2- First Plan

Question 1

First Plan 1952-56: Reasons for Launching

Answer 1

• Success of Soviets, transforming from a peasant country into an industrial power in 20 years.
• The Korean War made China’s leaders worried about foreign invasion. Military needed to be stronger.
• Maoism and Marxism both taught that socialism and communism could only be achieved in a fully industrialised society.

Question 2

1st More reasons for launching

Answer 2

Mao regarded the establishment of a much stronger industrial base vital if China was to develop as a world power. - Aim to make PRC as self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods as possible to protect China in a potentially hostile capitalist world.

Question 3

1st Successes- ideological

Answer 3

• Centrally planned economy fit with political agenda and private industry was abolished, making China more socialist. The last private factories were nationalised in 1956.

Question 4

1st plan coal and steel

Answer 4

• Coal: 68.5. 1957: 130. Exceeded the target

- Steel: 1.35. 5.35

Question 5

First Plan- The annual growth rate

Answer 5

about 9 percent per year during the plan, comparing favourably with the Russian experience.

Question 6

First Plan-Urban living standards

Answer 6

Urban living standards improved in terms of wages and job security. Wages increased by nearly 40 percent

Question 7

First plan successes- urbanisation

Answer 7

More migration to the cities. Urbanisation- the number of people living in cities increased by four million. Urbanised countries have strong economies because there are more people to buy things, generating more money for manufacturing.

Question 8

1st plan successes- Major improvements to China’s infrastructure-

Answer 8

6000km of railway lines were built, connecting China’s major cities. The Wuhan bridge across the Yangtze was completed in 1957.

Question 9

1st Plan- Industry growth rate

Answer 9

Industry grew at around 16 percent per year 1953-57

Question 10

1st Plan industrial production

Answer 10

Heavy industrial production tripled in size 1953-57. Coal, steel and electricity production all exceeded targets

Question 11

1st Plan successes- Mao’s power

Answer 11

The successes of the first plan were very important for Mao’s leadership. They convinced the CCP and the Chinese people that Mao knew exactly how to make China a powerful, modern, socialist country. Confident Chinese people now believed in communism so launched 100 flowers.

Question 12

1st Failures

- Soviet borrowing.

Answer 12

Had to pay salaries for over 10,000 civilian technicians and housed at China’s expense. $300 mil lent by Russia had to be repaid with interest. Soviet Union began to gain large influence: new office blocks in ‘Soviet brutalist’ style, language penetrated education. TASS, the official Soviet news agency, became the main source from which the Chinese newspapers gathered their information. Lysenkoism. Exposed shortcomings in the skill and literacy levels of Chinese workers. Had to send gold as security for the loan.

Question 13

1st F. Figures

Answer 13

Unreliable figures, officials exaggerated. The emphasis on reaching targets put the emphasis on quantity over quality.

Question 14

1st F. Lack of experts

Answer 14

• The antis campaign had driven out economic planners at managerial level because they had worked for Nationalists so the standard of bureaucratic administration suffered.

Question 15

1st F Competition

Answer 15

• Competition for resources between private and state-owned enterprises.

Question 16

1st F. Countryside

Answer 16

In the countryside, the peasants in the communes were going short of food because it was being exported to Russia to pay for Soviet advice, and sold cheaply to the cities to feed the urban workers. Lysenkoism.

Question 17

1st F light industry

Answer 17

90% of state investment went into heavy industries. Some areas of China more industrialised than others. Light industry grew slowly

Question 18

1st F oil

Answer 18

• The target of oil production was not met so China still had to import most of its oil, which was very expensive.

Question 19

1st F workers pay rise

Answer 19

Pouring investment into industrialisation meant putting off pay rises for workers. This was unpopular and it contributed to the strikes of 1956.

Question 20

1st F command economy

Answer 20

• Command economy problems- complex and inefficient. Often a factory had to stop production because the raw materials it needed had failed to arrive.

Question 21

1st F overconfidence

Answer 21

• Gave Mao overconfidence- Mao felt China could achieve anything. He made 2nd Plan radical and utopian (based on an ideal world).
• Mao believed central planning was making the CCP too bureaucratic.