revision Cue Cards

Question 1

What were the initial challenges facing the CCP?

Answer 1

• Most countries refused to recognise PRC as country
• Communications and infrastructure destroyed by WW2
• Industrial production 50% down pre-war figures
• food production down by 25%

Question 2

How did challeges cause problems for CCP leadership?

Answer 2

• low food production = food shortages in town + can’t feed growing population by 15 million a year
• inflation = severely hinder economic growth and living standards
• no infrastructure - need for reconstruction = costly
• break down of law and order - outlying regions e.g. Tibet and Xinjiang may rebel

Question 3

Key features of Chinas new political structure

Answer 3

image of democracy: 8 democratic parties, had 11/24 ministers in gov

NPC: mulitlayered process of election, people never elect anyone into NPC, the CCP does

Standing Committee: with Mao leading the standing committee, presided over all matters of NPC and state council

Millitary affairs Committee= close ties between party and state, quasi-military rule until 1954

Question 4

How did new political structure help CCP consolidate power?

Answer 4

Standing committee = have supreme power within PRC

Democratic parties - veneer of democracy - increase support from former GMD and intellectuals

PLA = closely supervised by Millitary affairs committee- used to supress oppostion to party + control outlaying regions such as Tibet and Xinjiang

29 provincial committees/ 2000 county committees

Question 5

How did CCP tackle the issue of establishing effective administration/maintaining law and order and reviving the economy?

Answer 5

administration - GMD civil servants were encouraged to stay in their psot = decent salary + push to work for a new China

law and order - military brought to remote areas to bring region under control/ PLA hold position in civilian govnernment

economy:
- introduciton of new currency
- simple pay system set up on basis of 5 basic items e.g. flour and cotton
- prices control reduced inflation

Question 6

How did Mao create a culture of Fear during GLF?

Answer 6

• Maoist fanatics would shout down voices of reasion e.g. Chen Yun’s doubt of reports of grain harvest -> stuggled agaisnt as ‘deniers’ who were ‘casting suspiscion on excellent situation’
• peng Dehuai = condemned as ‘anti-party element’ after Lushan plenum for voicing his concerns -> new anti-rightist movement began to silence any other ‘little Peng Dehuais’ in the party or government

Question 7

Why did the CCP become involved in the Korean war

Answer 7

Stalin told Kim il-sung to ask Mao for support if invasion goes badly/ Kim did not relay the fact that Stalin said he would ‘‘not lift a finger’’ if things went badly, this Mao agreed to support North Korea

CPP did not want to see communist ally fall to US ‘‘imperialism’’ and the presence of a hostile government near Manchuria

Question 8

Positive and negative impacts of the Korean War for CCP

Answer 8

positive:
- china stood up to the ‘‘biggest imperialist’’ of America and was not beaten, therefore boosted morale
- Land reform and political movements intensified, suppressed counter-revolutionaries

negative:
- US trade embargo
- Mao’s plan to invade Taiwan halted
- divested money that would have been spent on reconstruction

Question 9

Key features of Agrarian land reform

Answer 9

Agrarian Reform Law - establishment of people’s tribunals to trial warlords

1000s of cadres sent to countryside to to redistribute land and denounce land lords. They did this by building trust teaching peasantry of the exploitive landlords who are to be blamed for their misery

Peasant associations to identify ‘'’reactionaries’’

Question 10

Why and how did land reform escalate?

Answer 10

why:
1) hard for CCP to contain class struggle in rural areas
2) Korean War increased fear of counter-revolutionaries and attitudes towards landlords hardened

How?
- wave of executions swept countryside -> death of between 2 to 5 million according to Becker

Question 11

Key features of thought reform

Answer 11

Intellectuals were asked to correct ‘‘bourgeoisie attitudes’’ to correct unity in thought

Struggle sessions = reported progress to cadres and peers, if not reformed then forced to undergo ‘‘re-education’’ and hard labour

Public denunciations of prominent intellectuals such as Hu Shi

Question 12

key features of three antis

Answer 12

aimed to uncover politically unreliable government officials and corrupt party cadres

encouragement to identify CCP officials who took bribes

internal purge against GMD

execution and expulsion of 1 million CCP members

Question 13

Key features of 5 antis

Answer 13

targeted businessmen and industrialists because Mao thought they were responsible for corruption within party

allegations of tax evasion, fraud, theft of government property

Many businesses relinquished ownership of their business to the state- either joint or entirely

Question 14

How did women’s rights improve under the CCP?

Answer 14

May 1950 - first piece of legislation = Marriage law: gave women same legal rights as men and permitted women to choose own partners

Laws guaranteed women equal pay, maternity benefits and for some work based childcare

All China’s women Federation - support women’s rights and improve daily life and published own magazine

Question 15

limitations of women’s rights

Answer 15

All China Women’s Federation = more about rubber stamping government policies than to provide support for women

Tradition view towards women’s work stayed unchanged e.g. housework

rural areas = limited improvement for women

Question 16

how did CCP address cleanliness and public health?

Answer 16

Cleanliness drive:
people mobilised to clean laneways, household belongings and every inch of urban living spaces
street committees inspect housework

Public health:
Mass inoculation-> diseases such as cholera drop significantly
Urination in public discouraged
national campaign to educate midwives about sterile birthing equipment