Economic Development
16-2
Haley W.
Lesson Questions
1.What obstacles stood in the way of the
modernization of China?
2.What were the Great Leap Forward and
the Cultural Revolution?
3.How did economic policies change after
Mao’s leadership ended?
Vocabulary
Collective Farm- farm operated and managed
under government direction
Commune- Community in which all property is
held in common, living quarters are shared, and
physical needs are provided for in exchange for
work at assigned jobs
Capitalism- Free-market economic system in
which the means of production are owned and
operated by individuals for profit
Revolutionary Goals
•Mao proclaimed 3 main goals for China’s Revolution
-Promised a better life for the poor
-called for development of a modern economy
-Pledged to restore China’s position as a major world power
•The communists took over and prevented them from achieving
these goals
•Years of war destroyed their land for farming and industries
•China lacked technology and capital to industrialize
•To build a strong economy, they believed they had to destroy the
old class system
•Communists wanted to place means of production under central
government control to end inequality and increase output
Reorganizing Agriculture
•Communists quickly introduced land reform
•They took land from large landowners and divided it among families with less
land
•The government forced peasants to pool their land, tools, and labor to form
collective farms
•The government believed collective farms would be more efficient and result in
bigger food production
•In 1958 Mao call on Chinese to make a superhuman effort to achieve
modernization through one “Great Leap Forward”
•He divided China into communes which included villages, thousands of acres of
land and as many as 20,000 people
•These communes controlled the land and peasants
•This was a way to mobilize the Chinese people to build bridges, farms, irrigation
systems and other projects needed to modernize China
•The Great Leap led to disaster- workers did not work hard because they were
guaranteed jobs and peasants were destroying crops
•Floods and droughts did not help farming and many people died in the famine
that hit China from 1959 to 1961
Cultural Revolution
•Mao launched the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution” to
renew the revolutionary spirit in 1966
•He stressed the class struggle and urged people to root out
“capitalist roaders” or followers of capitalism
•Students responded by organizing the Red Guards-held mass
rallies to support Mao
•They traveled around China attacking government officials and
others who did not fully support him
•The Cultural Revolution created chaos in China
-Schools closed
-disputes between rival factions slowed production in
factories
•In 1969 the Chinese Army restored order
•Many people had been tortured, imprisoned, or killed because of
the Cultural Revolution
Four Modernizations
•After Mao’s death there was a huge power struggle between his
widow, Juang Qing and her supporters who favored the radical
policies of the Cultural Revolution. The other side were moderate
leaders who won
•In 1978 Deng Xiaoping was China’s leader and his goals were
similar to Mao’s
•He called for modernizing agriculture, expanding industry,
developing science and technology and upgrading China’s defense
forces which was known as the Four Modernizations
•He introduced the responsibility system- Every farming family was
responsible for making its own living
•Each family raised crops and had to sell a portion of them to the
government which made farming output grow
Building Industry
•Deng shifted emphasis to light industry
•He wanted to make factories more efficient
•He extended the responsibility system to Industry which
made China’s economy boom and industrial output rise.
•Although this is good for China’s economy, this causes
population problems in cities
•Along with population, air and water pollution has
increased as well as the crime rate
•These problems create a big gap between the rich and
the poor
Expanding Trade
•Deng and Jiang realized that China needed
foreign technology and capital in order to
modernize
•Deng opened the door to foreign trade and
investment
•He set up Special Economic Zones(SEZ) which
is where free-enterprise thrives
•Trade has brought great wealth to china