The first wish

To be free from chaos and disorder and achieve unity and stability.

During the one hundred years from 1840 to 1949, China was plagued by chaos and wars. Although China's population reached 450 million, more than the total population of Europe at the time, its rulers failed to mobilize and organize, leaving the whole society without cohesion. The resulting chaos caused the country to lose much of its dignity and self-confidence.

In 1911, the Qing government was overthrown and the Republic of China was founded. But with warlords controlling much of the country, unity and stability were unattainable, and people saw little hope of reversing the chaos and uncertainty.

For the 38 years from 1912 to 1949, the official name of China was the Republic of China. During the first 17 years of this period, Beijing was controlled by a succession of warlords who were constantly changing like a game of musical chairs. Seven of them once served as president or head of state, and 26 served as prime minister. The cabinet changed even more frequently—47 times, according to incomplete statistics, with the longest term lasting 17 months, and the shortest lasting just two days.

In 1928, the Kuomintang (KMT) symbolically unified China. However, the government at all levels remained divided into many factions that often fought each other. For example, Yan Xishan, the warlord who had controlled Shanxi for nearly 30 years, ordered Shanxi's railways to be built with narrower rail tracks to prevent incursions from other provinces. Sichuan also had many warlords, with the most powerful ones controlling ten to twenty counties and the smallest ones controlling a few counties. Not only did the central government have its own army, navy, and air force, but the warlords in Northeast China and Guangdong also had their own military forces; and one warlord who controlled only a dozen counties in Sichuan claimed to be the supreme military commander simply because he had purchased a few aircrafts.

This chaos brought not only political disaster to the country, but also instability to the economy and to people's daily lives. Countless ordinary people were uprooted and left homeless. During the 14 years of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, more than 30 million people died; and in the same period, hundreds of thousands of people drowned when the Yellow River burst its banks, more than 4.8 million people were left destitute, and tens of millions were made homeless.

Inflation in the Republic of China was shockingly high: 100 yuan of the ROC period could buy two cows in 1937, but only a pig in 1941, a chicken in 1943, a fish in 1945, an egg in 1946, and less than a grain of rice in May 1949. In Shanghai in early 1949, it was said that a bowl of noodles would cost a barrowful of banknotes.

The Chinese made many attempts to reverse the chaos. As early as 1902, Liang Qichao, a Chinese political theorist, who dreamed of a "New China," proposed the concept of the "Chinese nation" with the intention of enhancing social cohesion, getting out of the state of disorganization, and uniting into a self-conscious group to form a community of common destiny.

Let's draw an analogy. When people are walking leisurely around Tiananmen Square in Beijing, Trafalgar Square in London, Times Square in New York, or the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, they are "self-contained bodies" with their own preoccupations in the same place. If someone suddenly shouts, "Earthquake," or "Bomb," these "self-contained bodies" with their own concerns will, under this psychological shock, instantly turn into a "self-conscious group," and the information they take in and their motivation to escape will be the same.

The desire to build "a community of the Chinese nation" played the role of this shout in resolving the problem of chaos and disunity, making unity and stability that people wanted most.

In 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) unified the Chinese mainland, and at the end of the 20th century, Hong Kong and Macao returned to their motherland in a peaceful manner under the One Country, Two Systems policy.

China's experience of chaos has told us Chinese people that without stability, there is nothing. Therefore, the People's Republic of China (PRC) does not adopt a federal system, it is a unified state with a unitary system, which emphasizes the centralized, unified political leadership of the CPC, and attaches great importance to national unity, ethnic unity, social harmony, and people's well-being.

Deng Xiaoping, the chief architect of China's reform and opening up, once said, "Stability is of overriding importance." The Chinese government has therefore been based on a "tripod" of reform, development, and stability. Without stability, no matter how good the concepts of governance and development, nothing can be achieved.

The second wish

To be free from humiliation and oppression and be able to pursue equality and autonomy

The humiliation and oppression experienced by the Chinese in modern times came from both inside and outside the country. Externally, there was the aggression and oppression of the imperial powers; internally, there was the exploitation and oppression of the people by the feudal and semi-feudal rulers.

The desire for equality and autonomy had two aspects: one was to establish an independent and autonomous country to live on an equal footing with the Western countries; and the other was to realize equal relations among various groups of people in the country in terms of economy, politics, and society.

Mao Zedong once said that in the past century, "almost all the imperialist countries in the world, whether large, medium, or small, have invaded our country and bullied and humiliated us," and that, except for the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, "there was not a single war that did not end in our defeat and the signing of a treaty of humiliation and dishonor."

After the Eight-Power Alliance Forces invaded Beijing, they forced China to sign a treaty requiring it to pay them 450 million taels of silver, on the grounds that the country had a population of 450 million and everyone should pay their share. No Chinese could stand aside in the face of such humiliating oppression.

In addition to Hong Kong and Macao, which were occupied under long-term leases, some countries established "concessions" of Chinese sovereignty in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Wuhan, Qingdao, and other places, even stationing their troops there; and their warships and commercial vessels enjoyed the privilege of navigating China's inland waterways.

What was most shocking was that from 1853, even the Chinese customs, the embodiment of national sovereignty, was in the hands of foreigners. A British man, Sir Robert Hart, served as the Inspector-General of China's Imperial Maritime Customs Service for 48 years. In 1927, when F.W. Maze, another Briton who worked in Shanghai's tax department, moved into the Shanghai Customs Building, he used his diamond ring to carve his name on a window pane to signify "eternity."

By 1949, China had been so reduced that it was no longer an independent country in the full sense of the word, but a semi-colonial country, that is, its sovereignty was incomplete.

China never gave up its efforts to abolish the unequal treaties and regain its lost sovereignty. After World War I ended, China, which belonged to the victorious camp, proposed to recover its rights and interests in the Shandong Peninsula from the defeated Germany in 1919. This reasonable demand was rejected by the "Paris Peace Conference" led by Britain, the United States, and France, which instead transferred the rights and interests of the Shandong Peninsula to Japan. The pain and despair of the Chinese people reached its nadir at that time.

The dying wish of Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the Chinese revolution, was to "arouse the people and unite in a common fight with those nations of the world that treat us as equals." His wish was for the world to have "nations that treat us as equals," for nations, big or small, to be able to live together on an equal footing, and for China to become an equal member of the family of nations.

The purpose of recounting these past events is not to grudge, but to say that the Chinese people have had unusual experiences and feelings about the unequal relations between countries in which the strong bully the weak.

The Chinese people finally realized that they could only achieve an equal status when they stood up themselves. This is why Mao Zedong declared to the world at the founding of the PRC that "the Chinese people have stood up." This declaration resounded deeply in the people's hearts. To "stand up" does not mean to stand taller than others, but to "stand on its own among the nations of the world" on an equal footing.

After the founding of the PRC in 1949, China has always placed independence, autonomy, security, and dignity in a prominent position in its domestic and foreign affairs, and has always regarded the principles of peace, sovereignty, and equality as the "lifeline" for international relations. Over the past 70 years, China's sensitivity and aversion to external interference in its own internal affairs are related to the maintenance of this "lifeline."

What the Chinese people want most is to manage their own affairs independently, not to be judged by others for what they do, nor to tell others what to do.

Next, let's talk about the oppression and inequality that the Chinese people suffered from within China itself in modern times.

When Mao Zedong declared that "the Chinese people have stood up," he meant that the Chinese had not only thrown off external oppression and realized national independence, but had also shaken off their own internal oppression and achieved liberation.

When we call the old China a semi-feudal state, we mean that capitalist elements had developed in the society; and in 1911, the feudal system was overthrown and the first republic in Asia was established. The former feudal society in its full sense no longer existed. However, the national capital had long struggled under the double burden of foreign capitalism and domestic feudalism, resulting in very slow economic development. The local bourgeoisie, in small numbers, had also been squeezed and had never been able to become a major force.

More importantly, the vast majority of the population was on the lower rungs of society, including peasants exploited by landlords, factory workers, lower-ranking soldiers struggling to make a living in the armies of feudal warlords, and women living under the oppression of traditional morality. They were politically oppressed, economically exploited, and discriminated against in social relations.

The following is a typical example of farmers being exploited economically and oppressed politically.

Between the 1920s and 1930s, there were eight warlords in Sichuan Province holding military power of more than one army corps, and they collected tax from the areas under their jurisdiction. An unimaginable amount of tax was collected: in 1935, Tian Songyao's 29th Army Corps had already collected the land tax up to the year 1978, and Deng Xihou's 28th Army Corps had collected the land tax up to the year 1991. Most shockingly, in 1931, Cili County in Hunan Province had collected the land tax up to the year 2017. Such exploitation and oppression was the height of absurdity, and clearly the last thing that China needed.

The founding of the PRC, put an end to this type of oppression, and a new social order was established on the basis of equality of status between officials and ordinary people, between different professions, between men and women, and between different social classes. Equality means democracy.

Fei Xiaotong, the well-known sociologist, said in his 1949 article published on the founding of the PRC, "I have long heard the word democracy used... But what exactly is a democratic society like? I don't understand." Later, when he attended a meeting of representatives of various social circles in Beijing, he saw people in uniforms, overalls, short jackets, cheongsams, suits, and long robes, and even one in a skullcap. Clearly, they were all from different backgrounds, all gathered to express their political views. Fei Xiaotong marveled, "In the past six days, I have learned more about democracy than in the past five years or even the past 30 years."

Fei Xiaotong was not the only one who had such feeling. Huang Yanpei, the leader of the Democratic National Construction Association, a political party, said in his article published on the last day of 1949, "1949 is the first year for everyone to raise their heads, and for the ordinary people to raise their heads. In our conduct in the future, we must not ignore the people, we must not turn a blind eye to them. From now on, people's lives are precious, people's lives are valued."

"Raising one's head" and "people's life is valued" are what people understood at that time as "The Chinese people have stood up."

Equality and democracy aim to make China a people's country

What is a people's country? The new China is called the "People's Republic," the state system is the "people's democratic dictatorship," the political system is the "people's congresses," the government is the "people's government," the army is named the "People's Liberation Army," the state apparatus is comprised of "people's courts," "people's procuratorates," and "people's public security," and the economic and social public departments include "people's railway" and "people's postal service." School teachers are "people's teachers," places for medical treatment are "people's hospitals," writers' publications are called "people's literature," the central bank is called "people's bank," and even the currency used is called "RMB," which means the people's currency.

Why is the word "people" included in all these names? It is because of the sincere desire to achieve equality in social relations and to make people's life be valued in economic, political, social, and cultural aspects.

The third wish

To be free from poverty and ignorance and achieve prosperity and civilization.

In the 1950s, the Chinese people described their own country as both "poor and blank." The term "poor" referred to the low level of living and productivity, and people generally did not have enough food and clothing. The term "blank" meant that people's cultural knowledge was like a blank sheet of paper.

Let us start with the "poor" side of China.

History always reveals disparities through comparison. In 1949, China's per capita national income was $27, compared with $44 for the major Asian countries, including $57 for India. In 1950, in GDP per capita, China ranked seventh from the bottom and was undoubtedly one of the poorest countries in the world.

After the founding of the PRC, one of its top priorities was to produce enough grain to feed more than 500 million people and prevent them from starving. When the first World Food Conference was held in Rome in 1974, delegates heard an apocalyptic prediction: China would never be able to feed a billion people, because there was too little arable land to feed such a large population.

This prediction turned out to be wrong. Shaking off poverty and striving for prosperity was the driving force for development after the founding of the PRC. Miracles that were rarely seen in other parts of the world kept happening in China. The people of Lin County, Henan Province, spent nearly 10 years using extremely primitive methods to break open mountains and build canals to divert water to irrigate their farmland. Workers with hammers and chisels were suspended by ropes over the edges of cliffs, and then kicked away from the rock to swing through the air, only to fly back towards the rock at high speed. They used this inertia to break the rocks. Through this laborious method, they cut into the rocks of the Taihang Mountains and created "a heavenly river in the human world."

After reform and opening up, hundreds of millions of farmers left their homes and went to work in cities where they could earn more money than farming. When their physical strength gave out, they would let their sons and daughters, who had been unable to go to university, carry on their work to earn enough to build a house of their own in their hometowns.

What happened to the children who succeeded in attending colleges and universities? In 2019, there were heated discussions in the Chinese media about "996," referring to the phenomenon of young white-collar workers at tech companies working six days a week from nine in the morning to nine at night.

Such labour intensity would be impossible in developed countries in the West. Westerners who are used to spending their weekends relaxing in the countryside often find that the only shops and restaurants still open on weekends are those run by Chinese.

For more than 70 years, it has been the consistent goal of the Chinese government to provide a better life for hardworking people. Deng Xiaoping said that "poverty is not socialism," and affirmed that "the purpose of our struggling over the last few decades has been to eliminate poverty." Eliminating poverty and achieving prosperity has a special place on China's political agenda.

Now let's get to the "blank" side of China.

Because of war, oppression, and poverty in the old China, it was extremely difficult to develop science and education and raise people's cultural level. In 1935, a Chinese student came up with a heart-wrenching slogan: "North China is big, but there are no desks." During the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, many schools had to relocate to remote southwest China. A large number of relics from the Palace Museum, representing thousands of years of Chinese civilization and tradition, were moved south for safety to a village in Sichuan, and later to Taiwan, and never returned to the Palace Museum in Beijing.

In 1949, out of a population of 540 million, about 80%, or 430 million people, were illiterate, and of those who could read, how many could be called intellectuals? One contemporary estimate put the number at about 2 million people or 0.0037% of the total population, even using a very low threshold. That is, anyone engaged in education, culture, science and technology, or health care was considered as an intellectual, even if they had only completed junior high school education.

Such a weak cultural foundation left the old China generally lacking in any sense of scientific consciousness, resulting in many ignorant folk customs, such as superstitious beliefs in ghosts and spirits, poor hygiene habits, the practice of witchcraft and sorcery for medical treatment, and the binding of women's feet.

Such ignorant customs were carried to ludicrous extremes in political and military fields. For example, the Taiping Rebellion in 1850 distorted the Christian religion in unorthodox ways, with its leader claiming to be Jesus' younger brother. Meanwhile, in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, some believed that reciting incantations and wearing talismans would make them invincible against foreign invaders.

These phenomena do not represent the spiritual mainstream of the Chinese nation, but the fact that they could play such a prominent role is not accidental. When, due to poverty and ignorance and the lack of scientific civilization, people are vulnerable to superstition, just as a person whose physical body is weakened also lacks spiritual energy.

To get rid of such ignorance, the New Culture Movement, a kind of Chinese Renaissance that began in the early 20th century, promoted the core propositions of democracy and science. Many intellectuals also proposed the idea of saving the country through science, education, and industry. Some people went to the countryside to set up schools and make other improvements to promote rural civilization. The CPC also started its revolution in the countryside by improving the cultural and ideological consciousness of the peasants.

When the PRC was founded, Mao Zedong declared that, "An upsurge in economic development is bound to be followed by an upsurge of development in the cultural sphere. The era in which the Chinese people were regarded as uncivilized is now ended. We shall emerge in the world as a nation with an advanced culture."

After the PRC was founded, it launched the largest literacy campaign in human history, opened a great number of different tutorial schools for workers and peasants, and worked tirelessly to promote the change of old customs and practices and cultural revolution to transform society.

After the launch of reform and opening up in 1978, China proposed to promote both material and cultural-ethical progress. To promote material progress is to address economic poverty, and to promote cultural-ethical progress is to address poverty of people's inner world. Subsequently, it launched the strategy of invigorating the country through science and education, advocating advanced culture, building cultural self-confidence, cultivating socialist core values, and strengthening the national culture, all with the aim of raising China's culture to a high level.

The interviewee is Chen Jin, Former committee member of the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of CPC.

Liu Xian /Editor    Wu Yongqiang /Translator

Yang Xinhua /Chief Editor    Liu Xian /Coordination Editor

Liu Li /Reviewer

Zhang Weiwei /Copyeditor    Tan Yujie /Image Editor

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