In 1949, New China decided on the name of the country, Chairman Mao: This is reasonable
Every Chinese, as long as they are patriotic, mention the name of the country "People's Republic of China", and hear the national anthem "March of the Volunteers", a sense of pride and sacredness will rise in their hearts, and they will secretly vow to make their own contribution to the prosperity and strength of the motherland.
Many people may not know that there was also a process in determining the name of the People's Republic of China, and some of the stories were little known, such as Zhang Zhizhong proposing to Chairman Mao to remove two characters from the original name of the country name of the Party Central Committee.
On the eve of the founding of New China, after repeated deliberation and discussion, the Party Central Committee decided to take "People's Democratic Republic of China" as the name of the new China to be founded.
In order to solicit a wide range of opinions, Chairman Mao invited a number of patriotic, enlightened, and progressive non-party personages to Zhongnanhai.
At the forum, Chairman Mao proposed to the non-party personages present that the party Central Committee's opinion should be used as "People's Democratic Republic of China," and most of the people present agreed, but a small number of people raised their own objections, including General Zhang Zhizhong, who proposed to delete the two characters.
So for the 2 words that General Zhang Zhizhong proposed to remove, which 2 words are they?
Did the Party Central Committee finally adopt the ideas he put forward?
On July 16, 1922, the Second Party Congress was held at No. 625 Fu Delhi, South Chengdu Road, Shanghai, and the meeting stated:
"Unify the headquarters of China (including the three eastern provinces) into a truly democratic republic." "Use the free federal system to unify China, Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, and establish the Federal Republic of China."
The "Federal Republic of China" in the nature of a "genuine democratic republic" is the historical starting point of our party's thinking on the founding of the country, and although it later died in the end for various reasons, it is of great significance to our party.
In May 1927, the Manifesto of the Fifth Party Congress proposed "overthrowing the imperialist warlords and the counter-revolutionary alliance of the rebellious bourgeoisie," establishing a "revolutionary civil rights league of the workers' and peasants' petty bourgeoisie," and "building a new free China."
On October 23, the Declaration of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Communist Youth League against Warlord War clearly stated:
"Unify China, create a new China - the China of the Council of Workers, Peasants, Soldiers, and Laboring Poor Deputies (Soviets)."
The creation of a democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants - the Soviet Republic, was proposed.
Later, "Chinese Soviet Republic" became the first national name used by our Party.
On August 1, 1927, our Party held an armed uprising in Nanchang, firing the first shot of our Party's armed resistance against the reactionary rule of the Kuomintang.
After that, our party successively held a series of armed uprisings such as the Autumn Harvest Uprising, and as our party continuously won victories in opposing "encirclement and suppression," the revolutionary base areas also continued to grow, and base areas such as southern Fujian, Hubei and Yuwan, western Hunan, Xianggan, and Xiang-Hubei were established one after another, and revolutionary political power at all levels at the township, district, county, and provincial (border areas) levels, or workers' and peasants' governments, was successively established in each base area.
In November 1931, as our Party developed more and more rapidly and the revolutionary base areas led by its leadership grew stronger and stronger, our Party decided to establish the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic in Ruijin, Jiangxi Province, relying on the base areas of southern Jiangxi and western Fujian, with Mao Zedong as its chairman.
"Chinese Soviet Republic" was the first country name used by our Party, and although the revolutionary base areas under the leadership of our Party at that time accounted for only a small part of the whole country, the name of the country determined at that time did not only represent the regional power led by our Party, but represented the whole of China.
In addition to the "Chinese Soviet Republic", our Party used the name "Workers' and Peasants' Republic" during the Civil Revolutionary War.
The Outline of the Constitution of the Chinese Soviet Republic clearly defines the nature of the "Chinese Soviet Republic":
"The Chinese Soviet established a democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants."
This shows that the "workers' and peasants' republic" is essentially the abbreviation of the "Chinese Soviet Republic", because "soviet" refers to a form of democracy for workers and peasants.
In December 1935, in view of the increasingly severe situation of resistance against Japan and the fact that the Japanese invaders were even more inclined to destroy China, our Party decided to change the name of the country and, in accordance with Chairman Mao's proposal and with the consent of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, to add the word "people" to the original name of the country was for the Chinese Soviet People's Republic.
At the same time, when the name of the "Chinese Soviet Republic" was changed to "Chinese Soviet People's Republic", for the same reason, our party also changed the name of "Workers' and Peasants' Republic" to "People's Republic".
In this regard, Chairman Mao wrote in his article "On the Strategy of Opposing Japanese Imperialism":
In the past, we were not wrong to mention the slogan "Republic of Workers and Peasants".
Now, we must unite all patriotic forces to resist Japan and use the slogan of "People's Republic." We use this slogan on behalf of the whole nation in order to unite the petty bourgeoisie, the national bourgeoisie, and all anti-imperialist and anti-feudal forces to resist Japan in unison.
In August 1936, in the "Letter of the Communist Party of China to the Chinese Kuomintang," our Party changed the term "People's Republic" to "Democratic Republic," stating that "we sponsor the establishment of a unified democratic republic for the whole of China" and that "when the democratic republic of the whole of China is established, the Soviet region will become an integral part of the unified democratic republic of the whole China." ”
Our party's change of "people's republic" to "democratic republic" is not only based on the historical task of uniting the whole country to resist Japan and save the dead, but also to oppose the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang in the War of Resistance.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, our Party still used the name "Democratic Republic", but at this time it was already a slogan, a form of struggle, and a means of struggle against the authoritarian rule of the Kuomintang.
After the "People's Democratic Republic of China" was considered as the name of New China, Chairman Mao clearly pointed out in October 1947 that the people's army under the leadership of the Communist Party of China was to fundamentally overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship, seize national power, and establish a new China.
Later, in a political declaration drafted for the headquarters of the People's Liberation Army, Chairman Mao openly announced to the people of the whole country what kind of new China the Communist Party of China wanted to build:
Joining forces with workers, peasants, soldiers, and business, all oppressed classes, all people's organizations, all democratic parties, all ethnic minorities, overseas Chinese and other patriotic elements in various localities to form a national united front to overthrow Chiang Kai-shek's dictatorship and establish a democratic coalition government.
This is the first time that our party has expressed the political nature of the new China that will be built:
What our party wants to build is a democratic republic in which Chinese the people are masters of their own affairs.
Based on this, Chairman Mao repeatedly expressed on different occasions the name of the new China that our Party was about to establish on different occasions, that is, the "People's Democratic Republic of China."
As for the meaning of the name of the "People's Democratic Republic of China", the Party Central Committee explained it as follows:
The establishment of a genuine democratic republic is our party's unswerving pursuit during the period of the new democratic revolution. From the establishment of the Chinese Soviet Republic to the successive formulation of the slogans "People's Republic" and "Democratic Republic," they were all suited to the situation and tasks at different stages of development of the new democratic revolution.
In January 1948, Chairman Mao used the term "People's Democratic Republic of China" twice in his document "On Several Important Issues in the Present Party Policy" drafted for the Party Central Committee:
"This masses of the people form their own state (the People's Democratic Republic of China) and establish a government representing the country (the central government of the People's Democratic Republic of China), and the working class, through its own vanguard, the Communist Party of China, exercises leadership over the state of the masses of the people and its government."
A year later, Chairman Mao again used the term "People's Democratic Republic of China" in his New Year's Day address to the name of the new China that our party is leading the people to establish:
"In 1949, a political consultative conference with the goal of accomplishing the tasks of the people's revolution without the participation of reactionaries will be convened to proclaim the establishment of the People's Democratic Republic of China and form the central government of the republic."
With regard to the name of New China, the overwhelming majority of democratic parties and democrats without party affiliation at that time were also in favor of using "People's Democratic Republic of China" as the name of New China, except for a small number of democrats who suggested that all the terms such as China, democracy, union, people, republic, and new democracy should be used, or "China" should be used directly, or "Republic of China" should be used as follows.
The new China established by our party is a democratic people's government, and the minority is subordinate to the majority, so when the overwhelming majority of the people agree to use the "People's Democratic Republic of China" as the name of the new China, the party Central Committee has taken this name as a basic preference and openly mentioned it in many important speeches and documents.
On June 21, 1949, when People's Daily published the list of groups of the Preparatory Committee for the New CPPCC, it mentioned: "The Fourth Group (Formulating the Program of the Government of the People's Democratic Republic of China)".
Later, at the first meeting of the preparatory committee of the new CPPCC, Chairman Mao ended his speech with three slogans, one of which was "Long live the People's Democratic Republic of China!" ”
The official determination of the name "People's Republic of China" The Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao have repeatedly used the term "People's Democratic Republic of China" in key speeches and documents, which seems to have foreshadowed that it is the national name of the new China.
However, we all know that the name of the last new China is "People's Republic of China" rather than "People's Democratic Republic of China", so why is that?
On June 15, 1949, the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the New CPPCC was held in Peiping, which was divided into six groups to prepare for various matters of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, of which the fourth group was responsible for discussing the name of the new China.
At the beginning of the meeting, the participants expressed their views on the issue of the name of the new China, which were roughly summarized into four opinions:
- It is the name of the "People's Democratic Republic of China" that the overwhelming majority of people, including Chairman Mao, agree to use.
At that time, during the War of Liberation, after repeated discussions among Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, Commander-in-Chief Zhu and other leaders of the Party Central Committee, our Party had already clarified the state system of New China, that is, the people's democratic dictatorship led by our Party and based on the alliance of workers and peasants.
Based on this, the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao used the term "People's Democratic Republic of China" to refer to the new China that was about to be established.
- Use "Republic of China" as the name of the new China
The representative who made this proposal believed that the Republic of China was founded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, had been used for 38 years and would always have a broad base among the people.
Moreover, whether in the First World War or the Second World War, the Republic of China was a victorious country, and this country name has a certain influence in the world, if New China continues to use this country name, it can better improve New China's international reputation and increase international influence.
- Use "People's Democratic Republic of China" as the name of the new China
The representative who made the proposal argued that the name "People's Democratic Republic of China", while good, was too long and that some words had the same meaning in both Chinese and English, and advocated the deletion of the word "republic" and the retention of "people" and "democracy".
- Use "People's Republic of China" as the name of the new China
Just as the representative of "People's Democratic Republic of China" was proposed as the name of the new China, the representative who proposed "People's Republic of China" as the name of the new China also believed that some words of "People's Democratic Republic of China" had the same meaning, and that "democracy" should be removed and "republic" should be retained.
Of the four opinions, the "People's Democratic Republic of China" has the largest number of supporters, but since the "name of the country" is one of the top priorities of the new China that is about to be founded, it is necessary to be cautious, and our party also attaches great importance to this, and did not immediately decide to use this country name as the name of the new China because of the large number of supporters.
The Standing Committee of the Preparatory Committee of the New CPPCC attached great importance to the above four opinions, and treated them equally, and in order to select a national name that is truly suitable for New China, the Committee decided to convene the second plenary meeting of the fourth group to study this matter.
At the meeting, all four views were opposed and supported.
For example, the name of the country "People's Democratic Republic of China", some representatives think that it is too long, and "republic" is synonymous with "democracy", because "democracy" is removed, "republic" is retained, or "republic" is removed, and "democracy" is retained, Mr. Zhang Xiruo, a professor at Tsinghua University, believes:
"If there are people, you can not want the word democracy, but if there are people, is it not democratic?"
Another example is the national name "Republic of China", some deputies believe that this national name has been hated and hated by the people and is not suitable for New China.
"I am against using abbreviations such as 'Republic of China' because for more than 20 years this name has been overwhelmed by Chiang Kai-shek."
Situ Meitang, a patriotic overseas Chinese, also agreed with Zhou Zhixiang's statement:
"Although I am a person who participated in the Xinhai Revolution, I also respect Dr. Sun Yat-sen, but I have no good impression of the four characters 'Republic of China'. The reason is that the Republic of China has nothing to do with the people, and it has made Chiang Kai-shek angry for 22 years, which is really heartbreaking. ”
After the meeting, the committee made a detailed report on the content of the meeting to Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou and other leaders of the Party Central Committee.
In order to truly understand what the deputies have proposed for the upcoming establishment of a new China, Chairman Mao specially invited people from all walks of life to Zhongnanhai for discussions.
At the forum, Chairman Mao asked the delegates what suggestions they had on the name of the new China that would be founded.
At this time, General Zhang Zhizhong spoke:
"'Republic', the word itself includes the meaning of 'democracy', why repeat it? Otherwise, simply call it 'People's Republic of China'? ”
Zhang Zhizhong suggested removing the word 'democracy'.
General Zhang Zhizhong's suggestion, Chairman Mao said that this remark was reasonable, and suggested that everyone consider it.
Thus, as General Zhang Zhizhong, Professor Zhang Xiruo, and other well-known figures suggested that the word "democracy" should be removed and "People's Republic of China" should be directly used as the name of the new China to be founded, Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and other party Central Committee leaders also agreed with the suggestions of Zhang Zhizhong, Zhang Xiruo, and other patriotic democrats after repeated consultations, and finally the name of New China was determined.
On September 21, 1949, the first plenary meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference was solemnly opened in Peiping. At the meeting, after several discussions, the overwhelming majority of the delegates agreed to adopt "People's Republic of China" as the name of the new China to be founded.
Subsequently, Dong Biwu explained the issue of the state name of the People's Republic of China in the "Report on the Process and Basic Content of the Drafting of the Organic Law of the Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China":
"We now adopt this last name, because 'republic' describes our state system, and the word 'people' in today's new democratic China refers to the four classes of workers, peasants, petty bourgeoisie, and national bourgeoisie.
At the same time, Premier Zhou also explained the name of the "People's Republic of China" in his report "Several Questions on the Chinese of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference":
"The reason for the deletion of the word democracy in the draft organic law of the central government is that there is a feeling that democracy and republic have a common meaning and do not need to be repeated, and both contain the meaning of democracy. In the national system, it is a republic, and in nature, it is democratic. As a country, it is better to use the word republic, so using the People's Republic of China can be said to be democracy. ”
Why did you choose "People's Republic of China" as the name of the new China that will be established?
Because it completely and accurately embodies the state system of new China -- the people's democratic dictatorship.
After the name of the country was decided, "People's Republic of China" was officially written into the "Common Program of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference", which had the effect of a provisional constitution, and since then the title "People's Republic of China" has been officially published to the world.
On October 1, 1949, Chairman Mao solemnly declared to the world from the tower of Tiananmen Square:
The Central People's Government of the People's Republic of China was established today!
Today, after more than 70 years of rapid development, under the wise leadership of our Party and the hard work of the people of the whole country, the People's Republic of China has become one of the most powerful and prosperous countries in the world, standing proudly on the top of the East, becoming an enduring symbol of all ethnic groups in China, and a homeland yearned for by the descendants of overseas Yanhuang.
