China: 1949-1980s
People’s Republic of China
#9
Mao and Communism Victorious
October 1949:
Mao and Peoples Liberation
Army win
Jiang Jishi and Nationalists flee
to Taiwan
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Jiang and Nationalists:
 Establish Republic of China
 Violently repress Taiwanese
 Govern as if they were CHINA
 Enact land reform (no longer tied to Gentry)
 Defended by US, 7th Fleet
 Engage in business revolution
 Brilliantly successful economy
 Nationalist Dictatorship
 Holds seat at UN as “CHINA”
Republic of China (Taiwan)
Jiang Kaishek (Jishi) dies in 1984
 Jiang Ching Kuo (son takes over)
 Begins democratic reforms
 Dies 1988
 Real Democratic Elections in 1988
Tensions between Taiwan and China have been very tense and
continue to be tense at times.
Taiwan today is economically advanced, wealthy and democratic
society Officially still a province of China, but functioning
as a separate nation
People’s Republic:
1949 +
Mao Establishes Single Party government
 Centralized under Chinese Communist Party
 Restores order
 Organizes production and food distribution
 Eliminates mass starvation within 3 years
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Land Reform: land to the peasants
People’s Republic
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Class Backgrounds Matter
Core leaders come from Long March Survivors
Party membership based on class background
(Red Scarf Girl gives good examples)
China gets off to a good start
Korean War: Chinese
“volunteers” first route
then fight to a stalemate
with UN/US
People’s Republic
Independent China, Great China
 Mao envisions China restored to Greatness
 Works with USSR at first
 Later asserts China’s independence from
USSR
 Pursues military strength to guarantee
independence
Mao: Cult of Personality
Charismatic leadership
Mao becomes the preeminent leader
Mao can do no wrong
Mao is the father and hero
Mao has a radical vision of where China must go
Resents any delay
Despises gradualism
Longs to see China truly “Communist” immediately
China’s Communist
Revolution: Fits and Starts
East Wind – West Wind
Red v Expert
Political Enthusiasm or Pragmatism
Endless campaigns…
 Political purges
 Reeducation and Struggle Meetings
East Wind – West Wind
Pattern
Revolutionary Campaigns  Chaos
Chaos  Economic disaster
Economic disaster  Pragmatism
Pragmatism  Economic stability
Great leap Forward
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Pragmatism frustrates Mao’s “Revolution”
Mao reasserts leadership with new Campaign
Political purge of pragmatists as “capitalists” or
“counterrevolutionaries”
Start over ….
1950s
1950-1953: Korean War
Stabilize control in China
1956 Hundred Flowers Campaign
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“Let 100 flowers bloom, let 100 ideas contend”
Attempt to push revolution forward
Opened up for criticism of Party and Mao
Shut down and critics purged/punished
1958:
Great Leap Forward
Collectivize Agriculture
Take away private plots
Leap past phases of industrial development
Jump straight into heavy industry
Modernize military
Back yard steel mills
Communal kitchens
1958:
Great Leap Forward
Back yard steel mills
Every village had one
Communal kitchens and daycare
Free women’s labor for factories
Catastrophic crop failures  food shortages
Back yard steel useless and can’t be delivered
1958+
Great Leap Forward
Mao and “Reds” discredited
Pragmatist: Deng Xiaoping emerges
“It doesn’t matter what color the cat is, so long
as it catches mice” or “black cat, white cat,
just so it catches mice”
Order and economic stability restored 1960-62
Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
1966-1976
This is the background for
Red Scarf Girl
1966:
 Economy is stable
 Mao sees a lack of progress
 Mao has been pushed aside by pragmatists: wants
back in the limelight
Cultural Revolution
Play: "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office“
Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, sees it as an attack
on Mao’s dismissal of Peng Dehuai
Jiang Qing publishes an attack on the play in
the Shanghai paper
Calls on people to defend Mao
Mao joins in and calls on students and young
people to defend the revolution and
criticize “reactionary” leaders in Schools
and the Party
Jiang Qing: "Let the new
socialistic performing arts
occupy every stage."
Cultural Revolution
Officially:
Revolution had stalled
Old culture was the cause
Only youth untainted by pre-revolutionary
culture can lead forward
China can and must move forward to new phases
of the ongoing Revolution
Cultural Revolution
Behind the Scenes:
Mao was weakened by Great Leap
Mao was aging
Mao wanted to reassert control
Power battle between Mao and Pragmatists: especially
Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping
Mao mobilized the youth to help him with the internal
power struggle in the Party and government
Lui: Dies, Deng: Sentenced to farm labor
Cultural Revolution
Effects:
School Stopped
Local Party decimated
Enormous suffering
Struggle meetings
Families destroyed
China’s “lost generation”
“Red Scarf Girl”
Movie: “To Live” (last part)
Post Mao Reform
Mao Dies: 1976
Official mourning but little real
public grief
Mao’s wife and three friends
seize power to reinvigorate
the Cultural Revolution
Post Mao Reform
Reformers out-manipulate radicals
and arrest “Gang of Four”
Gang of Four tried:
Vilified as the perpetrators of the Cultural Revolution
Jiang Qing, especially took advantage of Mao’s dotage
Cultural revolution was her fault
Mao’s memory remains infallible and untainted by Cultural
Revolution
Post Mao Reform
Deng Xiaoping reemerges:
Becomes chairman of party, head of
the government and commander
of the People’s Liberation Army
“To get rich is glorious.”
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Deng institutes agricultural reforms
First, sales of garden vegetables OKed
Over-quota farm produce approved for open market
Ag sector got wealthy
Deng Xiaoping’s reform
After Ag sector, business sector gets market reforms
Businesses can sell over-quota items on open market
Cooperatives can buy business from government
Foreign investment sought
Effectively, China becomes a thriving, market-capitalist
economy, growing like mad
Tienanmen Square
1989
Deng retires in mid ’80s
Pressure for democratic
participation builds
Some government leaders concede it
might be desirable or at least
acceptable
Demonstrations and a sit-in in
Tienanmen: summer 1989
Tienanmen Square
1989
Government waivers for weeks
Demonstrations continue strong
Government calls in troops
People of Beijing stop the troops
Classic picture of one man stopping
a column of tanks
As world watches, Deng returns
from retirement and calls in
special forces: bloody massacre
(AP Photo/Jeff Widener)
Post Tienanmen
Economic Reforms Continue
Chinese business prospers
Chinese democracy seems stillborn and few
seem interested for now