China Topic 3 Flashcards
What were chinas political problems in 1949
-The CCP had to prove that they could provide a strong and effective government
- Opposition to the government had to be removed or brought under control
What were China’s economic problems in 1949
- Industrial product was down by 50%
- Food production was down by 25%
- There was rapid inflation
- Manchuria, Chinas main industrial area was occupied by Japan
What were China’s social problems in 1949
- Most of the people were peasants who could not read or write
- The Chinese people did not want change
- The Chinese people mistrusted all the new modern ideas in farming, industry, education
What were Chinas foreign problems in 1949
- Most of the world refused to recognise the CCP
- The USA still continued to recognise the GMD in Taiwan
- Only the Soviet Union would help the new China
What was Maos first change in Agriculture
- The Agrarian Reform laws in 1950
What was the Agrarian Reform laws
- Mao sent CCP worker into the villages
- They took land from the landlords and shared it out amongst the peasants
- They also got peasants to put landlords on trial in so called ‘people’s courts’
What was the People’s court
- Trials where landlords were accused of charging high rent or mistreating their tenants
- Some landlords were let off but most were imprisoned or executed
How many landlords were executed in the Peoples court
700,000 to 3 million
What impact did the Agrarian Reform laws have
- Popularity for Mao increased
- Overall production decreased
What did Mao introduce after the Agrarian reform laws
- Mutual aid teams
What were mutual aid teams
- Peasants still owned their own land but they worked on each others land, fertilising, killing pests or harvesting so that each families plot was more productive
What impacts did the mutual aid teams have
40% of peasants belonged to mutual aid teams
- but productivity still did not raise enough
What did Mao introduce after Mutual aid teams
- APCs (agricultural producers co-operative) in 1953
What were APC’s
- A large unit of 3-5 mutual aid teams with their animals and equipment
- The land was still owned by the peasants but managed centrally
What were the impacts of APC’s
- They created a demand for machinery which increased production and boosted industry
What was the opposition to the APC’s
- Some richer peasants bought up large sections of large and hired labourers to work on it
- this was more capitalist than communist
- Communist officials tried to force richer peasants to join APC’s
- this led to peasant resistance rather than join an APC
- this led Mao to stop the APC’s
What did Mao introduce after the failure of the APC’s
- Creation of Communes
What were communes
- Communes / collectives were farms made up of 2,000-3,000 households
- All the animals, land and equipment belonged to the collective with no private ownership
- the produce was not property of the peasants and communist officials would direct the food to towns
By 1958 how many peasants had been placed in communes
700 million peasants
Effects of collectivisation
The Great Famine 1958-62
How many deaths did the Great Famine cause
50 million deaths
- parents sold their children and spouses to buy food
- some people even resorted to cannibalism
What caused the great famine in 1958
- The peasants had no incentives to produce more food as they did not get to sell it for profit
- Mao introduced the ‘four pests campaign’
- Mao encouraged the farmers to try out new methods he was told would increase productivity, they did not
- ## Communist officials lied about production as they were scared of Mao to find out the truth
What was the ‘four pest campaign’
- Mao introduced it to get rid of, sparrows, mosquitoes, files and rats
- it ended up just resulting in more insects and caterpillars which ate the crops
When was the first five year plan
1952-1957
What was the aim of the first five year plan
Rapid expansion of heavy industry, coal, iron, steel and petroleum
Why did Mao introduce the first five year plan
- The Chinese civil war and war with Japan had destroyed a lot of Chinas industry
- If China were to be a successful modern communist power it would need to industrialise rapidly
How was China going to industrialise for the first five year plan
- Hundreds of soviet advisor and specialists offered expertise
- food production had increased enough to provide food for a work force
- China was rich with natural resources which could be exploited
- Urban population were willing to work hard
What was achieved in the first five year plan
Coal production x2
Electrical power production x3
Steel production x4
- Workers salaries increased
- Railway lines were improved
What was the aim of the Great leap forwards
Overtake Britain as an industrial power in less than 15 years
Why did Mao believe the aim of the Great leap forwards was achieveable
- Communism was superior to Capitalism
- Anything could be achieved if there was a will to succeed
- Enough food was being produced to supply the workers
- China could increase agricultural and industrial production at the same time
How was the great leap forwards implemented
- Collectivisation of agriculture, APC’s –> communes, linked agriculture and industry
- Backyard furnaces to produce steel
- Complete control of business, the government told industries exactly what to make
Positive effects of the Great leap forwards
- 11 million tonnes of steel was produced
- Huge rises in production of wood, coal, cement and fertilisers
Negative effects of the Great leap forward
- Collectivisation failed and 50 million died due to famine
- Steel produced in backyard furnaces was very poor quality and had to be thrown away
- Around 8.5 million urban workers lost their jobs
- It became known as the ‘three bitter years’
- Mao resigns
Major effect of the Great leap forwards
MAO RESIGNS
- he admitted it was a failure
- it may be seen as a clever move as it meant he was not in power to get the blame for the famine
Who came together to save China from Mao’s mistakes
- Liu Shaoqi replaced Mao
- Deng Xiaoping the general secretary of the CCP
they reformed the country’s economic policies to save face for Mao and the CCP
How were women treated in imperial China
- Women were property of men
- Infanticide of baby girls were common
- Girls received little education
- Wives couldn’t divorce their husbands
- Pushed into arranged marriages
- Could be kept as concubines
- Could not own property or vote
When was the marriage law introduced
1950
What did the marriage laws implement
- arranged marriages were banned
- Keeping concubines was forbidden
- Infanticide was forbidden
- women were given equal property rights
- anyone could request a divorce
What impacts did the changes for women have on marriages
- arranged marriages and the exchange of gifts continued
- Divorced women were treated as outcasts
- Cases of infanticide was reduced
- Average age of marriage increased
what impacts did the changes for women have on family life
- Contraceptives were introduced in 1954 but there was some resistance
- childbirth became safer due to trained midwives
What impacts did the changes for women have on their economic role
- Proportion of women in the work force trebled
- Literacy levels increased
- Husbands still resorted to wife selling during the famine
What impacts did the changes for women have on their political roles
- Women’s participation in political roles increased
- Men opposed women having all but small roles in politics
In reality what was the communists political system like
- CCP were the only political party allowed
- All decisions were made by the politburo (controlled by Mao and members of the CCP)
What were the names given to people which opposed communism
- rightest
- counter-revolutionaries
- imperialist
How did Mao keep control of his people
- CENSORSHIP + PROPAGANDA, loudspeakers, posters, discussion groups
- People were required to register in a region and gain permission to move
- DANGAN, an information file, if it contained anything negative it could impact getting a job or house
- Re-education camps or meetings
- LAOGAI, people imprisoned, reform through labour and dehumanised people
What was ‘Mao Zedong though’
Everyone had to support Maos belief
1. Need the mobilise the masses
2. Need for continuing revolution and constant class struggle
3. Need to prevent counter - revolutionary ideas which could threaten the revolution
4. Need for self-reliance
What was the thought reform campaign
Introduced in 1951, was introduced as Mao was paranoid about intellectuals who’s views may be different to his
- forced intellectuals to attend re-education meetings and admit their errors in thinking
What was the three anti’s campaign aim and who was it against
In 1951,
- it was against party members and bureaucrats
- Mao feared they were moving away from Mao Zedong thought
- It aimed to combat, corruption, waste and inefficiency
What was the five anti’s campaign aim and who was it against
In 1952,
- it was against businessmen
- Mao feared they were secretly supporting Capitalist ideas
- It aimed to combat, fraud, tax dodgers, bribery
How were the anti’s campaigns carried out
- Loyal citizens were encouraged to denounce officials and employers who they considered guilty
- The denounced were set to labour camps where they suffered humiliation
- the humiliation and camps supposedly made 2-3 million commit suicide
- the campaigns were effective, created a huge increase in support for the party
When was the Hundred flowers campaign introduced
1957
What was the hundred flowers campaign
- Mao changed his mind on criticism
- He called on intellectuals to say where the party and government went wrong
- Mao appeared to be encouraging free speech
- Mao was shocked that people even criticised him
Why did Mao introduce the hundred flowers campaign
- Lack of intellectual freedom was preventing technological and scientific advancements
- Mao thought it would expose those in the CCP who weren’t loyal to him
- Mao genuinely was encouraging free speech and was shocked by how much people disliked and criticised him
What was the anti-rightest campaign
- Maos response to the criticism, ending the hundred flowers campaign and launching the anti-rightest campaign
- Critics became labelled as ‘rightists’
- Critics were sent off to reform camps and sacked from their job
- People were forbidden to speak freely and the press was censored
Consequences of the hundred flowers campaign
- The anti-rightist campaign aswell, both helped silence criticism of the communist regime for a generation
- Party unity was strengthened
- Mao position was unchallengeable
- Intellectual life in china came to a standstill
Relationship between China and USSR from 1900 to 1949
- Russia was part of the foreign devils
- Russia funded the CCP
- Provided military advisors for the CCP
- Allied in WW2
- After WW2 supported the GMD in forming a new government
What was the, treaty of friendship, alliance and mutual assistance
A treaty between China and USSR in 1950
- Mao needed the help from the USSR to establish a communist state, he needed military and economic help
How did the treaty of friendship benefit China
- Promised aid in the event of an attack
- Given a loan of 300 million
- Provision of equipment and experts to help build up industry
What did the treaty of friendship cost China
- Soviet got to use some of Chinas naval bases
- The $300 was a loan not a gift
- Had to give economic concessions
How was the USSR helpful for the industrialisation of China
- Soviet economic and military advisors played a role in the first five year plan
- Soviet nuclear scientists enabled China to build the first nuclear reactor
- Chinese specialists and scientists went the USSR to become trained
How did the USSR damage the industrialisation of China
- Soviet advisors gave bad farming advice which made the great leap forwards worse
- Khrushchev refused to send the nuclear hardware he had promised
Mao’s relationship with Khrushchev
- He was offended by his ‘secret speech’, as it implied criticism of Mao’s regime and Mao Zedongs thought
- He believed he was trying to spy on China
- Mao came to believe that Khrushchev was a revisionist and chine was the one true communist superpower
- Khrushchev criticised and mocked the great leap forward and communes
- Mao publicly called Khrushchev a coward due to the Cuban Missile crisis
- ‘Asian Hitler’
Mao’s relationship with Brezhnev
- Mao said all soviets were revisionists
- Physical clashes on the sino-soviet border
- Mao criticised the soviet invasion of czechoslovakia
- Mao believed that the capitalist USA was no longer Chinas biggest threat but the USSR was
- ## Mao directed Chinas nuclear rockets at the USSR instead of USA
