As China was suffering through the Great Leap Forward internally, Mao also attempted to remake the global communist power structure. Mao did not respect Russia’s new leader, Nikita Khrushchev, who Mao felt lacked revolutionary zeal. Relations between the two communist powers soured, as Mao’s extremism and belligerence increased.
For Chen, as for Sun Yat-sen and Liang Qichao before him, the May Fourth Movement called the merits of the Western model into question. Disillusioned by the actions of the Allies at the Paris Peace Conference, Chen began to look to other models. The Soviets quickly provided an alternative, sending Lev Karakhan to Beijing and… Read more »
Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) was born to a gentry family in Sichuan while Empress Dowager Cixi still sat on the throne. His father saw the upheaval coming to China’s society and rather than giving his son a classical education, he enrolled Deng in a program that sent him to France. Deng spent five years working in factories… Read more »