government in china 1949-65

Question 1

what was china like in 1949?

Answer 1

• after the civil war tens of millions were dead, china was bankrupt and chaotic. CCP took over
• after the guomindang (GMD - nationalists) left, there were few experienced officials, the economy and industry were devastated
• lack of transport, infrastructure
• nationalist threat e.g. feb 1950, shanghai bombed (1000 dead, water and electricity supplies damaged). PRC ships sunk by them

Question 2

what is democratic centralism?

Answer 2

democracy and central government authority, includes political freedoms and voting rights. no deviation from central decisions

Question 3

what was the structure of government in 1949?

Answer 3

army, party (CCP), state (PRC)

Question 4

what was the state like in 1949?

Answer 4

• mao = president
• PRC (people’s republic of china) = massive independent power, concentrated in people’s government council
• the state council: head = zhou enlai, interpret + enact laws, announce decrees. coordinated ministries
• ministries: 24, including justice, finance, food, etc

Question 5

what was the party like in 1949?

Answer 5

• CCP (chinese communist party), mao = chairman
• 4.5m-5.8m members 1949-50
• party = power
• standing committee of politburo = 5 members (mao, liu shaoqi, zhou enlai, peng dehuai, zhu de)
• politburo = 25 members
• decisions made by standing committee of politburo → politburo → central committee → …..

Question 6

what was the army like in 1949?

Answer 6

• mao = head of military affairs commission (which controlled the PLA)
• PLA = people’s liberation army
• political role: reunification campaigns, suppressed enemies
• economic role: rebuild china’s infrastructure, construction+irrigation
• set an example: ‘learn from PLA campaign’
• members: 5m-3.5m 1950-53, but 800k new recruits each year (‘big university’, indoctrinated into communist propaganda when taught to read and write)

Question 7

regional bureaux in 1949

Answer 7

• governed 6 massive regions
• 4 officials in each bureau: government chairman, first party secretary, military commander, army political commissar
• by 1959, 8 mil bureaucrats (from 720k)
• village level: party cadre (party rep) = monitor people through danwei, give permission to leave, marry, etc.

Question 8

how did the CCP deal with opposition?

Answer 8

• target ‘counter-revolutionaries’, anyone who could create trouble, had links to foreign countries e.g. taiwan or the usa, or were class enemies. tricked into self-registration (submitted autobiographies giving away themselves and their colleagues). 1951 definition of counter-revolutionaries extended to anyone who disagreed w/ the party
• mass participation: ‘struggle meetings’ where counter-revolutionaries were humiliated and beat up by normal people
• anti campaigns: 3 antis = corruption, waste, obstructionist bureaucracy in gov → old gov civil servants targeted. 5 antis = bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on gov contracts, stealing state econ info → middle class businessmen (99% of businessmen in shanghai found guilty of 1 of 5 crimes)
• reunification campaigns: to unify regions under chinese communist rule.
  
  • taiwan: nationalists declared it was a ROC (republic of china), china sent spies to sabotage
  • guangdong: pro-nationalist southern province, they feared spies + sabotage. CCP killed 28k
  • xinjiang: large muslim population, ¾ uyghurs. CCP invited uyghur leaders to CPPCC 1949, plane crashed and all died. PLA organised migration of han chinese 1950
  • tibet: china wanted to remove buddhism, troops invaded capital nov 1950, 17 point agreement signed → PRC and tibet merged
• laogai: labour camps, torture+mistreatment, hundreds died each month (27mil total deaths supposedly) or committed suicide e.g. in guangdog 1 in 3 committed suicide.
  
  • benefits: pushed forward econ, 700mil yuan in industrial products+350k tons of grain contributed, intimidated and terrorised population, former opponents indoctrinated

Question 9

why did mao launch the hundred flowers campaign?

Answer 9

• catch up to the west with the support of intellectuals (who had remained silent from 1949 as they faced struggle meetings and thought reform)
• rectification of the party: wanted intellectuals to point out mistakes of party members who he thought were less revolutionary and more bureaucratic
• nervous due to khrushchev secret speech as he felt the critcisms targeted him too
• optimistic and overconfident, expected intellectuals to endorse his policies so he could gain more influence

Question 10

the hundred flowers campaign

Answer 10

• 2 may 1956: mao declared “let a hundred flowers bloom” but most intellectuals unwilling to speak → mao angry at them and media
• feb 1957: speech ‘on the correct handling of contradictions among the people’, admitted CCP mistakes e.g. wrongly identified intellectuals, 800k chinese killed, etc → intellectuals began to criticise the party e.g. violent methods likened to methods of nazi germany, some critcised mao personally

Question 11

how did mao suppress the hundred flowers campaign?

Answer 11

• anti rightist campaign
• june = speech on ‘handling contradictions’ published but no mention of moderation, talked about ‘poisonous weeds’ growing up amongst ‘fragrant flowers’ → demanded a campaign of class struggle against the ‘rightists’
• crimes: opposing socialist culture, opposing fundamental policies of the state, denying achievements of the revolution
• cadres had a 5% quota in a danwei to be deemed rightist
• estimated 400k-700k intellectuals purged, even well known party members like ding ling

Question 12

impacts of the korean war

Answer 12

• increased CCP control as they could promote a national identity through hatred of the usa
• ‘resist america, aid korea’ used by mao as rationale to purge enemies on pretence of them being spies/enemies (800k counter-revolutionary and 135k official executions), rumours about biological weapons testing
• increase patriotic pride through PLA soldier propaganda as they weren’t defeated by UN troops (prod increased, businessmen’s patriotic pacts to pay taxes on time, etc)
• international prestige (‘paper tigers’), good example to other asian countries
• USSR relations - stalin increased interest on money lent, china dependent on ussr for economic aid and advice
• forced to accept taiwan’s existence as they had usa support
• relations with west declined → containment policy
• 800k chinese died including mao’s son anying