Mao Zedong Flashcards
Qing Dynasty
the last major dynasty in China. Weak rulers from Manchuria that did not have a firm grasp on China and which had been weakened significantly by colonization and famine
Sun Yatsen
Chinese revolutionary who founded the Guomindang/Nationalist party who wanted China to modernize like Japan did
Chiang Kaishek
leader of the Nationalists after Sun Yatsen’s death in 1925 who mostly lead the country until Mao took over
The Long March
year long journey where the communists had to abandon their base of operations in Jiangzi and flee from the Nationalists. this was the period in which Mao became leader of the communists as he made correct decisions about where they should go
Mao’s Peasant Policy
Mao’s policy to help win the approval of the peasants while in Yanan, and mean that land was seized from landlords and redistributed to peasants, and created literacy, education and medical programs
Yanan
the area where Mao claimed leadership from 1935-1945 where he grew the communist party and gained popular support from the peasants
Maoism
Mao’s unique brand of communism/socialism that said that a communist revolution could be undertaken by peasants too, because it had more to do with a class of workers being oppressed than with the need for an industrialized society first
Rectification of Conduct Campaign
campaign by Mao between 1942-1944 where Party members were made to accept a truth defined by Mao and engage in self-criticism in order to be better communists. Led to Mao ridding himself of any opposition in the party and allowing himself to rise to the official head of the CCP
How did Mao use the Japanese occupation of China to gain power?
he was able to leverage Chiang Kaishek’s inaction against him, by saying that they were the true defenders of China and showed that the Nationalists didn’t care about China, they cared about crushing the communists
Chinese Civil War
War from 1945-1949
bloody Civil war following WW2 that ended in a communist victory due to the lack of military skill and morale from the nationalists, especially in comparison to the communists
People’s Republic of China
officially formed by Mao on 1 October 1949, made to be a one party state that Mao could shape to his own design
The anti-movements
movements made right after Communist control of China designed to get rid of the “remnants of the bourgeois” and the people deemed suspect by the CCP (specifically the anti-landlord campaign)
100 Flowers Campaign
campaign by Mao that was to let people express their opinions on how to improve the state, but got more and more extreme/out of hand, and led to many who spoke out as being deemed anti-communists (rightists)
The Great Leap Forward
1958-1962
Mao’s plan to achieve rapid industrial growth by the peasants to leap through the stages of industrialization to go immediately to an urban environment
Collectivization
program where peasant land was taken and turned into communes, which led to famine because the state took surpluses and peasants didn’t understand how to farm on a large communal scale
Peng Dehuai
the PRC’s minister of Defence who, in 1959, expressed horror at the famine, but was the only real opposition to Mao’s policy and who wasn’t supported by any fellow Party members
Cultural Revolution
1966-1976
period of significant cultural change after Mao came back from a government break where he established himself as a god-like figure and used massive paranoia to root out any opposition
The Little Red Book
an effective piece of propoganda that had selections from Mao’s writings
Red Guards
units of young people that set about destroying the four olds, and were allowed to attack people and property who they deemed as not revolutionary enough
The Four Olds
- Old thoughts
- Old habits
- Old culture
- Old customs
Laogai
network of labor camps where those who opposed Mao were imprisoned, and provided a constant supply of slave labor. Over 25 million prisoners died during the period, because of the poor conditions
Jiang Qing
Mao’s wife who was given the responsibility of creating a new Chinese culture through art and created a media censorship program that made some really bad art
