34.0 Ideas & Terms

• Identify:– Great Leap Forward– Cultural Revolution– Little Red Book– Four Modernizations

• Define:– Collectivization– Commune– Special enterprise zone

Chinese Communist Revolution

Communist China

• October 1, 1999 – China celebrated 50 years as a communist nation

• Along with Russia – China experienced a revolution that is one of the major social transformations of the 1900s

Communist Control of China

• After WWII, civil war resumed between the Communist and Nationalist

• Mao Zedong and the Communist are victorious over Nationalist– Nationalist flee to Taiwan– Communist set up People’s

Republic of China

Reasons for Victory

• Won the support of China’s peasant population– Promised to redistribute land– End oppression of landlords

• Many women backed Mao’s forces• Nationalist seen as morally & politically

bankrupt– Hoped communist would end foreign domination

Reorganizing the Economy

• China nationalized ALL businesses• Five year plan to develop agriculture and

heavy industry.• With Soviet help:– Built hydro-electric plants– Railroads– canals

Agriculture

• As promised, Mao distributed land to the peasants

• Called for collectivization – pooling of peasant land and labor in an attempt to increase efficiency

Remolding Society

• Mao created a one-party totalitarian state

• Communist ideology replaced Confucian beliefs and traditional religions

• Ended landlords and business classes through beatings and executions

Remolding Society

• Simplified the Chinese alphabet with fewer characters

• Schools opened for young and old– Reading, writing and political

indoctrination• Learned to praise Mao Zedong

– he could do no wrong! • Personality cult

Economic Disasters

• Two efforts of Mao led to economic disaster and tremendous loss of life– The Great Leap Forward– Cultural Revolution

The Great Leap Forward

• 1958 created communes to make agriculture more efficient

• Commune included several villages, thousands of acres of land, up to 25,000 people,

• Communes had their own schools, factories, housing and dining halls.

• Set up backyard industries to make steel and other products

Great Leap Forward

• Dismal failure • Turned out low quality goods• Food production slowed– Led to terrible famine– 30 million Chinese starved to

death• China turned to more

moderate proposals

Cultural Revolution

• 1966 Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

• Goal was to purge China of “bourgeois” tendencies. (non-revolutionary)

• Urged younger generation to engage in the revolution

• Formed bands of Red Guards

Red Guards

• Teenagers that carried the “Little Red Book” of Mao quotes

• Attacked people they though to be counter revolutionaries.– Party leaders, factory managers,

teachers, writers, artists• Accused were publically

humiliated, beaten or killed.

Cultural Revolution

• Sent China into convulsions– Factories and schools closed– Economy slowed– Civil war possible

• Mao had army restore order• Red Guards sent to communes to work– Became a lost generation- undereducated, cut off

from family life and careers.

China and the Cold War

• U.S. refused to recognize the People’s Republic of China– Instead backed Nationalist China located on

Taiwan.• China joined UN in 1971 – one year later

Richard Nixon travels to China• 1979 – United States opens formal diplomatic

relations with China.

China and the Cold War

• China and Soviet Union– At first uneasy allies in the 1950s– Stalin and Mao disagreed over basic principles of

Communism– Both competed for influence in developing world– By 1960- Soviet Union withdrew all support and

advisers from China.

Reform and Repression

• Mao Zedong died in 1976 – despite failures most saw him as a revolutionary hero

• Moderate leaders came to power– 1981 Deng Xiaoping sets China on new path

• “I don’t care if a cat is black or white as long as it catches mice.”

Economic Reforms

• Four Modernizations of agriculture, science, industry and defense

• Economic Reforms included private ownership of property and free market reforms

• Agriculture:– Responsibility system replaced communes – Peasants allotted farmland: government took a

share and excess could be sold for profit

Economic Reforms

• Entrepreneurs allowed to set up businesses.• Managers of state owned factories given more

freedom but expected to be more efficient• Foreign capital and technology welcomed• Investors allowed to organize joint ventures

with Chinese firms.• Special Enterprise Zones – foreigners could

own and operate industries

Economic Reforms

• Surge of growth for China – World’s largest market

• Better standard of living for the Chinese• Downside:– Crime and corruption grew– Economic gap between rich and poor

Tiananmen Square Massacre

• Economic reforms caused call for democratic reforms– Deng would not allow political reform

• May 1989 – thousands of demonstrators occupied Tiananmen Square in Beijing

• Government sent in troops to disperse crowd – thousands killed or wounded

Challenges Today

• Booming economy – second largest only to U.S.

• Population growth – 1.2 billion people– One child per family limit – bonus to those that

comply – punishment for those that don’t– Abortion & female infanticide increased

Economic and Political Issues

• State run industries inefficient – but employ huge numbers of people

• Cities overflow with peasants seeking work• Communist ideology weakened as people seek

profits more than socialism

Questions to Ponder

1. How did Mao’s economic policies harm China?

2. What economic reforms did Deng Xiaoping introduce?

3. What challenges does China face today?