China in the 1970s - From Cultural Revolution to Emerging World Economy

Scholarly Essay from the year 2009 in the subject Orientalism / Sinology - Chinese / China, , course: Private discussions of scholarly work on China, language: English, comment: The decade of the 1970s reflects two grand themes of Chinese History. The first theme is the continuity of China as a multinational and multiethnic empire. For millennia China had been ruled by emperors, in the 20th Century it came under the rule of communist dictator Mao Zedong. This centralistic and dictatorial rule emanated from Beijing. Another theme is China's alternation between two different ways to relate to the outside world. A period of opening up to the world beyond China would be followed by a withdrawal from the world, and after some time an opening up again. This swing from an isolationist self-absorbed Chinese period to the renewed connection to the outside world characterizes the Seventies in an exemplary way. In our talk today we will learn how this tumultuous decade develops from a suppressive phase determined by the Cultural Revolution and the principles of communist dictatorship to its first unexpected opening to the West with Nixon's visit to China in 1972. We will follow China's history from the death of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in 1976, through the turmoil following the arrest of the Gang of Four in October 1976, the reform course of Deng Xiaoping beginning in 1978, the democracy movement, to the deep structural economic reforms with the "open door" policy in 1980. , abstract: The tumultuous decade of the Seventies in China develops from a suppressive phase determined by the Cultural Revolution and the principles of communist dictatorship to its first unexpected opening to the West with Nixon's visit to China in 1972. We will follow China's history from the death of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in 1976, through the turmoil following the arrest of the Gang of Four in October 1976, the reform course of Deng Xiaoping beginning in 1978, the democracy movement, to the dee