Examining for Office: A History of and Anti-Corruption Struggles of a Ruling Party, a Textbook of Promoting Integrity and Combating Corruption Linked by Major Events

Author: Sun Jinquan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: The great powers attempted to control China through the Yalta Agreement, and the United States and the Soviet Union planned to draw a line along the Yangtze River to achieve strategic balance, but both plans were shattered one by one by the strategic genius Mao Zedong. As Comrade Deng Xiaoping repeatedly emphasized: "Without Chairman Mao, we Chinese would still be struggling in the dark for much longer!" Under the leadership of the extraordinary military and political genius, Mao Zedong, the Communist Party of China finally achieved, a century after the Opium War, the dream and the blood-stained struggle of countless heroes for over a hundred years—completely regaining China's independence, sovereignty, and freedom. This alone is enough to place him forever at the top of the list of China's greatest national heroes. Yes, if Mao Zedong had yielded to Stalin's pressure at that time and agreed to divide China along the Yangtze River, would China have suffered the pain of division like post-WWII East and West Germany, North and South Korea, or South and North Vietnam? Could the Chinese nation still have stood tall among the world's nations? Would a truly strong People's Republic of China have emerged? Then the Communist Party of China would have become a of history, even leaving a for generations to come.
The second exam paper that Mao Zedong faced after arriving in Beijing was the Korean War. The Yalta Conference held by the Big Three—America, Britain, and the Soviet Union—also involved Korea. At that time, Korea had been occupied by Japan for 30 years. Korea and China shared a 2,000-year history of friendship, and the historically knowledgeable Mao Zedong had warm feelings for Korea. In the early 20th century, after Japan occupied Korea, many Korean revolutionaries came to China and fought alongside the Communist Party of China. The "March Forward, March Forward, March Forward! Our troops march toward the sun!"—the People's Liberation Army song that made enemy troops tremble—was composed by the Korean Zheng Lucheng in Yan'an. During the Liberation War, tens of thousands of Koreans in China joined the People's Liberation Army. Lin Biao's Northeast Field Army had two independent divisions led by Korean comrades, and many wounded soldiers of the Northeast Field Army were treated in Korea. In 1946, when the Northeast Front was in desperate straits, the families of the Southern Manchurian Liberation Army had moved to Korea, and even the Northeast Bureau considered relocating to Korea temporarily to avoid the storm. Mao Zedong once personally remarked: "The brilliant five-star red flag of our People's Republic of China is stained with the blood of Korean revolutionary martyrs." The two countries and two parties could be said to have an unbreakable bond, their friendship as deep as blood!
In May 1949, at the Shuangqing Villa on Xiangshan Mountain in Beijing, Mao Zedong received a distant visitor. He was a confidential messenger sent by Kim Il Sung, the Prime Minister of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, delivering Kim Il Sung's personal letter and introducing the recent situation in Korea: "Korea has been divided in half by the American and Soviet armies along the 38th parallel, but the Korean people long for unification. Kim Il Sung has always wanted to break free from the chains imposed on Korea by the Yalta Conference and make Korea an independent and unified country. However, the United States hopes to turn Korea into a military base that can play a vital role in the Cold War and support the puppet Lee Sung-man, preparing to launch a major invasion of North Korea. War is imminent."
After a moment of thought, Mao Zedong asked, "What are your preparations?" The messenger replied, "We are not well-prepared. We do not have such U.S. aid. Lee Sung-man has six divisions, and we currently have only three combat-ready divisions, though they lack adequate equipment." Mao Zedong urgently asked, "What is Stalin's attitude?" The messenger shook his head: "Stalin only said he would provide necessary military aid, requiring us to pay in hard currency for Soviet weapons (a few months later, Korea exchanged 9 tons of gold, 40 tons of silver, and 15,000 tons of other minerals for Soviet weapons worth 139 million rubles, enough to equip three infantry divisions). He gave no clear answers on other matters."
After a long silence, Mao Zedong resolutely declared: "China stands with you. If the situation requires it, China will send troops to fight alongside you! Even now, we will provide whatever aid we can! There are two Korean divisions in the People's Liberation Army— transfer these two divisions along with all their weapons to Korea. Tell Prime Minister Kim that we will ask for nothing in return!"
After sending the satisfied Korean messenger away, Mao Zedong fell into deep thought. As a sincere communist, he had a natural bond with the Korean comrades; as a nationalist, he deeply sympathized with Korea, which, like China, had suffered from the scars of imperialist colonial rule; and as an outstanding historian, he was well-versed in the security relationship between Korea and China—, .
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