The intermingling of Chinese and Western cultures, beginning in the middle years of the 19th century, effectively ended China's seclusion from the rest of the world and brought about profound changes in all cultural manifestations. As a result, this interplay between foreign and domestic entities gave rise to revolutionary changes in China's political and economic systems, not to mention its social structure and intellectual attitudes and ideas.

Also, the forced insertion of foreign cultural ideas into Chinese life created a powerful sense of nationalistic and racial identity which was substantially increased by the Cultural Revolution. As an added benefit, this great change in China's cultural life made it possible for democracy to begin

By accepting certain Western principles, whether through social change or democracy, Chinese leaders, for the most part, have always desired to change China's cultural system in order to make China less foreign in the eyes of its citizens. For example, Sun Yat-sen accepted the Republican form of government but rejected the traditional three-way division of power and Mao Tse-tung brought to the forefront his own "New Democracy" in which the dictatorship of the proletariat was replaced with an alliance of all the classes within China.

According to H.T. Lee, modern China "defies comparisons with the China of previous ages, for the changes which distinguish China from its traditional counterpart are both fundamental and far-reaching" (37), meaning that Communism greatly altered the political and cultural face of China by doing away with the old systems related to the monarchy.

But most importantly, the Soviet Union promoted China's interest by allowing the growing country to play a major role in the affairs of Asia. But internally, China was highly dependent on the Chinese Communist Party and the ideals of Mao, especially when the Cultural Revolution began in the 1960's.

Generally speaking, one major political event which occurred as a result of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 was the rise of Communism in China which played a major role in shaping its contemporary history. Of course, Mao Tse-tung played a major role in the emergence of Communism is China, especially during the 1950's. Though deeply committed to Communism, Mao and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were national communists at heart and were greatly concerned over China's future position in the international arena.

Intellectually, the old religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, had become obsolete to a great degree, mostly because of the influx of Western ideas about religion. Thus, all of these changes "virtually affected every aspect of Chinese life, yet this great metamorphosis of modern China was often prolonged and painful" (Henderson 45), especially when one takes into account the rapid changes that occurred in China during the Cultural Revolution.

When Mao Tse-tung launched his Cultural Revolution, he "mobilized the youth of China by showing them that each one was an important and vital link in the chain of command known as communism and thereby set up certain cultural values that are still practiced by Chinese youth today." Thus, many of the important and often radical ideals espoused by Mao Tse-tung and the Communist Party as found in his "Little Red Book," namely, the "future Bible of Chinese youth, the talisman and touchstone of Mao's personality cult," are still practiced in today's China (Lee 256). This is rather surprising, due to the fact that in modern China the move toward capitalism gains speed every single day and goes against many of the principles contained in Mao's "Little Red Book." This indicates that China has, perhaps reluctantly, abandoned many of Mao's basic political viewpoints in favor of a more capitalistic system which many Chinese surely see as a necessary evil in order to become a thriving member of the global community.

spreading its roots throughout the country and bring about the most important political changes ever envisioned in China's long and violent history. In addition, with the advent of democracy in China, the entire system, at least since the early years of the 1980's, has begun to shift toward a capitalistic system, much like that found in many Western nations.

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Approximate Word count = 2458
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)