Communist China

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Communist China

• SS7H3d Describe the impact of Communism in
  China in terms of Mao Zedong, the Great Leap
  Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen
  Square.

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Chiang Kai-shek

• leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party in the
  1920s, 1930s, and 1940s he attempted to wipe out
  the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1934 he
  improved transportation, education, and industry,
  but failed to improve the lives of peasants in
  China-this led to the resurgence of the CCP

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Communism

• an economic and political system in which
  property is owned collectively and labor is
  organized in a way that is supposed to benefit
  all people the government controls all resources
  (natural, capital, and human)

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Mao Zedong

• established China as a communist state in 1949
  attempted to strengthen China economically by
  instituting the Great Leap forward in 1958 (his
  programs backfired and production in farms and
  factories actually decreased-20 million Chinese
  starved to death as a result) initiated the
  Cultural Revolution in 1966

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Long March

• Mao Zedongs Red Army marched 6,000 miles through
  swampland and over mountains to escape Chiang
  Kai-sheks Nationalist (KMT) forces less than
  20,000 of the 100, 000 that started the journey
  survived the communists gained peasant support
  along the way

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Communist Revolution

• Chiang Kai-shek joined forces with Mao Zedong and
  the Chinese Communist Party following the
  Japanese invasion of China at the start of World
  War II World War II ended and the two sides
  turned on each other again-the Communists
  defeated the Nationalists (Kuomintang) in 1949
  and Mao declared China a Communist state called
  the Peoples Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek
  and the Nationalists fled to what most people
  call Taiwan

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Tiananmen Square

• large public square in Beijing, China Mao Zedong
  proclaimed the founding of the People's Republic
  in the square on Oct. 1, 1949

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Collectives

• government-owned farms that employed large
  numbers of workers

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Great Leap Forward

• series of policies that Mao Zedong thought would
  help China to become equal to the leading powers
  of the West in agricultural and industrial
  production this program shattered Chinas
  economy poor agricultural production, droughts,
  and floods caused famine and 20 million Chinese
  starved in less than 2 years

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Cultural Revolution

• from 1966-1976 in China, when Mao Zedong launched
  programs to wipe out past culture and history as
  well as foreign influence high school students
  were encouraged to form groups called Red
  Guards-these groups had the governments
  permission to smash books, artwork, religious
  temples, or anything else that showed connections
  to Chinas past

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Red Guard

• high school students were encouraged to form
  groups called Red Guards-these groups had the
  governments permission to smash books, artwork,
  religious temples, or anything else that showed
  connections to Chinas past

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1945-1949 Communist Revolution

• When the Japanese surrendered, the Nationalists
  and the Communists began a mad scramble to seize
  territory that had been occupied by the Japanese.
  In particular, the two sides were not interested
  so much in territory as they were interested in
  the arsenals and technology that the Japanese had
  left behind.
• In July, Chiang Kai-Shek attacked communist
  territories head-on and the civil war began.

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1945-1949 Communist Revolution

• Chiang's army seized over a hundred thousand
  square miles of communist territory. Mao Zedong,
  however, had seen this coming, and had been
  making preparations for a long, drawn out battle.
  
• The Nationalists held a national election for the
  National Assembly and on April 19, 1948, the
  National Assembly elected Chiang Kai-Shek as
  President of China.

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Mao Zedong answers . . .

• By this point, however, the tide had turned in
  favor of the communists. The Nationalist Army had
  been spreading its troops all throughout the
  conquered areas, seriously thinning out the
  troops available to fight the Red Army.
• The Red Army, however, had been steadily growing
  all throughout 1946 and 1947.

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Mao Zedong answers . . .

• As the Communist armies grew, they inflicted
  heavier and heavier losses on Nationalist forces.
  In the last year of the civil war, the communists
  inflicted over a million and a half casualties on
  the Nationalist Army. In the face of such
  staggering losses, the Nationalist Army simply
  disintegrated in mid-1949.
• On October 1, 1949, before all of China had been
  conquered, Mao declared the establishment of the
  People's Republic of China. Kai-shek and the
  Nationalists fled to Formosa (Taiwan) and set up
  their government there. The conflict still goes
  on.

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1958 The Great Leap Forward

• The Great Leap Forward took place in 1958. The
  Great Leap Forward was Maos attempt to modernize
  Chinas economy so that by 1988, China would have
  an economy that rivaled America.

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1958 The Great Leap Forward

• The Great Leap Forward planned to develop
  agriculture and industry. Mao believed that both
  had to grow to allow the other to grow. To allow
  for this, China was reformed into a series of
  communes.

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1958 The Great Leap Forward

• The geographical size of a commune varied but
  most contained about 5000 families. The life of
  an individual was controlled by the commune.
  Schools, nurseries, and Houses of Happiness
  were provided by the communes so that all adults
  could work.

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Great Leap Backwards???

• By the end of 1958, 700 million people had been
  placed into 26,578 communes.
• In 1959, things started to go wrong. Political
  decisions/beliefs took precedence over common
  sense and communes faced the task of doing things
  which they were not able to accomplish. Commune
  leaders, who knew what their commune was capable
  of doing or not, could be charged with being a
  "bourgeois reactionary" if he complained. Such a
  charge would lead to prison.

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Great Leap Backwards???

• Quickly produced farm machinery made in factories
  fell to pieces when used. Many thousands of
  workers were injured after working long hours and
  falling asleep at their jobs.

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Great Leap Backwards???

• The excellent growing weather of 1958 was
  followed by a very poor growing year in 1959.
  Some parts of China were hit by floods. In other
  growing areas, drought was a major problem.

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Great Leap Backwards???

• 1960 had even worse weather than 1959. Nine
  million people are thought to have starved to
  death in 1960 alone. The government had to
  introduce rationing. This put people on the most
  minimal amount of food and between 1959 and 1962,
  it is thought that 20 million people died of
  starvation or diseases related to starvation.

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Great Leap Backwards???

• Some party members put the blame of the failure
  of the Great Leap Forward on Mao. He was popular
  with the people but he still had to resign from
  his position as Head of State (though he remained
  in the powerful Party Chairman position).

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What to do next?

• The day-to-day running of China was left to
  three men. In late 1960, they abandoned the Great
  Leap Forward. Ownership of land was given back to
  individuals and communes were cut down to a
  manageable size.

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What to do next?

• These three leaders had cut down on Maos power
  but his reputation among the ordinary Chinese
  people was still great because he was seen as the
  leader of the revolution. He was to use this
  popularity with the people to gain back his
  authority at the expense of the new leaders. This
  was in the so-called Cultural Revolution.

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1966-1976 The Chinese Cultural Revolution

• In 1966, after spending years studying political
  economy and the classics of Chinese history, Mao
  was ready to act.

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1966-1976 The Chinese Cultural Revolution

• Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in August of
  1966 in front of the Central Committee when he
  called for Red Guards to challenge Communist
  Party officials for their lack of revolutionary
  vision.
• Mao and his group of radicals were still in
  control of the government.

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The Changing of the Guard

• After years of turmoil and power struggle within
  the country involving offshoots of Maos
  revolutionary groupincluding the radical group
  led by Maos wife, Jiang Qing, Mao died in
  September of 1976.

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The Changing of the Guard

• A coalition of army and political leaders united
  and arrested Jiang Qing and her radical
  supporters called the Gang of Four.
• In 1977, Deng Xiaoping emerges as the supreme
  leader of the People's Republic of China.