Name: ________________
Mao and People’s Republic of China Timeline
Events Prior to the Establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC):
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1644-1911: Manchu/Qing Dynasty: non-native, last dynasty in China
c. 1839-1860: Opium Wars, Spheres of Influence, Open Door Policy (USA, c, 1899)
Revolution of 1911: discontent with the dynastic system, anti-Qing activist Sun Yat-sen, forcing the Qing to
formally abdicate in 1912
1912: Republic established by the revolutionary government was already crumbling. Sun Yat-sen and his party,
the Guomindang (GMD/KMT), were driven underground by political opponents
1918: May Fourth Movement: anti-imperialist, student movement
1921: Chinese Communist Party (CCP) established
1923: First United Front (GMD & CCP)
1927: Division within First United Front (end of United Front), GMD under Chiang Kai-shek
1928-1937: Nanjing Decade
1933-1935: Long March
Throughout the early 1930s, popular opinion shifted from fighting the Chinese Communists to fighting Japanese
aggression
1937-1945: Sino-Japanese War: Japan launched a full-scale invasion of China
o Second United Front
1945: Civil War resumes: 1946-1949
1949: formation of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on October 1
o Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, & defeated Guomindang take refuge on the island of Taiwan
o December: Mao leaves for Moscow to pursue a strategic alliance with Stalin
Key Information: China:
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Key People: Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian), Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek), Mao Zedong, Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai, Deng
Xiaoping, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, Jiang Qing (Madame Mao) & Gang of Four, Hua Guofeng
o Mao Zedong +Liu Shaoqi + Zhou Enlai = Secretariat
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Key Concepts/Terms: Nationalists (GMD/KMT) vs. Communists (CCP), Republic of China (ROC) vs. People’s Republic
of China (PRC), Formosa/Taiwan vs. Mainland China, Maoism, Communist Party of China (CPC), People’s Liberation
Army (PLA)/Red Army, National People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC),
Politburo, Central Committee
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Key Events: World War II, Civil War, Communist Revolution 1949, Korean War 1950-1953
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Mao’s China (PRC): Land Reform & Collectivization of Agriculture, Constitution, 3 & 5 Antis Movements, Five-Year
Plans, economies of scale, mutual aid teams, Hundred Flowers & Anti-Rightist Campaign, Great Leap Forward, people’s
communes, backyard furnaces, Four Modernizations, Lushan Conference, Industrialization, Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution (GPCR), Little Red Book, Red Guards, Maoism, Cult of Mao
Authoritarian States (PAPER 2-Topic 3)
 Theme 1: Origins and nature of authoritarian and single-party states
 Theme 2: Establishment of authoritarian and single party states
 Theme 3: Domestic policies and impact
Historiography:
 Marxism: 1920s
 PRC Institutionalized Party Historiography: Mao-centrism (40s & 50s), Cultural Revolution Propaganda (60s & 70s) Post
Cultural Revolution/post-death of Mao
 Western Sympathetic: 1937 Red Star over China by an American journalist, Edgar Snow
 Revisionism/Post-Revisionism: John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, Jonathan Spence, Chang and Halliday (critical)
Name: __________________
PRC Timeline of Events
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For each of the following: provide notes on the significance of the events
Date(s)
Event(s)
Organic Law
1949
The Organic Law of
the Chinese People’s
Political Consultive
Conference, Beijing,
29 September 1949
1950
Marriage
Reform Law
1950
Agrarian
Reform Law
1950-1953
Korean War
Significance
-“Organization of the democratic united front of the entire Chinese people”
-Aim: Unite all classes and nationalities
-New Democracy: opposing imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism, overthrowing
revolutionary rule of Guomindang, eliminating counter-revolutionary forces
-Heal wounds of war – economic, cultural, educational, defense work
-Independent PRC, unite with nations on an equal footing
-Democratic Dictatorship: Alliance of workers and peasants
-Enforced for 5 years while new constitution was written
*March 1953, Stalin dies*
1951 &
1952
1953
1955-1956
Three Antis
Movement &
Five Antis
Movement
First Five Year
Plan
Socialist
High
Tide
Between Autumn of 1955 and Spring of 1956 a “high tide of socialism” in the countryside
transformed most of Chinese agriculture – replacing small farms with large cooperatives and
collectives
*1956: Khrushchev denounces Stalin in Secret Speech* Criticism of Stalin’s disastrous campaign of collectivization strengthens the
position of those opposed to Socialist High Tide in China. Mao perceives deStalinization as a challenge to his own authority.
1956-1957
Hundred
Flowers Speech
& Anti-Rightist
Campaign
Date(s)
Event(s)
Significance
1957: Mao visits Moscow and is impressed by the Soviet’s Sputnik satellite. He declares that the “East wind prevails over the West
wind” in response to Khrushchev’s announcement that the Soviets will outstrip the United States in economic production in 15 years.
Mao declares that China will overtake Britain in the same period.
1958
Great Leap
Forward
1959
Mao steps down
as Head of State
1961
Sino-Soviet Split
-Mao predicted he would take most of the blame for the failure of the Great Leap Forward
-He retained his position as Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
-Liu Shaoqi (the new PRC Chairman) and Deng Xiaoping (CCP General Secretary) were left in
charge to achieve economic recovery
-Mao's Great Leap Forward policy came under open criticism at a party conference at Lushan
(led by Peng Dehuai - allegedly encouraged by Khrushchev to oppose Mao - was deposed and
replaced by Lin Biao)
-Refers to the gradual worsening of relations between the USSR & PRC, and between their
respective Communist Parties
-Main issues: evaluation of Stalin, "Peaceful Coexistence", "Peaceful Transition to Socialism”,
War, and Imperialism
-Relations between the USSR and the PRC were severed and, in 1969, their troops clashed across
their common border
1964: China’s 1st atomic test
1966-1976
1972
Great
Proletariat
Cultural
Revolution
Nixon visits
China
(Ping-Pong
diplomacy)
1976
Death of Mao
-Power vacuum / struggle for control
-Gang of Four attempted to take control, arrested by Mao successor Hua Gaufeng
-Deng Xiaoping emerged as leader in 1978
Who’s Who?
Liu Shaoqi
Zhou Enlai
Peng Dehuai
Lin Biao
President of PRC
1959-1968,
economic
restructuring, fell
out of favor
during Cultural
rev, died 1969
1st Premier of
PRC, 1949-76,
consolidated PRC,
diplomat (Korea,
Nixon), died 8
months before
Mao, ally of Deng
Commander Korean
war, Defense
minister, 1954-59,
Critical of Mao,
purged at Lushun
conference 1959,
jailed by Gang of
Four, posthumously
rehabilitated by
Deng
Military leader,
Civil War, Mao’s
successor during
Cultural Rev, died
1971 plane crash,
“Lin Biao
incident” –
speculations of
coup attempt
Jiang
Qing
&
Gang
of
Four
Political faction
during Cultural
Rev, included
Madame Mao,
power struggle
post Mao’s death,
charged with
treason
Hua Guofeng
Deng Xiaoping
Loyal to Mao,
succeeded Zhou
Enlai as Premier of
PRC, Chaiman after
Mao, ended Cultural
Rev, opposed Gang
of Four, continued
Maoist line, replaced
by Deng
Instrumental in
Great Leap Forward,
purged during
Cultural Rev,
Rehabilitated under
Zhou Enlai,
outmaneuvered Hua
Guofeng, reformer,
Four Modernizations