Establishing communist rule 1949-57

Question 1

What were the key development prior to 1949?

Answer 1

• Qing dynasty overthrown in 1911 and the republic that replaced them died immediately
• 1921, GMD defeated warlords and collaborated temporarily with the communist party
• 1927-37, Nanking decade GMD attack communist party, Jianxi set up in 1928, Long march in 1934 killing 80,000 communists and the Yana was set up headed by Mao

Question 2

What caused the Chinese civil war?

Answer 2

• Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and steady invasion of the south until 1941
• America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki prompting Japan to move out of China
• 1946, Chiang fails to destroy northern communist strongholds squandering resource advantage
• December 1949, Chiang flew to Taiwan leaving the communists in charge of China

Question 3

What was the aftermath of the civil war for the communists?

Answer 3

• Ending war gave communists good reputation
• Communists showed organisation when they took over the nationalist land
• Many believed they would serve a role in rebuilding China no matter the background
• Mao had loyalty of the PLA
• Mao learned from Chang and wanted to form a dictatorship
• Learned how to deal with urban and rural issues with Harbin

Question 4

What were the immediate industrial impacts of the civil war?

Answer 4

• Japanese bombing raids, scorched earth tactics and Japanese occupation of Manchuria caused a 75% drop in industrial output

Question 5

What were the immediate agricultural impacts of the civil war?

Answer 5

• 20% of the population relied on surpluses from countryside
• 1945 food production 30% lower
• Henan province had a famine killing 2-3 million

Question 6

What were the immediate economic impacts of the civil war?

Answer 6

• Borrowing to pay for the war by the nationalists and Chang taking the foreign currency reserves to Taiwan left inflation at 1000%
• Russia declared war on Japan a year before they fell meaning they could take industrial assets in Manchuria

Question 7

What were the long term agricultural impacts of the civil war?

Answer 7

• 15% of Chinese land cultivatable
• Population grew by 46 million in 4 years even though the war killed 20 million increasing food demand
• Mechanisation would have to take place to feed population

Question 8

What were the long term industrial impacts of the civil war?

Answer 8

• No industrial revolution
• 1932, NRC created causing 70% of industry to be state owned and 30,000 technical experts . Supervised workforce of 250,000

Question 9

What were the long term economic impacts of the civil war?

Answer 9

• Infrastructure ruined by bombing raids and lack of maintenance
• Rail, road and telephone links needed to be restored

Question 10

What were the CPPCC?

Answer 10

• 1949, meeting staged appointed CPG as supreme state body and approved the common programme, a temporary plan lasting 5 years
• Made up of 600 mainly communist sympathisers

Question 11

What was the common programme?

Answer 11

• Devised in 1949 in a CPPCC meeting
• 5 year plan to steer China in right direction
• On the surface seemed democratic giving gender equality
• In reality allowed state to suppress anti-revolution activity
• Outlined the five black categories, people who didnt deserve rights
• Basically democratic centralism

Question 12

How did the party control the state before 1954?

Answer 12

• Politburo was legislature, GMD laws abolished
• China divided into 6 regions each with congresses gave impression of democracy
• 4 senior communist officials in control of each region showing heavy centralisation

Question 13

What was the 1954 constitution?

Answer 13

• Confirmed China as communist
• NPC new legislature
• State council took over CPG’s functions
• Appeared to be democratic again but party controlled all elections
• 6 regions split into 21 provinces

Question 14

How did bureaucracy grow from 1949

Answer 14

• 720,000 to 8 million in 1959
• Increased power of central government in theory but could end in slowing impetus and protecting the status quo like the Brezhnev period

Question 15

What was the role of the party in the control of the state?

Answer 15

• Constitutions tried to hide centralised power of party but party were really in charge
• CCP officials always held key positions in state such as Zhou Enlai being premier of the state council until 1976
• 1958, Mao stood down as head of state but remained chair of party because that’s where true power was
• Only roughly 1% of population in the party in 1950 including cadres who were spies
• Made ordinary people play big roles such as youth league having 9 million members by 1953

Question 16

What was the role of the PLA in the state?

Answer 16

• 5 million men in 1950 consuming 40% of state budget
• Reduced by 2.5 million by 1957 minimising power of the PLA and increasing the size of the workforce
• PLA became smaller and more elite with pay scales and ranks and 1956 code of conduct focused on helping peasants
• After 1949 acted as indoctrination, a workforce repairing damaged infrstructure and enforcing central government control, 2/4 regional officials PLA.

Question 17

What were Mao’s main ideas?

Answer 17

• Nationalism, to put China first in everything
• Revolution, 1949 was the beggining not the end
• Listening to the people, this is debatable
• Mass mobilisation, China’s huge population was its main asset

Question 18

What were the three reuinification campaigns?

Answer 18

• Guangdong, province capitulated to the PLA but nationalist forces in the north still remained
• Xinjiang, muslim Uyghurs offered key posts in regional councils after nationalist forces were exterminated
• Tibet, invaded by PLA in 1950 and conquered in 1951 where Han settlers invited to promote Chinese lifestyle

Question 19

How did the communists use labelling as a form of terror?

Answer 19

• Household registration system made people assign to a danwei and a cadre distributed ration cards and denial became a powerful tool to enforce conformity,
• Everyone given a class label and sorted into black or red and children inherited family label
• Reeducation classes offered to bourgeoisie and they had to write lengthy confessions with everything they did written in a dangan

Question 20

How did the communists crackdown on crime using terror?

Answer 20

• Beggars and prostitutes targeted
• People relocated to the west but came back soon made worse by demobilisation of PLA
• 150,000 Triad members rounded up and 75000 killed

Question 21

How were counter revolutionaries suppressed during the great terror?

Answer 21

• 1950-51, Korean war an excuse to use terror
• Tao Zhu killed 46,000 bandits and 2.5 per thousand of the population
• Luo Ruiqing, killed 45000 in 7 months in Hubei province
• 1951, Rao Shushi extends killings to inside CCP
• Murder of party official in Jinan caused 18 cities swept and 17,000 people to be arrested
• Estimated figure at 2 million

Question 22

What were the three and five anti movements?

Answer 22

• 1951-52
• Three antis targeted corruption with Bo Yibo in charge, small corruptions named flies and large ones named tigers. 1952, Bo Yibo killed 100,000 tigers
• Purge widened in 1952, denunciation boxes opened, bourgeoisie targeted
• 1% of victims shots, 1% sent to labour camps, 3% jailed for over 10 years
• Old businesses destroyed by fines

Question 23

What was the laogai system?

Answer 23

• Labour camps, 1 million prisoners by 1953
• Contributed 700 million yun and 350k tons annually by 1955
• 9/10 inmates political prisoners
• 1949-76 estimated 25 million died
• 740,000people were placed under local surveillance, guanzi

Question 24

What is the hundred flowers campaign?

Answer 24

• 1957, prompted to not become subject to destalinisation
• Hungarian uprising may have made Mao realise being too open was wrong
• After criticisms surfaced Mao quickly launched an anti rightists and lost the support of intellectuals arresting half million

Question 25

What were the political effects of the Korean war?

Answer 25

• Great terror 1950-51, 3 and 5 antis campaign 1951-52
• Crackdown on foreigners and christian missionaries
• Promoted national unity by posting anti-american propaganda and a germ warfare scare in 1952
• ## Forced donations of 3 months wages, taxes raised and food requisitioned.

Question 26

What were the manpower losses of the korean war?

Answer 26

• 1 million died
• Mao’s son killed in incendiary raid

Question 27

What were the economic impacts of the korean war?

Answer 27

• Half of government spending on the war in 1951
• Trade embargo by the USA on China caused 30% fall in first six months of 1951
• Cost of war meant little spending on public services

Question 28

What was the international impact of the Korean war?

Answer 28

• China held USA at bay so they could claim to be the most powerful communist country
• USA was the enemy and CIA undermined Chinese control of Tibet and refused China admission to the UN in 1972
• Relationship with Russia worsened