China's World Role and the Deng Xiaoping Era (1949-1997)
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Question
What was the Sino-Soviet Treaty of 1950?
Answer
An alliance between Mao's China and Stalin's USSR providing loans, weapons and technical advisers — the high point of Sino-Soviet friendship.
Question
What caused the Sino-Soviet split?
Answer
Mao's anger at Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation speech (1956) and his policy of "peaceful coexistence" with the West, which Mao saw as a betrayal of revolution.
Question
What happened at Zhenbao (Damansky) Island in 1969?
Answer
Chinese and Soviet troops clashed in a border war, showing the Sino-Soviet alliance had completely collapsed.
Question
Why did Nixon visit China in 1972?
Answer
Both sides had strategic reasons: China wanted a counterweight to Soviet pressure after the Sino-Soviet split; the USA wanted leverage over the USSR and a way out of Vietnam.
Question
What was the Shanghai Communiqué (1972)?
Answer
The agreement signed during Nixon's visit that restored Sino-American diplomatic and trade contact, though it did not resolve the Taiwan issue.
Question
Who were the Gang of Four and what happened to them?
Answer
Jiang Qing (Mao's widow), Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen — radicals blamed for Cultural Revolution excesses; arrested by Hua Guofeng in October 1976.
Question
What were the "Two Whatevers"?
Answer
Hua Guofeng's policy that whatever Mao decided must be upheld and whatever Mao instructed must be followed — it tied Hua to Mao's legacy and left him vulnerable to reformers.
Question
How did Deng Xiaoping gain power after 1976?
Answer
He was rehabilitated in 1977 after two earlier purges, built alliances with veteran officials, and won the policy argument for economic reform by the Third Plenum in December 1978.
Question
What were the Four Modernizations?
Answer
Deng Xiaoping's reform programme covering agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defence.
Question
What was the Household Responsibility System?
Answer
A Deng-era reform letting Chinese families farm their own plots and sell surplus produce for profit, replacing Mao's failed communes and raising agricultural output.
Question
What were Special Economic Zones (SEZs)?
Answer
Areas like Shenzhen where Deng allowed foreign investment and market-style economic rules to operate, driving China's growth from the 1980s onward.
Question
What happened on 4 June 1989 and why does it matter?
Answer
The army cleared Tiananmen Square by force, killing an unknown number of protesters — it showed Deng's reforms meant economic opening but never multi-party democracy.
Question
Who was Jiang Zemin and what did he continue?
Answer
Party leader in Shanghai promoted to General Secretary in 1989 after handling protests without bloodshed; he continued Deng's economic opening, securing China's path to WTO membership (2001).
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Topic 20.14 hub
The People's Republic of China (1949–2005)
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