MAO Politics part 2 Flashcards

1
Q

Why did the PLA enjoy a special place in Communist mythology?

A

Defeated the Japanese and the GMD; epitomised revolutionary values

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2
Q

How many people made up the PLA in 1950?

A

5 million

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3
Q

How much of the state budget did the PLA consume in 1950?

A

Over 40%

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4
Q

How many men was the PLA reduced to by 1957?

A

2.5 million

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5
Q

Who supervised the reduction in the numbers of the PLA?

A

Minister of Defence, Peng Dehuai

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6
Q

What happened to the PLA as it became smaller?

A

Became more professional; more technically advanced; less egalitarian; with differentiated pay scales between clearly defined ranks

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7
Q

When did the PLA’s political department draw up a new code of conduct, stressing the need to help peasants on collective farms?

A

1956

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8
Q

How many young men were conscripted to the PLA each year and for how long?

A

800,000; 3-year term

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9
Q

How did the PLA remain of pivotal importance to the PRC post-1949?

A

Acted as a means of indoctrination; a workforce for rebuilding transport infrastructure after the civil war; a means of enforcing central gov control in the regions

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10
Q

When did Mao become leader of the CCP?

A

1943

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11
Q

What made Mao head of state as well as of the Party?

A

Appointment as chair of the Central People’s Government

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12
Q

What are early examples of Mao setting the pace and direction of policy?

A

Korean War 1950; ‘five antis’ campaign 1952

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13
Q

What are some examples of Mao’s power not being absolute?

A

1956 Party Congress removed ref to Mao Zedong Thought while Mao was ill; Hundred Flowers campaign 1956-57; debate about pace of agricultural change

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14
Q

Who did Mao like to compare himself to?

A

First Qin emperor who had united China in 3rd century BC

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15
Q

Why did Mao have to adapt Marxism for China?

A

Only 1% of the population could be classed as industrial workers

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16
Q

Where did Mao first build strong links between the Communists and the peasantry?

A

Jiangxi; Yanan

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17
Q

What were the different aspects of Mao Zedong thought?

A

Nationalism; continuing revolution; listening to the people; mass mobilisation

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18
Q

What was reaffirmed in the 1954 constitution as one of the principles on which the PRC was based?

A

Democratic centralism

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19
Q

Where did the Great Terror begin?

A

Rural areas- October 1950

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20
Q

When did the Great Terror spread to the cities?

A

April 1951

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21
Q

How many people were killed in the Great Terror?

A

1/2 million

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22
Q

Who was the next target of the regime after the Great Terror?

A

Professionals who had been asked to stay in their posts, but whose support became less important as time passed

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23
Q

How many government officials were sacked in the ‘three antis’ movement in 1951?

A

Over a million

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24
Q

Who was attacked in the 1952 ‘five antis’ campaign?

A

Business community

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25
Q

Where were the reunification campaigns?

A

Guangdong; Xinjiang; Tibet

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26
Q

When were the reunification campaigns?

A

1950-51

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27
Q

When did the civil war drag on in the far south until?

A

End of 1950

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28
Q

Why was Guangdong targeted during the reunification campaigns?

A

GMD heartland during the last months of the civil war; town of Guangzhou was the GMD capital

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29
Q

How long did it take for the PLA to secure Guangdong after the declaration of the PRC?

A

2 weeks

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30
Q

What was the population of Xinjiang like?

A

Ethnically mixed, but 80% were Uyghurs, most of whom were Muslims

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31
Q

How was the nationalist opposition in Xinjiang subdued by the Communist Party?

A

By a combination of conquest and negotiation

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32
Q

Why was Xinjiang targeted during the reunification campaigns?

A

Westernmost province of China, which had only been conquered by the Qing in the 1880s; Russians had been developing it as a potential buffer state

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33
Q

What were the local Uyghur leaders in Xinjiang offered?

A

Key posts in the regional council

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34
Q

When did Peng use the PLA to capture Urumqi, the provincial capital of Xinjiang?

A

End of 1949

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35
Q

How was future Communist control established in Xinjiang?

A

Appointment of a Long March veteran to run the local CCP and army unit

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36
Q

What did Xinjiang become for China after the reunification campaign there?

A

Security buffer zone

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37
Q

How did the Party distill the Uyghur population in Xinjiang?

A

Sent in large members of Han Chinese to work on construction projects

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38
Q

When had Tibet been operating as an independent entity from?

A

1913

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39
Q

Why was Tibet left alone to face Chinese conquest?

A

India was independent and so the British were no longer interested in protecting Tibet; UN was too busy with Korea; Russia had agreed to allow China a free hand there, in return for the same in Outer Mongolia; too far from the USA for its direct influence to come into play

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40
Q

When did the PLA invade Tibet?

A

October 1950

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41
Q

When did Tibet come under Chinese sovereignty?

A

May 1951

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42
Q

How did the PRC begin a prolonged campaign to destroy Tibetan identity after the country had come under Chinese sovereignty?

A

Brought in large numbers of Han settlers; promoted a Chinese lifestyle

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43
Q

Who backed the local resistance to the PRC in Tibet?

A

American CIA

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44
Q

How was every employed worker allocated food, clothing and housing?

A

Through a danwei

45
Q

How many different class labels were there?

A

60, divided into 3 broad categories- ‘good’, ‘middle’ and ‘bad’

46
Q

How were people assigned class labels?

A

According to their presumed loyalty to the revolution

47
Q

What were the class labels eventually simplified into?

A

‘Red’ or ‘black’

48
Q

Why did the class labels determine an individual’s fate for years to come?

A

Children inherited the status of the head of their household

49
Q

Dangan

A

A dossier containing detailed personal information on anyone that came to the attention of the Party- access to employment, housing or pensions depended on this

50
Q

How long did it take for people of ‘dubious’ class backgrounds, whose professional expertise was contributing to the regime, to be targeted?

A

12 months

51
Q

Which groups of ‘criminals’ were particularly targeted in the initial crackdown on crime?

A

Beggars; prostitutes

52
Q

In the short-term, how were the police ordered to clean up the cities initially?

A

By relocating criminals and ‘nuisances’ to the countryside or locking them up

53
Q

Why was the initial crackdown on crime popular among many urban residents?

A

Longed to see order restored after so many years of war and chaos

54
Q

Why was the initial crackdown on crime not as effective as hoped?

A

Many of those rounded up and sent away simply drifted back as soon as they could; ‘re-education’ camps were quickly full

55
Q

Where were the triads particularly notorious for their influence on underworld crime?

A

Guangzhou; Shanghai

56
Q

How many criminals were arrested in the initial crackdown on crime?

A

150,000

57
Q

How many criminals were executed in the initial crackdown on crime?

A

Over 1/2 of those arrested

58
Q

When was the Great Terror?

A

1950-51

59
Q

Who were the most significant figures in orchestrating the Great Terror?

A

Tao Zhu; Luo Ruiqing; Rao Shushi

60
Q

Tao Zhu

A

Dispatched to orchestrate the clampdown in Guangxi province on the Vietnam border- here, particularly brutal treatment was required because of its lingering nationalist sympathies

61
Q

What was Tao Zhu known as?

A

‘The tank’

62
Q

Luo Ruiqing

A

Head of security in Beijing; responsible for transmitting Mao’s wishes to provincial leaders

63
Q

What did Mao suggest as the killings in the Great Terror threatened to get out of hand?

A

Killing roughly 1/1000 of the local population as an acceptable target, which could be adjusted according to local circumstances

64
Q

What did Mao’s suggestion of slowing down the killings in the Great Terror do?

A

Allowed him to pose as the voice of moderation; made sure that the officials below him took the actual decisions and were inextricably implicated in the terror

65
Q

During the Great Terror, when was it proposed that the killings be extended to the enemies inside the CCP itself?

A

March 1951

66
Q

Who proposed that the Great Terror should be extended to the CCP itself?

A

Rao Shushi

67
Q

What was the Great Terror designed to do?

A

Remove opponents; deter others

68
Q

Why did the Terror initially claim fewer lives in the cities?

A

Partly due to fears of adverse publicity; partly because urban professionals were still needed

69
Q

When was a top-ranking military officer shot dead at a concert in Jinan?

A

March 1951

70
Q

What did the Jinan shooting result in?

A

Coordinated raid in 16 cities and the arrests of nearly 17,000 people

71
Q

When was the post-Jinan shooting raid?

A

28 April 1951

72
Q

What were young Party activists forced to do during the Terror to immerse them in the revolutionary experience?

A

Watch mass executions

73
Q

What was the official figure for the number of people killed during the Terror, stated at a Party convention in 1954?

A

710,000

74
Q

When did the Great Terror calm down?

A

October 1951

75
Q

What did the ‘three antis’ movement target?

A

Corruption, waste and delay in the government and Party

76
Q

What was the catalyst of the ‘three antis’ movement?

A

Arrest in November 1951 of Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan, charged with embezzling large sums from the Party

77
Q

Who were Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan?

A

2 leading members of the CCP hierarchy in Tianjan

78
Q

How were Zhang Zishan and Liu Qingshan punished?

A

Executed

79
Q

Who was put in charge of the ‘three antis’ movement?

A

Bo Yibo, minister of finance

80
Q

What were suspects accused of small-scale embezzlement referred to as in the ‘three antis’ movement?

A

‘Flies’

81
Q

What were suspects accused of larger-scale corruption referred to as in the ‘three antis’ movement?

A

‘Tigers’

82
Q

When was the ‘five antis’ campaign launched?

A

January 1952

83
Q

What were the ‘five antis’?

A

Bribery; tax evasion; theft of state property; fraud; economic espionage

84
Q

When were Gao Gang and Rao Shushi purged?

A

Late 1953

85
Q

Gao Gang

A

Rose to favour as a force in economic planning but had over-reached himself and began plotting to replace Zhou Enlai as vice-chairman of the Party

86
Q

What were Gao Gang and Rao Shushi accused of doing?

A

Infringing the ban on factions and building up their own empires within the Party

87
Q

What happened to Gao Gang and Rao Shushi?

A

Gao committed suicide, rather than face humiliation; Rao was arrested and died in jail in 1975

88
Q

What did the Gao Gang and Rao Shushi affair do for Mao?

A

Reinforced his position at the top; made the cadres lower down realise that it was dangerous to take opposition too far

89
Q

What was the official explanation of the laogai camps?

A

Places of re-education rather than of punishment

90
Q

How many prisoners were in the laogai by 1953?

A

2 million

91
Q

How were the laogai of economic value?

A

Contributed some 700 million yuan in industrial products and 350,000 tonnes of grain to the state each year by 1955

92
Q

How were the laogai prisoners used during the GLP?

A

Convenient means of getting the most hazardous jobs done, such as mining and clearing malaria-infested swamps

93
Q

How many of prisoners in the laogai were there for political reasons?

A

9/10

94
Q

Thought reform

A

Form of mental torture where laogai prisoners had to demonstrate that they had totally changed their way of thinking

95
Q

When did the prison population bloom, due to a further purge of counter-revolutionaries?

A

1955

96
Q

How many people are thought to have died in the prisons?

A

25 million

97
Q

Guanzhi

A

Placing people under public supervision

98
Q

When was the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

A

1957

99
Q

When did Mao surprise everyone by calling for open debate about the results of the 1FYP?

A

1956

100
Q

When did Mao first call on CCP delegates to ‘let a hundred flowers bloom’?

A

April 1956

101
Q

What Russian event caused Mao to call for open debate with the Hundred Flowers campaign?

A

De-Stalinisation

102
Q

Which European event affected Mao’s change of heart with the Hundred Flowers campaign?

A

Hungarian uprising October 1956

103
Q

What did Mao think of the intellectuals?

A

Didn’t trust them but he knew that they had a valuable contribution to make to the economy

104
Q

When did Mao unsuccessfully attempt to launch the Hundred Flowers campaign for the second time?

A

CCP Congress in November 1956

105
Q

Where was the Hundred Flowers campaign launched?

A

In a major speech of Mao’s in February 1957

106
Q

What had led to the arrest of roughly a hundred intellectuals two years before the Hundred Flowers campaign?

A

Media campaign against Hu Feng

107
Q

Which newspaper was ordered to give coverage to the debate of the Hundred Flowers campaign?

A

People’s Daily

108
Q

How many people were put into the ‘re-education camps’ as a result of the Hundred Flowers campaign?

A

1/2 million