The People

1
The Peoples Republic of China
2
Communist Victory

• Civil War
• Nationalist vs Communist
• Chiang Kai-shek vs. Mao Zedong
• 1949 Communist capture Beijing
• Mao announced birth of Peoples Republic of China
• Chiang retreated to Taiwan

3
Why Communist won

• Appealed to the peasants and the poor
• End to imperialism and western influence
• Promised land reforms
• Called for industrialization
• Promised China would become a world leader

4
Chairmens Mao three promises

• Better life for the poor
• Development of a modern economy
• Make China a world power

5
A New Order

• In theory only
• Free elections
• Free speech
• Free press
• Reality
• One party dictatorship
• Propaganda used to foster support for Chairmen
  Mao
• Obedience and loyalty to Chairmen Mao
• Chairmen Mao has all the answers
• Little Red Book

6
Example of Propaganda
7
Problems faced

• Large population needed to be feed, housed and
  educated
• Few industries
• Lack of farming
• Lacked technology and capital
• Isolation from the world community

8
Economic Development

• Gov ended private ownership of land and
  businesses
• Socialism

9
Collective farms

• Increase farm productivity
• Members worked for the state and received a share
  of the harvest
• Rest of harvest went to the government

Long live the Peoples Commune
10
Great Lead Forward - 1958

• Increase farming and modernization of China
• Divided China into communes
• Several villages, thousands of acres and 20,000
  people
• Split up families
• Communal living and eating
• Provided workers with all their needs
• People worked on building bridges, irrigation
  systems, and dams

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Effect

• Within two yrs became clear it was in trouble
• Led to disaster
• Peasants did not like commune system
• Production feel
• Food shortages
• Industrial mismanagement
• Famine hit China from 1959-1961
• Mao abandon the Great Leap Forward

12
Building Industry

• Focused on heavy industry
• Mining and military weapons
• Urged communes to make tools and furniture
• Used backyard furnaces to make steel
• Low quality could not be used
• Managers stressed quantity over quality

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Backyard Furnaces
14
Culture Revolution

• Mao grew concerned over power struggle in
  Communist Party
• Believed young had grown soft and needed to
  experience a revolution
• Launched Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

15
Cultural Revolution

• Stressed class struggle
• Urged young to hunt down capitalist roaders
• Younger organized Red Guard
• Traveled around China and attacked government
  officials and professionals
• Public struggle meetings
• Forced people to confess crimes against Mao

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Effect

• Many people were falsely accused
• Beaten, tortured, imprisoned, or killed
• Lost generation
• Without school, without education
• Maos death in Sept 1976
• Gang of Four arrested put on trial
• Guilty for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution

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Deng Xiaoping

• Comes to power by 1978
• Stressed economic reform
• Light industry
• Managers could decide what to produce
• Allowed private entrepreneurs to operate own
  businesses
• Chinas economy grew
• Became one of the fastest growing developing
  countries
• Will have the second largest by 2022
• Opened China to trade with the rest of the world
• Foreign trade and investment
• Set up the Special Economic Zone (SEZ)
• Southeastern China
• Free enterprise thrives