To What Extent Did Involvement in the Korean War Affect the Development of the PRC? (2a.1)

Question 1

When was the Korean War?

Answer 1

1950-1953

Question 2

What methods did Mao use during the Korean War to destroy the remnants of nationalist opposition?

Answer 2

• Mao launched the Great Terror 1950
• Three antis and five antis movements set into motion

Question 3

What happened to Foreigners

Answer 3

• Already put under pressure before Oct 1950 (forced to register with local Public Security Bureau)
• Turned into open prosecution in wartime
• Forced to leave the country when they had been stripped of their assets
• Vatican ordered missionaries to stay in their posts, they were then forced to leave, Communists whipped up public hatred by levelling accusations
• Russians did not have to leave (under terms of the Sino-Soviet Treaty)

Question 4

Promoting national unity

Answer 4

• Party orchestrated a concerted propaganda campaign against USA
• Mass meetings, press whipped up anti-American paranoia
• Zhou Enlai took lead in organising student demonstrations and patriotic parades
• Those who refused to participate were persecuted
• Rallies used to apply pressure on people to volunteer for the PLA

Question 5

How much were people forced into donating to help finance the war?

Answer 5

• Up to 3 months salary from professionals in the cities
• Farmer’s crops compulsorily requisitioned
• Taxes raised to new levels

Question 6

What was the germ warfare scare?

Answer 6

• Claimed American bombs were dropping cylinders packed with germ-infested insects on N.Korea and Manchuria
• Releasing rats and frogs contaminated with plague
• Organised touring exhibition where public could inspect evidence whip listening to evidence of captured Americans

Question 7

Manpower losses

Answer 7

• 1 million lives
• Mostly conscripts, but described as ‘volunteers’
• Included Mao’s son who was burned to death, Mao took the blow badly and became more distanced from ordinary people and their sufferings
• Scale of losses did not matter to Mao as due to the vast population the losses would soon be made up

Question 8

The economy

Answer 8

• Financial cost of the war: 1/2 gov spending on military (1951), annual budget for that year was 75% higher than that of 1950
• Most military hardware supplied by Russia, China had to pay for it (as well as military expertise from Soviet advisers)