AGRICULTURE & INDUSTRY, 1949-65 Flashcards
In 1949, Mao stood up and told the world that the Chinese would no longer be the…
Sick man of Asia
What was Mao’s unorthodox Marxist view on peasants?
They’re the vanguards of the revolution
When was Agrarian Reform Law introduced?
June 1950
What was the main aim of Agrarian Reform Law?
Destroy the gentry-landlord class
What were landlords subject to after land seizure?
Struggle meetings
How much households had taken part in Land Reform?
88%
How much did total agricultural production increase annually between 1950-52?
15%
How many landlords were executed during Land Reform?
2 million
When were MAT’s introduced
December 1951
What were MAT’s?
- Mutual Aid Teams
- Consisted of 10 or fewer households.
- Peasants pool their resources (tools, ploughs, own labour).
How many households belonged to an MAT in 1952?
40%
When did the 2nd stage of collectivisation begin?
1953
What were APCs?
- Agricultural Producers Co-Operatives.
- Land reorganised into a single unit and compensated using a point system according to how much they contributed.
- APC’s were 3-5 MAT’s joint together.
How many households in APC’s by 1955?
16.9 million out of 110 million.
What were the disagreements over collectivisation?
Gradualists like Liu Shaoqi and Zhou Enlai claim that china was not yet ready for large-scale farming.
How many peasant farmers in APC’s in 1956?
96%
When was the Sino-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty signed?
February 1950
What did Soviet support include?
- Constructution of 156 major industrial enterprises.
- 11,000 Soviet and Eastern European industrial experts.
- 28,000 Chinese technicians to study in Russia.
- $300 million loan
What was the 1st FYP’s targets?
- High rate of growth in heavy industry.
- Investment in advanced technology.
- Construction of modern industrial plants.
- Self-sufficiency.
- High level of grain procurement at fixed prices.
- Stimulate the transformation towards a socialist society.
What were the 1st FYP’s successes?
- Annual growth rate 16%.
- Industrial output grew to 15.5% a year.
- Heavy industry output tripled.
- Industrial WC grew from 6 to 10 million.
- Standard of living for industrial workers improved.
- Workers organised into Danwei.
What were the 1st FYP’s failures?
- Plan dependant on loans from SU which had high interest rates.
- Value of agricultural output grew only 2.1% a year.
- Supply of consumer goods were low.
- Chinese still lacked organisational and management experience.
- Little investment in improving healthcare and education.
Why did Mao launch the Great Leap Forward?
- Desperate to tranform China into a great economic power.
- Optimism.
- ‘Walk on 2 legs’.
What were the successes of the 2nd FYP?
- Irrigation terracing helped make agricultural land more fertile.
- Construction projects changed the face of Chinese cities.
- Ideologically, communes meant communism.
What were the failures of the 2nd FYP?
- Targets were absurd.
- Overconfident.
- No intellectuals to offer advice or rational.
- Encouraged backyard furnaces.
- Insufficient raw materials.
