China: 1949-1961 - Key Dates

Question 1

New ‘people’s currency’ - the yuan - introduced

Answer 1

May 1949

Question 2

Drafting of PRC Constitution

Answer 2

20-21 September 1949

Question 3

Mao proclaims the founding of the PRC

Answer 3

1 October 1949

Question 4

China signs Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance with USSR

Answer 4

14 February 1950

Question 5

Marriage Law introduced

Answer 5

1 May 1950

Question 6

North Korean troops cross the 38th Parallel - start of the Korean War

Answer 6

5 June 1950

Question 7

Agrarian Reform Law introduced

- Beginning of Fanshen

Answer 7

28 June 1950

Question 8

UN counter-offensive against North Korean forces

Answer 8

15 September 1950

Question 9

Chinese intervention in Korean War approved by Mao

Answer 9

8 October 1950

Question 10

Chinese Volunteer troops move into Korea

Answer 10

15 October 1950

Question 11

First Chinese offensive against UN forces

Answer 11

25 November 1950

Question 12

UN condemns China as aggressor in Korean War

- Leads to international strain

Answer 12

1 February 1951

Question 13

Campaign against counter-revolutionaries

Answer 13

21 February 1951

Question 14

Ceasefire in Korean War

Answer 14

1 July 1951

Question 15

Launch of Three Antis movement (sanfan)

Answer 15

7 December 1951

Question 16

Launch of Thought Reform campaign

Answer 16

December 1951

Question 17

Beginning of Five Antis movement (wufan)

Answer 17

1 February 1952

Question 18

Gao Gang appointed head of State Planning Commission

Answer 18

10 October 1952

Question 19

First Five-Year Plan begins

Answer 19

1 January 1953

Question 20

Death of Stalin

Answer 20

5 March 1953

Question 21

Formal armistice in Korean War signed

Answer 21

27 July 1953

Question 22

CCP Central Committee approves slow-down of implementation of Agricultural Cooperatives (Collectives)

Answer 22

16 December 1953

Question 23

Gao Gang accused of Party intrigue

Answer 23

24 December 1953

Question 24

Gao Gang and Rao Shushi purged from CCP

Answer 24

31 March 1954

Question 25

Mao’s speech, ‘The Question of Agricultural Co-operation’, calls for faster colelctivisation; High Tide begins

Answer 25

30 July 1955

Question 26

Zhou Enlai gives speech, ‘On the Question of Intellectuals’

Answer 26

14 January 1956

Question 27

Mao’s Twelve-Year Agricultural Plan adopted

Answer 27

25 January 1956

Question 28

Khruschchev denounces Stalin at twentieth Party Congress in Moscow

Answer 28

25 February 1956

Question 29

Lu Dingyi, head of Central Committee propaganda, calls for ‘hundred flowers to bloom’

Answer 29

26 May 1956

Question 30

Second Five-Year Plan approved (GLF)

Answer 30

27 September 1956

Question 31

Mao’s speech, ‘On the Correct Handling of Contradictions among the People’, invigorates Hundred Flowers campaign

Answer 31

27 February 1957

Question 32

People’s Daily editorial popularises Hundred Flowers campaign

Answer 32

13 April 1957

Question 33

Widespread ‘blooming’ and ‘contending’ unfolds

Answer 33

1 May 1957

Question 34

End of Hundred Flowers campaign and launch of Anti-Rightist campaign

Answer 34

8 June 1957

Question 35

USSR launches Sputnik satellite

Answer 35

4 October 1957

Question 36

Mao addresses Conference of World Communist Parties in Moscow; declares ‘the east wind prevails over the west wind’

Answer 36

17 November 1957

Question 37

National Economic Planning Conference repeats Mao’s delcaration that China would surpass Britain in steel production in 15 years

Answer 37

12 December 1957

Question 38

Founding of first People’s Commune - Sputnik Commune in Henan

Answer 38

29 April 1958

Question 39

Great Leap Forward formally lunched at Eighth Party Congress

Answer 39

5-28 May 1958

Question 40

While touring Shandong Mao declares, ‘The people’s commune is great!’

Answer 40

9 August 1958

Question 41

Enlarged meeting of Politburo approves People’s Commune movement

Answer 41

17-30 August 1958

Question 42

Sixth Plenum of Eighth Central Committee passes resolution

Answer 42

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