Economic and Social Policies Flashcards
1
Q
Collectivization
A
The collectivisation of individual peasant households into larger units of production would be more efficient and produce more
2
Q
Early Modes of Collectivization
A
- 1951, mutual aid teams were encouraged in villages. Usually composed of ten or fewer households held together by kinship. During harvest, equipment and labour would pool together to increase efficiency. → By 1952, 40% of peasant households were team members.
- 1951 saw the encouragement of Agricultural Producers’ Cooperatives (APCs). Continued to involve central management of privately-owned land.
- 3-5 teams (30-50 households) were involved in the communal contribution of labour, animals, and equipment → sharing the harvest.
- Drive for APCs became general in 1953 but a lack of machinery meant APCs became gradually redundant.
3
Q
Mutations of Collectivization
A
- April 1955, Mao visited rural regions where local leaders fraudulently downplayed the scale of resistance → Mao was convinced to go on with the drive
- Mao supposedly said to a local leader that “Peasants want freedom, but we want socialism” → indication of the incompatibility between the two
- July 1955, Conference of Local Party Secretaries: Mao pushed his vision of APCs and rural socialism
- Jan 1956, 80% of households were part of APCs → formed Higher level APCs that were comprised of 300 or so households
- End of 1956: Only 3% of peasants farmed independently → breached the glorified advertisement that the CCP told the peasants → peasant discontent
4
Q
Effects of Collectivization
A
- Collectivization basically destroyed the idea of a traditional Chinese family → Mao stated “It is necessary to destroy the peasant family; women going to the factories and joining the army are part of the big destruction of the family”.
- Ancestor worship was prohibited → affected the historical and emotional attachments of the families.
- Not many women were happy that their role as mothers was seen as unnecessary.
- In many communes, women and men lived separately and were only allowed to see each other for conjugal visits
- Social change was too sudden → women felt detached from their traditional ways
5
Q
First FYP (1953-1957)
A
- To develop agriculture, produce steel, produce coal.
- Soviets provided technical assistance
- Industrial production increased by 19% and agricultural output increased by 4% a year.
- CCP was concerned that 78% of coal mines were in foreign hands
6
Q
Aim of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)
A
- Develop China as an industrial power
- Break the USSR grip and catch up with the West → surpass Britain and Catch up to the USA
- Produce surplus grain
7
Q
Methods of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)
A
- Peasants would produce surplus and workers would create a modern industrial economy
- China would bypass certain industrial steps
- Rejected modern technology for mass effort
- Backyard furnaces were made to produce steel
- 4 Pests Campaign → elimination of mosquitos, flies, rats and sparrows = rampage of crop-destroying insects (locusts)
8
Q
Effects of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)
A
- Mass famine (3 years - largest famine in history) - crop yield fell
- 99.9% of produce was useless
- 70000 communes were built with half a billion peasants →Individual peasants were no longer allowed to make a profit
- Collectivization was a disaster → disrupted the way of life and peasants were unable to adapt to the new system → Had no understanding of how to farm on a large scale
- Mainly focused on steel so agriculture was greatly ignored
- Rigged production figures → propaganda campaign to make collectivization appear successful.
- Everyone was scared to offend Mao → lack of opposition
- Lushan Conference 1959, met to modernize targets but failed to address famine issue → leaders did not want to admit there was an issue
- Peasants who protested were put into labour camps
- 40 million starved to death
- Martial Law in 1962 as the government feared mass revolution.
9
Q
Health Policies: Barefoot Doctors
A
- 1965, Mao expanded the idea of health for the masses beyond infectious disease → “In health and medical work, put the stress on rural areas.”
- Barefoot doctors were peasants: men and women who had been trained to examine ill or injured people. Instructed in anatomy, bacteriology, diagnosing disease, prescribing traditional and Western medicines, maternal and infant care.
- The barefoot doctors continued their farming alongside the other peasants → did not take much money when treating, making it easier for peasants to access basic health care.
- Provided basic health care: first aid, immunizations against diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough and measles, and health education.
- Taught hygiene as basic as washing hands before eating and after using latrines.
- An estimated 1 million barefoot doctors were in China.
10
Q
Health Policies: Advancement of the Medicinal Sector
A
- 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was one of the world’s leading research institutions in medicine
- China had estimated that there were about 40,000 physicians trained in Western and Soviet medicine in the country, serving a population of 540 million people → those doctors were reluctant to go to the rural areas, where 80% of the Chinese people lived.
- Advanced medication were only available for the rich people living in the cities → “bourgeois” policies of “self-interested” physicians were denounced as “disregarding the masses.”
11
Q
Evolution of Health Policies
A
- PRC’s plans to provide health care was only partially successful
- PRC had tried since 1949 to recruit and encourage doctors to move from the cities to the countries → largely failed
- Doctors would only stay in rurally for a few weeks, as they were hardly any chance of receiving decent incomes.
- Rural areas suffered from the increasing spread of schistosomiasis (came to be something of an iconic symbol for the lack of healthcare)
12
Q
Education
A
- 1949, most peasants were barely literate or completely illiterate → literacy rate was 20%
- Mid-1950, a national system of primary education was set up → led to a great increase in the literacy rate
- 1955, PRC adopted a reform of the Chinese language → the new form of written Mandarin (Pinyin style) to overcome the problem of different pronunciations across China
- Helped the people in the PRC as there were no alphabets in the previous language
- End of 1976, the literacy increased to 70% → a huge propaganda victory for Mao
13
Q
Education
A
- 1949, most peasants were barely literate or completely illiterate → literacy rate was 20%
- Mid-1950, a national system of primary education was set up → led to a great increase in the literacy rate
- 1955, PRC adopted a reform of the Chinese language → the new form of written Mandarin (Pinyin style) to overcome the problem of different pronunciations across China
- Helped the people in the PRC as there were no alphabet in the previous language
- End of 1976, literacy increased to 70% → a huge propaganda victory for Mao
14
Q
Laogai (Labour reform)
A
- Chinese criminal justice → used as a place during Mao’s regime to store his political enemies (re-education)
- Used to enforce conformity and obedience in China
- Chances of survival in the camps were incredibly slim
- For the bare minimum ration of food, prisoners had to make full confessions to the crime
- Those who persisted were subjected to interrogation, starvation, beatings and solitary confinements
6.The camps were able to give the Chinese industry a continuous supply of slave labour - Prisoners in the camp had to do heavy manual labour such as mining and working on hazardous projects
- Chinese Industry maximised its resources through these labour projects without having to pay wages
15
Q
Religion
A
- Mao expressed strong antipathy towards religion and declared it was poison → compared the Christian missionaries in China to the Nazis in Europe.
- Regarded religion as a threat as Mao believed that the Chinese population could only worship him → feared that religion would combine with politics to create a separatist movement
- Mao came in power in 1949, he started state attacks on religion → all Christian churches were forcibly closed and 6000 monasteries were destroyed in Tibet.
- Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity were denounced as worthless → forbade religion to be openly practised and priests were prohibited from wearing distinctive dressed.
- Ancestor worship was also forbidden from being practised. Mao attacked Chinese customs and traditions.
- Formal expression of belief were outlawed and traditions were replaced by political meetings.
- Collectivization was used to destroy the time-honored pattern of rural life → peasants were to accept Maoism as their new faith.
- Used purges to destroy religion → those who practiced religion publicly, were placed in the laogais where they were tortured (attacked by dogs, burnt, whipped etc) →over 1 million people were placed in these camps.
- Propaganda was used to spread a country-wide condemnation of religion → was the main mean of enforcing conformity and solidarity and depicted Mao as a God everywhere around the cities. Loudspeakers also kept a running condemnation of religion.
- Red Guards acted out shows depicting the ‘horrors’ of religion and the greatness of Maoism.
- There were some advantages for the PRC to permit some forms of public worship →would give the peasants an appearance of toleration.
- Some churches were kept open so long that they did not “endanger the security of the state” → the clergy has to swear total loyalty to Mao
16
Q
Religion in Border Regions
A
- 1950, Mao sent the PLA in Xinjiang, Guangdong and Tibet to enforce his authority and the acceptance of central control.
- Tibetan Buddhism inspired Tibetan nationalism in its resistance to Chinese occupation.
- The majority of Xinjiang population was Muslim → bordered Pakistan, Turkistan and Kazakhstan. Mao feared religion + politics would create a separatist movement in Xinjiang.
- To prevent this, the PRC condemned all independent organizations in border regions as “handful of national separatists” with “reactionary feudal ideas”.
- Mao tried to dilute the Muslin element by sending large numbers of Han Chinese to settle in Xinjiang → was only partially successful. In 1976 (Mao’s death), Muslims were still a large minority of the Xinjiang population
17
Q
Women
A
- Mao grew up in a patriarchal society (male-dominated) in Imperial China → Obedience of wives to husbands and women did not have equal rights and say on who they want to marry: When Mao was 14, he betrothed Luo Yigu (18yrs old). Mao was unhappy about the arranged marriage and refused to live with Luo →could have affected his views on women, leading him to criticize arranged marriages.
- 1950, PRC introduced new marriage laws → concubinage was forbidden, arranged marriages discontinued, women forced to marry are entitled to divorce their partners, all marriages had to be registered.
- Laws:
-1950, Land Law: Laws allowed women to own and sell land and property.
-1950, Marriage Law: Concubines and bride prices abolished
-1953, Abortion legalised - Women were now officially considered the equals of men → between, 1949 and 1976, proportion of women in workforce increased from 8% to 32%.
- Mao’s party still operated as a male-dominated system → Only 13% of CCP were women
18
Q
Advantages of Collectivization on Women
A
- Women could join the workforce with men → ‘Women hold up half the sky’ – women’s work was seen as equal to men.
- Housework and childcare became a communal effort.
- Communal dining halls fed families (women no longer had to cook every night).
- Women were more independent and free → no longer restricted to house work at home, and could do real work.
- Great Leap Forward: opportunity for more independence of women.
- Amount of women in the workforce increased from 8% to 32% between 1949-76.
19
Q
Disadvantages of Collectivization of Women
A
- Used as a tool to achieve national objectives
- Women’s rights were often sacrificed for other government goals
- Great Leap Forward: abolished former laws which granted women the right to own and sell land and property.
- People were required to live in communes (less privacy, less individuality).
- Often labor was too heavy and physical for women.
- They still had to take care of domestic work afterwards (exhaustion and extra-work not valued).
- Many women were unhappy with working in factories and losing their role as caretakers.
- Role of the mother was no longer valued.
- Many men did not appreciate women gaining same training as them.
- Even if women did more jobs, men usually received more work points.
- Women’s health deteriorated (especially in peasant women) due to the hard work and famine.