Nationalism Cultural Revolution Long March Great Leap Forward
Chiang Kai-Shek Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) Peoples Republic of
China (PRC) Communist Party of China (CPC)
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Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 September 9, 1976) was a Chinese
military and political leader, led Communist Party of China (CPC)
to victory in the Chinese Civil War leader of Peoples Republic of
China (PRC). Very respected in China even though his leadership
resulted in the deaths of millions of people
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Nationalism led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1912.
The Republic of China was created, however, the new government led
by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) was unable to prevent crime
and other hardships on the people. Many were murdered by thieves
and criminals and agriculture slowed which resulted in famine. In
addition, many were upset that the new government gave into
European pressure to allow Japan to control parts of Chinese
territory. Slowly the new republic slid into chaos and civil
war.
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Mao was born to a peasant family in Shaoshan, a village in
Hunan Province. He was still a student when the revolution of
1911-1912 overthrew the Manchu government and made China a
republic. While he was employed as a library worker at the National
University in Beijing (Peking) in 1918, Mao became attracted to the
ideas of Communism. In 1921, Mao and 11 other people founded the
Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai.
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Young Chinese were disillusioned with western style democracy
and looked to the communists as an alternative. In 1921, young
intellectuals gathered to form the Chinese Communist Party.
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Karl Marx (1818-1883), German political philosopher and
revolutionary, the creator of a system of thought called Marxism.
With political economist Friedrich Engels, he founded scientific
socialism (now known as communism). Communism Video Communism
Video
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Vladimir Lenin (1870- 1924), Russian revolutionary leader and
theorist. Lenin was the leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik
Party (later renamed the Communist Party), which seized power in
the Russian Revolution of 1917.
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Think-Pair-Share Why do you think Mao chose communism over
other forms of government?
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Mao Zedong Peasant Family University Student
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Over time China fell into a civil war between groups supporting
democracy, monarchy, and communism. Eventually, two groups formed
the main struggled for power. At first the Kuomintang
(Nationalist/Democratic) and the Communists tried to work together
to make China a better place. However, the Kuomintang decided to
attack the communists and attempted to kill most of their
followers.
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Mao Zedong survived the attack on the communists and decided to
lead the few remaining communists to the countryside to gather
additional support from the peasants.
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Nationalist China (Kuomintang) leader Chiang Kai-shek In 1928,
became head of the Nationalist Government Democratic Leader, US
supported.
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In 1934, Mao led the Communists in what is called The Long
March. The 6,000-mile (9,700-kilometer) march lasted over a year
and welded the survivors into a tightly-knit group under Mao's
leadership.
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Mao Zedong Peasant Family University Student Violent Revolution
Theory The Long March
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Think-Pair-Share (Pick one to answer) Which side did the U.S.
support and why? How did the Long March solidify Maos reputation in
China?
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In the middle of the Chinese Civil War, Japan invaded China.
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong were forced to work together, along
with the U.S., against the Japanese.
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Unit 731
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Mao Zedong Peasant Family University Student Violent Revolution
Theory The Long March Fought against Nationalist Chinese
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After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued to support
Chiang Kai-shek, openly against the Communist Red Army (led by Mao
Zedong) in the civil war for control of China. The U.S. support was
part of its view to contain and defeat world communism. Likewise,
the Soviet Union gave quasi-support to Mao and gave large supplies
of arms to the Communist Party of China. On December 10, 1949,
Chiang Kai-sheks forces suffered massive losses against Mao's Red
Army and evacuated from the mainland to Taiwan (Formosa).
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Maos first political goals were land reform and the suppression
of counter- revolutionaries, which centered on mass executions,
often before organized crowds. These campaigns of mass repression
targeted former KMT officials, businessmen, former employees of
Western companies, and intellectuals whose loyalty was suspect. The
U.S. State department in 1976 estimated that there may have been a
million killed in the land reform, and another 800,000 killed in
the counterrevolutionary campaign. Mao himself claimed a total of
700,000 killed during these early years (194953).
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Mao Zedong Land Reform Mass Executions
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After firmly establishing himself as the leader of China, Mao
decided the country should target industrial and agricultural
growth in an attempt to become a world power. This plan was called
the Great Leap Forward. Mao believed that both industry and
agriculture had to grow to allow the other to grow. Industry could
only prosper if the work force was well fed, while the agricultural
workers needed industry to produce the modern tools needed for
modernization.
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To allow for this, China was reformed into a series of
communes. The geographical size of a commune varied but most
contained about 5000 families. People in a commune gave up
ownership of tools, animals etc so that everything was owned by the
commune. People now worked for the commune and not for themselves.
The life of an individual was controlled by the commune. Schools
and nurseries were provided by the communes so that all adults
could work. Health care was provided and the elderly were moved
into "houses of happiness" so that they could be looked after and
also so that families could work and not have to worry about
leaving their elderly relatives at home.
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The commune provided all that was needed including
entertainment. Soldiers worked alongside people. The population in
a commune was sub-divided. Twelve families formed a work team.
Twelve work terms formed a brigade. Each sub-division was given
specific work to do. Party members oversaw the work of a commune to
ensure that decisions followed the correct party line.
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Think-Pair-Share What do you think would be the drawbacks to
living in a Commune?
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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.
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However, in 1959, things started to go wrong. Political
decisions/beliefs took precedence over commonsense and communes
faced the task of doing things which they were incapable of
achieving. Party officials would order the impossible and commune
leaders, who knew what their commune was capable of doing or not,
could be charged with being a "bourgeois reactionary" if he
complained. Such a charge would lead to prison.
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Quickly produced farm machinery produced in factories fell to
pieces when used. Many thousands of workers were injured after
working long hours and falling asleep at their jobs. Steel produced
by the backyard furnaces was frequently too weak to be of any use
and could not be used in construction its original purpose.
Buildings constructed by this substandard steel did not last
long.
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The excellent growing weather of 1958 was followed by a very
poor growing year in 1959. Some parts of China were hit by floods.
In other growing areas, drought was a major problem. The harvest
for 1959 was 170 million tons of grain well below what China needed
at the most basic level. In parts of China, starvation
occurred.
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1960 had even worse weather than 1959. The harvest of 1960 was
144 million tons. 9 million people are thought to have starved to
death in 1960 alone; many millions were left desperately ill as a
result of a lack of food. The government had to introduce
rationing. This put people on the most minimal of food and between
1959 and 1962, it is thought that 20 million people died of
starvation or diseases related to starvation.
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By 1959, it was obvious that the Great Leap Forward had been a
failure. Some party members put the blame of the failure of the
Great Leap Forward on Mao. He was popular with the people but he
still had to resign from his position as Head of State (though he
remained in the powerful Party Chairman position).
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The day-to-day running of China was left to three moderates:
Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. In late 1960, they
abandoned the Great Leap Forward. Private ownership of land was
reinstated and communes were cut down to a manageable size.
Peasants also had the incentive to produce as much spare food as
was possible as they could sell any spare that they had a market.
These three moderates had restricted Maos power but his standing
among the ordinary Chinese people was still high as he was seen as
the leader of the revolution. He was to use this popularity with
the people to resurrect his authority at the expense of the
moderates. This was in the so- called Cultural Revolution.
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Mao Zedong Land Reform Mass Executions Great Leap Forward
Widespread Famine
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Facing the prospect of losing his place on the political stage,
Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966. During the Cultural
Revolution, Mao closed schools in China and young intellectuals
living in cities were ordered to the countryside and forced to
manufacture weapons for the Red Army. The Revolution led to the
destruction of much of China's cultural heritage and the
imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese citizens, as well as
creating general economic and social chaos in the country. It is
estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in
the violence of the Cultural Revolution.
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Mao believed that the progress China had made since 1949 had
lead to a privileged class developing engineers, scientists,
factory managers etc. Mao also believed that these people were
acquiring too much power at his expense. Mao was concerned that a
new class of mandarins was emerging in China who had no idea about
the lifestyle of the normal person in China. Red Guards (groups of
youths who banded themselves together) encouraged all the youth in
China to criticize those who Mao deemed untrustworthy with regards
to the direction he wanted China to take. No-one was safe from
criticism: writers, economists and anyone associated with the man
Mao considered his main rival Liu Shao-chi. Anyone who was deemed
to have developed a superior attitude was considered an enemy of
the party and people.
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Mao deliberately set out to create a cult for himself and to
purge the Chinese Communist Party of anyone who did not fully
support Mao. His main selling point was a desire to create a China
which had peasants, workers and educated people working together
no-one was better than anyone else and all working for the good of
China a classless society. However, the enthusiasm of the Red
Guards nearly pushed China into social turmoil. Schools and
colleges were closed and the economy started to suffer. Groups of
Red Guards fought Red Guards as each separate unit believed that it
knew best how China should proceed. In some areas the activities of
the Red Guard got out of hand. They turned their anger on
foreigners and foreign embassies got attacked. The British Embassy
was burned down completely.
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Mao Zedong Land Reform Mass Executions Great Leap Forward
Widespread Famine Cultural Revolution Mass Executions
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Essay (1 st -5 th periods) Write a 5 paragraph essay describing
the leadership of Mao and his affect on China.
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1. Write a 5 paragraph essay describing the leadership of Mao
and his affect on China. 2. Write a 5 paragraph letter to Mao as
the President of the United States detailing his mistakes in
leading China and how to fix them. 3. Write a 5 paragraph letter as
Mao to the United Nations explaining your decisions as the leader
of Communist China. 4. Write a 5 paragraph letter as a Chinese
Peasant to the United Nations explaining your life under the rule
of Mao Zedong.
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On the left side of your INB: Place the following events in
chronological order: The Cultural Revolution World War II The Great
Leap Forward The Long March
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On the left side of your INB: Match the person with their
government: Mao ZedongChang Kai Shek DemocracyCommunist PRCROC
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On the left side of your INB Pick ONE and draw your
interpretation of the event: The Long March The Great Leap Forward
The Cultural Revlution
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On the left side of your INB: Put the following people in
Chronological order Karl MarxMao Zedong Vladimir Lenin
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Chaing Kai Shek. EHistory.http://ehistory.osu.edu/index.cfm.
December 3, 2007. A Consice History of China.
http://xenohistorian.faithweb.com/china/ch07.html#Top. December 3,
2007. World War 2 History. http://www.libraries.psu.edu/maps.
December 3, 2007 Mao Zedong.
http://www.lcsd.k12.wa.us/~kbounds/class.global/4.china/4.PuYi.to.Mao/bio.mao.
htm. January 20, 2008.
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/great_leap_forward.htm
November 29, 2010
