THEME 1 - Terror

Question 1

What was Mao’s initial priority after becoming leader?

Answer 1

He wanted to cleanse the areas that still had strong GMD military resistance. He sent the PLA to try to assert dominance.

Question 2

. How did Mao’s push for control change after 1950?

Answer 2

A terror started to cleanse enemies of the party in 1950. This spread throughout the stories
- accounted for 1 or 2 million lives and heavily frightened the whole population to be sent to Laogai.

Question 3

What were Laogai?

Answer 3

Forced Labour Camps for prisoners to “reform through labour”. Mainly made up of political prisoners.
- By 1955, there were 1.3 million in the Laogai.
- They were ideologically motivated camps that would brainwash their prisoners into communist ideas.
- Conditions were appalling and many died due to poor health; or through suicide.

Question 4

what were the reunification campaigns?

Answer 4

Campaigns in various regions in China to “cleanse” of the old influences.

Question 5

How was Guangdong affected by Reunification campaign?

Answer 5

• Had been the GMD heartland in civil war
• PLA sent in to capture shortly after the GMD had fled to Taiwan.
• Some Nationalist forces in the west that still needed to be dealt with

Question 6

How was Xinjiang affected by Reunification campaign?

Answer 6

• Contained a large population of Uyghurs, that were Muslim.
• Communist officials subdued nationalist forces and gave some Uyghurs positions in government.
• The most common ethnic group in China “Han” people were sent to cleanse the population of Uyghurs.

Question 7

How was Tibet affected by Reunification campaign?

Answer 7

• Tibet had a strong Buddhist roots
• They had recently been independent and opposed communist rule. But China easily took over in 6 months
• They immediately began to remove Tibetan identity by bringing Han settlers to live there.
• Serious uprisings took place against the communist rule which led to the Dalai Lama fleeing in 1959.

Question 8

What methods did the CCP use to root out nationalist sympathisers?

Answer 8

The household registration system from 1945 had made it easier to identify potential nationalist sympathisers.
Each Danwei was distributed food, clothing and housing through the party and so they were keen on conformity.

Question 8

What was ‘labelling’ ?

Answer 8

A label given to a class to specify their class background.
- They started as 60 labels divied into “good”, “middle”, “bad” depending on their commitment to the party.
- These later became simply “red” or “black”
- Labels were inherited from the head of the house and so determined whole households future.

Question 9

How did the CCP deal with the crime epidemic in China?

Answer 9

Police tasked with cleaning up the cities from crime by moving them to the countryside (far west ideally) or locking them up.
- Beggars and prostitutes were particularly targeted.

Question 9

What were considered as “Good classes”?

Answer 9

• revolutionary cadres
• revolutionary soldiers
• industrial workers
• poor and lower-middle class peasants

Question 9

What were considered as “bad classes”?

Answer 9

• landlords
• rich peasants
• capitalists

Question 9

How did the police use these labelling lists?

Answer 9

They could easily target the “bad” classes and many were sent to “re-education” classes to adopt the behaviour of conformists and be accepted once again.
- Life was much more difficult for those with nationalist connections.
- Every behaviour was noted down in a dangan that contained their personal information.

Question 10

What evidence is there that the CCP dealing with crime was limited?

Answer 10

The re-education camps quickly filled up with people.
The government decided to demobilise the soldiers in the PLA when the nationalist forces were dealt with.

Question 11

What did the CCP do to the triads and gangs?

Answer 11

CCP focused on cleaning up gangs
- Over 150,000 were arrested, and half of those executed

Question 12

. What link is there between the increase in the use of terror and the Korean War?

Answer 12

The war gave Mao the excuse to crush any remaining revolutionaries in fear that they would intervene with the War in Korea.

Question 13

Who was Tao Zhu and what impact did he have?

Answer 13

Dispatched to orchastrate the clampdown in Guangxi province.
- He was known for his brutality
- Responsible for killing 46,000 alleged bandits in 12 months.

Question 14

Who was Luo Ruiqing and what impact did he have?

Answer 14

The head of security in Beijing
- Responsible for relaying Mao’s messages to the provinces
- Pressures by Luo led to increases in the quote for regional killings in Hubei Province from 220 in January to 45,000 in october

Question 15

What guidance did Mao provide over killings in the great terror?

Answer 15

As killings were getting out of hand, Mao suggested that 1 in every 1000 was a good target but it could be changed if seen fit.
- Posed Mao as a voice of moderation from his standpoint whilst putting the blame for the killings on the local leaders.

Question 16

What impact did Rao Shushi have on the terror?

Answer 16

Agreed with Mao in 1951 that killings should be extended to inside the party
- So many party members arrested that the prisons got full.

Question 17

Why was the ‘three antis’ campaign launched?

Answer 17

Launched in 1951 to target corruption, waste and delay in the government and party.
- This began after 2 leading members were found to have embezzled large sums from the party.

Question 18

How was the ‘three antis’ campaign carried out?

Answer 18

Mass meetings held where managers and officials were denounced by work colleagues.
- those found guilty were put through humiliating confessions

Question 19

How was the 3 antis campaign widened in January 1952?

Answer 19

Purge was extended to 5 antis campaign which focused on bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, fraud and economic espionage.
- similar meetings took place but now directly targeting the bourgeoisie
- Denunciation boxes made so people could report on their friends, families and colleagues

Question 20

How were fines used during the 3 and 5 anti campaigns?

Answer 20

Used as a method to remove old business class by removing their wealth.
- contributed to financing the Korean War

Question 21

How were the antis campaigns also used to purge the Party?

Answer 21

Gao Gang and Rao Shushi were purged in late 1953 after being accused of forming factions in the party.
- Rather than face humiliation, Gao committed suicide and Rao was arrested and died in Jail in 1975.

Question 22

What impact did the antis campaigns have on Mao’s position?

Answer 22

reinforced Mao’s position at the top of the party.

Question 23

What was the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 23

Mao wanted to encourage discussion and debate over the future of China and did this by encouraging the intellectuals in the party to confess criticisms.
- He later changed his mind and began to purge these intellectuals in the “anti-rightist campaign”

Question 24

Why might Mao have initiated the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

Answer 24

• To help improve the economy which was not improving quick enough
• Mao’s fear for a repeat of what had happened in the USSR where Khrushchev famously denounced Stalin’s cult of personality
• Mao’s overconfidence with his initial policies that had worked well. Wanted to hear that they were endorsed by intellectuals.

Question 25

What attempts did Mao make to reinvigorate the campaign?

Answer 25

Despite a lack of involvement at first, Mao kept pushing for the intellectuals to speak out.
He repeated his speech in February in 1957 but still faced much opposition from media (such as Hu Feng campaign)
Mao finally summoned an editor for the People’s Daily newspaper to publish his desire for criticism. Finally some comments were put through.

Question 26

What was the campaign against Hu Feng?

Answer 26

He famous writer in China that was accused of being a counter-revolutionary when he discussed CCP rights over artistic merit.
This is what prompted the Hundred Flower Campaign and the purge of intellectuals.​

Question 27

How did Mao react when criticism began to extend to him in the hundred flowers campaign?

Answer 27

Mao suddenly halted the debate and took a U-turn on his opponents. He branded them as “rightists” who wanted to destroy revolution. The Anti-Rightist campaign was started to remove these people.
Many were admitted to re-education camps