"When the sleeping dragon awakes," Napoleon once said of China, "he will shake the world." In the 20th century, multiple upheavals shook the Asian giant. The rule of emperors gave way to civil war and the Communist revolution, closing China to the world. The doors slowly opened in the 1970s with new diplomatic ties and economic reforms. The crackdown on democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square in 1989 barely checked China's growth, and today the world's most populous nation is on its way to superpower status. CBC Archives presents China as CBC journalists have seen it over the decades.
A civil war is nearing its end in 1948 as Chinese Communists under Mao Zedong and the Nationalist Guomindang party under Chiang Kai-shek struggle for control of the country. Which party would make a better government for the country of 540 million? In this clip from the CBC Radio program Citizens' Forum, three Canadian observers of the situation debate the merits of each side.
Former missionary A.J. Brace is a strong pro-nationalist. He believes that the ability and integrity of Nationalist leaders in China compare favourably with those of any leadership anywhere. Charles Gagan, of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Association, takes the opposite view. He says under the Communists, farmers are no longer beholden to greedy landlords. "In the Communist area, the people were so much happier," he says.
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