China and Chinese Revolution

China: People's Republic of China (PRC), is a sovereign state located in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population of over 1.35 billion. Made up of 22 provinces, 5 autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities and two mostly self-governing special administrative regions. Its capital is Beijing. The most spoken varieties are Mandarin (spoken by 70% of the population),[353] Wu (including Shanghainese), Yue (including Cantonese and Taishanese), Min (including Hokkien and Teochew), Xiang, Gan, and Hakka. Non-Sinitic languages spoken widely by ethnic minorities include Zhuang, Mongolian, Tibetan, Uyghur, Hmong and Korean, Standard Mandarin, a variety of Mandarin based on the Beijing dialect, is the official national language of China and is used as a lingua franca in the country between people of different linguistic backgrounds.

Before it was the People’s Republic, China was many forms of Dynasties sometimes divided between: north and south, western and eastern, and also was broken up into kingdoms and sometimes multiple. Modernly, before the republic was the Republic of China which lasted from 1912-1949. China, since 1949, has been the People’s Republic of China and is under communist rule. This republic was formed after the Chinese Civil War where the communist party was left in control of the mainland. Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic as “Communist China” and “Red China”. The communist party is “enshrined” in china’s constitution.

The government of China is comprised of a head (president) serving nothing more than as a figure head. The Premier of government is the head and oversees the state council. The council is made up of four vices and heads of ministries and commissions.

Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, China has made significant investments in scientific research, spending over US$100 billion on scientific research and development in 2011 alone. China is rapidly developing its education system with an emphasis on science, mathematics and engineering; in 2009, it produced over 10,000 Ph.D. engineering graduates, and as many as 500,000 BSc graduates, more than any other country.

During the 1960’s, China was under the control of communist leader Mao Zedong. Mao wanted to assert his power over china and launched the Cultural Revolution during 1966. This revolution was headed by the Gang of Four (the name given to a political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials. The members consisted of Mao Zedong's last wife Jiang Qing, the leading figure of the group, and her close associates Zhang Chunqiao, Yao Wenyuan, and Wang Hongwen.)The revolution lasted about ten years with the army compiled of school children classified as the Red Guards. Many of the schools and colleges closed in order for the students to be focused on the primary goal of the party. They were used to abolish capitalism, Bourgeois (socioeconomic classes), and any other old habits that went against the communistic views. Within the next year more than 400,000 people were killed, tortured and or imprisoned. After all chaos Mao came back and announced that the revolution was over but it had not ended; it would not end until 1976, after the death of Mao. Many of the schools reopened and the Red Guard soldiers were sent back to be reeducated. Many of them lost out and became illiterate.