Year 6 Topic: Swinging Sixties
China in the 1960s
Hang on a minute!
What do we know about Chinese
history?
How far can it be traced back?
Who ruled China before the 20th Century?
Home to the Emperors from 1420.
Cosy?
The Forbidden City is a city within a
city.
It was massive and the Emperors were
all-powerful.
What is the best way to get rich?
How could people get rich in Imperial
China?
So life for the poor and uneducated
was….辛苦
What happened after the Qing dynasty
fell in 1911?
• A bit of a mess!
• After a rebellion by the people against the
Imperial Dynasty, Sun Yat Sen became President
of the new Republic of China.
• It didn’t last.
• Civil war broke out and foreign countries
interfered.
• Who triumphed in the mess?
• a) the foreign countries
• b) the Nationalists (ie the
successors of Sun Yat Sen) who
did not offer equality to the
Chinese people.
• c) the Communists who promised
to give power and land to the
poor peasants.
• Answer: The Communists
Mao Zedong
Communists
won the civil
war in 1949.
Their leader,
Mao declared
the People’s
Republic of
China.
Power to the People?
• Under Mao, China became a socialist state.
• What is socialism?
• Where else was socialism the flavour of the
day?
Making a fairer society.
• Who do you think Mao needed to get rid of to
make a fairer society?
So what do you think was happening
in China by the 1960s?
• A)There have been a few general elections since then and
Mao is no longer in power. The socialist period in China is
over.
• B) Mao is still in power and socialism is working. The
landlords are gone, the peasants are getting richer and
everyone in society is equal because they all own the land
together.
• C) Mao is still in power and having a few problems as his
plans are not going well. Natural disasters and bad farming
methods have lead to widespread starvation. He needs a
new plan.
Britain
Democratic
governement (everyone
over 21 voted in general
elections).
People who had had
landlords in their
families were criticised
for exploiting the poor.
Explosion in the fashion
industry.
Everyone had a copy of
something called The
Little Red Book.
China
? Flourishing of pop music.
People despised anything
‘old’. Campaign to ‘Smash
the four olds.’
Schools were closed and
then the curriculum was
rewritten before they
reopened.
General election held in
1964, leading to a change
in government.
People who wore fancy
clothes were punished.
Britain
Democratic
governement (everyone
over 21 voted in general
elections).
Flourishing of pop music.
General election held in
1964, leading to a change
in government.
Explosion in the fashion
industry.
China
People who had had landlords
in their families were criticised
for exploiting the poor.
People despised anything ‘old’.
Campaign to ‘Smash the four
olds.’
Schools were closed and then
the curriculum was rewritten
before they reopened.
People who wore fancy
clothes were punished.
Everyone had a copy of
something called The Little Red
Book.