TeaWhen China suffered losses at the hands of foreign powers, the story of revenge on the ‘Century of Humiliation’ will be blown up at the 20th Communist Party Congress. This aspect of communist thinking needs to be understood in its proper perspective. Another ‘century of humiliation’ is being imposed on the Chinese people, completely buried under the communist narrative.
The century of humiliation (1839–1949) is a multi-faceted period when the imperial government lost control of large parts of Chinese territory to foreigners. The Opium Wars represent one aspect. In the First Opium War (1839–1842), British gunmen marched on the Yangtze River and forced the Chinese rulers to open their ports and markets to the opium trade. During the Second Opium War (1856–1860), China fought against Britain and France. Superior European military technology dominated the weak Chinese army. As a result, China was forced to sign unequal treaties to grant favorable tariffs, trade concessions, reparations and territory to the Europeans. This also included parting with Hong Kong.
During the same century, China and Japan fought two wars. The Japanese army defeated the weakened Imperial forces in both battles and gained control of Taiwan and parts of Manchuria. Japan ravaged and plundered China along the Yangtze Basin. As a result, almost 15 million deaths and large-scale destruction of industrial infrastructure and agricultural production. China still remembers with horror the brutal rape of Nanjing in 1937. Other aspects include large-scale rebellions in the early 1900s, when millions were killed. These rebellions were in protest against the Chinese government and its submission to foreign demands. This led to the collapse of the imperial system in 1911. In this period Tibet, Mongolia and Xinjiang declared independence to reduce China’s territory. The devastating Chinese civil war between Communists and Nationalists is also part of the ‘century of humiliation’.
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Mao People’s Republic of China
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) narrative depicts the loss of Chinese territory, the loss of control over its internal and external environment, and the loss of international prestige and respect during the ‘Century of Humiliation’. This ended when Mao Zedong and the CCP established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The ‘Century of Humiliation’ then taught the Chinese how stronger powers behave towards weaker powers. It also taught him that if China weakens, it will be doomed again. Based on this experience, the CCP wants China to be strong enough in the international arena to dominate all competing foreign powers. There is also a narrative that the current international system is hostile to China. So it should use its growing influence to change the existing system. The revenge of the ‘Century of Humiliation’ will be complete when a China-centred system is established and Taiwan is ‘reunited’ with the PRC.
The Chinese narrative is compelling when viewed in isolation. But it should be viewed against a wider canvas. In the colonial period, events in China were no different from those in wider areas of Asia, Africa, and the Americas. However, what happened in the post-colonial period since the CCP came into existence in 1921 is unique to China.
The CCP is dominated by three leaders – Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping. All of this has contributed to humiliating the Chinese people in order to keep the CCP in power and gain personal glory. They have done unprecedented repression and humiliation of the Chinese people in the name of progress. His individual and collective track record is pathetic.
great leap to great famine
Mao’s five-year plan, the Great Leap Forward (1958–1962), aimed to achieve economic greatness in no time while other countries took decades to accomplish it. Mao established large-scale rural communes to solve China’s industrial and agricultural problems. They failed miserably. The Great Leap Forward created the Great Famine—the largest man-made famine in history. Even today mention of famine is prohibited in China. This is called the period of natural disasters. When people starved, Mao did not even acknowledge the famine or initiate remedial action for almost three years. He also refused to seek international aid. The worst acts of Mao’s ‘commission’ were ending private food production, establishing mismanaged communes, and exporting food during famines when people were starving. there are reports that people were driven to cannibalism. The ruling elite and the people living in the cities were ‘selectively’ provided with food. The death toll was about 45 million – equal to the current population of Argentina, Algeria or Sudan. After that, Mao kept China in international isolation until 1972. Despite the failure of the ‘Great Leap’, China went to war with India, Russia and Vietnam in the later period.
The decade-long Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) was initiated by Mao to renew the spirit of the Chinese Revolution. Mao wanted to destroy the “four children” – old ideas, old customs, old habits and old culture. Their goals included replacing designated successors with their loyalists, reforming the Chinese Communist Party, providing revolutionary experiences to China’s youth, and making the educational, health care, and cultural systems less elitist. Schools and universities were closed during this period. Churches, religious places, libraries, shops and private homes were vandalized or destroyed. His ‘Red Guards’ attacked traditional and bourgeois values. Many party officials, elders, teachers and intellectuals were publicly humiliated, abused or simply purged. The Cultural Revolution crippled the economy and ruined the lives of millions. This resulted in a decade of turmoil, bloodshed, hunger and stagnation. If the Chinese were ever humiliated, it was during this period.
Deng Xiaoping is credited with initiating reforms and opening up the economy. He and his designated successors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao are known to have made China prosperous and strong. However, it was under Deng that China’s one child policy was instituted in 1980 and was implemented ruthlessly. Forced contraception, sterilization and abortion and harsher fines for non-compliance were the norm. also led female foeticide, skewed sex ratios and a generation of missing women. By the turn of the century, it was clear that the policy was a disaster. Yet this was deliberately continued until 2016 to send China into the largest demographic decline in human history. In doing so, he also laid the seeds of China’s irreparable downfall. The harsh one child policy is a singular act of disrespect to the people forever. The Chinese people have the ability to overcome Mao’s excesses. They will never recover from Deng’s one child policy. It marks the downfall of the Chinese nation.
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Rehash of ‘China Dream’
Xi Jinping is a dyed communist who wants to better Mao and become China’s greatest leader. He has sold an unattainable ‘China Dream’ to the people of the country. It is the equivalent of Mao’s Cultural Revolution. His premature declaration of victory over Kovid and his politically motivated zero-covid policy Ruined a thriving economy. He has managed to isolate China from the international community. with him captive The people of Xinjiang have been placed in concentration camps and have purified nearly a million people in their anti-corruption campaign. He intends to establish a China-centred world order through the largest army on earth. They have abandoned economic liberalization, unbalanced material culture and widespread inequality in favor of “state control”, “shared prosperity”, a new model of “win-win cooperation”, “dual circulation” and “revenge on the century of humiliation”. Under the guise of making China a strong, democratic, civilized, harmonious and modern socialist country by 2049, Xi Jinping is scripting his version of the Great Leap Forward. Like Mao, he is also externalizing through military assertion, particularly against Taiwan and India.
Undoubtedly, the period 1839-1949 is the ‘century of humiliation’ of the Chinese people. However, the real humiliation started from 1921 when the CCP came to power and it continues to this day. The CCP wants to take revenge, but who will take revenge from the CCP’s “century of humiliation” of the Chinese people? If ever China needed a Gandhi, a Mandela or a Martin Luther King, it is now.
Lt Gen PR Shankar (Retd) is a former DG Artillery and is currently a Professor in the Department of Aerospace, IIT Madras. Thoughts are personal.
(Edited by Ratan Priya)