China: The Land of the Rising Dragon?

As many readers of clay have likely witnessed, the Asian country of China has become one of the most important countries of the past decade. From the spy balloon incident early last year, to the continued threats of an invasion of Taiwan, the country has gained significant notoriety. Over the last one hundred fifty years, the country has stayed relatively quiet on the world stage. To understand China’s rise to power, one must first look back to fully understand their present.

Historically, China rode the waves of world affairs throughout the last several thousand years, yet the country fell from grace in the twentieth century. During its existence as an ancient kingdom, Ancient China contributed greatly to developing new inventions, including but not limited to gunpowder, printing, paper, (a developing form) of the compass, porcelain, and most importantly, silk. These new creations, especially for foreign trade, gave China an edge in international commerce and helped establish its dominance in the ancient world. Demand for these goods led to the formal creation of the Silk Road, a pathway that linked China with critical trade partners in the West, especially in the Middle East and the Roman Empire. Over the centuries, their trading partners heavily changed, as Europe experienced many more tumultuous years than China did during the ancient times. This led to China trading with the Romans, the Islamic Empire, the Byzantines, North Africans, the Ottomans, and even Italians during the Renaissance, proving that this trade empire stood the test of time for over a thousand years.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, China experienced a dramatic change in politics and government after a centuries-long policy of isolationism, causing them to lose their position in global affairs. After the Silk Road lost much of its power in the sixteenth century, China descended into a period of largely isolating itself from the outside world. Due to their isolation, China’s economic situation began to deteriorate over the following centuries, and by the early twentieth century, it was only a shadow of its former self. In addition, as China began to lose touch with the rest of the world, it quickly fell behind other powerful nations, leading many foreign powers, especially those in Western Europe, to take advantage of the country’s vast resources. Beginning with the First Opium War in the mid-nineteenth century, China became economically centered in English ports, which exported Chinese products to the rest of the world for opium, an extremely addictive drug, which at its height during the early twentieth century, nearly thirty percent of the country’s male population was addicted to it. In 1911, the Qing Dynasty, after a successful revolt by the Xinhai Revolution, fell, thus ending nearly four thousand years of successive monarchies.

After the creation of a new Formal Government, the Republic of China, the country endured various levels of stability for a few years. Still, when Yuan Shikai, the Republic’s ruler, abdicated (later dying of natural causes), a power vacuum ensued in the country that lasted for the next 20 years. Warlords dominated the country from 1916 to 1928 and the country endured little stability. In the country, two major powers controlled much of the territory: the Communists, led by Mao Zhe Dong, and the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek. For the next ten years, these two forces battled for control of China during the Chinese Civil War. However, from 1937 to 1945, the two sides paused fighting, as they turned to face a much bigger opponent: Imperial Japan. So, during World War Two, China operated as a unified country.

After the war, a continuation of pre-WW2 Civil War drove the Nationalists to retreat to Taiwan, allowing the communist forces sole rule of the country. During the next twenty years under the leadership of the communist leader, Mao Zedong, China’s people suffered exceedingly. For a time, living conditions were so terrible that the average life expectancy was under thirty-five years in 1960. In the 1950s and 1960s, forty-five million people died as a result of the implementation of several communist economic agendas, known ironically as the Great Leap Forward, which included several mass executions of landowners, several failed attempts at collective agricultural practices (several co-owners tended to one farm) which led to famine, and the use of forced labor on millions.

When Mao died in 1976, many positive changes came to the country. Until 1971, long after the 1949 rise to power, did the rest of the world, allow the PRC(People’s Republic of China) to a seat at the U.N., thereby renouncing any previous Nationalist influences on the country. Before the 1970s, as a communist country during the Cold War, China had maintained strong relationships with its fellow political ally, the U.S.S.R. After Mao’s death, his successors started cutting ties with the U.S.S.R. and started strengthening diplomatic ties with the U.S.

Since the onset of the twenty-first century, China has seen great upheaval and growth in all areas of its life. A continuation of the past decades, the PRC government continued to loosen control of their citizens, resulting in even more economic growth. During this time, as China’s market capital grew, its presence as a world power increased. This led it to prioritize and drastically grow its military capabilities, much of which had still depended on its Russian counterparts, now struggling to regain what it had lost after the end of the Cold War.

Today, a landmark twentieth century dominates the Chinese culture of the twenty-first, underpinning China’s central role in current events. Keeping with the practices of centralist governments throughout the ages, China’s development as a country has also seen a large growth in its military capabilities, with an emphasis on advanced military technologies, such as hypersonic missiles, nuclear weapons, and aircraft carriers. With over two million active-duty troops, by a fair margin,China maintains the world’s largest army. Although the country remains politically communist, China’s economy, after a stunted existence for many of the past hundred years, has developed into a hybrid capitalist-socialist system, emphasizing free trade and competitive business styles. As a result of this, it now boasts a GDP second only to America and Japan, and with over seven hundred million working adults, employs the world’s largest workforce. Yet, sadly, much of the past events in China often repeat themselves. Although the violent and brutal massacres and famines are largely over, the government maintains extremely tight control over the lives of its citizens. Through the widespread use of cameras and artificial intelligence, the government blocks out any political or cultural opposition, especially towards religious activities, such as Falun Gong, Christianity, and the Ugyhr Muslum populations in the country. As these religions’ core tenets often clash with the core principles of an atheist, communist country, faithful religious adherents suffer heavy persecution in China. Therefore, we must pray not only for our Christian brothers and sisters, but their neighbors, and that we will be lights in a spiritually darkened China.

Works Cited:

“China Economy Will Surpass Us, but When?” The Christian Science Monitor, The Christian Science Monitor, 16 Aug. 2010, www.csmonitor.com/Business/2010/0816/China-economy-will-surpass-US-but-when.

Published by C. Textor, and Jul 17. “China: Life Expectancy 1960-2050.” Statista, 17 July 2023, www.statista.com/statistics/263726/life-expectancy-in-china/.

Published C. Textor, and Jun 28. “China: Number of Employed People 2022.” Statista, 28 June 2023, www.statista.com/statistics/251380/number-of-employed-persons-in-china/#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20workforce%20in,pandemic%20and%20weak%20economic%20performance.

“Tracking China’s Control of Overseas Ports.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, www.cfr.org/tracker/china-overseas-ports. Accessed 31 Dec. 2023.

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