Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
freedom and democracy, the new idea of individuality and self-expression, were
suppressed and punished. It was the time of the decline of the world of thought in
China. There were no more people like Li Shi-Zhen or Sung Ying-Sing or Hsü
Xia-Ke in the fi eld of scientifi c research for over a century. Nevertheless, in the
world of literature, there appeared the topic by Cao Xue-Chin called
The Dreams of
the Red Chamber
, which refl ected and echoed the voice of the time. The writer Cao
200 years ago used his topic as a weapon to attack and expose the corruption of
the declining feudalism. From this standpoint we may consider Cao's topic as a
masterpiece of his time.
In China, the age after feudalism is semi-colonial, semi-feudal. Unlike the West,
it was not followed by the age of capitalism. We call it “semi-colonialism” because
it was the developed capitalist nations that sent troops to China to break down her
“closed door policy” and thus put her under the control of the foreign powers.
We call it “semi-feudalism” because China still had feudalistic emperors; the only
difference was that this feudalistic big heads could no more give orders and be
obeyed by the people like former times. Instead, they must rely on the foreign powers
to suppress the rebellious people.
In 1911, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen led a revolution successfully against the Manchus and
thus ended the imperial dynasties of feudalism which lasted for more than 2,000
years. However, it did not end or smash completely the feudalistic forces and
their traditional infl uences. It was in 1919 that the famous “May 4th Movement”
broke out; its slogan was: “Anti-imperialism and Anti-feudalism.” To us Chinese
historians, it means the beginning of the Revolution of Neo-democracy. It was led
by the Chinese Communist Party until its fi nal victory in 1949, the liberation of the
Chinese People.
In short, from the Opium War in 1840 when the foreign military forces invaded
China to the establishment of the People's Republic of China, for a lengthened time
of more than 100 years, the people of China had lived under the yokes of both
imperialism and feudalism. They were in most miserable condition, unable to earn
their barest living. In such condition, scientist research and technical development
were out of the question. The result was the backwardness of China in science and
technology.
The birth of New China means the beginning of the age of her socialist recon-
struction, which lasts until now for already 30 years. There have been tremendous
changes since then through the efforts of her people in the spirit of self-reliance.
Nevertheless, because of the backwardness of our science and technology and the
weakness of our social foundation, China is still a poor and developing country,
especially after the so-called Cultural Revolution during which we experienced the
worst possible damage and interruption, not only in production, but also in practi-
cally every fi eld. And it is through the 10 years of political turmoil that we begin to
realize how the left-over poisonous effects of feudalism and their social infl uences
interfere with our socialist construction, for instance, “The Homologized Court”
(that is, everything must be decided by the only one top offi cer as fi nal); “Tenure
System” (that is, once you become the head of a government offi ce, you will always
and for the rest time of your life stay as the head of that offi ce); “Personality Cult”;
