everywhere” [476]. The CCP offers downtrodden people a concrete explanation as to why they have been plagued by economic troubles – foreign aggressors – instead of simply blaming economic conditions on “fate” as Confucian thought would do. The CCP plans to work towards shaking off foreign capitalist influence, which many citizens believe will restore dignity and vitality to the wonderful people of China.

As I have mentioned before, my brother-in-law’s parents are impoverished peasant farmers. European Marxism centers the power of the factory workers, who make up the primary labor source of many European countries, to spark revolution. As Mao argues in his Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan, however, peasant farmers are the key to revolution in China, because they are the nation’s primary laborers and producers [42]. I talked to my brother-in-laws parents to learn more about their lives and experiences. They told me that they had no choice but to pawn their property in order to afford a bride tax and other wedding expenses for the marriage of their oldest son [Deitrich, 13-14]. As their financial difficulties continued, they decided that they needed to have my brother-in-law, the youngest son in his family, enter into a matrilocal marriage, despite the shame they felt it brought upon themselves and their son. They say that they have “scratched out a living” ever since, through “day labor” and “handicrafts” [Deitrich, 14]. My brother-in-law’s parents would like to see a change in their material conditions, and the Chinese Communist Party promises that to them.

By emphasizing the economic growth of the nation of China, many Chinese people feel as though the Chinese Communist Party will be able to offer them freedom from all sorts of exploitation. The ropes of patriarchy, imperialism, and patriarchy have bound the people of China too tightly for far too long – and the CCP pledges to cut all of these ties free.

 

Thank you for reading!

Hi my name is Noah, or (No Pah King). 没有巴金 I go to Hunan University, in Changsha, China. It is one of the oldest universities in the world. I love to study history, and am fascinated to see the implications of the past unfold in the present. I am worried about our situation here in China, and my other friends from here will join me in journaling our struggles, and the greater people’s struggles in China. Please read, Thank you very much, and come again. – (No Pah King)

My name is Ai Weiwei. I was born on November 12, 1908, with my sister Fen Weiwei in northwest China Shaanxi Providence. My family wasn’t wealthy, but my father ran the town general store and was well-liked by the community; we lived comfortably in a large house where my grandparents lived with us. My mother seldom left the house as she cared for my sister, grandparents, and myself while preparing all the food and doing all the housework. My father always wanted change, and after we lost to the West economically and then lost to Japan militarily, he turned to me to start reform in my generation, so I was sent to college.

I am now studying public affairs in Beijing. I hope to bring about reform in my country to bring China back to being the center of Asia and push the foreigners out. I also hope we modernize our military to prevent any further losses to Chinese pride and as a deterrent for our small neighbor who is militarizing right next to us..  I took this reporting job as a way to build connections and increase the amount of information available to others who agree with me.

My name is Huang Zhen mu, I was born as the second son of a man who made his living as the middle man between local cartels and the foreign shipping companies in Beijing in the year 1893. Among my earliest memories was the fighting that occurred in the city during the Boxer rebellion. I was given a limited education by my father and was able to read, write, and perform basic arithmetic. However, it was my elder brother that was destined for more formal education. Instead, when I turned 19 I begged my father to allow me to join Sun Yatsen’s Revolutionary Alliance. He allowed me to go and my education, though limited, made me eligible to be an officer, though weak eyes and lingering illness barred me from any combat roles. I would serve as an administrative officer for several years, even being sent to Europe with the Chinese Expeditionary Force during the Great War. It was there that a civilian colleague who was acting as my regiment’s interpreter piqued my interest in pursuing further education. He had been studying in France for some time before the war and shared with me some of his studies on western political thought and literature. I left the army at the end of March in the year 1919, intent to learn all that I could. My first arrival home that May was my first true encounter with the “Revolutionary Spirit”. There I saw those men and women, many of whom were my junior by several years, who were to be my peers and I was inspired to join them. While I did then and still do lack the constitution to carry out much of the harder labor of the task of revolution I have dedicated myself to recording all that I and hear so it may not be forgotten. To that end I began attending classes at Peking University, while working along side my father in his trading company.

大家好。我的名字是张艺诚。我五月二十四号，一九一零年出生在贵州省一个城市叫遵义。我的家庭都是农民，每天都在田里干活。我的爷爷和奶奶在我出生之前去世了。我爸爸和妈妈每天干农活来养我和我两个姐姐和弟弟。我的家很穷，所以长大的时候，我必须一边帮父母干活一边去上学。我非常爱学习和读书。每天不管多累，我都会找时间把作业写完。

我现在在广州上大学，学的专业是经济学。我有机会来广州上大学因为我成绩很好，但主要是因为我父母得到了足够的钱付学费当他们把我两个姐姐嫁给其他有钱的家住。我不在大学的时候，我会回家看我父母和弟弟。每次回家的时候，我会带一些书回去给我弟弟，希望他也可以跟我在广州上大学。我很少见到我两个姐姐因为他们都到北京了，但是尽量保次练习。

我要这一份工作因为我知道将来中国会有很大的改变，我希望帮祖国做贡献，记录我们伟大的历史。我也希望能提供跟多消息给农民们，让他们得到跟多消息。谢谢。

张艺诚

Hello everybody. My name is Zhang Yi Cheng. I was born on May 24, 1910 in a rural city called Zunyi in the province of Guizhou. I come from a family of farmers. My grandparents passed away before I was born. My parents are farmers and they work the land everyday to be able to provide for my two older sisters, my younger brother and I. Growing up, we were very poor, so I would have to help my parents work the land and also complete my studies. However, this was not an issue for me as I loved to read and learn new knowledge. No matter how tired I was after helping my parents, I would always finish my homework and find time to read.

Currently, I study at the university in Guangzhou, majoring in Economics. I have the opportunity to attend the university in Guangzhou  because I was the top of my class in Zunyi but the main reason I am able to attend is because my family had enough money to pay for my tuition after they sold my older sisters into marriages. When I am not at the university, I go back home frequently to visit my parents and younger brother. Every time I go back, I bring some books for my younger brother to read and learn new knowledge. I hope he joins me at the university in Guangzhou to study. I do not see my two older sisters very much because they have moved to Beijing with their husbands, but we try our best to stay in touch.

I took this job because I know that there are many great changes and reforms coming soon and I wish to contribute and play my part in our great nations history. I also took this job in order to better spread information to towns like my own to better inform the farmers of current events happening in our country. Thank you.

Zhang Yi Cheng

Hello, I am Kuan Han. I’m now 20 years old and am studying politics at university. Even though I am female, I am glad to have an education in this big city. My family lives in Beijing, and my father works as a cadre in the Communist Party. I have a two year older brother, who is also studying at university. Compared to other families, I think our family is relatively wealthier. My grandparents have already passed away, but I have heard that my grandfather was working as a politician. Our family is called one of the 紅五類, and I am proud to be.

I heard some people working as farmers are having a life wearing the same clothes and eating the same food for a long time. I haven’t been to those places before, but the lifestyles there differ entirely from mine. Compared to those people, I think I am lucky to have the opportunity to study at a university here.

This country has social disparities, and I am worried about if this situation can worsen.  I don’t know so much about other countries, but I am currently studying the policies that our leader is processing. By looking at his policies, I understood that our country is facing difficulties because we currently introduced a system that is not equal. I hope, in the future, we can change our world by shifting from old traditions and improving that social system. I wrote this blog to report what we must do to the public to improve our society.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!

Hello! 

 

My name is Liu Rui Bao, and I am currently studying at the National Central University School of Humanities focusing on History. I first enrolled here in 1927, after the closure of Shanghai University, making my way here with a few friends also caught up in the whirlwind. My wife of only 2 years, Li Bozhao, died of consumption on the trek. Although I have not yet totally overcome this loss, an indescribable and incomparable torture, I have slowly reckoned with my own purpose in this world. I am a man who has only been on this earth for 23 years, still being educated, still learning about the wider world. This world, and nation, within which I have been placed is one of positivity and growth, yes, but also suffering and poverty, inequities that could largely be erased through cooperation and understanding. That is what I have come “here” to do, why I am writing right now. I intend to raise awareness of the grief many of us, including myself, have ignored for far too long.

Now, as I expect you are asking yourself right now, whatever do I mean by “including myself”? Well, from an early age, I was treated to a blissful existence. Although I do not originate from royalty or nobility, nothing of that grandeur, my family did find some repute within our local populace. I was born in Wuxi, a small town within Jiangsu province that sits on Lake Taihu in the year 1907. My background largely consists of traders and merchants, taking advantage of increasing trade in the urban center of Shanghai. Silks, porcelain, cotton, and various other textiles would pass through my family’s hands: profit through the labor of others. Although perspective allows me to grasp the parasitic behavior of my ancestors I still understand where it has brought me. An education, and the ability to pursue a life of self-subsistence in a tumultuous world, I stand as a consequence of my origins.

In regard to my goals in this world, I believe we can trace that back to my earlier years in university. I approached my schooling with a generic tone. My father had sent me off to study business in the hopes of his son earning a degree and bringing expertise back home which he frankly didn’t have. A world of opportunity, and in his eyes profit, was being revealed to China in the 1920s, he wished not to be left out. When I reached university I was overwhelmed with conversation and introspection. People of all creeds and backgrounds, Marxist and nationalist, poor and wealthy, all studying at the same place, Shanghai University. I fell in with a crowd that I would by-in-large describe as intellectuals, those who viewed our current circumstance as begging for change. It is in this group where I would find my late wife, who I grew attached to almost immediately. The events of 1927 only served to solidify my resolve in where my future lies. Many comrades and friends were taken in the chaos, although they will always be remembered. I view the study of History as a means of protecting our future, as a means of observing the class inequality that has plagued not just China but humanity’s history. This light, that of class conflict, has only been touched upon relatively recently, and I intend to further that pursuit to the best of my abilities, both in past and contemporary events.