China And USA Essay

Question 1: Historical Considerations & Representational Patterns

There is no doubt that the main opponents of influence in the world in this century will be Washington and Beijing. There is nothing surprising in the fact that on the shelves of US bookstores from time to time there are books about the coming war between the US and China. With regard to representations of the Chinese about the United States, they were influenced by a complex set of factors that created the one hand the negative stereotypes about the far western country and on the other a deep interest, admiration, as a model for imitation.
Before the Second World War, the Chinese view the US as one of the colonial powers, but even at that time, the awakening intellectuals showed great interest in American ideals and values. After the Communist takeover, and especially during the Korean and Vietnam wars, “Mao Zedong” propaganda considered US imperialism as the main enemy of the Chinese people. The confrontation between Moscow and Beijing, Chinese leaders and prompted the US to reconsider their relationship. President Nixon's visit to Beijing in 1972 led to the normalization of relations between the two countries. Economic reforms Deng Xiaoping contributed warming between China and the United States. Events in Tiananmen Square led to the fact that China was again considered by the Americans through the prism of the totalitarian communist state. However, with the rapid growth of the Chinese economy US administration began to perceive China on the one hand, as a major trading partner, the other - the most dangerous rival in the struggle for influence in Asia in this century. In the US, there is a widespread view that anti-American riots across China committed on orders from above. There is no doubt that this process is controlled, and often directed by the Chinese authorities. But at the same time, one must admit that today's Chinese society formed public opinion is not always acceptable to the Chinese party ideologues. Chinese usually do not think many words as images, characters. Some Chinese political scientists characterize the Sino-US relations two characters: love and hate. More recently, in the 90 years in the first place there is the second character, but today the situation has changed markedly. The recent polls show that the main sources of information about the United States is the media, American movies, the Internet and direct contacts with the Americans. This spring, the Chinese academic institutions and a number of independent commercial entities held in a number of major Chinese cities a comprehensive study on the perception of Chinese character of the current Sino-US relations. The survey results were quite unexpected for both Chinese and American experts. Most of them were convinced that the Chinese are basically anti-American, given that in recent years, this has been quite a few reasons. Still fresh in the memory of the powerful anti-American demonstrations in connection with American aircraft of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade and the landing of US military aircraft in the Chinese territory.
The latest survey shows that the majority of Chinese people share the stated policy. More than 60 percent of Chinese people believe that the main issue affecting the future of Sino-US relations is Taiwan. Almost half of the respondents are afraid of a conflict between China and the United States due to the Taiwan issue. Most Chinese people share sharpen view that the main objective of US policy to prevent China's emergence as a great power. They see the US rival and believe that Washington is doing everything possible to prevent China's emergence as a great power and is trying every way to belittle and insult the Chinese.
The reaction in China to the tragic events of September 11, gives a visual representation of far from straightforward perception of America in Chinese society. The then Chinese President Jiang immediately phoned Bush and said that he would support the war on terror. Indeed, the Chinese authorities have some assistance to the Americans during their operations in Afghanistan. At the same time, foreign journalists who were in those days in the capital and other cities in China reported that the tragedy was much discussion of the streets, tea, student audiences, and many did not hide his satisfaction. In the local press, a large number of "letters" cadres, in which they wrote that it is impossible to idealize America. Some of them expressed sympathy "comrade" Ben Laden. More than half of the last poll of Americans continue to believe "bullies" In their view, what happened in the US in September 2001, is terrible, but it's kind of a lesson America of the need to learn to respect other people. A third of respondents disapprove of the US war in Iraq.
More surprising were the answers to the questions directly related to the perception of Chinese Americans, their way of life and cultural values. The results of the survey show that when it comes to US policy toward China, a large part of the Chinese supports the course of his leadership. At the same time, when we are talking about Americans and their achievements in various fields, many Chinese have expressed their admiration. Okolo70 percent of respondents said that they like the Americans and they are high opinion of American science and technology. Particularly positive assessment received current economic ties between the two countries. More than half of survey participants believe that cooperation in this area between China and the United States has accelerated the pace of growth of the Chinese economy has stimulated economic reforms and the entry of China into the world community.
With regard to the American culture, more than half of respondents agree that it plays an active role in familiarizing the Chinese to Western cultural values. Urban youth interested in American music and movies. USA occupies a unique place in the imagination of the Chinese people, for many of them it is possible Eldorado wealth and career. Young people want to see a stronger China, but believe that the move to the US is the best possibility to arrange their own destiny. Tens of thousands of Chinese students are now studying in US universities. Managers are dreaming to get a job at a branch of the American company. Officials often require foreign companies wishing to do business in China, the issue for their children permanent residence in America. It is noteworthy that, denouncing American imperialism, "Chinese cadres' view the US as the last refuge of a" hard times. "Corrupt Chinese nomenclature of America considers a safe place to hide stolen money at home and paradise, where you can spend the rest of days, without fear of accusations of economic crimes. The latest survey of public opinion in China shows that 30 percent of Bole Chinese believe that the most difficult problem in Sino-US relations - it is a human rights issue. According to more than 50 percent of those surveyed, the United States intends thereby to denigrate China. More surprising is that more than 20 percent of survey respondents have a positive attitude towards democratic institutions USA. Most Chinese people, in one degree or another, agree that Western democracy is contrary to Chinese spiritual values and that the main task for China now is the physical survival of the people, economic reforms, and not freedom of expression. One of the arguments in favor of the validity of this approach was the situation in Russia. Chinese media paint a rather bleak picture of Russian life that convinces people: China needs economic reform, not a "chaos" caused by the "democratization" of its northern neighbor. If we try to summarize the results of the last poll we can come to the following conclusions. Most Chinese support his foreign policy leadership. At the same time the perception of Chinese Americans, cooperation in economy, culture conducive to the development of Sino-US relations. However, one should not underestimate the possibility of an abrupt change in the political climate in China with respect to the United States. What ecstatic character can take in China nationalist demonstrations by young people have already experienced the Americans and, to an even greater extent, more recently the Japanese. And the government is not always able to control and restrain their "emotions". American political elite should take into account the extremely complex nature of the development of China and not to give carte blanche in the hands of the Chinese politicians who dream to turn China into Mao Zedong times or bet on militant nationalism.

Question 2: Tiananmen and the Consequences of Reform and Opening

Since 1978, on the initiative of Deng Xiaoping began to implement economic and political reforms (see. Policy reform and opening up), which led to the gradual introduction of a market economy and a political liberalization, which weakened the system established by the chief theoretician of the Chinese communist Mao Zedong.
Some students and intellectuals believed that economic reforms are slow and that China should also transform its political system. They were also concerned about the social and political controls currently stored for the Communist Party of China. Observing the political liberalization undertaken by the Secretary General of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev, they were hoping for a similar reform.
There are different versions of the events on which students protested against the capitalist orientation of economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping and for the preservation of the socialist achievements of Mao. By democracy they called it then to be able to counteract the government, introducing market reforms, leading to great social upheaval.
Some witnesses, for example, international journalist Vsevolod Ovchinnikov, then part of the preparatory group Gorbachev's visit to China, support the view that the main purposes of youth demonstrations were not then human rights and democratic freedoms, as claimed by the Western media. Demonstrators denounced primarily negative side effects of the reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping in 1979. They opposed the illegal transactions of private entrepreneurs with the party-state apparatus. It is the eradication of corruption was aimed main slogan of the demonstrators, "Down with corrupt bureaucrats!".
Protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 were largely provoked by the death of the former General Secretary Hu Yaobang. January 16, 1987 it was announced the resignation of Hu Yaobang from his post as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China. His outspoken calls for a "rapid reform" and it’s almost undisguised contempt for the "Maoist excesses" made him a convenient scapegoat in the eyes of Deng Xiaoping and other pro-democracy protests after students in 1986-1987. In his resignation letter was included "insulting self-criticism", which he was forced to release on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
The sudden death of Yaobang due to a heart attack April 15, 1989 gave the students a great opportunity to get together again, not only to mourn the late Secretary-General, but also to have been heard their demands to annul the sentence against him and bringing attention to the important issues of pro-democracy protests in 1986-1987. and protests against the wall of democracy in 1978-1979. View shared by many speakers leading figures of China, including CPC General Secretary Zhao Ziyang.
Keynote speeches were held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing from April 27 to June 4. Protesters camped in the square, traditionally used as a place of mass protests against the government, and remained there for over a month. Behind the scenes material support provided protesting supporters of Zhao Ziyang in the party structures. The composition of the protesters was extremely heterogeneous, and the demands of their eclectic and contradictory: from intellectuals believe that the government mired in corruption and rule the country by totalitarian methods, requiring the determined pursuit of reforms to urban workers, who believed that reforms in China have gone too far and emerged as a result of high inflation and unemployment threaten them and their families. Accounted for a significant portion of the students. It is interesting that some of the protesters condemned attempts by extremists to spot paint a portrait of Mao Zedong, exhibited at the mausoleum, and gave themselves to the authorities for punishment. Besides Beijing, performances were held in Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan. After protesters repeatedly refused to obey the government calls to disperse, May 20 in the city was placed under martial law. At the end of the month was the principal decision to disperse the protesters by force.
Morning of June 3 unarmed part of the PLA tried to enter the square, but were repulsed, and on June 3 late in the evening in Beijing entered army units with tanks, which met armed resistance, reaching to open armed clashes, especially fierce in the southern and western outskirts of Tiananmen. After the PLA tanks under fire way through barricades of buses, trucks and tractors, other demonstrators used steel beams from kolesootboynikov to destroy armored caterpillar. When the machine is immobilized in this way, the protesters climbed the armor and close the air intake engines blankets soaked in gasoline, which ignited. Abandoned machinery prevented further advancement of the PLA. Soldiers armed with machine guns were rapid fire on demonstrators indiscriminately and warnings. Ambulances could not reach because of the barricades. Victims endured at the hands. Also, soldiers used wooden sticks with nails on the end. As a result, the protesters were considered dangerous criminals. Most have been arrested and held without trial. After the suppression of protests, the government made a series of large-scale arrests of the remaining supporters of the protests, imposed a ban on the distribution of the foreign press and put under strict control coverage in the Chinese media. Many activists protest movement fled abroad, mainly in Hong Kong, the delivery process dissidents who had been so thoroughly adjusted, has been dubbed the "underground railroad." Events triggered a wave of international condemnation of the Chinese Government, which resulted in various sanctions act and other measures against China. The international position of China was strengthened only towards the end of the 90s.