Causes, Practices, and Effects of the Chinese Civil War (test)

1.

The opium wars are a long term cause of the Chinese Civil War. They began when the Chinese started growing opium and selling it to the Chinese so that the British could profit. The Chinese ended up being angry that the British were profiting and that the Chinese were using opium, so as a result they outlawed opium. They also burned the "storage" areas where the British kept their opium, which made the British angry. Then, as a result, the British attacked the Chinese. (The British were much stronger than the Chinese, and they defeated China very easily. As a result of this, "unequal treaties" were formed, which was humiliating to the Chinese people. The people of China became very angry, and some even hated the Manchu Dynasty, for signing these unequal treaties. Thus, the Manchu Dynasty became weak, and people were rebelling against it, but the Manchu Dynasty worked with the Europeans to end the rebellion, and as a result killed millions of people. This showed the instability of the Chinese government, which led to a lot of tension between the Chinese people. Therefore, this can be seen as a long term cause to the Chinese Civil War.

The Communist/Guomindang split is an immediate cause of the Chinese Civil War.

2.

The nature of civil wars tend to be more personal and violent than other wars. In the Chinese Civil War, one example of this is with the way children and mothers were treated. For example, one mother had her clothes ripped from her, so that her milk was dripping on the floor and the baby, who was hungry, was licking the milk up off the ground to drink. Babies were also ripped apart at the limbs, which is extremely harsh to do to anyone (especially a baby.) Torture seems to be very common in civil wars, especially in the Chinese Civil War. One more example of torture was that oil was poured on peoples heads, so that they would die.

Another practice of the Chinese Civil War that makes it seem very personal and violent was class warfare. This was when different social statuses would fight against each other basically. One specific example is with peasants and landlords. The peasants actually killed the landlords, so that they could find food to eat, and to give to the others who had nothing to eat. This appears to be very personal because it is like they are killing their master in a sense- the person who had given them a house- even though the treatment wasn't the best, it is still very extreme.

3.

One social effect of the Chinese Civil War was the improvement in the treatment of women. A specific example of this was with the "Marriage Law of 1950." This ended arranged marriages, which was a huge downfall of the life of Chinese women. Along with this, the minimum age for men to marry was 18, and the minimum age for women to marry was 20. This prevented older men from marrying really young women, which also is improvement in the treatment of women. Husbands and wives now owned property together, and divorce had to be a mutual agreement. Also, it was illegal to kill unwanted babies. Overall, all of these things resulted in much better treatment of women, which was a social effect of the Chinese Civil War.

Another social effect of the Chinese Civil War was the "Land/Agrarian Reform Law" of 1950. This enabled peasants to work with other people on one huge farm, to learn better farming methods, and collaboration. Also, there were "speak bitterness campaigns" in which peasants were allowed to gather in groups and have rallies where they would speak "bitterly" about their previous landlords, and basically denounce them for having treated them badly. This was a social effect because it improved the lives of peasants, much like the life of women were improved. (It could also be argued that it was political... but I won't talk about that, because the question is about social effects.)

4.

One political effect of the Chinese Civil War was the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This was basically the point in which the people began to form a "people's democratic dictatorship". As a result of this, four social classes were formed... the peasants, the workers, the bourgeoise, and the nationalist-capitalists. The PRC enabled the people to have a say in how they felt about certain situations which were occuring in China, and a lot of peace was formed. As a result of this political change, a lot of social effects came to be, because now people were concerned for the individual people. Thus, the establishment of the PRC was a very important effect of the Chinese Civil War.

Another political effect of the Chinese Civil War was the Agrarian Reform Law, which could be considered a social effect as well. This is when peasants began to learn how to work in the same social class as other people of their society. Also, poor people were encouraged to meet and talk about life as a poor person, and basically to denounce their previous landlords who had treated them badly.