Introduction
Culture refers to people’s way of life and it includes things such as beliefs, norms, values, attitudes, and cognitive mapping of people. Culture is dynamic and it is also adaptive and can at times be maladaptive. When a culture becomes maladaptive changes are needed and at times force may be used in order to effect these changes in society. Force is supplemented by certain philosophies and ideologies that are propagated by enlightened individuals in the society and this entirely narrows down to the culture. The Cultural Revolution that took place in China in the 1960s and the event that took place in Tiananmen Square has completely changed the political landscape in China and at the same time, the Chinese cultural fabric has been tainted by these two events.
It is worth noting that China is a communist country and both the Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen massacre resulted from the philosophies embraced by the communist party leaders that are different from those of the citizens (Shi et al 2003). This essay will focus on these two historical events although one at a time and then toward the end I shall point out the far-reaching effect that is being experienced today. These two events were brought about by the policymaker, that is, the politicians and they have affected all the other subfields of the complex whole that makes up the society. The majority of the Chinese citizens did at one time join hands with the politician but the aftermath effects of these changes in the society made them question the morality of the politicians.
Discussion
Cultural Revolution
Chinese Cultural revolution emerged from political wrangles that took place inside the Chinese Communist Party. This revolution brought first-class social, political, and economic violence and economic violence to the party (Anita, 1985). The radiation effect took place and with no time China was in the blink of a civil war. The architect behind this revolution was the chairman of the party at the time one Mr. Mao Zedong in collaboration with other party members who shared his ideologies and philosophies. According to Korniberg (2004), this group wanted to kick out the liberal political elites from the party and in the process gain power by first controlling the party and this could only be achieved once the competitors had been kicked out. From this time onward petty party politics continued and the citizens were slowly involved in the party divisions.
Since a revolution calls for a complete overhaul of the social and political as well, as another societal institution organization china was not an exception. Changes in China started in the academic circle and it’s the students who were later known as the Red Guards who kick-started them (Anita, 1985). All the intellectuals in the academic fields who were believed to be for the western capitalist ideology were chased away from schools and colleges and those who were very unlucky were put in forced labor camps. This was seen as the most important step for laying down the foundation of actual socialism in China. From the student, the movement slowly gained momentum and the peasants, farmers, workers, and all those people who belonged to the proletariat class were involved. These groups of people continued to hold Revolutionary debates in order to enlighten their neighbors. At this moment there was a nationwide call for the abandonment of the old customs, habits, and ideas which were being embraced by the liberal politicians.
The destruction of these facets of culture took a center stage in this revolution. Religion suffered greatly because many religious buildings such as temples, churches, monasteries, and mosques were either closed down or destroyed completely (Xing, 2004). People could therefore not get a chance to communicate with their God. Destruction of the religious places meant that the survival of the society was at stake and people had to abandon the old traditional ways in favor of new ones otherwise the society had no future. Destruction of the property was also witnessed and later on destruction of life followed. Torture and maiming were the order of the day and this together with killings were carried out by the Red Guards. After these sad events, many people were traumatized and there was a sharp rise in cases of suicide in China.
The Red guards were later on given the power by Mr. Mao to replace the Peoples Liberation Army and this meant that the untrained could access weapons yet they were not trained on using them. In addition, Korniberg (2004) notes that the youth invaded various barracks and run away with weapons, and later on these weapons were used in killing fellow citizens especially the conservative ones who did not agree with Mao’s philosophies and ideologies. One important thing to note is the fact that the older people were not involved in this revolution and this means that it was easier for the politicians to take control of events because there was a break down in youths socialization life and thus it was easier for them to acquire a new way of life that was different from their fathers. On 16th August 1966, the revolution reached its climax when people gathered around Tiananmen Square where Mao addressed a crowd made up of millions of Chinese who were supporting him and gave them the urge to continue fighting for actual socialism and democracy in their country.
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is important in Chinese history for various reasons and the most common ones are that it is in this square that Mr. Mao addressed the Chinese after he has engendered the revolution in the country. Secondly, this square is also associated with a gross disregard of human rights that resulted in the killing of many Chinese and brought about the current debate on China’s human rights record (Gao et al 1996). On 4th June 1989 students among other human rights groups held a peaceful protest in this square in order to force the government into a dialogue that would have created room for addressing the corruption among the politicians and gave democracy to thrive among the Chinese. China is a communist country and for a student to talk of democracy was like adding salt to a wound.
What began as a very peaceful day turned out to be a nightmare for the majority of the citizens as demonstrators were harassed, beaten, and shot by the police and by the military. This is what today is known as the Tiananmen Massacre. The government resulted in using force because it realized the political sub-sector of the complex whole was under siege and since the mass supported the movement. Since the government was an authoritarian one giving people a chance to have control of the politics would have sent the politicians home and this was against their wish. In order to arrest demonstrations from getting out of hand, the government for the next few weeks continued to arrest demonstrators, intellectuals behind these massive demonstrations were locked up, and press coverage of the incidents and aftermaths of the massacre was quarantined (Shi et al, 2003). Foreign journalists were chased away from the country and the members of the party who joined hands with the demonstrators were kicked out of the part.
Effect
These two sad events which took place over a period of time represent a sad story of China politics and destroy the reputation of the Chinese Communist Party. Chinese themselves started to question the morality of this party since it was being used by a politician to acquire and retain power at the expense of the masses. The effects of these events are well understood when one looks at the impact these events had on the masses and they are still being felt today. To begin with, the Tiananmen massacre led to an emphasis on individualism among the Chinese as well as the value of the family (Korniberg, 2004). This is contrary to the party philosophies which call for collectiveness in society. In this sense, the CCP wants all Chinese in order to benefit the country at large and not for the benefit of an individual.
Chinese family was attacked during the famous Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen massacre this was a way of disintegrating the core family value but this did not take place, instead, the family unit became more important among the Chinese. Earlier on the traditions that established family among the Chinese were rooted in their religion which anchored on the Confucius teachings, Buddha teachings, and Taoism (Anita, 1985). All these were heavily destroyed during the Cultural Revolution as a way of eliminating the influence of religion on Chinese day-to-day life. The communist government embraced ideologies of class struggle and this is why demonstrators are brutally beaten while the traditional religions instilled virtues such as benevolence which are important in solving conflicts because people always restrain from confrontations.
Changes from the old ways brought disaster to most Chinese because they were not given enough opportunity to understand the new cultural values. In any process of culture change, people should be given a chance to learn and evaluate the new ways and if they find them to be useless they abandon them. This was not the case and those who failed to comply with the new government’s expectations force was the only option to make them comply. In this respect, a kind of cultural vacuum can be said to have taken place and it took a long time to fill. Massive involvement of the youth in the revolution, as well as the demonstrations, denied them a golden opportunity to learn their people’s way of life, especially how power was passed on to the next generation. In the Square massacre, they were the ones who suffered most and the majority ended in police custody.
These events also give the Chinese a chance to put the government in the limelight in relation to the people’s human rights (Shi et al, 2004). The communist party is well known for its abuse of human basic rights and this has strained its relationship with people making the party lose its popularity among the people. The government did fail to observe human rights when dealing with the people. For instance, during the revolution, my holly and religious places were destroyed denying people their freedom of religion. In the Tiananmen Square massacre peaceful demonstrators were harassed by the police yet they have a right to association and freedom of speech. To make the matter worse journalists both Chinese and foreigners were denied a chance to report the events that followed the massacre and this is one way of covering up the shameful act of the movement.
The economy and the education sector also suffered a lot and this has made the citizens pay heavy taxes in order to reconstruct these sectors of the society. The economy was affected mostly due to the government’s spending patterns which were not checked at all. For example, during the revolution, the government spent a lot and fits money transporting youth to the capital city Beijing and in the process railway network which is an integral part of the Chinese economy was neglected. Education felt the pinch because the youth abandoned classrooms in order to take the role of the Red Guards and the majority of the scholars were taken to labor camps especially those who openly criticized the communist government and favored democracy (Korniberg,2004). This made some parts of China record increased illiteracy and during the time of reconstruction, these regions suffered from a shortage of skilled manpower making development in these regions stagnate.
Finally, most people suffered psychologically because of the government’s inhumane acts while dealing with demonstrators in 1989 and during the Cultural Revolution period. To be specific during the revolution people were not given a chance to pray in their usual places of worship and this means that they suffered psychologically because they could not communicate with their creator. Those individuals who were against the government were beaten, maimed, and tortured by the youth, and others still were put in a forced labor camp. The immediate families of these people are still suffering from this effect. The government seemed to have perfected this art of arresting and locking up people in police cells especially during the Tiananmen demonstration and most people ended up in police cells. Many of those who were arrested in the aftermath of the massacre went missing and up to date, no one knows there were about.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Chinese communist party was good for the country but it started to lose its credibility among the Chinese during the famous cultural revolution that was led by one of its leaders. People were forcibly displaced from there home and their entire life was disorganized for eve. This period of revolution made people realize that the party was not there to serve where needs rather it was a bridge that was used by the politicians to gain and retain power. This has been proved by the fact that the Chinese were the ones who severed most during this period. The government has also shown that it can treat people most in most inhumanely by brutally killing them in order to sustain itself in power. This fact has a one on one relationship with the Tiananmen Square massacre. Therefore the two events have really changed the way the Chinese look at and think of the Chinese Communist Party.
Reference
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