Rebirth and Revolution: Nation- Building in East Asia and the Pacific Rim 1945-2000.

Rebirth and Revolution: Nation-

Building in East Asia and the Pacific

Rim1945-2000

Post-War Asia: Occupied Territory

• USA: Japan, Philippines, South Korea

• USSR: North Korea

• Guomindang: Taiwan

• France: Southeast Asia (Indo-China)

• Britain: Indian subcontinent

Japanese Recovery

• US occupation until 1952.

• Major Reforms– War crimes trials– Diet reestablished as supreme body– Emperor made figurehead– Women granted suffrage– Military disbanded: Article 9– Unions allowed

The Japanese “Economic Miracle”

• Government planning along with capitalism.

• Emphasis on hard work, loyalty, and group responsibility for quality.

• Confucian values.

• Export of technology for resources.

Continuities in Japanese society

• Group over individual.

• Shame and honor.

• Women’s status not equal to men.

• Respect for government authority.

Asian Tigers of the Pacific Rim

• South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan (ROC).

• Followed similar economic models as Japan.

Cold War in Asia

Korea• North Korea: Led by Stalinist

Kim Il-Sung.• South Korea: Parliamentary

capitalist democracy.• North invades South in 1950.• UN action.• 1953 Armistice.• South prosperous and global

trader; North destitute and isolated.

Vietnam• French control Indochina (Vietnam,

Cambodia, Laos) by the 1890s.• French exploitation created strong

resentment and famines.• Western-educated elites fought French

discrimination.• Nationalist elites lead violent revolution.• Comintern funded Communists (Viet

Minh) led by Ho Chi Minh fought French and Japanese (WWII) imperialists.

• After WWII, Communist controlled the North; French the South.

• UN partitioned Vietnam after French defeat.

• US supported non-communist dictatorship in South Vietnam, who worked to crush the Vietcong (Southern Communists).

• US sent troops to stop North from taking the South from 1964-1973.

• In 1975, the North captured the South after the US withdrew.

Vietnam Since 1975.

• Marxist-Leninist policies adopted.

• Opposition suppressed.

• Economic stagnation.

• “Boat People” escape.

• Communism spilled over into Cambodia with the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot.

• Privatization in the late 1980s has helped the economy.

Chinese Communist Revolution

• Mao Zedong and the Communists take power in 1949.– Cooperate with the Soviets until late

1950s.– 5-year plans adopted.– Land redistributed.– Industrial collectives created.– Heavy industry emphasized.– Rejects Lenin’s elitist revolution for a

revolution of the peasants.– 1957 purge after call for openness.

The Great Leap Forward 1958

• Focused on agriculture.

• Created enormous collective farms.

• Peasant resistance led to famine and death of 20 million (hungry ghosts).

• Mao lost post as Chairman.

The Cultural Revolution 1965

• Mao uses China’s youth to secure his power and remove all traces of the traditional order.

• The Cult of Mao and the Little Red Book.

• The Red Guard and attacks on elite.

• Schools and businesses closed.

• Families broken up.

• Red Guard gets out of control.

Women in Communist China

• Legal equality established.

• Arranged marriages less common.

• Worked in industry.

• Received an education.

• China is still male dominated despite gains.

The Struggle for Control after Mao’s Death in 1976

• Gang of Four (led by Jiang Qing) seize power.

• Deng Xiaoping and reformers imprison Gang of Four.

Deng initiates the Four Modernizations.

• Builds up industry, education system, scientific research and defense.

• Allows elements of capitalism: economic boom.

• Allows foreign investment and western influence.

• Institutes One-Child Policy.

• Does not allow political or religious freedom: Tiananmen Square.