Modern China
History of modern China research papers cover many elements of modern Chinese history. Have the writers at Paper Masters discuss China in the 20th and 21st Century in a custom written historical research paper.
While the history of China can be traced back to 1500 BCE, modern Chinese history is said to have its roots in the early 20th century.
- In 1911, a revolution was instigated by the followers of Sun Yat-sen and his groundbreaking beliefs.
- Sun Yat-sen's revolution, known as the Xinhai Revolution, allowed for the creation of the provisional government of the Republic of China
- March 12, 1912 ended more than two millennia of dynastic rule.
The country would undergo some periods of instability over the next few years, including a period of time known as the Warlord Era, when regions were led by different military rulers.
Following the inspiration of the Russian Revolution just two years earlier, the May Fourth Movement began in 1919, challenging the ruling class over the quality of life experienced by countless Chinese, as well as the agreements made by China as part of the Treaty of Versailles at the end of World War I. Throughout the 1920s and into the 1930s, uprisings existed throughout the country, culminating in the Northern Expedition of Chiang Kai-shek to bring the nation under military control. The Chinese Communists, under the rule of Mao Zedong, would ultimately emerge victorious in the Chinese Civil War, ending in 1950.
The Cold War was marked by a period of great political tension with China, given that they and the Soviet Union were the largest Communist superpowers in the world. Proxy wars would be fought throughout Asia between the United States and these Communist nations, with the Soviet Union ultimately collapsing from within in the late 1980s. While China still remains a Communist nation, its political and cultural isolation has lessened in recent decades. Though the country still remains under the iron fist of the government, much progress has been made in advancing the nation forward.
Modern History of China
Prior to 1949, China was a nation of distinct social stratification. For millennia, China had been ruled by Emperors, feudal lords, and an elite class. After the Revolution, however, Communism took over and, until 1979, strict state controls existed over every industry, enterprise, and element of the national economy. Shifting from a socialist to a capitalist economy is quite difficult. The nations that are attempting to make that shift are finding that maintaining control over such changes is increasingly troublesome. The Soviet Republics and Russia, for example, are finding that criminal control over the economy is at times much greater than governmental. However, in the case of China, what we are seeing is a much more controlled shift. The first stage of the 'westernization' of China's economy was to begin privatizing management of several industrial sectors while maintaining central control over the industry itself. Increasingly, private Chinese citizens and companies are being given the chance to take the reigns on particular sectors of the economy and are being allowed to enter into some limited forms of competition with each other and the world producers. Additionally, foreign investments are becoming more common and, though none are allowed to actually own and independently operate business in China, increasingly profitable on both sides of the fence. But, in the wake of these changes, there have been significant impacts upon the local economies and upon the existing social structure within China. The world may be ready for China to emerge as an economic powerhouse, but many of its people aren't.