REQUIRED FOR ALL:

OVERVIEW:

• Blecher, ch. 3.

DENG XIAOPING THEORY:

• Jiang Zemin, "Hold High the Great Banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory for an All-round Advancement of the Cause of Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics to the 21st Century"Report at the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Introduction, Part III, and Part IV. September 12, 1997. LINK

ASSESSMENT:

• READ AT LEAST ONE OF THE ESSAYS IN "Deng Xiaoping: An Assessment", The China Quarterly, No. 135, Special Issue, Sept., 1993. JSTOR (Also available in book form as, Deng Xiaoping: Portrait of a Chinese Statesman, edited by David Shambaugh. DS778.T39 D46 1995.)

  ---

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTS: MAJOR EVENTS OF THE DENG XIAOPING ERA

Once Deng Xiaoping had consolidated power following the CCP’s “Third Plenum” in December 1978, there were not nearly as many critical “events” during his rule as there were during the Maoist era. But there are at least five that I think a good China-watcher knows in some detail. One of these you are all familiar with: the Tiananmen Crisis of 1989. The other four are probably less familiar to you.

The readings below are about these crucial events. I have assigned them by random draw from one of my urns. Each article/chapter is assigned to 2 or 3  students; the assignments are similar in length. Please be prepared to summarize and comment on your assigned reading. This isn't a group presentation: you shouldp just be ready to say something when your “event” comes up. The primary documents listed with each reading are not required. They are for your reference: read them if you are interested and have time (and if you plan to write your short paper on this weeks topic).

THE DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT OF 1978-79 (Kerry, Mabel, Michelle)

Merle Goldman. "The Reassertion of Political Citizenship in the Post-Mao Era: The Democracy Wall Movement." in Changing Meanings of Citizenship in Modern China. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U Press, 2002.Ppp. 159-186. (ER)

• Primary document:
  • Wei Jingsheng, "The Fifth Modernization." LINK

THE "RIVER ELEGY" CONTROVERSY, 1988-89 (WAJ!) [Note: Yes, I will report on this. BUT if any of you would like to take it on in place of your other assignment, let me know. It's very interesting, but the assigned article is a bit longer than the other assignments, which I why I didn't parcel it out. Here's the entire Wikipedia entry on this topic:

River Elegy (Hesheng) was an early Chinese TV series co-authored by Su Xiaokang, shown on China Central Television in the late 1980s. The six-part documentary announcing (sic) the death of traditional Chinese civilization was extremely controversial. Su became a wanted man after the Tiannamen Square Massacre and went into exile.

The film asserted that the Ming Dynasty's ban on maritime activities alluded to the building of the Great Wall by China's first emperor Ying Zheng. China's land-based civilization suffered defeat from the more aspiring marine civilization backed by modern sciences, and was further challenged with the problem of life and death ever since the latter half of the 19th century -- landmarked (sic) by the Opium War.

Chen Zuyan, "River Elegy as Reportage Literature: Generic Experimentation and Boundaries," China Information 1993: 7:20. LINK

• Primary document:
  • Presenting 'River Elegy' (video of a 58-minute condensation of the 6 episodes with English subtitles) LINK

TIANANMEN '89 (Tiffany S., Catherine, Sara)

Marie-Claire Bergère, "Tianamen 1989: background and consequences," in Twentieth-century China : new approaches / edited by Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, pp. 239-255. (ER) [26]

• Primary documents:
  • Andrew Nathan & Perry Link, The Tiananmen Papers (excerpts), from Foreign Affairs, Jan.-Feb. 2001. LINK
  • Deng Xiaoping, "Address to Officers at the Rank of General and Above in Command of the Troops Enforcing Martial Law in Beijing," June 9, 1989. LINK (NOTE THE DATE)
  • Michel Oksensberg, "Confessions of a China Watcher: Why No One Predicted the Bloodbath in Beijing," Newsweek, June 19, 1989. LINK (NOTE THE DATE)

DENG'S "SOUTHERN TOUR," 1992 (Jessica, Tiffany C., Mary)

Suisheng Zhao, "Deng Xiaoping's Southern Tour: Elite Politics in Post-Tiananmen China," Asian Survey, Vol. 33, No. 8. (Aug., 1993), pp. 739-756. JSTOR

• Primary documents:
  • Deng Xiaoping, "Excerpts from Talks Given in Wuchang, Shenzhen Zhuhai, and Shanghai," January 18 - February 21, 1992. LINK
  • "Records of Comrade Deng Xiaoping's Shenzhen Tour," People's Daily, January 1992. LINK

THE DENG-JIANG TRANSITION, 1997 (Dan, Jeffy)

Li Cheng and Lynn White, "The Fifteenth Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party: Full-Fledged Technocratic Leadership with Partial Control by Jiang Zemin," Asian Survey, Vol. 38, No. 3. (Mar., 1998), pp. 231-264. JSTOR

• Primary documents:
  • Jiang Zemin, "Hold High the Great Banner of Deng Xiaoping Theory for an All-round Advancement of the Cause of Building Socialism with Chinese Characteristics to the 21st Century"Report at the 15th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. Introduction, Part III, and Part IV. September 12, 1997. LINK (Note: This is part of the assigned required reading for all students]
  • Feng Jianhua, "Reforming a Nation: On the 10th anniversary of his death, China remembers Deng Xiaoping, the man who led the country towards reform," Beijing Review, NO.8 FEB.22, 2007. LINK