The founding of China

What really happened 60 years ago and why are we partying?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHINA. Tomorrow is October 1. There will be the biggest firework show the world has ever seen in Beijing (see below), flags are lining the streets in Hong Kong and Macau, and there will be parties in every country in the world with a Chinese embassy.

China is celebrating being 60. Or is it? What is actually being celebrated?

I thought I knew until a reporter from an Indian news organization phoned me to ask.

The conversation roughly went like this:

Q: So, what exactly is being celebrated on October 1?

A: It’s national day. China is 60 years old!

Q: Only 60? That’s so young. Our country is much older than that—thousands of years older.

A: No, China is thousands of years old. It’s older than your country. It’s older than any other country, older than the moon, even, probably!

Q: You just said it was 60.

A: Er, yes, but I’m not really talking about the country. This is the actually the anniversary of the communist takeover of China.

Q: I see. So, how long have you been a communist?

A: Me? I’m not a communist! None of us are. These days, everyone in Asia is a capitalist. We’re the opposite of communists.

Q: But you just said you were celebrating the communist takeover.

A: Yes, we are. But, er, um, it’s not communism itself we are celebrating. We are celebrating the fact that the people who have run China have done a great job over the past six decades.

Q: So you think it’s good that China’s development is almost 40 years behind that of its neighbors, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan? Why do you prefer a slow pace of economic development?

A: I don’t prefer a slow pace of development. It’s hard to explain.

Q: The history of China is very confusing, isn’t it?

A: Yes, and that will be my answer to every question from now on.

*
To fill gaps in my knowledge, I visited a keen amateur historian.

“From 1949 to the present day, China gradually moved from being a communist state with no freedoms, to being a more modern society, where private property ownership is allowed, and free speech and full democracy are expected to evolve, right?” he asked.

Right, I said.

“Wrong,” he laughed.

He said that in its early years, Communist China was run under a constitution called the Common Program. This featured a higher degree of democracy than China ever had, before or since. People from political parties other than the communist party were included in government. Private property was guaranteed. Freedom of the press was enshrined in law.

“China suffered not because of the communists, but because people like Mao [Zedong] failed to follow the foundations laid by its other communist founders,” he said.

This was news to me.

And what about October 1, 1949? We celebrating the end of the war between the communists and the republic, aren’t we?

He shook his head.

“No. The war ended in June. But communism is all about meetings. They organized vast committee meetings in September to create the Common Program, promising a fair, democratic society with freedom of speech. October 1, 1949, was the day the meeting ended and they could all go home.” Definitely a day to celebrate.

What’s scary about all this is that China in the immediate future will definitely be a major influence on how the world works, in the same way that the UK and the US have been pace-setters for the past couple of hundred years (and the Romans were two thousand years ago, the Greeks were 2400 years ago, etc).

Yet few people understand China or know anything about its history and politics. Even people who live in China.

This image, from the Economist, inspired by the New Yorker, is a good place to start. It’s called How China Sees the World.

(illustrations mostly from Vogue, dancers from EPA, cartoon from the Economist)

Technorati Tags: China,60th anniversary,communism

Comments

[Julie]

Whatever one thinks of the why, I bet the celebrations are going to be great tv. Personally, I am looking forward to synchronised tank driving and massive fireworks.

[Canuck]

As a canadian, I was deeply shocked at the depiction of canada in the above cartoon.
sigh... but its probably true....

[Christy]

"October 1, 1949, was the day the meeting ended and they could all go home.”

Nury, you should write history textbooks...

[fardel]

It is too late, My Dear,.....Way too late!
China had a major influence on the World, from a long time ago, hundreds of years ago,, indirectly but efficiently

- Gun powder, invented in China for entertainment, was used by Europe for warmonging and world domination.
- Ink, invented in China was used to develop communication in the West through books and printery
- Pastas changed tItalian cuisine in the XVII century

-National Lottery was developed(invented,)to squeeze money out of the Vietnamese who did not want to pay their taxes to China;
National lotteries has become ,worldwide,the tax on Stupidness, keeping the poor people poor.

- Silk was imported to Europe where it helped develop the fashion industry

- International trade was developed in , from and to China with the silk route ,long time before globalization

- Globalization , the way we know it now, would not exist without China

- The moon race would not have started again ,if the Chinese did not send a taikonaut in space,on the fourth of fifth rocket they sent in space

Hey !the world
Sorry !
Whether you like it or not,you have to wake up, shake up , learn Chinese , or be left out of the Future!

[Mrs R]

Very useful article, thank you

[ts]

fardel,
You forgot Chinese Finger Traps, I'm typing this with my nose and tongue.
I wonder if saliva is conductive enough toZZZZTPT....
Yes it is!

[Leo]

gez, I didn't know that they are celebrating the end of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Press.

Anyway, I still think we need ICAC in China (better to be ran by Hong Kong ICAC, at least they are trustworthy).

[sej]

According to Hong Kong people, doesn't ICAC = I Can Accept Cash?

[sej]

Actually, come to think of it, here in New South Wales (Australia), ICAC just seems to be a body which sets up and governs the rules around how to be corrupt.

[Les]

»....a a major influence on how the world works, in the same way that the UK and the US have been pace-setters for the past couple of hundred years (and the Romans were two thousand years ago, the Greeks were 2400 years ago, etc). major influence on how the world works, in the same way that the UK and the US have been pace-setters for the past couple of hundred years (and the Romans were two thousand years ago, the Greeks were 2400 years ago, etc).«

you skipped on the muslims civilizations just btwn the US and ROME Which also contributed signicantly to the modern world (if not more). Not surprising seeing your biased on them.

[Harry]

I take Nury's, "No, China is thousands of years old. It’s older than your country. It’s older than any other country, older than the moon, even, probably!" as sardonic. China, as a core territory and as a culture and ethnic group is old but, as a country, it's not that old. It has been an ever-shifting, ever-expanding area of various power-hungry rulers, gradually moving out into surrounding areas and trying to consolidate their power. For long periods it was not centrally, or effectively, ruled from one capital by one government.
As far as I know the oldest country in the world, ie continuously occupying more-or-less the same area and populated by more-or-less the same ethnic group and ruled by a central government, is Egypt. And the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world is Damascus, Syria. China is old but it is not, as is continually implied or claimed, older than God, the Universe and everything.
Give the Middle East credit for something.

[Nury]

Harry, thanks for the interesting information: I hadn't thought about Egypt, but you're right -- it does seem to be the same people in the same place for a looooong time. You're full of gems of wisdom.

Thanks for the comments, guys. Les, of course, you're right, there was a wonderful period of Arabic brilliance when the West was having its dark ages.

Someone here just commented that the Egyptians invented beer!

Maybe that's why they walked in such a funny way.

[Harry]

Nury
I worked on a job in the Middle East with an Egyptian. He had spent some time on a training programme in a small town in Arizona. Naturally, the presence of several Egyptians in such a small place was big news and everyone knew who they were. He was approached one day by some high school pupils who said they were studying Egypt at school and asked if he could read a text illustrated in their book.
He had to tell them that Egyptians had given up on that some time ago. It was in hieroglyphics.

[AnthonyTony]

I've spent the last couple of weeks here in Hong Kong trying to figure out why we should be celebrating.
Are we proud that the government are managing to rebuild the country, its economy and culture after they did their upmost to destroy it 40 or 50 years ago?
Are we all closet communists, who are happy to see that the regime has survived more than half a century?
After much soul searching I found out why I myself will be celebrating...
The fireworks over Victoria Harbour are going to look really cool!

[Suzi]

It all goes to show how complicated life is.
Here we are, a largely capitalist planet, celebrating a group of communists who have spent their careers (a) decrying capitalism and (b) ignoring their own communist principles.
But I'm with AnthonyTony, let's forget the politics and enjoy the party.

[Devan]

Hmm - in 60 years they still haven't found a way of feeding their people...judging by the waif thin models used in their propaganda.. :)

[Chamin]

There was news to me here, I did not know anything about the Common Program. Not surprising that neither the Western or the Chinese media would mention that :o).

Regarding the slow economic growth, I have started feeling skeptic about all these economists who grumble about "lost years" of Japan, China etc. The countries who did what they recommended have created "lost jobs" everywhere in the world.