Mao’s China - establishing communist rule

Question 1

What percentage of the Chinese population were peasants?

Answer 1

80%

Question 2

How much of the railway network had been destroyed due to the civil war?

Answer 2

50% - telephone lines were also damaged

Question 3

Who had controlled Manchuria until 1949?

Answer 3

The USSR

Question 4

How many members of the CCP were there by 1950?

Answer 4

5.8 million

Question 5

Who was Minister of Defense and commander-in-chief of the PLA from 1949?

Answer 5

Peng Dehuai

Question 6

What were danwei?

Answer 6

Monitored work units to which all employees belonged

Question 7

What did Danwei control?

Answer 7

Permits used for travel, marriage, housing access as well as food

Question 8

What was the CPPCC? Where and when was it held? What did it create?

Answer 8

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Held in Beijing in September 1949 it established the Common Programme

Question 9

What was the Common Programme, developed in 1949? What 4 key points did it lay out?

Answer 9

A temporary constitution setting out rights, establishing the role of the CCP, giving powers to the PLA and Police and making Mao head of state

Question 10

How much did the number of state officials increase by between 1949-59?

Answer 10

720,000 - 7.9 million

Question 11

How did the PLA assist in growing popular support for the CCP?

Answer 11

By giving economic assistance after the civil war - eg rebuilding infrastructure such as roads, bridges, railways and canals

Question 12

How many new recruits per year joined the PLA during the Korean War?

Answer 12

800,000

Question 13

What was the key principle of the new government of China?

Answer 13

Mao Zedong Thought

Question 14

What was the CCP’s new system of government called and what did it entail?

Answer 14

Democratic Centralism - it meant that on a local level people could elect representatives who would express their views in regional congresses, who would then elect representatives to speak in Beijing

Question 15

When was the ‘Three Antis’ movement introduced and what was it?

Answer 15

1951 - it was a campaign against corruption, waste and bureaucracy in government

Question 16

What were ‘struggle meetings’?

Answer 16

Those found guilty in the Antis movements were forced to confess guilt in front of large crowds

Question 17

When was the ‘five Antis’ movement introduced and what was it?

Answer 17

1952
- a campaign against bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts and stealing state economic information

Question 18

What were ‘tiger beaters’ in the Antis movements of the 1959s?

Answer 18

Employees of a firm organised by cadres to find evidence against their former managers and bosses - they would intimidate and torture their ‘capitalist tigers’ before taking them to a struggle meeting

Question 19

The PLA against crime in the 1950s?

Answer 19

Killed thousands of bandits and Triad members. Intimidated criminals - eg. after an execution a bill would be sent to the parents to cover the cost of the buckets used

Question 20

When was the ‘Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries’ introduced and how many had been arrested and executed by 1954?

Answer 20

March 1950
2.6 million arrested
712,000 executed

Question 21

2 Groups attacked by the PLA in 1950?

Answer 21

Buddhists in Tibet
Muslims in Xinjiang province

Question 22

How many people were in Laogai (forced labour camps) by 1955?

Answer 22

1.3 million people

Question 23

When did the Hundred Flowers Campaign begin?

Answer 23

May 1956

Question 24

Purposes of the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 24

• Mao may have genuinely wanted advice from intellectuals to help grow the economy
• Wanted to ‘rectify’ the bureaucracy of the party
• removal of Mao’s enemies - hoping more conservative Communists would be criticised by intellectuals

Question 25

When was the Korean War?

Answer 25

1950-53

Question 26

2 examples of groups which mobilised different areas of society to the CCP cause?

Answer 26

The All China Federation of Women

Democratic Youth

Question 27

How many members of the Politburo?

Answer 27

14

Question 28

How many members of the standing committee within the politburo?

Answer 28

5

Question 29

Punishment for those found guilty in the 3 and 5 antis campaigns?

Answer 29

Charged fines and forces to sell their interests in companies - therefore there was a minor economic incentive to the CCP

Question 30

When did Mao announce that ‘poisonous weeds’ had grown amongst the flowers in the campaign?

Answer 30

June 1957

Question 31

What criticisms came forward in the Hundred flowers campaign?

Answer 31

• the CCP had failed to introduce democratic reform
• party members were living in luxury

Question 32

How many intellectuals were sent to the countryside or Laogai in the Anti-rightist campaign (begun in June 1957)

Answer 32

400-700,000

Question 33

How many Chinese fatalities in the Korean War?

Answer 33

400,000

Question 34

Main benefit of Korean War for China?

Answer 34

Raised international standing, just after huge revolution they were capable of standing up to UN forces. Also increased cooperation of communist countries in the region and increased national pride with the ‘resist America, aid Korea’ campaign

Question 35

Who were forced to leave the country in the Korean War?

Answer 35

christian missionaries and nationalists