5 - The Great Leap Forward

Question 0

What was the slogan for the GLF?

Answer 0

‘more, faster, better, cheaper’

Question 1

When was the Great Leap Forward launched?

Answer 1

January 1958

Question 2

What did Mao launch the GLF in order to achieve?

Answer 2

Overtake Britain in terms of industrial power within 7 years, and the USA soon after

Question 3

When did China break off relations with the USSR?

Answer 3

1960

Question 4

In autumn 1957, what target did Mao set for steel production by the 1970s?

Answer 4

40 million tonnes - twice as high as the Central Committee had approved

Question 5

In the autumn of 1958, how much steel did Mao predict would be produced by 1962 and the early 1970s?

Answer 5

100 million tonnes by1962

700 million tonnes by 1970s

Question 6

In December 1958, what did Mao set as a target for agricultural production?

Answer 6

430 million tonnes - twice as much as had ever been produced

Question 7

What did Mao do to collective farms?

Answer 7

Grouped them into people’s communes, consisting of around 20,000 people each

Question 8

What was every member of a commune ages 15-50 also a member of?

Answer 8

The people’s militia - the platoons they belonged to were the basic work units

Question 9

How did Mao move towards abolishing family life?

Answer 9

Children were taken into kindergartens which were commune run, old people cared for in ‘happiness homes’ and meals provided in mess halls. Family ties called ‘bourgeois emotional attachments’

Question 10

Who’s agricultural policies did Mao follow and what were they?

Answer 10

Lysenko. Plant crops deeper and closer together

Question 11

What did the slogan ‘Walking on two legs’ order communes to do?

Answer 11

Become industrial centres as well. Backyard furnaces were set up in institutions where no one had experience of smelting

Question 12

Why did backyard furnaces fail?

Answer 12

Smelted steel/iron was of poor quality

Question 13

What was the Four Noes campaign?

Answer 13

The eradication of pests: sparrows, rats, flies, mosquitos

Question 15

What percentage of CPC members were rural based in 1958?

Answer 15

70%

Question 16

What was Zhou Enlai and Chen Yun’s approach to the GLF?

Answer 16

Cautious. Wanted to offer material incentives to persuade them to produce more food

Question 17

What was Mao, Deng and Liu’s approach?

Answer 17

Radical. Involved propaganda to encourage peasants to work harder, and the mass mobilisation of peasant labour through the communes

Question 18

What happened in February 1958?

Answer 18

Responsibility of overlooking economic planning handed over from state bureaucracy to CPC

Question 19

Who gained from the handover in economic management in February 1958?

Answer 19

Liu and Deng, at the expense of Chen Yun and Zhou

Question 20

Why did party cadres take over from technical experts at local level?

Answer 20

Because Mao distrusted experts and saw them as a block on development - hey said it was more important to be ‘red’ than an expert

Question 21

What was the first commune in China called and where was it?

Answer 21

Sputnik, Henan province (est 1958)

Question 22

What was promised in the secret USSR-China agreement in 1957?

Answer 22

Khrushchev would give China access to nuclear technology

Question 23

How did the USSR influence the GLF?

Answer 23

Introduced to become independent from them

Question 24

What were Mao’s aims for the GLF?

Answer 24

Mass mobilisation, develop China into a great power, catch up with Britain and USA, increase vitality of Communism, consolidate political power

Question 25

When did Mao embark on his four month tour of China’s provinces?

Answer 25

Early 1958

Question 26

What did Mao do on his tour in early 1958?

Answer 26

Sought to find ‘truth from facts’

Question 27

Why was there a good harvest in 1958?

Answer 27

Largely due to good weather conditions, however still a long way short of the claims made by the government

Question 28

What was the actual agricultural output in 1958 and what did the government say it was?

Answer 28

Actual - 200 million tonnes, government - 375 million tonnes

Question 29

What target did Mao set for industrial output for 1959?

Answer 29

430 million tonnes

Question 30

What happened in the 1959 harvest?

Answer 30

Worst for many years. Declared as 270 million tonnes, was actually 170 million tonnes

Question 31

What was the agricultural output in 1960?

Answer 31

143 million tonnes

Question 32

What happened to food items in summer 1959?

Answer 32

Everyday items such as rice, vegetables and cooking oil began to disappear

Question 33

What percentage of steel was produced in backyard furnaces by September 1958?

Answer 33

14%

Question 34

In October 1958, what percentage of steel did backyard furnaces account for?

Answer 34

49%

Question 35

How many people were involved in the backyard furnace campaign at it’s peak?

Answer 35

90 million

Question 36

How much acceptable steel was produced in 1958?

Answer 36

9 million tonnes (later revised to 8)

Question 37

What were the targets for steel production for 1959 and 1962?

Answer 37

20 million tonnes for 1959

60 million tonnes for 1962

Question 38

When were backyard furnaces abandoned?

Answer 38

Spring 1959

Question 39

What were the specific factors that contributed to the failure of the GLF?

Answer 39

1959 weather; floods in south, drought in north. Hundred Flowers; lack of experts. Break with USSR in 1960 meant withdrawal of Soviet experts and loans, MAOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!