When China turns Communist
in 1949 = enemy of U.S.
U.S. is very anti- Communist!

Communist Countries by 1950 in Asia

Soviet Union

China- Mao Zedong

1950- Korean War- North Korea
No Opium
Anti- Western
Elements to
New China!
Mao Zedong states:
“Ours will no longer be
a nation subject to insult
and humiliation!”
All foreigners out of
country, opium gone…
Isolates China from the
West!
Communism in Theory!
In reality people are Not treated
equally!
Mao’s Little Red Book
Party Members have
important jobs..
Government owns the
Means of Production in communist
economy! Led to corruption!
Communist believe it is wrong to have a profit, the government should take control of the
“means of production” and provide jobs, houses and basic needs to the people.
(factories, machines, and tools— along with infrastructure, roads, building etc.)
1950 Agrarian Reform Law &
Marriage Law

The Communist Party
encouraged the peasants to take
over the land and to try "evil
landowners".

It is thought that as many as one
million ex-landlords were
executed between 1949 and 1953.

Marriage Reform Law- gives
equality to women in China!
No Religion
in Communist
China!
Communism elimination of
religion, your focus should be
on the “communist party” not
religion.
Churches, temples etc. are all
closed or destroyed.
Revolution focused on workers
& farmers! People’s Revolution!
In beginning, Mao is successful!
 By 1952- All Foreigners are thrown out of the country!
Cars, foreigners and foreign businesses all disappeared.
The favored means of transport was the bicycle.
 Opium is outlawed! Gambling is outlawed! Foot-
binding is outlawed. Women gain rights.
 Restored order and united the country. Stability after
years of warfare.
 Built Schools, extended basic health care
 Mao isolates & closes China off from the rest of the
world and promises a better future for China.
Mao’s Goals! Were they realistic? What
obstacles existed?
In an attempt to meet those
goals, Mao’s Two initiatives!
Great Leap Forward
Cultural Revolution
Great Leap
ForwardModernize
China!
2 Goals:
Industry &
Agriculture
Industry could only prosper if
the work force was well fed,
while the agricultural workers
needed industry to produce the
modern tools needed for
modernization.
China was “reformed” into
communes during the GLF.

By the end of 1958, 700 million
people had been placed into 26,578
communes! People now worked for
the commune and not for
themselves.. Schools and nurseries
were provided, health care, food
everything was provided~

The most famous were 600,000
backyard furnaces which
produced steel for the
communes.
Great Leap Forward
Propaganda
Happy Commune!
Modernize- super train &
rockets!
Everybody involved in communes was urged not only to meet set targets but to beat them.
In 1959, things started to go
wrong…

Party officials would order the
impossible goals- quotas!

Quickly produced farm
machinery produced in factories
fell to pieces when used.

1959 & 1960 – Major Floods- 9
million people are thought to
have starved to death in 1960
alone; millions were sick from
lack of food!
GLF was a Failure!
Ideas of “private ownership”
return!

Some party members put the blame of the failure of the Great Leap Forward
on Mao.

He was popular with the people but he still had to resign from his position as
Head of State (though he remained in the powerful Party Chairman position).

The day-to-day running of China was left to three moderates: Liu Shaoqi,
Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping.

In late 1960, they abandoned the Great Leap Forward. Private ownership of
land was reinstated and communes were cut down to a manageable size.

Peasants also had the incentive to produce as much spare food as was possible
as they could sell any spare that they had a market.
Mao wants to regain power &
starts the Cultural Revolution!

Red Guards (groups of youths
who banded themselves together)
encouraged all the youth in
China to criticize those oppose
Mao!

No-one was safe from criticism:
writers, economists, intellectuals,
high party officials.

Mao deliberately set out to create a
cult for himself!
Red Guards &
Cult of Mao!
However, the enthusiasm of the
Red Guards nearly pushed China
into social turmoil.
Schools and colleges were closed!
The economy started to suffer
Public Humiliation Trialsenemies of Mao.
Hundreds of thousands are sent
to “reform camp” – Labor Camp!
Cultural Revolution ends…
Mao dies in 1976
Legacy of Mao Zedong
 Mao remains a controversial figure and there is little
agreement over his legacy both in China and abroad.
 He is generally credited and praised with having unified
China and ending the previous decades of civil war. He is
also credited with having improved the status of women in
China and improving literacy and education.
 His policies caused the deaths of tens of millions of people
during his 27-year reign, more than any other Twentieth
Century leader.