Mao domestic policies Flashcards
Aims
Industrialise
Keep foreign powers out
Five year plan methods
Nationalisation of all private businesses in < 2 years and regulation of all prices and wages
Businesses w/ < 10 employees were left private as initially, they couldn’t take over every business in China
Sectors like iron , steel, energy, transport, communications, machinery and chemicals were nationalised as they were the most important resources
Vast new industrial schemes were planned in the north of China to increase production and efficiency
Iron and steel mills were set up in small market towns
Railways and roads built in China including a railway
link from Lanzhou across the Gobi desert to Urumqi
Made it possible to mine natural resources in the region then transport them back to factories in mainland China, boosting the economy
Five year plan successes
Rapid growth of the Chinese industry
The loan from the Soviet Union (low interest made an economic
boom possible)
Took over formerly Japanese factories, creating more industrial
expansion and increasing output and light industries
For the first time China could produce its own cars, tractors, planes, cargo ships, machine tools and penicillin, making it
possible for the population to grow from 57 million in 1949 to 100 million in 1957
Great leap forward successes
Improvements to infrastructure Industrial growth More state owned enterprises Party branches took over factories Any surplus profit went to the state Peasants told they would get rich by concentrating on iron and steel production “Twenty years in a day” Everyone involved in the steel production
Great leap forward failures
Estimated 20 to 48 million people died in China
Many starved to death
Steel made from door handles, pots, pans was bad quality and useless
It was collected only for motivation
Constantly burning furnaces led to deforestation
Four pests campaign disrupted ecosystem
The GLP was supposed to last 5 years, but ended after 3 tragic years
Mao lost some of his power
Collectivisation failures
Peasants had previously produced only what they needed and didn’t know how to work for a larger population
Some became too involved in the new factories and neglected their agricultural roles
The propaganda was too effective so some ignored their fields as they thought grain was a certainty
The propaganda’s focus on grain led to less attention to other crops
Assessing successes economy
Recovering from the Great Leap Forward
Liu Shaoqui and Deng Xiaoping were left to deal with the famine.
They managed to make grain import from Australia and Canada to feed the starving.
Communes were reorganised in 1961
Went back to the old system where they could help each other out and do multiple tasks.
Pay rates were changed
Peasants time was no longer wasted on unnecessary industrial work or military work around the fields.
Families reclaimed farmland to cultivate independently under a “household responsibility scheme”
Industrial recovery was fast thanks to the discovery of huge oil and gas field in Daquing
Assessing failures economy
The GLP was a disaster
Only 1% of the steel production was usable
Political interference prevented the operation of a National plan
Disappearance of private managers weakened the drive for profits
Lower guaranteed wages lowered the incentive to work hard and produce good quality goods
Peasants abandoned farming to work the furnaces
Government policies and a terrible drought in northern and central China as well as
Floodings in the south destroyed crops. This led to a terrible famine causing between
20 and 50 million deaths. This period is known as “Three Bitter Years”.
Mao’s government refused to acknowledge what was happening or admit responsibility
When the defense minister, Deng Dehuai spoke out about the famine he was dismissed by Mao.
Conclusion economy
Production slowed down
The intellectuals were criticised and sent to the countryside or to jail
China really began to develop its potential as an economic powerhouse when Mao died (1976)
‘The Four Modernizations’ implemented by Deng Xiaoping set China on a
Capitalist road
Mao did not succeed in making China a great economic power
Women successes
Right to vote
Divorce and defence against violence
More equality
Mao gained the support of women
Women failures
Control birth
Divorce increased
Work and children (too much work at the same time)
Muslim areas arranged marriage continued
Religion successes
Make people believe his religion was ‘superstition’
Religious establishments → ‘patriotic churches’ when operated under gov. control (=total control)
Ancestor worship + traditional religious rituals banned
Clergy had to profess support for the communist regime
Closure of churches, temples..
Priests and missionaries expelled and Chinese were forbidden to dress distinctive
Tibet was captured and renamed Xizang
(1950)
Tibetan culture was crushed ( forced to grow wheat…)
Religion failures (for people)
Closure of churches, temples, shrines and monasteries
Priests and missionaries were expelled and the Chinese were forbidden to wear distinctive dress
Tibetan culture was crushed
Confucianism was accused of
representing the worst of china’s past.
Successes education
Study groups and night schools were set up
Chinese characters were simplified for quick learning.
the new Chinese textbooks were carefully checked and foreign language
studied.
Literacy rate increased
By 1957, most village children had some primary education and the number in secondary education had almost tripled.
By 1976, 96% of children aged 7-16 were in school.
Failures education
School were set up for all children except the ‘black’ categories
Education were neither compulsory nor free and was never a budget priority.
The quality of the education varied and provision in the villages was often rudimentary.
The politically oriented criteria for admission to better schools and universities held back some of the able individuals China needed.
Despite the lip service about equality, the children of the party cadres were advantaged.
Schools became centres of indoctrination, encouraging he cult of the leader.
During the cultural revolution most schools and universities were closed down. This is known as the 10 lost years as the Cultural Revolution didn’t officially end until Mao’s death in 1976.
