Great Changes in a Century and Three Great Leaders

Author: Luo Pinghan et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The 20th century was a hundred years of exploration for the Chinese people in pursuit of national independence and national prosperity, a hundred years of arduous struggle, and a hundred years of China's transformation from weakness to strength, a hundred years of earth-shaking historical changes. From the fragmented state a century ago to the successful resolution of the Hong Kong and Macau issues today, the country is moving towards complete unification; from the beginning of the century, when weak countries had no diplomacy and suffered humiliation and oppression, to the establishment of a major country's status today; from the poverty and weakness a century ago to the gradual move towards prosperity today, these are the great and profound changes that have taken place in China over the past hundred years. Among the great changes that occurred in China during the 20th century, there were three historic transformations that shaped the present and future of China, or three major historical events that influenced China's present and future. These are: the 1911 Xinhai Revolution, the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and the reform and opening-up since 1978. The Xinhai Revolution overthrew the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China for over two hundred years, and ended China's feudal monarchy that lasted for over two thousand years. The founding of the People's Republic of China marked the complete end of China's semi-colonial and semi-feudal society and ushered in a new era of China's socialist cause. Reform and opening-up found a path to building socialism with Chinese characteristics and a good method to strengthen the country and enrich the people. These three historic transformations form the cornerstone of China's great changes over the past hundred years. In any era of major historical changes, historical figures who influence or even shape these changes are produced and nurtured. In the great changes that took place in China during the 20th century, there are three great names closely linked to them: Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping. Sun Yat-sen, as a pioneer of revolution, led the Xinhai Revolution and established a bourgeois republic. Mao Zedong combined Marxism-Leninism with the realities of China and found a path to victory in the Chinese revolution, becoming the main founder and leader of the People's Republic of China. Deng Xiaoping achieved the second historic leap in combining Marxism-Leninism with the realities of China and is undoubtedly the chief designer of China's reform and opening-up. As three great figures who influenced the course of China's history over the past hundred years, they not only had great revolutionary practices but also left behind numerous theoretical writings and established their own theoretical systems: Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, Mao Zedong Thought, and Deng Xiaoping Theory. These theories are not only the guiding principles of the three historic transformations but also the eternal spiritual wealth of the Chinese people. Only by looking back at the past can we accurately grasp the future. At the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the new century, looking back to see what changes have taken place in China over the past hundred years and what impact Sun Yat-sen, Mao Zedong, and Deng Xiaoping have had on China over the past hundred years will help us enter the 21st century with confidence.