Establishing Communist Rule | Civil War Aftermath

Question 1

What was the Second Sino-Japanese War?

Answer 1

Military conflict between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan

Question 2

How long did the Second Sino-Japanese War last?

Answer 2

From 1937-1945

Question 3

What was the First Sino-Japanese War?

Answer 3

Conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and Empire of Japan for supremacy in Korea.

Question 4

How did the First Sino-Japanese War end?

Answer 4

China signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. China relinquished all claims to influence over Korea, which became a Japanese protectorate

Question 5

What did the First Sino-Japanese War prove?

Answer 5

The weakness of the Chinese empire

Question 6

Why had China undergone dramatic changes before the Communist Party seized power in 1949?

Answer 6

After the Qing dynasty of emperors was overthrown in 1911, China entered a period of chaos with rival warlords fighting to establish control

Question 7

What broke out after the Second Sino-Japanese War?

Answer 7

A civil war between the GMD and Communists

Question 8

What happened in December 1949?

Answer 8

After the defeat of the GMD in the civil war, Chiang fled to join the remaining of his forces in Taiwan, leaving Mao and the Communists in control of China

Question 9

How was WW1 favourable to the Communists in China?

Answer 9

As the Communists had extended areas under their control, they proved capable of organisation, in comparison to the Nationalists who had squandered opportunities for so long

Question 10

How was Mao’s reputation as a military leader strenghtened after WW1?

Answer 10

Mao’s reputation as a military leader was strengthened by the way he supervised successful transition from guerrilla to open warfare

Question 11

How was Mao regarded once WW1 was over?

Answer 11

As the architect of new China, he had the devoted loyalty of the Chinese Army (PLA)

Question 12

What did Mao intend to use his power to do once WW1 was over?

Answer 12

Restore stability to China by making all political opposition impossible

Question 13

Why did Mao want to make all political opposition impossible?

Answer 13

It was a lesson he learned from observing the difficulties faces by Chiang whose ability to control China was made more difficult by the political factions inside the GMD

Question 14

Before the War, where else had Mao made all political opposition impossible?

Answer 14

In Yanan, where he had imposed his personal authority and suppressed all opposition

Question 15

What was Mao’s intention for the new political system?

Answer 15

He wanted a political system where all power lay at the top, in the hands of the CCP, reinforced by military power when necessary

Question 16

What lesson about support did Mao learn from the civil war?

Answer 16

The Reds treating the peasants more fairly than the GMD and organising land distribution from wealthy landowners to peasants were successful strategies that attracted peasant support to the Communists

Question 17

What was the immediate impact of the civil war on China?

Answer 17

Damaged economy, hyperinflation 
China's industrial output dropped
Famines
Lack of industrial development 
Most advanced industrial areas were in Japanese hands

Question 18

Why did China’s industrial output drop after the war?

Answer 18

The Japanese seized the most productive areas as they advanced.

Japanese bombing raids damaged Chinese industries and so did scorched-earth tactics of retreating Nationalists

Question 19

What was China’s industrial output after the civil war?

Answer 19

China’s industrial output stood at 25% of its pre-war level

Question 20

Why were there famines in China after the civil war?

Answer 20

Disruption of agriculture caused by the conscription of peasants to fight in the rival armies

War time food requisitioning was necessary to feed both the army and the cities, but this would continue to be the case after 1949 due to:

the size of PLA and continued growth of urban population

Question 21

What was food production in 1945 reckoned to be?

Answer 21

30% lower than it had been at the start of the war 1937

Question 22

What province in China had suffered a famine accounting between 2 and 3 million lives?

Answer 22

Henan province

Question 23

How was China’s finances devastated by war years?

Answer 23

The GMD had paid for the war by borrowing and printing money, which caused hyperinflation by 1945

In 1949, the inflation rate stood at 1000%

Chiang took China’s foreign currency reserves with him when he fled to Taiwan

Question 24

How did the geography of China affect it’s agricultural output?

Answer 24

Despite covering huge land, only 15% of the land in China was cultivable, so the scope for increasing agricultural output was limited unless techniques were modernised

Question 25

What was the issue with China’s industrial development?

Answer 25

Although China’s industries were modernising, China had not yet experienced an industrial revolution like Western Europe in the 19th century, despite having plentiful raw materials and a huge labour source

Question 26

Why was China’s industrial development hampered by overall?

Answer 26

Long-term underinvestment and an under-skilled workforce

Question 27

What would China’s future ability to survive require?

Answer 27

Industrialisation imposed by the state who would have to find ways to make agriculture more productive to feed industrial workers

Question 28

Why was most of China’s industrial areas in the hands of the Japanese after the civil war?

Answer 28

The most advanced areas lay in Manchuria, which had been in Japanese hands since 1931

Although they had developed its iron and steel industries, they fell into Soviet hands in 1945, who seized many of its industrial assets before they left

Question 29

When did the civil war last?

Answer 29

1927-1949

Question 30

How bad was the Japanese bombing raids?

Answer 30

Japanese bombing of Chongqing killed over 10,000 civilians between 1938 and 1943, one of the most intensive aerial bombardments in WW2