Communism

In the early 1920's, a college student by the name of Mao Zedong had ideas of a utopian society in China where no social classes existed and everyone had equal wealth. Mao felt that these communistic ideas of Karl Marx could become a reality in China. Mao's dreams became quite popular all across China. Afterall, if you have nothing to lose (which was the case with many Chinese in the early 1900's), this idea of communism sounds very appealing.

However, Karl Marx advocated communism in Europe (in the 1800's) where there was already a substantial economic base. Marx never intended for communism to spring up in China. One of the major problems with creating this imaginary utopian society in China was that there was not enough wealth to spread around. Since Mao's death in 1976, various leaders in China have opened the door to industry and trade in hopes of building up the economic base in China-- perhaps leading to ultimate democracy or perhaps leading back into communism. Again, the future of China is very much in question.

You have successfully completed the human geography portion of the lecture.