| Initiator | Joseph Stalin |
|---|---|
| Origin | On the Tasks of Economic Workers |
| Introduced | February 4, 1931 |
| Backwardness brings on beatings by others | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 落后就要挨打 | ||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 落後就要挨打 | ||||||
| |||||||
Backwardness brings on beatings by others[1] (simplified Chinese:落后就要挨打;traditional Chinese:落後就要挨打), or the backward will be beaten up,[2] backwardness proves vulnerable to attack,[3] is aviewpoint initially put forward byJoseph Stalin in his speechOn the Tasks of Economic Workers, delivered on February 4, 1931. This claim attributes China's beating to its technological backwardness.[4] It is aslogan used by theChinese government to "guide"Chinese people to understand themodern Chinese history.[5]
"Backwardness brings on beatings by others" literally means that if you are backward, you will be beaten.[6] This phrase is mostly for countries, it implies that backward countries are naturally subject to invasion and exploitation.[7]
Some Chinese scholars have questioned the statement that "backwardness brings on beatings by others". Zhu Weizheng argued that thebackwardness ofpolitical civilization was the fundamental reason why the lateQing China was beaten by theWestern powers.[8] According to Hu Haiou, the real reason why the late Qing China was beaten was because of its backward concept.[9]
