On Friday in class
we watched the video segment “After Mao” and learnt that a trial was held and that
Deng Xiao Ping came into power. After Mao’s death at the age 82, there was
power struggle over who should be the successor of Mao. Even though Hua Guofeng was Mao's designated successor the
Gang of Four (or the four Chinese Communist Party officials) took this as an opportunity to each take control. Due to the aggression of the
Gang of Four, Hua and Ye came up with a
secret plan to arrest them. After their scheme became a success, the
Four was arrested. During this time, while the Gang of Four’s power was
declining, Deng Xiao Ping became more influential and came into power. A famous
line that Deng said was “it didn't matter if the cat is black or white, as long
as it catches the mice, it is a good cat.” He wanted to imply that whether it
was communism or capitalism, as long as it works, it’s good. Also, during this time the Party ended the
Cultural Revolution and the Four Modernization began. After a few years, the
trial officially began on November 20, 1980. Deng proposed that the trial
should be an open trial and be televised nationwide . This was symbolic of getting rid of communism and it was
Deng’s way of educating the public of the wrongness of the Cultural Revolution
and to show that a new age has arrived. During the trial, they were accused of
their crimes during the Cultural Revolution and while some admitted to it, some
declined. Jiang Qing in particular said "I
was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whomever he asked me to bite." Jiang Qing and another were
sentenced for life but Jiang eventually committed suicide. Some others were
sentenced.
What do you think of the trial and Deng's rise in power?
What do you think of the trial and Deng's rise in power?
The trial showed the people that communism wasn't always right and it helped Deng bring capitalism in. By showing what communism did wrong with the revolution it gave the option of trying capitalism to improve economically. I think that people were happy to see Deng rise in power because he understood that the Cultural Revolution went badly and people wanted to see a change and an improvement with China. The people wanted someone to steer China in the right direction and Deng had done that for them.
ReplyDeleteAs Deng rose in power he began moving away from Maoist ideals, which only meant more capitalism. Deng XiaoPing thought that if he filled up some gaps in his communist country with capitalistic ideas then they would succeed. Deng, unlike Mao gave people a bigger portion of freedom than they ever had before. Peasants were given a larger incentive for their work, therefore farm work/agriculture was improved in China. Many citizens had gained more freedom from Deng XiaoPing than Mao, so he somehow improved (if not all) the chaos caused by the Maoist years.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that none of the 4 thought of the Nuremberg Trials, and fled before they were tried.
ReplyDeleteGood point, maybe they didn't have assess to that info, correct me if I'm wrong but if you look at China at that time the media was quite censored preventing even some high officials from getting information on outside countries.
DeleteI feel that the trial was just, it showed that what had happened before was wrong, that history should not be repeated, along with that it indirectly brought on Mao's greatest fear: that he, like Stalin, would be criticized for what he did whether it was bad or good.
ReplyDeleteI think that Deng had good and bad ideas. However the difference between Deng and Mao was that Deng actually wanted to better his country and not just create a god like image for himself. The people liked Deng because he helped their country get the change that they needed.
ReplyDeleteDeng created more liberation for the people in China. I agree with Kirill because it was the consequences for what they did to the people before. Deng created hope for China as they were able to develop much more than they did under Mao. Deng helped China improve.
ReplyDeleteDeng wasn't striving to be the next Stalin, like Mao was. He looked for the best in his country and wanted to help fix everything that Mao created. I agree with Kayla; he did have good and bad ideas but all in all he provided the people with a better ruler and made improvements that Mao couldn't.
ReplyDelete