Early History

Question 1

When did Chiang Kai Shek take control of the GMD?

Answer 1

1925

Question 2

When did Chiang turn on the communists after the first united front?

Answer 2

1927

Question 3

When was the Long March?

Answer 3

1934-35

Question 4

How did Mao reveal his ruthlessness in the Jiangxi Soviet?

Answer 4

In 1930 he ordered the torture and execution of 4000 Red Army troops who he accused of subversion.

Question 5

Why did Mao believe the Comintern could not dictate the CCP’s actions?

Answer 5

He believed that the local Chinese conditions took priority of communist orthodoxy, and Comintern was far removed from the reality of the situation in China. Also, it would have lessened his own power.

Question 6

What was the Comintern line on the Chinese communist revolution?

Answer 6

Mao was ignoring the laws of the dialectic, whose stages were predetermined and ordered.
Peasant revolution was not an end in itself but a precursor to the proletarian revolution.
China lacked an urban proletariat so could not achieve a genuine proletariat revolution.
The best the CCP could achieve would to help merge with the GMD and achieve bourgeois revolution.

Question 7

What percentage of the population did peasants and urban workers make up?

Answer 7

88% and 4%

Question 8

How did Mao survive the criticism of Li Lisan and the 28 Bolsheviks in the 1930s?

Answer 8

He chose the correct northern route in 1934 during the long March, while the moscow clique chose the wrong one.
Mao had unrivalled knowledge of the peasants due to his own field research.
He had intense self belief and determination.
He was an indispensable military planner

Question 9

What were the main features of Mao’s early peasant policy?

Answer 9

Red Army troops would drive out or shoot landowners in areas near Yanan, and help the peasants organise Soviets.
The red army’s role became to comfort and aid the people, in contrast to past armies.
Local peasant associations were made to work with the CCP.
A programme for ending usury.
The introduction of literacy and education programmes.
The provision of medical services.

Question 10

What was the growth of the CCP from 1937 to 1945?

Answer 10

40,000 to 1 million

Question 11

What were the features of Maos early repressive land policies in the Yanan area?

Answer 11

The removal of landlords was a brutal process.

Villages that would not conform could have their crops and livestock confiscated, and high taxes imposed.

Question 12

Why was Chiang repulsed by communism?

Answer 12

In the early 1920s Chiang received training in the USSR, but he saw everything he hated in Soviet Communism and believed that China could not progress towards modernism unless it destroyed Mao’s communists.

Question 13

When did Nanjing replace Beijing?

Answer 13

1928

Question 14

How did Chiang plan to introduce the three peoples principles?

Answer 14

The nationalist government would have the right to govern until it considered China was ready for democracy, where it would fully implement the three peoples principles, however this justified their authoritarian rule.

Question 15

What reforms did Chiang introduce?

Answer 15

Chinas civil service was modernised with special training colleges
Measures to improve the quality and availability of education are justified
Chinese banks were brought under the command of the bank of China
A National resources commission was set up to develop Chinese industry
Schemes were set up to improve urban transport
Fixement
Government subsidies were given to the film industry and fashion houses, allowing them to become internationally renowned,

Question 16

Why was Chiang unable to remove the foreign concessions?

Answer 16

Although he did make Chinese law more important in these areas, due to the presence of foreign troops, he could not physically remove them.
Also, many Chinese people were employed by agencies involved with the concessions, so the Nanjing government was reliant on foreigners, in contrast to the independence advocated by the three people’s principles.

Question 17

How did Germany influence Nationalist China?

Answer 17

Chiang formed close links with Nazi Germany to help reform his military, such as Chiang’s “blue shirts”, secret police modelled after the gestapo. These were led by Dai Li, who by the mid 1930s had 1800 agents working for him. They worked outside the law and frequently used torture to extort information. While their main target was communists, they also censored criticism of the regime in the press.

Question 18

What were features of the New Life movement?

Answer 18

A return to Confucian values and living lives of moral integrity.
Chiang called on people to fight public corruption.
GMD loyalty pledge was included in marriage vows.
Formalised in 1934, a rejection of both communism and western capitalism.

Question 19

What are the weaknesses of the new life movement?

Answer 19

The GMD compromised its moral high ground by taking funding from gangster organisations like the Green Gang, and other drug-dealing groups.
Despite Chiang’s attempts to follow a socialist path, he required foreign investment and incurred heavy costs from his military so could not fully abandon capitalism.

Question 20

What was the social composition of the GMD?

Answer 20

It represented particular minorities: merchants and business who operated in cities, who had little sympathy for peasants and were not interested in paying for welfare for urban and rural areas.

Question 21

What did the GMD do to tackle the famine in 1934-35?

Answer 21

Nothing, and 30 million people died.

Question 22

Which measures had Chiang’s government failed to implement?

Answer 22

Ending of landlord control and exploitation of the peasants.
Extension of peasants property rights.
Protection of the peasants against excessive rents.

Question 23

How did the GMD have limited control over China?

Answer 23

It never controlled more than 1/3 of China or 2/3 of the population. Local factions often showed resistance, and warlords still held power in some provinces.
In WW2, it was shown how little control the GMD had over China as it continued to cede large parts of territory to the Japanese.