China 2 - agricultural and industrial changes

Question 1

What law introduced in 1950 removed the power of landlords?

Answer 1

the Agrarian Reform Law

Question 2

How much did agricultural production increase by per year between 1950-1952?

Answer 2

15%

Question 3

Estimated number of landlords executed?

Answer 3

1-2 million

Question 4

How many households in an APC?

Answer 4

30 to 50

Question 5

What was an APC

Answer 5

Agricultural Producer’s Cooperative

Question 6

What percentage of peasants were in Higher-Level APCs by the end of 1956?

Answer 6

almost 88%

Question 7

When did Mao adopt many of Lysenko’s ideas?

Answer 7

the mid 50s

Question 8

What agricultural techniques contributed to the famine of 1958-62?

Answer 8

Lysenkoism

Question 9

Estimated deaths of the Great Famine 1958-62?

Answer 9

30 to 50 million

Question 10

By when had agriculture recovered from the great leap forward due to Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping’s policies?

Answer 10

1965

Question 11

When was Mao’s first five year plan?

Answer 11

1952-56

Question 12

When was the Sino-Soviet Mutual Assistance Treaty signed?

Answer 12

February 1950

Question 13

How much did the USSR loan to China over 5 years from 1950?

Answer 13

300 million dollars over 5 years, as well as steel plants and machinery plants etc.

Question 14

Successes of Mao’s first 5 year plan? (5)

Answer 14

• most targets reached or surpassed
• pop. in cities doubled
• living standards + job security guaranteed
• improved housing, health care and education
• big infrastructure projects good for propaganda - e.g bridge over Yangtze

Question 15

Failures of Mao’s first 5 year plan? (4)

Answer 15

• quantity over quality
• lack of experience of administrators led to lack of cooperation between industries and central planners
• big projects poorly planned
• no change to agriculture - leading to Mao pushing collectivisation and subsequent disaster

Question 16

When was the second 5 year plan aka Great Leap Forward?

Answer 16

1958-62

Question 17

State control in the Great Leap Forward (4)

Answer 17

• controlled prices and production targets
• set wages
• all industrial firms turned into state-owned enterprises
• workers given homes, healthy care and education no matter how productive - little incentive

Question 18

Successes of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 18

• increase in raw materials
• remodelled Tiananmen square
• banning of private property ideologically brought communism closer to

Question 19

Failures of the Great Leap Forward?

Answer 19

• famine
• large projects made farming more difficult
• backyard furnaces wasted time and people’s belonging eg pans - to produce extremely poor quality steel

Question 20

When was the Lushan Conference?

Answer 20

July 1959

Question 21

Who was replaced as Minister of Defence after the Lushan Conference? Who was his replacement

Answer 21

Peng Dehuai replaced by Lin Biao (an ally of Mao)

Question 22

Industrial output in 1965 compared to 1957?

Answer 22

nearly doubled

Question 23

Which two pragmatists helped recover after the great leap forward?

Answer 23

Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi

Question 24

What was the first stage of collectivisation in 1951?

Answer 24

MAT - Mutual Aid Teams which organised peasants into around 10 households per team

Question 25

How much did grain production rise by between 1953-54 and what does this say about the move towards APCs?

Answer 25

Only roses by 2% - not really enough to justify the APCs

Question 26

Mao's ideology regarding collectivisation?

Answer 26

To go slowly in stages. He was aware of the Holodomor and what had happened in the USSR when collectivisation was rushed yet he did become impatient and ended up with the same problems

Question 26

How much land was redistributed after the Agrarian Reform Law?

Answer 26

43% of land redistributed to 60% of population?

Question 27

When did collectivisation become forced rather than voluntary?

Answer 27

After July 1955

Question 28

How much did the percentage of people in an APC change by between December 1955 and January 1956?

Answer 28

December 1955 - 63.3% in an APC January 1956 - 80.3% in an APC

Question 29

In what year was the number of higher level APCs increased

Answer 29

1956

Question 30

What was the first commune and when was it formed?

Answer 30

The Sputnik commune in Henan province July 1958

Question 31

Households per commune?

Answer 31

5500

Question 32

What was Mao's slogan for the policy of turning APCs into communes?

Answer 32

"walking on two legs"

Question 33

Why did Mao believe agricultural production was not increasing under the communes?

Answer 33

people were stealing grain

Question 34

What was a major problem with the communes which contributed to the famine?

Answer 34

Over-reporting of grain numbers

Question 35

Example of over-reporting of grain?

Answer 35

Sichuan province an increase of grain production was reported in 1958-61 whilst the opposite was true

Question 36

Consequences of over-reporting grain production?

Answer 36

Grain was requisitioned, contributing to famine - leadership was not aware of real problems

Question 37

When was private ownership banned?

Answer 37

End of 1958 - including land and livestock ownership with selling of agricultural produce also banned

Question 38

Change of slogan under Deng and Liu?

Answer 38

"agriculture as the foundation of the economy"

Question 39

When did Mao step back from politics?

Answer 39

At the 7000 cadres conference of 1962 he made self-criticism and was criticised, after which Liu and Deng took charge and Mao took up a semi-retired position

Question 40

Main thought behind great leap forward?

Answer 40

that mobilisation of workers and communist spirit could essentially overcome any issues and would magically increase all production levels

Question 41

How much did agricultural production drop by in the great leap forward?

Answer 41

40% compared to the 1958-59 levels

Question 42

Between 1962-65 how much did light and heavy industry increase by?

Answer 42

light - 27% per year heavy - 17% increase per year

Question 43

Changes to policy under Deng and Liu 62-65? (5)

Answer 43

- experts put in Laogai under anti-rightist campaign returned and given managerial positions - shift away from ideology to profit in industry - peasants allowed to trade surplus - industrial output focused on providing for agriculture - growth in private property allowance

Question 44

By how much did steel, coal and electric exceed their production targets in the first five year plan?

Answer 44

steel - 129.8% met coal - 115% met Electrical power- 121.6%