Workers Dictatorship
07-03-2006, 10:32
This was inspired by the poll on African leaders at http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=471938 ... which Chinese leader of recent times do you most admire?
I vote for P'eng Shu-tse.
Sorry about the spelling.
Harlesburg
07-03-2006, 10:39
I'd say Sun YAt Sen he was the leader of the KMG in the 20's right?...
Workers Dictatorship
07-03-2006, 11:41
Yeah (I usually see Kuomintang abbreviated as KMT though)
People on the list are:
Sun Yat-sen: Founder of the Kuomintang and principal public face of the 1911 revolution; principal leader of the Chinese government several times between 1911-1925; cooperated with the USSR.
Chen Tu-hsiu: Founder and first general secretary of the Communist Party (CPC); at the Comintern's direction, supported alliance with KMT; then broke with KMT in 1927 and joined International Left Opposition; purged from CPC in 1929; imprisoned by Nationalist government in 1927; didn't support Chinese revolution.
Chiang Kai-shek: Leader of Kuomintang after 1925; co-operated with USSR before 1927, then purged Communist Party members from KMT and killed hundreds of thousands; fought Japanese but sometimes cooperated with the Japanese against CPC; overthrown in 1949 revolution; established "Republic of China" government in Taipei.
Mao Zedong: Led CPC forces against Nationalists and Japanese. Led army on "Long March." CPC chairman for decades and de facto Chinese leader after revolution. Responsible for "Hundred Flowers" liberalization movement and subsequent repression and "Great Leap Forward" land reform in which millions were killed. Supported the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution." Initially supported USSR, then led break with USSR in 1950s, establishing close ties with Albania and N. Korea.
P'eng Shu-tse: CPC founder; opposed collaboration with KMT; consistently supported united front against Japanese; Left Oppositionist; supported 1949 revolution and fought for liberalization and land reform after revolution; imprisoned by Mao's government; active partisan of revolutions in Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, etc.
Deng Xiaoping: CPC leader. Supported break with USSR under Mao. Main public opponent of the Cultural Revolution. In 1970s, supported improved relations with U.S. As premier, tried to introduce privatization and other capitalist reforms; led campaign to get "four bigs" (consumer goods) to Chinese; ordered attack on demonstrators at Tiananmen Square; initiated "anti-cult campaign."
Jiang Qing: Mao Zedong's wife; most prominent leader of the "Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" which instituted extreme censorship and political repression, killing tens of millions of rightists and right-wing sympathizers.
Chou En-lai: CCP leader. Opposed break with USSR; cautiously supported "Great Leap Forward" and Cultural Revolution. Most enthusiastic supporter of the Vietnamese revolution among those in power in China in the 1960s & 1970s. In 1970s, supported improved relations with U.S., scaling back commitments to the Vietnamese in the process. Backed Khmer Rouge.
Li Hongzhi: Founder of the Falun Gong movement. Lives in exile in U.S., where he opposes CCP. Supports theories of Chinese racial and cultural supremacy, and opposes race mixing, homosexuality, and modern medicine as contributing to the decline of culture.
Neu Leonstein
07-03-2006, 11:41
Deng Xiaopeng.
Yes, Tiananmen was bad, but it is outweighed by all the moves he made towards increasing freedom and living standards. Thanks to him the PRC survived the collapse of Communism (and yes, for China that might have been a good thing).
And besides, he is every pragmatic's rolemodel. It doesn't matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches the mice.