Mao’s China

Question 1

1946-1949

Answer 1

Civil war

Political indoctrination gave CCP troops more motivation to fight vs GMD conscripts with little incentive

CCP troops more disciplined, treated population with respect. Vs the Ill-disciplined and brutal GMD who terrorised locals.

CCP presented as truly patriotic vs GMD who fought against communists rather than Japanese.

CCP effective in preventing crime, introducing fair system of taxation and handling food supplies vs GMD who were corrupted and inefficient, mismanaged the economy, created a dictatorial regime, did little for the people.

$3 Billion dollar aid supplied by the US to GMD portrayed them as weak and dependent, perception that China could not be independent under the nationalist government

Question 2

1950

Answer 2

Agrarian reform law

Redistribute land from landlords to peasants.

“Speak bitterness” meetings and people’s courts.

As many as 1 million landlords executed between 1949 and 1953.

Question 3

1951

Answer 3

Three antis campaign

Decrease corruption, waste and bureaucracy

Targeted high-ranking party officials

Question 4

1952

Answer 4

Five antis campaign

Decrease bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft of state property, Spying on the CCP

Targeted Bourgeoise, business leaders

Question 5

1953-1957

Answer 5

First five year plan

Rapidly modernise Chinese industry with the help of the Soviets. (And based on the soviet model)

Primary emphasis on industry at the expense of agriculture. (Coal and steel)

Cooperative farming to boost efficiency (collectivisation).

9% economic growth between 1953 and 1957

Question 6

1956-1957

Answer 6

Hundred flowers campaign

Encouraged free discussion and criticism of the CCP

Resulted in huge rush, posing a threat to CCP rule.

Anti-rightist campaign (June 1957) was initiated - critics were persecuted, 500 thousand intellectuals sent to re-education camps.

Question 7

1958-1962

Answer 7

Great Leap Forward (second five year plan)

Aimed to transform China into a leading industrial power - required mass mobilisation and effective leadership.

Question 8

Economic context of the GLF

Answer 8

First five year plan increased industrial output but agricultural production lagged far behind.

Increased agricultural production necessary to enable rapid industrialisation

There were a lot of unemployed people that Mao wanted to use to realise his plan

Question 9

International context of the GLF

Answer 9

Growing strains between CCP and USSR

Mao became convinced that China would have to rely on itself

Ambitious goals to overtake B in 15 years and US in 20-30 years.

Question 10

Ideological context of the GLF

Answer 10

Mao believed that with mass mobilisation, the effects of economic theories could be negated and material conditions overcome.

He also believed continuous revolution was necessary to maintain public support of the CCP

Question 11

Political context of the GLF

Answer 11

Little opposition as the experience of the anti rightist campaign had intimidated party members into giving way to Mao.

He was the undisputed leader of the CCP, became accustomed to imposing his will on the party.

Question 12

Agricultural Features and consequences of the GLF

Answer 12

Agriculture features: communes
- Aim to abolish private, family sphere of peasant life.
- Work teams of 50-200 people combined into brigades of 1000-2000 people.
- Private plots of land taken over by the commune, work organised in a military style
- People lived communally - kindergartens, happiness homes, mess halls.
- Large scale civil engineering projects like dams and canals built by hand

Consequences: Agricultural collapse and famine
1. 1959-1961 (3 bad years): disastrous harvest made worse by natural disasters.
2. 1959-1962: The Great famine - 20 to 40 million people died of starvation

Causes:
- Party cadres reported absurdly inflated production numbers - more grain collected by the sate.
- Peasants neglected the field because of military training or because of a lack of tools. (They were melted down to fulfil steel targets).
- Implementation of misguided practices like Lysenkoism.
- March 1958 “4 Pests campaign”: Aimed to eradicate flies, mosquitoes, rats and sparrows. Loss of sparrows led to growth of caterpillar population, resulting in crop destruction.

Question 13

Industrial features and consequences of the GLF

Answer 13

Communes ordered to be centres of production

Backyard furnaces established to produce iron and steel. Household items like pots and pans were melted down.

However, these were inefficient and wasteful, most of the steel produced was of poor quality and could not be used. Furthermore, all of the coal used for the furnaces had gone to waste.

Consequences: Industrial Depression

Massive increase in industrial accidents because of worker fatigue and lack of safety regulations

Constant equipment breakdowns resulted in accidents and inefficiency

Technical staff and engineers who raised objections about waste, quality, and safety were denounced by party secretaries as criticism was seen as challenging the authority of the party and its leaders

Question 14

Other consequences of the GLF: Environment, Dissent, and leadership

Answer 14

Environmental degradation:
Unchecked deforestation
Pollution
Poorly built dams built by hand collapsed

Mass dissent:
Peasants unhappy about starvation and overwork
Became resentful of CCP and party cadres
Lost private properties and felt that family life had been attacked

Leadership:
Mao took part of the blame for the disaster of the GLF and became politically sidelined (resigned late 1959)
Under the control of President Liu Shaoqi, PM Zhou Enlai, and CCP general secretary Deng Xiaoping, China underwent de-GLF processes like decollectivisation.

Question 15

1962-1966

Answer 15

Cultural revolution: The Early Years

Mao disagreed with the relaxed policies, worried that China would follow similar path of USSR under Khrushchev

Mao signalled his reassertion of power and return to the political stage with his swim in the Yangtze River in 1966

Question 16

1966-1968

Answer 16

Cultural revolution: The Red Years

The worst of the Urban violence

Campaign to destroy the 4 olds: habits, customs, culture, and ideas

Student red-guards were organised and ordered to rebel.
They attacked teachers, elite party members, intellectuals, artists and writers, and miscellaneous class enemies.
They raided homes to destroy bourgeois articles and disrupt luxurious, un-communist lifestyles.
This resulted in humiliations, beatings, and torture.

There was division and rivalry within the red guard factions, there were often gang fights in the streets.

The PLA had to intervene but they then took sides, deepening the conflicts.

Lots of purges and armed fights

Question 17

1968-1971

Answer 17

Cultural revolution: The Black years

Rusticating campaign:
Mao sent red guards that were threatening to become uncontrollable for work-study programmes in the countryside.

12 million moved, with most unprepared for the suffering and hunger, causing them to become disillusioned with Maoism and the chinese political system.

Lin Biao had been instrumental in the cultural revolution, growing his own support base. Mao became suspicious of his ambitions and reliability. After allegedly conspiring to assassinate Mao, Lin Biao tried to flee China but died in a plane crash in Mongolia in 1971. Associates and allies were purged.

Question 18

1971-1976

Answer 18

Cultural revolution: The Grey Years

People were exhausted by the continuous purges, rallies and criticism sessions

Destitute peasants and party cadres abandoned the collective model out of a need to survive.
They opened black markets, divided land, restored private plots, sold produce, and revived private factories.

Due to failing health, Mao relaxed state interference in peasants’ daily lives.

Question 19

Consequences of the cultural revolution

Answer 19

Severe economic damage:
1966-1976: Industrial production fell by 13.8%

Lack of educational progress:
1966-1970: 130 million chinese youth simply stopped attending school, quality of education degraded. Studies were dismissed as worthless unless they served the revolution.