Final answer:
Communism in China, led by Mao Zedong and later by Deng Xiaoping and Xi Jinping, has resulted in significant changes, including the modernization of the country, a mixture of market freedoms with authoritarian rule, and increased adherence to Marxist ideals, while also causing mass suffering and repression of traditional culture and freedoms.
Step-by-step explanation:
The rise of communism has dramatically shaped life in China and its influence on surrounding nations is significant. Following World War II, there was a global ideological divide, with countries like the United States and the UK opposing communism, which was embraced by leaders like Joseph Stalin, Nikita Khrushchev, and Mao Zedong. In China, Mao Zedong's communist party sought to modernize the nation by collectivizing agriculture and expanding industrial regions, efforts which led to the destruction of old traditions and heavy losses among intellectuals and artists.
Under leaders like Deng Xiaoping, China mixed communism with free enterprise, creating a unique system that allowed the government and entrepreneurs to prosper while maintaining strict control over free speech and democracy. Today, under Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party has emphasized a fusion of market freedoms and strict party control, seeing traditional Chinese beliefs like Confucianism as compatible with communist goals. This period has also seen a significant reduction in poverty in China, attributed to these economic reforms.
Despite some similarities, the implementation of communism varied between the Soviet Union and China, yet the United States consistently viewed communism as a threat. The positive intent behind communism contrasted sharply with the harsh realities of its practice in China, which led to mass suffering and the death of millions, raising questions about the discrepancy between ideology and its execution.