Agriculture and Industry 1949-65

Question 1

When were the Agrarian Reform Laws established

Answer 1

June 1950

Question 2

What did the MAT’s do

Answer 2

The Mutual Aid Teams were where peasants pooled their tools, ploughs and their own labour. Richer peasants were excluded.

Question 3

What were the APC’s

Answer 3

Agricultural Producers Co-operatives were comprised of three to five MAT’s joined together. Land was now shared and peasants produce given to the government, in return for payment of money or grain.

Question 4

In December 1955 what percentage of households were part of APC’s?

Answer 4

63.3%

Question 5

What year was collectivisation made mandatory

Answer 5

January 1956 private ownership abolished

Question 6

When did Mao launch the 4 pests campaign and what did it focus on

Answer 6

1958, it focused on killing all sparrows, rats, flies and mosquitoes.

Question 7

How many households would be in one commune on average

Answer 7

5500 households

Question 8

Negative consequences of communes

Answer 8

Split up families, no worker motivation, poor living conditions, unjust food for work tokens making people starve etc

Question 9

When did the First Five Year Plan start and finish

Answer 9

1952-56

Question 10

What treaty was signed in 1950 to help Mao’s FFYP

Answer 10

The Sino-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty

Question 11

What did the Sino-Soviet plan offer

Answer 11

The construction or reconstruction of 156 major industrial enterprises, industrial experts to supply technical knowledge (11,000 experts sent to China), inviting 28,000 Chinese technicians to study in Russia and a loan of $300 million US dollars over the next five years

Question 12

What were the goals of FFYP

Answer 12

A high rate of growth in heavy industry, investment in advanced technology, Self-sufficiency (Mao wanted an autarkic state), very high level of g r a i n procurement (in 1953 Mao wanted 23 million tons of g r a i n)

Question 13

Successes of FFYP

Answer 13

Annual growth rate averaged 16%, Industrial output grew 15.5% per year outdoing its 14.7% target, heavy industrial output tripled, geological exploration discovered vital resources like oil, uranium and minerals in Xinjiang, the industrial working class grew from 6 million to 10 million

Question 14

Failures of FFYP

Answer 14

The plan was dependent on loans from the Soviet Union with very high interest rates, the value of agricultural output only grew an average of 2.1% per year (from 14.1% in 1949-52), very low supply of consumer goods so people would buy government bonds that provided funds for plan but there was little to buy in shops,

Question 15

What the dates of the Second Five Year Plan (Great Leap Forward)

Answer 15

1958-62

Question 16

Why did Mao want to launch the GLF

Answer 16

Mao wanted to turn China into a great economic power, he had good reason to optimistic (success of FFYP, supposed winning of cold war won the space race etc), Mao wanted to achieve the term ‘walking on two legs’ and Mao believed the sheer force of people would be enough to overcome anything.

Question 17

Successes of the GLF

Answer 17

Massive irrigation terracing made land more fertile, Tiananmen square built, people in communes lived more closely than ever before.

Question 18

Failures of the GLF

Answer 18

Absurd targets e.g. in 1958 the Ministry of Metallurgy declared they would double steel production to 20 million tonnes by 1962 and 100 million by 1977, Mao was too over confident of the power of mass mobilisation of the people, Anti-rightist meant there were no intellectuals left to offer advice, backyard furnace campaign and by 1962 industrial production had declined 40% from the 1958-59 level;.

Question 19

When was the start and finish of The Great Famine

Answer 19

1958-1962

Question 20

How many people died during the famine in different provinces

Answer 20

Sichuan - 9 million, Anhui - 8 million, Henan - 7.8 million and Tibet - 1 million

Question 21

What did the local party boss in Henan province do during the famine?

Answer 21

He built seven luxurious villas for high-ranking guests

Question 22

What year did the Lushan Conference take place?

Answer 22

July 1959

Question 23

Who spoke during the Lushan Conference and what happened to him

Answer 23

Minister of Defence Peng Dehuai voiced his doubts about the reports of grain harvest. Mao felt betrayed. Mao said he chatted shit about him and the system of the communes to Nikita Khrushchev and stripped Peng of his titles, Peng was also attacked by red guards in the cultural revolution.

Question 24

What years did Liu Shaoqi rule as head of state

Answer 24

1962-1965

Question 25

What new reforms did Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping introduce in wake of the Famine

Answer 25

Communes were scaled back in favour of greater freedoms for peasants to produce what they wanted on private fields, peasants allowed to trade what they wanted on the free market, those who possessed technical knowledge were being promoted, many experts imprisoned during the anti-rightest campaign were freed and returned to their influence and production of consumer goods was double the 1957 level.