Communist China
In the 20th Century
Communist Revolution
 Mao Zedong gets
power
 wins support of
peasants by
collecting land
from landlords and
redistributing it to
poor peasants
 Mao leads Long
March – 90,000
communist
supporters over
thousands of miles.
6,000 marchers
survived
Communist Revolution
 Civil War
(Nationalists vs.
PLA) resumes
 Chiang Kai-shek and
Nationalist
supporters flee to
Taiwan
 October 1, 1949,
Mao declares
China communist
“People’s Republic
of China”
 Mao says peasants
share all the land
1949-1953- Korean War
 Remember,
 The United Nations
China helped
(US) thought China
was being
N. Korea–
aggressive.
 China thought
US was being  The PRC was not
recognized as
aggressive.
Chinese gov’t
Influence by Soviet Socialism
1952- 1957
 China asks for advice about economic
modernization– cautioned to go slow.
 Chinese population estimated 586
Million
 Purges political party who opposes his
decisions and authority
 Mao dismisses further Soviet assistance
– he wants China to move more quickly
toward socialism
First 5 Year Plan:
Develops communes.
 Organized China
into communes
where people lived
together
 Ordered people to
study communist
values and rid
themselves of
improper (anticommunist)
thoughts
Great Leap Forward
1958 - 1961
 2nd 5 Year Plan
 Mao mobilized masses
to modernize China –
construction of dams,
reservoirs, railroads
 People gave up their
land, so there was no
private property
Paramilitary Society
 By the end of 1958, 700 million people had
been placed into 26,578 communes.
 the government did all that it could to
whip up enthusiasm for the communes.
 Propaganda was everywhere – including in
the fields where the workers could listen
to political speeches as they worked as the
communes provided public address systems.
 Everybody involved in communes was urged
not only to meet set targets but to beat
them.
 If the communes lacked machinery, the
workers used their bare hands. Major
constructions were built in record time –
though the quality was questionable
Great Leap Forward
1958 - 1961











Plan failed
Production too fast
Quality of production low
There wasn’t equality
Former landowners publicly “denounced”
Corrupt officials
Hundreds of thousands of people died of
starvation
Mao forced to resign as Chairman of the
PRC, but remained chair of the CCP
Created a political vacuum and a fight
Still fighting with Taiwan!
New leadership begins economic recovery
and reforms
Cultural Revolution
1966 - 1976
 Communist leaders wanted to focus on
rebuilding the economy
 Mao worried that people would become
concerned with making money (capitalism):
threat to socialism
 Mao wanted to “Purify the Country” from
Counterrevolutionaries
Cultural Revolution
 Mao wanted to get
rid of the “Four
Olds” – Old ideas,
old culture, old
customs, old
habits
 Many Communist
Party officials
opposed Mao’s
ideas
Work study program
 The educated classes were
forced out of the cities into
communes where they were
forced to perform manual
labor to reunite with their
roots within the commune.
 Mao wanted to eradicate the
“Bourgeois influence”
Cultural Revolution
 Mao turned to young
people to bring back the
“culture of revolution”:
Red Guard
 humiliated, imprisoned,
beat and killed
thousands of “enemies”
of the revolution:
educated people,
teachers, city dwellers,
corrupt Communist
Officials (and those
rumored to be corrupt).
Cultural Revolution
Red Guard
traveled the
country raiding
homes, museums
and historical
monuments,
destroying
anything
associated w/
the Four Olds
Cultural Revolution
 Military and police ordered not
to interfere with the Red Guards
 Communist leaders lost control
of the Cultural Revolution
 Mao emerged as the Supreme
Leader of the PRC
 Called on the Red Guard to
disband
 Tensions high for several more
years.
Power struggle
 Mao dies in 1976 and there is a power
struggle
Economic Reforms of
Deng Xiaoping
 In 1979 Deng Xiaoping (who had disagreed
with and dismissed from his official
position by Mao) becomes leader of China
 Deng shifts focus on economic reform:
 Communes dismantled
 4 Modernizations: which focused on
science, industry, technology & defense
 The United States formally recognizes the
PRC and diplomatic relations are
established
Protest for Democracy
 In the 1980’s Western ideas of
Democracy spread to China.
 Student groups and Intellectuals
tested the boundaries of freedoms
of artistic and literary expression
and freer democratic policies.
 Outlying areas of China (Tibet, etc)
start calling for Independence
 Still fighting with Taiwan… but maybe
they can work it out.
 “One Country, Two Systems”
Death of a Statesman
 April 1989– Hu Yaobang,
Secretary General– promoted
Democratic reform.
 His funeral became a “rallying
point” for a Pro-Democracy
demonstration.
“After the memorial meeting, an extremely
small number of people with ulterior
purposes continued to take advantage of the
young students’ feelings of grief for
Comrade Hu Yaobang... This is a planned
conspiracy and a disturbance. Its essence is
to, once and for all, negate the leadership
of the CPC [Chinese Communist Party] and
the socialist system... All comrades in the
party and the people throughout the
country must soberly recognize the fact
that our country will have no peaceful days
if this disturbance is not checked
resolutely.”1
CCP Declares
Martial Law
 For the next MONTH,
protestors met peacefully in
Tiananmen Square to protest
for greater democratic
freedoms.
 The government responded by
declaring Martial law.
 The student protests continued
despite martial law.
Protest for Democracy
at Tiananmen Square
On June 4th, Chairman
Deng sent the PLA–
the military who
killed 700 – 3,000
students, other
protesters and
bystanders
Frontline Movie: Tankman and Tiananmen Square