ABSTRACT
It may be suggested that the true significance of China's revolution under Communism lies in the single word 'people’. In Chinese the term 'people’ is formed by the two characters of jen, meaning man, or human, and min, meaning people or subjects of a state. While jen-min as a term is probably as old as the Chinese language, its usage in the current context and its clearly understood connotations are unmistakably peculiar to the Communist phase of modern China. The crucial character min is often rendered as people by itself But in both Imperial and Republican China the character min had been used in conjunction with modifiers other than jen, thereby giving the resulting combinations meanings quite different from the term jen-min, which is currently in use. Among other things, the term i en-min or people implies the Communist concept of class struggle: the common man and woman who form the masses and who in pre-Com-munist days had been victims of oppression and exploitation by the privileged classes. The Communist revolution brought about the overthrow of the oppressors, both foreign and domestic, and the 'liberation of the people’. Consequently, the Chinese nation—state was proclaimed to be Chung—hua jen-min kung—ho kuo, or The Chinese People's Republic. The highest legislative body became known as jen-min tai—piao ta-hui, or the National People's Congress. and the armed forces of the state are called ien-min chieh—fang chun, or the People's Liberation Army.
