Chapter 55 Lecture 9 Two Republics of China: From Extreme Freedom to "Controlled Economy"

During the period of the Republic of China, the four basic systems that maintained the great unification collapsed in an all-round way.Since Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shikai, the central government has lost complete control over the localities. After Yuan Dukai's death in 1916, the local warlords broke away from the leadership of Beijing, embraced their own self-respect, beggar their neighbors, and advocated "inter-provincial autonomy."The control over the thoughts of the whole people has also been loosened. Young people doubt and abandon all traditions. .The social elites have all dispersed outside the system. Since the imperial examination was abolished, there has been no effective official selection and election system. Talents have flowed among the people. After the Spring and Autumn Period, an independent intellectual class reappeared collectively and became the ruling system. active forces outside.In terms of macroeconomic management, because industrial resources are controlled by the people, the government's control over key industries has been reduced to a minimum, and a free-flowing market economy has emerged.

The total disintegration of the basic system means that the centralization of power no longer has any focus.This is the first "central power vacuum" in 1,400 years since the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the "Five Disorderly China".Thus, this time became an era of absolute freedom, and freedom became very scary.In the history of thought, this is the third period of ideological emancipation after the Spring and Autumn Warring States period and the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. A hundred flowers bloomed and a hundred schools of thought contended. During this period, outstanding talents emerged like a galaxy. Many far-reaching thinkers, artists, and military strategists appeared here. In the first stage, the important May 4th Movement broke out at this time, and the Chinese Communist Party was also born at this time.

The old governance model that lasted for two thousand years no longer exists. However, at the same time as the great turmoil, constructive theories and models have not emerged. The birth of the republic in China is very much like a hastily manufactured "imitation."