Democracy in China

                   Mao, who was the leader of china, had big plans for his country.  He wanted them to become more powerful like the Soviet Union and decided to copy exactly what they did to get power for himself.  Instead of being able to own their own farms, he made the Chinese farmers farm on collective farms, he made the poor work in steel factories with not much pay at all.  This was disastrous for China.  Most of the farmer’s effort in the crops went down, and although they were working hard not enough money was being made on the steel factories so the poor couldn’t buy food for their family.  A famine went all throughout China.  Millions died from it.  The Chinese Communist Party wanted Mao to share his power since things were turning out this way.

                    Soon many people were doubting Mao.  The leader of the CCP was a man named Deng Xiaoping.  He seemed to be a smart choice to replace Mao for Xiaoping.  But instead, Mao and the people who were still with him started a propaganda saying that some people on the inside were planning an assassination.  This gave Mao the excuse to hire a large ‘’bodyguard’’ which was really an army of thirty thousand men. Anybody who was now against Mao, were either killed or arrested.  Deng Xiaoping was not killed, but had to walk through the streets with a dunce cap on his head and then had to go work in a factory like the poor.

                    During this time, Mao made the newspapers, theaters, novels, and gatherings talk only about him and how good he was.  If they didn’t they would have been killed or arrested.  Even children had to join the Red Guard. They had to swear to be loyal to Mao.  Every house needed a picture of him up on their wall.  It would be bad if they didn’t.

                    In 1976, Mao died and Xiaoping came back and became the new leader.  He was determined to get China on its feet again.  He made many changes.  He decided to let some of the farmers work on their own farms, the poor could sell extra food for money and were able to give up working in steel factories.  Things were beginning to start back up again.  There was only one thing they were not allowed to do.  The Chinese were not allowed to give their own opinions about things.  This cause a big catastrophe.

                   On April 15^th, 1989, thousands of young students who wanted to speak their mind gathered to protest in Tiananmen Square.  They wanted to be able to be heard and wouldn’t leave unless they changed that.  Soon the protest got so big that the Chinese army had to come in and say warning that if they didn’t leave there would be dire consequences.  But even with these warnings the people still didn’t leave.  Eventually the army attacked.  Millions died and were wounded.  It was a terribly tragic event.  They even sent in tanks to drive the people out. 

When it was over bodies lay everywhere and the army tried to put up tents to hind what had happened but it was already all over television.  Many people knew about it.  People all around the world helped protest against it, but when it was over the Communist Party still remained in power over china.  Although Mao's big plan for China failed, Deng made it more prosperous.  But the people still wanted Democracy.  

                                                                   The End

 

The End of the Cold War

                The Cold war, which was dated from 1947 – 1991, was political and military tension between powers in the Western bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO allies, and Eastern bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union with Warsaw Pact allies.  Although it is was called a ‘’war’’, no fighting was involved.  The U.S. and the USSR, each possessing nuclear power, were giving each other the ‘’cold shoulder’’.  Each kept sending spy’s over because both wanted to make sure no nuclear bombs were being sent to the other country. 

                 During this time there were two important leaders that had a lot to do with the Cold War.  The president of the United States, Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.  Both leaders wanted to stop the cold war.  On May 18^th, 1987 Reagan gave a speech to encourage the destruction of the Berlin Wall.  On November 1985, at Reykjavik Summit, Iceland, the two leaders met to discuss a treaty on intermediate nuclear missiles.  But soon it became an argument and the two began disagreeing and no treaty was signed.

                 Another important event of the Cold War was the fall of the Berlin Wall.  East Germany and West Germany were separated and nobody was allowed to cross or climb over the wall to get to the other side.  If the wall was put up when you were visiting family on the east side and you were from the west (or vice versa) you wouldn’t be able to get back home.  This all came to an end on November 9 1989.  People came from both sides and started hammering away at the wall to knock it down. Although the mob was big, the guards could not stop it.  Germans were celebrating and were extremely happy for this was going to be a day to remember.  As Germans came over from the opposite side, people welcomed them and greeted them like they had never greeted anyone before.  Twenty – eight years of bondage and they were free at last.

                  The Cold War also cause a lot of big problems.  Nuclear power was one of them.  The United States and USSR were afraid that each was making nuclear bombs to set off on the other country.  No accidents happened in either country.  But unfortunately, two nuclear power plants had their own accidents; one at the Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania and one in Chernobyl.  At Three Mile Island, one of their reactors stopped working and began to give off dangerous radioactivity.  Thankfully nobody was hurt.  In Chernobyl, a much bigger disaster occurred.  Instead of a non – working reactor, theirs got to hot and exploded.  So much radiation was in the air, thousands of people were exposed.  To stop more radiation from going into the air, scientists put a huge metal and concrete dome over the plant so that no more radioactivity would escape.      ( Chernobyl left - Three Mile Island right )

 

                      The end of the Cold War was simple.  When the Berlin Wall came down it was over.  In 1990 East and West Germany were finally unified.  The Soviet Union then broke up into little nations and couldn’t control Eastern Europe anymore.  The Cold War was a big event with many problems and problems that were solved and it always will be remembered.