China under Mao
Zedong, 1949-1976
Authoritarian States
Mao Zedong
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Led the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to power in 1949
Until 1976, he was leader of the People’s Republic of China
(PRC)
During his rule, he used authoritarian means to shape the
new nation along his particular brand of Chinese Communism
He adopted policies that revolutionized the political,
economic, and social structure of China
○ Policies were accompanied by purges, climaxing with the
Cultural Revolution of 1966-76
Chinese Communism turned into Maoism
China under Mao Zedong,
1949-76
Throughout this unit, we will look at the following:
○ The Emergence of Mao’s authoritarian
state
○ The consolidation and maintenance of his
state
○ Aims and results of Mao’s policies
Conditions in China before 1911
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China was always a conservative nation, especially before
19th century
○ Emperor was supreme leader at the top of a strict
hierarchy, “mandate of heaven”
○ Confucian values at the heart of Chinese Society
○ China feudal country
■ Majority of population peasant class
■ Power and wealth in the hands of the landlords,
the ruling class
Conditions in China before 1911
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During the 19th century
○ Presence of foreign imperialists in China provoked the people’s resentment against
the ruling Qing (Manchu) Dynasty
Large scale rebellions erupted
○ Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)
■ One of the bloodiest wars in human history led by Hong Xiuguan, (“younger
brother of Jesus”)- led army of Hakka’s with vision of his own version of
Christianity
■ Resulted in Qing victory, supported by French and British- opened up ports,
beginning of Shanghai as a leading centre of commerce
○ Boxer Rebellion (1898-1900)
■ “Boxers” defeated by international relief force
■ Led to $330 million fine
The Global Context
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For more than two thousand years, China largely
isolated from the outside world
Foreign nations started to flex their influence on
the land in the 1840s
■ This would expose weakness in China’s
traditional political system
Opium Wars (1839-1842)
■ China was forced to open up the west
Sino Japanese War (1894-1895)
■ Japan seizes Taiwan and Korea from China
■ Foreshadow Japanese influence over China
later on
The Global Context: Unequal
Treaties
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Allowed foreign merchants control of China’s
import and export trade
■ France had seized Indochina by the 1890s
■ Russia claimed Manchuria in 1900
■ 1898, USA announced “open door policy”allowing free trade with China
■ German acquisition of railroad building and
mining rights in Shandong
■ By 1900, 50 Chinese “treaty ports” were in
foreign possession
Overview of Chinese History:
1911- 1949
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
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Sun Yat Sen
Sun Yat Sen
○ Founder of the Guomindang (GMD), also known as
the Nationalists- revolutionary party formed in 1905
○ Radical programme suggesting China needed to
develop along the same lines as Japan
■ “A revolution against the world to join the world”
○ Three principles: nationalism, democracy, and
improving livelihoods of people through socialism
○ Aimed to remove the Qing imperial system
○ Paved the way for the Revolution of 1911, the fall of
the Qing Dynasty
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
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1911 Revolution
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Yuan Shikai
Peasants, townspeople, and students began a revolutionary
uprising in central China
Revolutionary Alliance in Nanjing appointed Sun Yatsen as
President but they were not strong enough to take full
control over imperial government
Yuan Shikai brokered a deal with rebels and became
President
■ In 1913, he called parliamentary elections and the GMD
won, so he banned them
■ In 1914, he shut down parliament to take on full rule
■ In 1915, he submitted to Japan’s “Twenty-one demands”
■ Died in 1916, leaving China weak and divided
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
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The Warlord Period, 1916-1927
○ No effective government in control
after death of Yuan Shikai until 1927
○ Power was in the hands of regional
generals, or “Warlords”
○ Led to anarchy across China, peasants
the victims
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
Mao wrote,
During my student days in Hunan, the city was overrun by
the forces of rival warlords - not once but half a dozen
times. Twice the school was occupied by troops and all the
school funds confiscated. The brutal punishments
inflicted on the peasants include such things as gouging
out eyes, ripping out tongues, disembowelling and
decapitation, slashing with knives and grinding with sand,
burning with kerosene and branding with red hot irons
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
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The May Fourth Movement
○ End of WW1 left China humiliated
○ China provided Allies with 95,000 labourers to help with
war effort in 1916 (mostly peasants)
○ Expectation was that Shandong would be returned but
Treaty of Versailles gave Japan the German concessions
○ Led to student protests on May 4, 1919 in Beijing
followed by nationwide demonstrations
○ Paved the way for the emergence of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) encouraged by the Russian
Comintern
○ Founding delegate was Mao Zedong: assistant librarian
at Beijing University- involved in demonstrations
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
The May Fourth Movement
Conditions in China: 1911-1927
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The First United Front
○ Merger of the GMD and CCP had potential; neither was strong
enough on its own- first formed in 1924
○ Encouraged by Comintern to form an alliance united in their
determination to defeat the warlords
○ Revolution > Foreign influence and warlords crushed
○ Both parties strengthened by 1927:
■ CCP- went from 57 members in 1921 to 57,000 in 1927
■ GMD strengthened by Whampoa Military Academy
○ Chiang Kai Shek became leader
Conditions in China: 1927-1945
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Northern Expedition: 100, 000 men left
Guangzhou in 1926 with Fujian, Jiangxi, and
Nanjing in mind
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military campaign launched by the National
Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Kuomintang
(KMT), also known as the "Chinese Nationalist
Party", against the Beiyang government and other
regional warlords in 1926.
The purpose of the campaign was to reunify China,
which had become fragmented in the aftermath of the
Revolution of 1911
Conditions in China: 1927-1945
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The White Terror, 1927: United Front collapsed, Chiang Kai Shek attempts to reassert his
authority over the GMD by purging Communist bloc of the party
○ Thousands killed, Chiang established Nationalist government in Nanjing
○ Nanjing Decade 1928-1937- China torn apart by Civil War
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The Jiangxi Soviet, 1927-34: CCP established Red Army base at Jiangxi Soviet territory, begin
to develop strong guerrilla force to resist GMD
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Mao determined to start peasant revolution
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The Futian Incident, 1930: 4,000 Red Army troops tortured and executed
Conditions in China: 1927-1945
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The Long March, 1934-35
○ GMD, official government of China, weakened by Japanese invasion of
Manchuria in 1931
○ Chiang determined to crush Communists
○ Attacked The Jiangxi Soviet
■ Forced CCP to withdraw guerrilla methods
■ 100,000 troops fled and headed for Yanan in the northwest
■ This was the Long March, journey of 11,000 KM
■ The March took more than a year, took on legendary tale but only
20,000 troops made it
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Conditions in China: 1927-1945
Examine the poster which shows the Red
Army crossing the Dadu River during the
Long March.
Discuss how this event has been depicted
and the ways in which this may contrast to
the realities of the Long March.
A propaganda poster showing the Red Army
crossing the Luding Bridge over the Dadu River in
1935
Conditions in China: 1927-1945
Yan’an, 1945
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Surviving members of the Long March
settled in Yan’an
Mao begins to impose his personal authority
over CCP
He overcame three challenges:
○ Potential leadership bids
○ The need to rebuild CCP support base
○ Ideological struggle
Methods used here became the framework
for him to consolidate his leadership over
party and become leader of China
The Six Principles of the Red Army were:
1. Put back all doors when leaving a house
2. Rice-stalk mattresses must all be bundled
and returned
3. Be polite. Help people when you can.
4. Give back everything you borrow, even if it is
only a needle.
5. Pay for all things broken, even if only a
chopstick
6. Don’t help yourself or search for things when
people are not in their house
CCP membership rose from 40,000 in 1937 to 1.2
million in 1945.
Conditions in China: Japanese
Occupation, 1931-1945
“The Japanese are a disease to the skin, but the communists are a disease of the
heart” - Chiang Kai Shek, 1941
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After invading Manchuria in 1931, Japanese consolidated control of the
province
Chiang Kai Shek to slow to respond to Japan, focussed on extermination of
communists
CCP credited with forging the Second United Front in 1937 to fight Japan
Conditions in China: Japanese
Occupation, 1931-1945
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In 1937, Japan launched full scale invasion of China and setup
a government in Nanjing
○ Entire eastern seaboard of China fell under Japan
○ Crucial part in weakening the GMD and strengthening
the CCP
○ Chiang’s leadership in turmoil, economy in decline,
inflation spiralled out of control and turned into
Hyperinflation, peasants left victimized
○ All this gave Mao credibility, USA tried to unite CCP and
GMD but didn’t work
Second Sino-Japanese War ended with dropping of Atomic
Bomb, led to The Chinese Civil War
Conditions in China: The
Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949
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At the start, GMD > CCP
○ Armies outnumbered 4 to 1
○ Had an air force
○ Better equipped for battle
○ Recognized by other states as the legitimate government
○ Controlled most of the railway network and major cities
○ By 1947, had taken Yanan from the Communists
Direction of war changed by 1948
○ CCP used guerrilla training
○ Received weapons from Russian occupied forces
○ Almost equal to GMD
○ GMD represented corruption, inflation, and repression, CCP had a broad appeal
Conditions in China: The
Chinese Civil War, 1945-1949
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Chiang Kai Shek mistakes
○ Sent his best troops to Manchuria
○ Weak communication amongst generals, supply lines
○ GMD lost Manchuria by 1948
Move towards Victory
○ Mao’s Cult of Leadership rising
○ GMD defectors lent CCP weapons, Red Army turned
into strong force
○ By January 1949, CCP controlled Beijing, Chiang moved
his government base to Taiwan and ruled until his death
in 1975
○ Mao and the Communists proclaimed victory
Condition in which Mao’s Authoritarian
Emerged: Economic Problems
Long-term Economic Problems
● China failed to modernize during the 19th century,
roughly 80% of population living in poverty at the
start of the 20th century
● Weakened by Opium Wars and First Sino-Japanese
War
● Unequal treaties
Condition in which Mao’s Authoritarian
Emerged: Economic Problems
Economic Conditions- Early 20th Century
● Economic condition did not improve after 1911 Revolution
● Warlord Era saw the country divided
● Modest economic improvements during Nanjing Decade, Chiang Kai-shek,
GMD leader
○ Introduced some economic reforms including the building of roads and
railways
● Chinese economy devastated by Chinese Civil War between 1946-49
● Hyperinflation became a major problem during Civil War and Second
Sino-Japanese war
Condition in which Mao’s Authoritarian
Emerged: Social Divisions
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High levels of social inequality
Large numbers of workers living in poverty with a basic
standard of living
Warlord Era highlights these struggles- even after 1927
Wealth focussed in Urban areas, for example Shanghai
People were unhappy with Chiang, saw the CCP as an
alternative
Condition in which Mao’s Authoritarian
Emerged: Weakness of Political System
The Xinhai Revolution failed to establish a strong government system after 1912
Yuan Shikai
Warlord Era
Chiang’s GMD
All the systems failed to provide stability, modernisation, or unite the nation as a
whole.
Condition in which Mao’s Authoritarian
Emerged: Impact of War
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Losing the first Sino-Japanese War in 1895
○ Tension continued between the two countries
○ 21 Demands made by Japan during WW1
○ Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931
● Losing the Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-45
○ Devastated China through loss of life and economic damage, GMD lost control
○ People outraged by acts, including Nanjing Massacre in 1937
○ Around 20 million lives lost between 1937-1945 in the war against Japan
● Chinese Civil War broke out in 1946, created the conditions for CCP to take control
of whole of China
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: Ideology
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Comintern had an influence on early developments of the CCP in
the 1920s
Mao’s ideas and teachings challenged Soviet communism
○ Spoke regularly of the revolution of the peasants rather than
industrial workers (Soviet ideology)
Mao: “The peasants are the sea; we are the fish. We live in the sea.”
CCP ideological appeal included:
○ Land reform
○ Gender equality
○ Committed to nationalism (while Japan at war with China)
CCP able to develop ideologies while based in Yanan between
1935-1949
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: Role of Leaders
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Mao played important role in the CCP from the outset
○ Studied Marxism in university in Beijing
○ He was also a military leader
■ Led Autumn Harvest Uprising in September 1927
■ Mao made use of guerilla warfare tactics
■ Used the Long March to increase his position and power within CCP
Other important figures in the party include:
○ Zhou Enlai
○ Liu Shaoqi
Some of the CCP leadership disagreed with Mao’s ideology- took a more pro-Soviet
view
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: Persuasion and coercion
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CCP gained popularity through policies throughout its control of Jiangxi Soviet and time in
Yanan
This was a very different approach from GMD
CCP appealed to rural peasantry with policies such as:
○ Land reform
○ Literacy campaigns
○ Medical programmes
Creation of local peasant associations looking to end usury (system which placed high
levels of interest on loans)
Rules established for good conduct by the Red Army in Yanan
Coercion used if people did not cooperate with CCP practices and veto the local peasant
associations if anyone disagreed with policies
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: The Use of Force
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Futian Incident in 1930
○ Hundreds of Red Army members executed, shut down opposition
Mao’s ideology indicated an acceptance and willingness for the use of force where
necessary
Land redistribution by force
■ Landlords had their land confiscated from them through violence and loss of
life
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: Propaganda
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The Long March, gave Mao and other leaders cult
status
Mao’s cult of personality grew as his writings and
image were promoted
The Rules of Conduct became a propaganda piece
Leaders wrote literature to promote the
movement
○ Liu Shaoqi wrote How to be a good Communist
in 1939
Methods used to Establish Authoritarian
State: The Chinese Civil War
GMD weaknesses
● Poor training and military strength
● Chiang failed to deal with guerrilla
warfare from CCP
● Low morale and among troops, especially
after years of fighting the Japanese
● Growing unpopularity of Chiang as
leader of the country
● Poor economy during the war with high
levels of inflation; merchant and business
owners badly affected
● Repressive policies by GMD made them
unpopular
CCP Strengths
● Mao’s careful strategy to defend
territory early on before taking on attack
● Success of different campaigns
○ Manchuria, capture of Beijing
during Pingjin Campaign
● Military strategy and tactics of Mao
● Use of Guerilla warfare tactics
● Red Army’s resourcefulness and conduct
● Growing popularity of CCP
● Mobilized large numbers of peasants to
help with campaign during war
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Legal Methods
The Creation of the People’s Republic
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On October 1, 1949: Mao
formally declared the People’s
Republic of China (PRC)
China was now a one-party state
under military control
Mao considered this the best
option to stabilize the state
The CCP introduced a variety of
legal reforms, including the 1954
constitution
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Legal Methods
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The country was divided into six regions, each
governed by:
○ a chairman,
○ party secretary
○ military commander
○ political commissar
Government made claim that all members were
elected however only one party could stand for
election (Democratic Centralism)
Government carried out by Politburo, under
authority of Mao
Constitution of 1954- framework for legal system
The Creation of the People’s
Republic of China
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Legal Methods
The Declaration of the People’s Republic of China
“I was so full of joy that my heart nearly burst out of my throat, and tears welled up in my
eyes. I was so proud of China, so full of hope, so happy that the exploitation and
suffering, the aggression from foreigners, would be gone forever. I had no doubt that Mao
was the great leader of the revolution, the maker of a new Chinese history”
An onlooker in the crowds when Mao declared the PRC
Question: What is the message conveyed by the source?
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Legal Methods
Reunification Campaigns
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PLA armies dispatched to the west and south with intention to help improve local
conditions but their main purpose was to repress any kind of independent movement.
Armies sent to:
○ Tibet (significantly different culture, race- Buddhists)
○ Xinjiang (large Muslim population bordering Soviet controlled Mongolia)
○ Guangdong (traditional base of the GMD)
60,000 Tibetans fought to defend their autonomy but they did not have the weapons or
autonomy to match the PLA; marked the beginning of a regime of terror and
suppression in Tibet
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Use of Force
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Government created an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty with the
“three-anti movements” and then extended it to the “five-anti movements”,
against those thought of as politically suspect
Targets of the “three-anti campaign”, 1951
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Targets of the “five-anti campaign”, 1952
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Waste, corruption, inefficiency
Industrial sabotage, tax evasion, bribery, fraud, theft of government property
Reactionaries and counter-revolutionaries were declared enemies of the state
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Use of Force
Anti-landlord campaign
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Property of landlords confiscated and redistributed amongst
former tenants
Great majority of landlords put on public trial and denounced
as enemies of the people
Evidence suggests that 1 million landlords were killed during
the PRC’s land campaign in early 1950s
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Use of Force
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The new regime’s most dangerous
enemies were imprisoned or quietly
executed
Mao issued quotas for how many per
thousand should be killed and many
cadres were eager to meet or match
targets
Turned on gangs and triads
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Spies, underground agents, criminal bosses
targeted
Mass Killings
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Use of Force
Speak Bitterness
meetings: encouraged
public grievances to be
heard against landlords
A landlord on trial in 1953
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Use of Force
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Other targets during early consolidation stages include:
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Religious groups, places of worship closed and Buddhism and Christianity
denounced
“Gangsters” and members of organized crime
Laogai: a network of prison camps set up across China to
re-educate people
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Became slave labour camps during the Great Leap Forward
Located in brutal conditions, millions detained here during Mao’s rule
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Denunciation
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A method of identifying the enemy
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Every individual given Class Label based on their loyalty to the party
■ “Good”, “middle”, “bad”
■ Used to ensure conformity
Local party officials turned China into a land of informers
Friends denounced one another to show their allegiance to the party
Vulnerable classes were deemed to be threats to the revolution and a
drain on resources
■ Paupers, beggars, pickpockets, refugees, prostitutes, and the
unemployed seeking refuge in the cities
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: The Hundred Flowers
and Anti-Rightist Campaigns
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In 1957 Mao encouraged open criticism of his party stating “Let a
hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend”
Led to denunciations of party officials including Mao
Mao saw these critics as “rightists” and “capitalist roaders”
ordering a crackdown on those who were critical known as the
“Anti-Rightist Campaign”- more than half a million people
Mao had strengthened his position in the party and the country
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Censorship and Propaganda
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By February 1949, most newspapers were out of business
Once journalists went through “re-education” the CCP could
then rely on self-censorship
Communist rallies, songs, and slogans widely advertised- part
of a national transformation
Thought Reform
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People in government offices, factories, workshops, schools and
universities people were reeducated transforming into “new people” and
learning the new party doctrine
Arts censored, posters used socialist realism techniques
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Cult of Personality
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Mao figurehead of the party
Lin Biao (Mao’s successor) was huge in creating
the foundations of his Cult
Mao’s image promoted through speeches,
writings, and teachings
Promoted as strong leader, swim in the
Yangtze River used to show powerful
leadership
Little Red Book distributed throughout the
country
Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Propaganda
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Go to website ChinesePosters.net
Go to the section: “Themes”
In your table groups, you will be assigned a theme; on your jamboard, show how
Mao used propaganda to:
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Push forward a specific policy, campaign, or cause
Establish his authoritarian state or consolidate and maintain power
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Identify and explore the different messages, techniques and symbols used in the different
posters.
Give context to people and images used. Who is the target audience? The author/creator?
When was the poster published?
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Mao’s Consolidation and Maintenance of
Power, 1949-1976: Propaganda
Topics
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Early Campaigns (1949-1954)
New Marriage Law (1950)
First Five Year Plan (1953-1957)
Early Industrialization (1950-1955)
Land Reform and Collectivization (1950-1953)
Suppression of Counterrevolutionaries (1950-1952)
Eliminate the Four Pests (1958)
Great Leap Forward (1958-1961)
Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
Up to the Mountains and Down to the villages (1968)
Criticize Lin Bao and Confucius (1974)
Cult of Personality (Overall)
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy
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Foreign policy under Mao involved a
difficult and changing relationship
with both the Soviet Union and the
United States
The PRC was also involved in a
number of conflicts and international
disputes under Mao
Mao felt that they must strengthen,
not weaken on the international stage
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the Soviet Union
Mao vs Stalin: Differences
Ideological Differences
● Mao felt that revolutionaries on the outside could not dictate to
the Chinese how they should conduct themselves
● The meaning of Marxism and how it should be applied
● Stalin: Urban based revolution
● Mao: Rural peasantry based revolution
Clash of Personalities
● Biographers suggested the two disliked one another as people
● Very similar, potential personality conflict
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the Soviet Union
The Sino-Soviet Treaty, 1950
● $300 million Soviet advance, a loan not a gift
● Upkeep of 10,000 Soviet economic and military advisors who went to
China needed to be paid
Mao developed resentment over deal as he felt the Soviet’s looked to exploit
the PRC after the deal had been made, put agreement under great stress
● Korean War- Stalin persuaded Mao to enter by playing on an
anti-communist US takeover of Asia
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the Soviet Union
PRC’s Dependence on the Soviet Union
○ Until 1960, China’s only resource was the Soviet Union
China and de-Stalinization
○ Khrushchev's Secret Speech received badly by Mao
○ Fear of Khrushchev's policies and the impact on Mao; specifically his cult of
personality
Mao’s concerns over Soviet revisionism
○ Soviet’s softening relationship with the west, peaceful coexistence
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the Soviet Union
Mao’s deepening distrust of Soviet Union
○ Didn’t like Krushchev’s policies with the west; wanted Soviet’s to return
to Soviet-Leninist path
Deteriorating Sino-Soviet Relations, 1952-62
○ Mutual distrust built; did not like Russia’s negative response to “The
Great Leap Forward”
○ Both leaders began insulting one another,
The Sino-Indian War, 1962
○ Soviet Union neutral but provided India with fighter planes and
diplomatic support- infuriated China
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the Soviet Union
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 and The Nuclear Issue
● Softening of Soviet Policy with the west upset Mao
● Test Ban Treaty, 1963
○ Agreement between USSR and west to stop atmospheric testing of atomic
weapons
○ Mao dismissed the treaty as another betrayal of the Soviets to the
revolutionary role
● Deteriorating Sino-Soviet relations led the Soviet Union to withdraw its
scientists from China in 1959
● By 1964, the PRC detonated its first atomic device; three years later became a
superpower when it produced its first hydrogen bomb code naming it “59/6”
mocking Soviets- struck fear in international community
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the USA
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After 1949, relations between the PRC and
the United States were tense and bitter.
Reasons such as:
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American anger at the fall of China to
Mao’s Communists in 1949
USA protection of Taiwan, recognizing it
as legitimate Chinese nation refusing to
grant diplomatic recognition to PRC
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the USA
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From 1950, PRC attacked American
imperialism
The PRC’s development of nuclear weapons in
the 1960s
The moral and diplomatic support the PRC
gave to Vietnam in its war (1963-75)
Ideological divide between the capitalist and
Marxist systems
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
China and the USA
The Parting of the Bamboo Curtain, 1972
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USA-PRC relations improved
USA formal recognition of the PRC’s right to
replace Taiwan in the UN
Meeting between Mao and Nixon helped “lift
part of the Bamboo Curtain
Future diplomatic contact and trade relations
put in place
Also part of strategy to undermine the USSR
Aims and Results of Policies: Foreign Policy,
Mao’s Achievements
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Established China as an independent sovereign state
Turned the PRC into a great world power
Achieved superpower status through the development of their own nuclear
weapons
Attained international recognition in the UN as the legitimate government of
China
Faced down the Soviet Union in a series of confrontations
Established a claim to be the leading voice of international communism
Resisted Japanese invasion
Destroyed vestiges of European imperialism in China
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Economic
The First Five Year Plan
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Influenced by the Soviet Union
Introduced in 1953
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Focus on the development of heavy industry
Soviet Advisors worked in China to help carry out the plan
Steel and coal production increased
Agriculture did not improve as much as industrial developments
Major roads and rail bridges built
Soviet Union charged interest to China during first Five Year Plan
Overall successful- aided the CCP’s consolidation of control with higher levels of
state ownership
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Economic
The Second Five Year Plan
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Launched in 1958
Aim: try and catch up with the Western industrialized nations in a short space of time
and reduce reliance on Soviet Union
The Great Leap Forward included a variety of targets:
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Significant increases in steel and food production
Backyard Steel Furnaces: Produced poor quality metal, setup all over China
Large communes setup in a process called collectivization inspired by USSR
- Communes took the ownership of the land, surplus produce became state owned
Revolutionary agricultural methods such as “deep ploughing” and “close cropping”
The “Four Noes (Pests) Campaign”- eliminate rats, flies, mosquitos, and farrows
Propaganda used to promote Great Leap Forward
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Economic
The Second Five Year Plan
-
Results
-
-
Decrease in food production due to new agricultural practices
Propaganda hid the reality of starvation
Meat production decreased from 4.3 million tons in 1958 to 1.3 million tons in 1960
Severe famine occurred between 1959 and 1961, killing approximately 40 million people
Diminished Power
-
Criticism open after disastrous Great Leap Forward
Major criticism came from Peng Dehuai- defense minister describing the suffering of the people
Mao took a step back after the Great Leap Forward
Two moderate CCP party members: Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi took over
First Five Year Plan
Second Five Year Plan
The Great Leap Forward: Source Analysis
What evidence does the source provide about the problems during the Great Leap Forward?
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Cultural Policies
Aims
● Mao wanted to reshape Chinese culture
through his ideological belief in
revolution
● Individualism was discouraged and the
interests of the collective and the state
was promoted
● Proletarian Art and Social Realism was
used to promote these aims
● Mao’s method to re-establish control
over China after the “Great Leap
Forward” failed
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
●
●
The Cultural Revolution was a reaction
to the play “The Dismissal of Hai Rui
from Office”
The PLA instructed to lead China in
rooting out the “anti-socialist weeds”
Mao’s Motives
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Age (Legacy)
Paranoia (fear of opposition, betrayers)
Resentment (attack of Liu and Deng)
Ideology (Constant struggle)
Bureaucracy (return to Communist Party of
1949, nationwide campaign)
International rivalry (USSR betrayed
Communism)
Nationalism (no foreign influence)
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Side note (Not IB content): Norman
Bethune
● Norman was a member of the
Canadian Communist party that
pioneered the concept of Mobile
Blood Transfusions
● Most known for his involvement in the
Spanish Civil War, he also went to
China during the Second Sino
Japanese War to aid the CCP under
Mao
●
His death for the cause Mao to write the
essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune”
which talked about the importance of
assisting foreign communist members in
their struggles against Capitalism
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of
self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great
warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every Communist
must learn from him. ... We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness
from him. With this spirit everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's
ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already
noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a
man who is of value to the people.
Excerpt from Mao’s Essay “In Memory of Norman Bethune”
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Who was the Gang of
Four?
Mao and the “Gang of Four”Central Cultural Revolution
Group (CCRG) set out to
remove any “revisionists” and
“capital roaders” within the
party
Jiang Qing
(also known as Madame
Mao)
Zhang Chunqiao
Yao Wenyuan
Wang Hongwen
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
The August Rally: August 18, 1966
●
●
Tiananmen Square in Beijing filled with a million young people came out to cheer
Mao as he appeared on a balcony of the Forbidden City overlooking the square
Lin appealed to the throng to destroy revisionism and attack the “Four Olds”
○ Old thoughts
○ Old habits
○ Old culture
○ Old customs
Red Guard was setup to cause chaos during the Cultural Revolution and to
physically attack revisionism
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
The Red Guard
●
●
●
●
Young people enlisted wearing distinctive armbands
Units were found in every major area
Slogan “It is right to rebel” set-out to destroy the Four Olds
Red Guards free to attack people at will and destroy
property. Attacked:
○ Education system
○ Public transport
○ Broke into houses
○ Discovery of religious shrines or private alters
○ Temples, libraries, museums
○ The “intellectuals”- writers and artists paraded with
the sign “bad elements” or “class enemies”
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Mass Campaigns during the Cultural Revolution
● Disbanding the Red Guards
○
○
○
●
The “up to the mountains and down to the villages” Campaign, 1967-1972
○
●
Out of control, widespread disruption
Groups clashed with one another
PLA guards replaced the Red Guards
Young, urban Chinese people (over 12 million) living amongst the peasants in the rural areaslearn “dignity of labour”
The “cleansing the class ranks” Campaign, 1968-71
○
○
Launched by Jiang Qing was a series of violent purges of anyone whose social background
made them potential enemies of Mao and the state- thousands injured and killed across China
A rash of killing and destruction as grim as anything perpetrated by the Red Guards
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Mass Campaigns during the Cultural Revolution
● Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius (1974)
○
○
○
○
Lin was the general who commanded the Liaoshen and Pingjin
campaigns, in which he co-led the Manchurian Field Army to victory
and led the People's Liberation Army into Beijing.
Lin Biao was named Mao’s successor in 1969, however he was seen
as “too ambitious” after and Mao became wary of him
Premier Zhou Enlai, another founding member of the CCP, sided
with Mao in this effort
Lin and his family/”supporters” were killed in what the Chinese
government claim “was an attempt to flee to the Soviet Union after
an abortive assassination plot against Mao”. This information was
released a month after his death.
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Mass Campaigns during the Cultural Revolution
● Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius (1974)
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Mass Campaigns during the Cultural Revolution
● Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius (1974)
○
Zhou gained the biggest benefit from Lin’s death,
as he was able to focus more on foreign politics,
revitalize the education system, and bring back
former purged party members– like Deng
Xiaoping
○
Threatened by Zhou’s power, the Gang of Four
whipped up the “Criticize Lin Biao and
Confucius” campaign in a thinly veiled attempt to
undermine Zhou. It didn’t work
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Ending the Cultural Revolution
●
●
●
●
By 1970’s Cultural Revolution was losing its momentum
The death of Lin Biao (Mao’s successor since 1966) in a mysterious plane crash led
to questions about the leadership of the CCP (labeled as a traitor attempting to
flee China after death)
Moderates such as Zhou Enlai (and later Deng Xiaoping) became more influential
and radicals such as the Gang of Four saw their power diminish
The death of Mao in 1976 ended the Cultural Revolution
○ A power struggle then occurred that would see Deng Xiaoping succeed, and
the Gang of Four put to trial and imprisoned for their actions during the
Cultural Revolution
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
The Role of Jiang Qing- “cultural purifier of the nation”
●
●
●
Wife of Mao, installed as creator-in-chief of the new Chinese culture he
desired
He gave her the responsibility of turning his general denunciation of
China’s “Four Olds” into a definitive programme for the suppression of
traditional Chinese Values
She took on the role with vigour:
○ Imposed rigid censorship
○ Only writing, art works, broadcasts, and films that had relevant
Chinese themes were permitted
○ Western music, classical and pop, banned
○ Traditional Chinese opera replaced by a repertoire of specially
commissioned works
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
A set of opera-ballets, all concerned in the most naive fashion with the triumph of the
proletariat over its class enemies. An example here:
1. What do you think Jiang Qing's aims were
in creating such a 'performance'?
2. What actions did Jiang Qing take against
the Theatre?
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Lack of Resistance
●
●
Rare attempts to question Jiang Qing’s suffocating policies
Intellectuals and natural leaders of communities did not protest against the crimes of the regime
due to an understandable fear of what might be done to them and their families
Consequences of Jiang Qing’s Policies
●
●
●
She had a stranglehold on the arts from 1966-1976 (Mao’s death)
Result was not the creation of a new culture but paralysis of the old
Yan Yan, a poet said “As a result of the Cultural Revolution you could say the cultural trademark of
my generation is that we have no culture”
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: The Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
According to the source, what pressure was put upon artists during the
Cultural Revolution?
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Religion
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Karl Marx said that “religion is the opium of the people”
Mao compared the Christian missionaries in China to the Nazis in Europe
After 1949, religious practice was banned in China, including:
○ Traditional Chinese beliefs such as Buddhism and Confucianism
○ Foreign religions such as Christianity and Islam
CCP feared that people could challenge its authority through religion and
religious organizations; especially in remote areas
Propaganda used to reinforce the anti-religious messages
Peasant folk traditions discouraged includings songs and stories
Patriotic Churches: churches allowed to stay open under direct state control
Confucianism- particularly targeted during the cultural revolution
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Women and the Family
●
●
●
China traditionally a Patriarchal Society, women played a subordinate role
The Chinese Communists proclaimed themselves to be advocates of female
equality
One of the first acts was the marriage law in 1950:
○ Concubinage, the practice of men keeping women as mistresses, was
forbidden
○ Arranged marriages were to be discontinued
○ Women who had been forced to marry were entitled to divorce their
partners
○ All marriages had to be officially recorded and registered
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Women and the Family
The Impact of Collectivization on Women
● Women were able to own and sell land as a result of the land redistribution policies
● This was undermined with the creation of communes during collectivization in the
Great Leap Forward
Traditional Prejudice against Women
● The number of women in the workforce quadrupled from 8% to 32% between 1949
and 1976- however much of this was heavy physical labour
● Women made up only 13% of the membership of the Communist Party
● The number of women who became members of the National People’s Congress
jumped 23% between 1954-1975
● Attack on family: In communes, men & women only allowed to visit during conjugal
visits
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Women and the Family
A propaganda poster promoting
women’s new freedoms in China
as a result of the CCP policies,
1955
Why would the symbolism of female
parachutists help to promote the
CCP ideology and the role of women
in society?
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Women and the Family
The Impact of the Cultural Revolution
● The ownership of private property was now depicted as a crime against communist
society
● The enforced pooling of resources meant that the economic link that held families
together was broken
● Provision of social welfare, such as education and medical care, now to be
organized and delivered by state
● Nuclear family fell into one of the categories of the Four Olds
● Expectation that parents were taught to teach their children that Mao and the
Communist party are their parents and deserving of their first loyalty
Aims and Results of Mao’s Domestic
Policies: Minorities
●
●
●
●
●
The Han are the dominant ethnic group, 80% of the population
54 minority groups were recognized by 1957 by the CCP
Propaganda posters promoted unity and recognition of minority groups in China
Xinjiang Province (North-west China)
○ Made up of a number of minority groups including the Uighur, Hui and Kirghiz
○ They had less loyalty to Beijing, some concern they can stir up religious and
nationalist opposition
The government began to settle Han Chinese into Xinjiang and Tibet to weaken this
potential challenge