Chinese Communism - History

In 1950, Mao Zedong’s communist forces defeated the ruling Nationalist party. The communist philosophy was introduced into the Chinese government much like oil to water, hesitant, but they'll hang out if need be. At the time, it was perceived that the Communist party was working in the best interest of the people, which for the most part they were. The communist philosophy was taken and interpreted by individuals that perhaps missed certain points of the overall design. Marxism was intended to be an open ended philosophical system based on the advancement of the working people. To say that communism changed China is perhaps not adequate. To say that China changed communism in order to properly adapt its philosophical structure to it's own needs, is much more accurate.

China’s political structure before communism was introduced was at best chaotic. The dynasties that ruled over China in the past were made up of individuals that presented themselves as servants to the emperor while their true intentions were that of personal gain. Through this exercise of gaining personal goals, the country had a self-applied strangle hold on its own throat. Suffocated by years of customs, bogged down by out dated traditions, China’s culture was for the most part suffering greatly. Its weakness came from the inexperienced leading powers who ran the country. Right before Chinese Nationalism came into play, the Manchu Dynasty occupied China’s leadership. The Manchu dynasty, better known as the Qing dynasty was a period when China was controlled by foreigners. 1

Manchuria is an area found in northeast Asia, falling right in between Russia and China. The people of Manchuria are called Manchurians and for the most part are not considered of Chinese descent. So when the Manchu came into power over the Chinese, it was considered, though not fully expressed, that barbarians were in control of China. The rule of the Qing dynasty stood from the beginning of the 17^th century up until 1911. One can't help but to ponder what could the Manchu leaders know about a country that they cannot call home? To the Manchu’s credit, they assimilated many Chinese traditions in order to fit in the skin better. However, they did not grow up among the Chinese, so their understanding would have been limited automatically.

By the time Nationalism rolled in, China had seen their last great empire crumble before their very eyes. A deranged dead empress immediately followed by a pre-mature child emperor that obviously lacked the leadership skills necessary to steer the country out of impeding doom.

The Nationalist movement is a structure with a heavy emphasis on cultural and political theories unifying China. The ideological basis of Nationalism draw on Marxist, Western and Russian intellectual thought as its contrasting base. This was intended as a way to reform the political structure of China. It based its primary focus on unity. Considering that the Manchurians drove China directly into the ground, any change was welcomed. China, now being directed by Chinese people as opposed to foreign rule, faced an unfamiliar new beginning. However, this beginning did not come without its bumps in the road.

In 1927, the Chinese Civil War between the Chinese Nationalists and the Communist Party of China erupted. 2 The war continued up until the Japanese invaded. The communist party gained it true strength and momentum during this time. While the Japanese marched forward into China, the controlling Nationalist government proceeded to battle the communists believing them to be the true threat. Members of the communist party spent their days getting to know the peasantry. The peasantry viewed this choice by the Nationalist as wrong and perhaps not acting in their best interests. If the Nationalists are trying to kill the Chinese communists, while the invading Japanese forces are allowed to walk through China killing its people and doing as they please, something is terribly wrong. Perhaps the echoes of the previous Qing dynasty reminded them what foreign rule was like. And like clock work, the communist party gained strength among the people.

Some time later, Japan was defeated in 1945, thus defining the end of World War II. The Chinese Civil war continued once again until 1950 when the Communist party finally took control. 3

Now, communism in theory cannot work in under developed nations. It took Europe to naturally evolve industrially throughout a period of over one-hundred-fifty-years. Though Europe was never communist, it was still fertile ground in which to apply Marxist theory of communism. China, was not very industrialized by the time the Communist party took control of the country. This on its own served is a major problem for the Chinese who are trying to apply these theories into practice. For the most part the ideology of communism is somewhat present in its application into Chinese society. Now whether all of its parts made it through to the whole is debatable. Communism suited the needs of the Chinese at that particular point of time. Coming from a series of bad experiences in leadership, the communist party was welcomed as the carriers of the Mandate of Heaven. It was logical for the Chinese revolutionaries to turn towards communism as an ideology considering that the Russian communists saved their country back from a similar circumstance. 4 Call it much needed inspiration. These men looked outwards in order to help the internal situation of their country. Interesting enough, this is very representative of the situation. There is a reoccurring thematic within ancient Chinese philosophy, which convey the principles of the external reflections of internal problems. The Chinese revolutionaries looking at the Russian revolution as inspiration to cure their own ailments illustrates this very well. 5

Much like the barbarians that ruled China throughout the Qing Dynasty, the foreign concepts of communism did not come without its own puzzles. It is exactly the same problem that the Chinese faced before, only this time the problem took a different form. It didn't come in the form of a conquering army thirsty for the blood of the Chinese, it came in the form of a foreign ideology that is believed to carry the answers to their problems. Perhaps if we closed our eyes, and looked at this from a different angle, we could see that maybe the ideas cultivated by Carl Marx had their own Mandate of Heaven? Regardless, communism was interpreted and adapted to the best of their abilities. But once again, as we previously glossed over one of the main pre-requisites of communism is that the country must be industrialized and that the working class must out number all others. So once again, the concept of communism is transformed, punched, mutilated and injected into yet another version of its former self. Though many still refer to China as a communist state, it truly is not. It is simply an interpretation of the ideology and nothing more. What is practiced in China today is a type of hybrid capitalism that mixes concepts as it pleases. But it is important to see that the change to communism was one made out of need and not of choice. Even though choice is apparent, Chinese history dictates that the Mandate of Heaven chooses its carriers at random.

Circles of Creation - History

History is viewed through many angles and has various interpretations. However, the fact remains that while history is in fact an interpretation in itself, this interpretation comes from the perspective of a human. Simply put, the world as we know it has been determined, created and accounted for by its human inhabitants. With that being said, the creation myths that define our reality, the very beginnings of our civilizations are merely interpretations of events that occurred a millennia ago. Everything has a beginning, and when that beginning happens there are no witnesses, simply because things are still in the process of being created, nothing really exists other than creation itself. After the fact, the recently created civilizations interpret their surroundings, and much like ancient detectives, begin to gather clues and facts about how they came into being. Imagine it in the same respect as a form of mass memory loss. There are those who don’t know how they got here and don’t care. However, there were obviously those who questioned the method of their existence and arrival. Those very curious individuals are the ones that are responsible for giving us a window into how things in that particular culture and time period came into being. All around the world as civilizations sprang into existence, so did the creation myths that bound them. These men can easily be referred to as ancient historians of sorts, the original writers of time. They interpreted and recorded their findings and from there, their stories defined culture, religion, social standards and like-minded civilians that for the most part followed the stories as law. It is by far no coincidence that the different creation myths have very similar themes and elements. Perhaps humans share an invisible consciousness in which certain ideas, information and beliefs are stored. Though countries and lifetimes apart, the creation myths of Sumer, Greece, and even the Hebrews through their book of Genesis share thematics that are if not exact, are very close to one another. These shared thematics and elements imply a sense of circular understanding that help define the world we live in today. How is it possible for these men/women, to interpret similar beginnings without being in communication with one another? The world is dipped in mystery and wonder. Regardless, the creation myths of Sumer, Greece, and Genesis have similar events and themes, proving that there are elements within those myths that through constant reinterpretation of the same circular existence we participate in can be accounted for as truth.

The Sumerian creation myth is one of the earliest accounts of one of our main themes, the flood thematic. The story of Sumer’s creations is found on a single rock tablet, damaged and becoming more intriguing over time. However, the complete creation myth is not available as the tablet is broken and arrogantly begins when the gods create the Sumerian people and the animals of Sumer. 1 The actual text does not describe how the actual universe, or how our earth was created through the perspective of the Sumerians. However, the Sumerians made it a point to introduce their gods cosmologically, giving curious readers an idea of how events took place and unfolded. Everything started in the sea, which they referred to as Nammu, a god. From that point, the sea gave birth to the unified mountain of earth’s land mass. On that mountain existed the god An, which was heaven and the goddess Ki, which was earth. 1 This union, which was brought forth through the connection of the natural environment gave birth to Enlil, which was the god of air. This air god, separated heaven from earth lending itself to another concurring thematic which illustrates how humans separate themselves from the very chance of attaining the divinity of a god. 1 The gods, later decided to clean humanity in the form of a great flood. The god of the water instructs an Akkadian man by the name of Atra-hasis, to build an ark in order to save the pure. 1 While this bit of information is missing from the actual tablet, it is detailed through Babylonian mythology. The storm lasts for a period of seven days and seven nights. 1 The flood takes place because the people of Sumer angered the gods either through a form of betrayal or disrespect. The flood is initiated to cleanse the civilization until it once again becomes pure. In a sense, the flood thematic lends itself to the idea of rebirth and second chances. Though the people needed to be cleansed, this destruction was not without it’s gleaming sense of hope at the end of the tunnel so to speak.

In the beginning of the creation of Greek reality, there was a void of darkness. In this void existed Nyx, a black bird. The bird laid a golden egg and sat upon it until Eros, the god of love came into being. 2 The shells of the egg separated and created the sky named Uranus, and the earth named Gaia, both gods in their own respect. The god of love made the two fall in love and from that union sprang forth Cronos and his sister Rhea among many other siblings. 2 Much like the myths of Sumer, gods created gods through a union of the natural environment. Heaven, in this case identified as the sky unified with earth and formed a brethren of other gods. These gods, created other gods up until Zeus, who following in the steps of his own father Cronos, killed him and claimed his throne. Some time after Zeus’s rise to power, high on top of mount Olympus, he decided to severely punish humanity in the form of a great flood. Once again we arrive at the recurring dynamic of the ever-cleansing water in the form of another great flood. However, as Poseiden’s wrath was unleashed upon man, Zeus had mercy and called the seas to grown calm. This flood was foretold by the oracle of Delphi, which resided in the mountain of Delphi, which was called the navel of earth. 2 This navel of earth is similar to the Fertile Crescent, as described by Sumerian mythology in which it draws a comparison upon the physical beginning of life. Amongst the destruction of the flood, the gods had pity among men and the merciful Zeus stops the flood. The same can be seen within the structure of the cleansing of Sumer. The main difference between these two identical themes is that the gods of Sumer were much more lenient than Zeus was with respect to having pity towards humans. The Sumerian gods instructed Atra-hasis to create an ark in order to save a selected few. Zeus, was ready to destroy humanity as a whole with the promise of a better more obedient race. However, Zeus exercises mercy and saves the humans from a seemingly unavoidable death. Creation came into being by similar means through the connection of natural elements within the myths of both Greece and Sumer.

The Hebrews account their creation myth depicts god has having created the heavens and earth, much like the connection of heaven and earth in Sumer and Greek myths. However, god’s coming into existence is unaccounted for. The very beginning is simply a concept that is accepted, much like the incomplete tablet that accounts for Sumeria’s creation, and the given that the void and Nyx existed irrefutably within the Greek creation myth. Drawing contrasts between the three myths, one can see that the very beginning of any creation tale, starts with an unmovable element that serves as an ever-existing circumstance. In regards to genesis, this unmovable element is god. God is there at the beginning already creating, and ever so vigilant working hard. The idea that comes to mind is that god created humans in his likeness, a concept shared with Greek mythology that depicts Zeus and the rest of the pantheon in human form. Sumerian mythology does not lend itself towards this idea as their gods did not adopt the appearance of humans, for the exception of Marduk, which was the son of god and was better known within Babylonian mythology. 3 Another thematic apparent within Genesis is the exclusion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden after eating the forbidden fruit. This illustrates the separation of divinity between humans and gods. Almost as if it were an innate disposition for humans to divide themselves from their godly creators, even though they were formed in their image. This theme surfaces in Sumerian mythology by the birth of Enlil, which was responsible for separating earth from heaven. The Greeks place their gods on top of mount Olympus, a place where no humans are allowed to wander. Perhaps this separation is natural and can be viewed as the beginning of human struggle. Another binding element between these civilizations is the great flood, in which god, in order to clean the earth of its impurities, instructs Noah to build an ark in order to save those who are deemed worthy. This is shown in Sumerian mythology through the actions of Atra-hasis who also built an ark to save the pure. The Garden of Eden also represents a physical beginning to existence. The same can be found in Sumer’s Fertile Crescent, and in the Greek’s navel of earth where knowledge seems to spring eternal through the oracle’s unique insight.

How were we really created? Is the world simply a paradox of different realities and stories layered on top of each other in hopes of finding some negligent truth? We have drawn conclusions among three creation myths, Sumer, Greece and Genesis that show the same elements and themes. Though these reoccurring events are disguised to appear different, they are in fact the same. All three creation myths have a flood that cleanses the earth, the natural connection (heaven and earth) of the elements that in turn form life, the separation of man’s divinity from god, a physical beginning for existence (Fertile Crescent, navel of earth, Garden of Eden) and the overall fact that all these accounts originate from the perspective of a human being. One thing is beyond the shadow of doubt, these reoccurring elements can and can be held as truth in some fashion or another. Gods exist, they want to be acknowledged and respected. In a sense, the authors of these varied creation myths can be seen as creators as well. Without their interpretation of how things came into existence, we would not know, or perhaps someone else would simply step in and create another set of creation myths much like Charles Darwin did in the nineteenth century. History travels in a circular straight line. By this, we can see that while history and events unfold in a perpetual forward motion, we are simply traveling within cycles that we have yet to acknowledge, sharing similar events and constantly revisiting the same themes. The creation myths are no exception to the recycling process of history. Everything has a beginning, and the beginning is created by man.