China 1911-89 Revision Pack PDF

B5: CONFLICT, CRISIS AND CHANGE: CHINA 1911- 89 Revision Notes for Edexcel IGCSE History Using this Revision Booklet Knowing and understanding the key events and facts from each topic is obviously essential. For Paper 2, Section B topics li...

B5: CONFLICT, CRISIS AND CHANGE: CHINA 1911- 89 Revision Notes for Edexcel IGCSE History Using this Revision Booklet Knowing and understanding the key events and facts from each topic is obviously essential. For Paper 2, Section B topics like China 1911- 1989, you need to be able to recall the key features of events and be able to focus on the idea of change: linking events and explaining how and why changes occurred between them is an essential skill for Question C. Make sure you study the following list of key events and changes as part of your revision. By Mr. Budd - www.mrbuddhistory.com 1.) The 1911 Revolution: 10th October 1911 Causes What happened? Effects Long-term Causes An uprising in Wuchang was planned by End of Dynastic System – Decay of the Qing Government – The revolutionaries for 16th October 1911 revolution ended Qing Qing Emperors in the 19th century were however on the 9th October, a list of the Dynasty and Imperial China weak and corruption rife. Troop morale revolutionaries names were discovered so which had existed for over was low leading to a series of defeats to the uprising was brought forward to the 10th 2000 years. The Republic foreign powers. People lost confidence in October 1911. was a new form of Manchu rule. government and a milestone The uprising was unplanned and disorganised in Chinese history. Role of Cixi – The Empress Dowager was however by the morning of the 11th October, deeply unpopular & opposed reforms like the entire city of Wuchang had been The Failure of Democracy – the Self-Strengthening Movement and captured. Despite elections in Feb Hundred Days Reform. 1913 in which Sun Yat-Sen’s A ‘Military Government of Hubei of Republic Chinese Nationalist Party Political Decentralisation – The provinces of China’ was created led by Li Yuanhong, (Kuomintang/KMT) won 43% of China were weakly controlled by Beijing. the assistant commander of the New Army. of the vote, real democracy 15 other provinces quickly declared their could not be established. Short-term Causes independence from the Qing Dynasty. Yuan Shikai ignored the Growth of Nationalist Movement – Sun constitution, became a Yat-Sen founded the Tongmenghui in 1905 On 1st November, the Qing government dictator and even tried to which coordinated anti-Qing protests appointed Yuan Shikai as the prime minister restore the monarchy. across China. Dr. Sun organised 8 uprisings of the imperial cabinet. He was the leader in 1907-11. of the Beiyang Army and the Qing Lack of Social Improvement government’s last hope. – Little attention was paid to Immediate Cause the economy or social The Railway Problem –Protests broke out On 25th December 1911, Sun Yat-Sen reform so China still when the government tried to nationalise returned to China and was elected President remained weak. (take-over) regional railways in an attempt of the Chinese Republic. On 1st January 1912 to gain revenue and control local the Republic of China was declared. Increased Foreign authorities. This was strongly opposed by Aggression – Although the provincial authorities esp. in Sichuan Yuan Shikai was offered the position of new Republic was recognised because the gentry, landowners and President of the new Republic of China. In by most of the world, many merchants had all invested money in return, Yuan was to persuade the Emperor foreign powers like Japan railways. Railway Protection Societies Puyi to abdicate which he did on 12th still forced China to sign were formed which the government tried February 1912. Yuan Shikai was inaugurated unequal treaties like the to suppress with force. This intensified as the Second Provisional President of the Twenty-One Demands in anti-Qing feeling and led to a series of Republic of China in Beijing on 10th March January 1915. China was still violent revolts across the country. 1912. weak internationally. Sun Yat-sen Emperor Puyi Yuan Shikai 2.) May Forth Movement: May 4th 1919 Causes What happened? Effects The May 4th Movement was the The rising tide of protest Long-Term Cause name given to an explosion of prevented the Chinese delegation New Culture Movement: this yearning for change and national from accepting the terms of the movement sprang from the rebirth, particularly amongst young treaty and China refused to sign disillusionment with traditional students. however Japan still had control Chinese culture following the of Shandong. failure of the Chinese Republic to In 1919, news reached people in address China’s problems. Led by China that the Allies at the Cultural Turning Point - the Scholars like Chen Duxiu, the Versailles Peace Conference in movement proved that China’s movement created a desire for Paris were planning to allow Japan social classes could successfully change across China. to keep the German possessions collaborate given proper in Shandong province. motivation and leadership. Immediate Cause Traditional Chinese values began Treaty of Versailles: Students at Beijing University to be questioned and people In 1917, China had joined WW1 on began an explosive protest. On became more willing to support the Allied side, with the condition Sunday 4th May, 3000 students change from the warlords. that all German spheres of from 13 colleges assembled in influence in China, like Shandong Tiananmen Square. They demanded Intellectual Turning Point - The province, be returned to China. their government assert itself movement encouraged many 140,000 Chinese labourers were against the Japanese. people to become more political sent to work for the British army and also showed that Western- in France. They wrecked the house of the style democracy was the wrong government minister responsible path to take – it hypocritically American advocacy of self- for the treaty. A city-wide student ignored China’s pleas for fairness. determination at the Versailles union was then established devoted Conference was attractive to to change – the May 4th This encourage many Chinese Chinese intellectuals, so the failure Movement. This was replicated intellectuals to turn to new to award China Shandong province across China in cities like Shanghai, ideologies like Marxism and the was seen as a betrayal. Wuhan and Tianjin. CCP was founded in 1921. Chen Duxiu 3.) The Warlord Period: 1917-1928 How did it begin? What happened? How was it ended? In 1913 Yuan Shikai took over the An independent military government was setup government. He dissolved the national and in Guangzhou by Sun Yat-Sen in 1917 based on provincial assemblies, and the House of the old 1911 constitution. Sun was elected The anarchy of the Representatives and Senate were replaced President supported by other Southern warlord period convinced with a ‘Council of State’. He had himself Provinces who again declared independence Sun Yat-Sen that he elected President for 5-years and banned from Beijing. Northern provinces supporting needed an army if he was the KMT. By 1914 he was dictator of the central government tried and failed to ever to defeat them and China. capture the Southern Provinces. reunite China. This led to Sun appealing to the Yuan reorganised the provincial Competing groups of warlords began to fight USSR for help. governments with each province supported battles all over China. Loyalties shifted by a Military Governor as well as a civil constantly but there was generally a The USSR established authority, giving each governor control of north/south divide between warlords in China the Whampoa Military their own army. This decentralised power with further divisions within these regions. Academy in Canton further. (Guangzhou) and supplied Warlords came in all shapes and sizes. The arms to the KMT from On 12th December 1915 Yuan proclaimed Christian General converted to Methodism, 1923 onwards. himself Emperor of the Chinese Empire banned foot-binding, opium and brothels and but badly miscalculated. Many of his wore a simple uniform. Zhang Zong Chang (the The USSR encourage the closest military supporters abandoned Dogmeat General) of Shandong Province was KMT and CCP to join him and the southern provinces of Yunnan, the opposite, keeping numerous concubines. His forces to create the Guizhou, Guangxi, Guangdong, Shandong, troops were very brutal. Zhang Zuolin of ‘United Front’. Hunan, Shanxi, Jiangxi and Jiangsu all Manchuria was the most powerful ruling an declared their independence and began to area the size of Western Europe. In 1925, Sun Yat-sen rebel. Yuan was forced to abandon the died at the age of 56 empire on 22nd March 1916. Warlords taxed and squeezed cash from from liver cancer. He was peasants across China. The economy collapsed replaced by Chiang Yuan died on 5th June 1916. He was as warlords simply printed money to pay for Kiashek. replaced by his vice-president Li Yuanhong their armies. This resulted in severe inflation. who tried to rule China until 1st July 1917 The Warlord Period when he fell victim to a coup by Yuan’s Droughts in northern China in 1918, famines in ended as a result of the commanders. Infighting amongst cliques in 1920-21 and flooding in 1923-25 brought Northern Expedition of the Beiyang government began and the misery to millions, weakening the control of the United Front from government quickly lost control of China the warlords. 1926-1928. to warlords in the provinces. Yuan Shikai 4.) The Kuomintang: 1917-1925 Early Life 1894-1913 Re-establishment 1919-1925 Road to Victory 1925-1928 The Kuomintang (KMT) began In Shanghai in 1919 the KMT was Sun Yat-sen died in 1925 and life as the ‘Revive China Society’ reformed & established its HQ in was replaced by Chiang Kai-shek (Xingzhonghui), founded in 1894 Guangdong Province in 1920. who was the superintendent of the by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, a Whampoa Military Academy in proponent of Chinese In 1923 the KMT accepted aid from Canton and had near complete nationalism and democracy. the USSR after being denied control of the military. recognition by Western Powers. In 1905, Sun joined forced with Soviet COMINTERN advisers like Chiang launched the Northern other anti-Qing groups to form Mikhail Borodin arrived with aid and Expedition in 1926 to defeat the the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary weapons, reforming the KMT along warlords of northern China and Alliance) who planned and the lines of the CPSU with a Leninist unite the country. supported the 1911 Revolution. structure. Some elements within the KMT were landlords or from In 1927 a split emerged in the In August 1912, the Kuomintang the business classes so the KMT KMT. The left-wing under Wang was formed with Sun elected as remained wary of the growing CCP. Jing Wei sided with the CCP and Party Chairman. It was based on disagreed with Chiang over 3 principles: Nationalism, The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) strategy. Chiang responded by Democracy and Social was instructed by the COMINTERN massacring Communists in Advance. The KMT won an to unite with the KMT to establish Shanghai and by the end of 1927, overwhelming majority in the ‘United Front’ to fight the had reunited the KMT under his elections to the National warlords and reunite China. control. Assembly in Dec 1912. At the KMT’s first party congress in Chiang finally took Beijing in The KMT was banned by Yuan 1924, Sun’s political theory was 1928 and led a new unified Shikai in November 1913 and adopted which included the Three government based in Nanjing. It Sun Yat-sen was forced to flee Principles of the People – was to last until 1937. to Japan. Nationalism, Democracy and People’s Livelihood. Mikhail Borodin Sun Yat-sen Chiang Kai-shek 5.) The Chinese Communist Party: 1921-Present Early Life 1921-1927 Civil War & WW2 1927-1949 Ruling Party 1949-Present The CCP had its origins in the The People’s Republic of China May 4th Movement which In 1927, Chiang Kai-Shek turned on the (PRC) was declared by Mao on encouraged many Chinese Communists massacring over 5000 in 1st October 1949. The ideology intellectuals to turn to new Shanghai. By July, the KMT had expelled of the PRC was founded on a ideologies like all communists from the Party and the CCP Sinification of Marxist-Leninist Marxism/Leninism. was forced to flee to the province of principles and was officially Kiangsi. known as ‘Mao Zedong Thought’ The Party was co-founded by or ‘Maoism.’ Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu on The CCP reacted by founding the ‘Red 23-31st July 1921 in Army’ and by reorganising the Party During the 1960s, the CCP Shanghai. Chen was elected according to democratic centralism, broke relations with the USSR leader and the Party was forming a Politburo. By and begun a second ‘Cultural declared to be part of the Revolution’ in 1966 against COMINTERN. The In Oct 1934, surrounded by KMT troops, alleged ‘class enemies’. COMINTERN provided the CCP was forced to flee on what $5000 USD per year in became known as ‘the Long March’. At the Mao died in 1976, resulting in support. end in Oct 1935, Mao Zedong had taken a power struggle between over leadership of the Party. General Secretary Hua Under pressure from the Guofeng, Deng Xiaoping and the USSR, the CCP joined with In Dec 1936 at the Xi’an Incident, Chiang Gang of Four. Deng became the KMT in 1923, forming was forced to agree a Second United leader of the CCP and the First United Front Front with the CCP against the Japanese, instigated a reform and process against the Warlords. who in July 1937 had begun their invasion of ‘Socialism with Chinese of mainland China. By the end of the war in charateristics’. This meant Mao Zedong was a delegate August 1945, the CCP controlled over 95 China would be communist in at the first Party million people. politics but capitalist in Conference but did not get economics. on with the CCP leadership of Both the CCP and KMT raced to accept the Chen Duxui, disliking their surrender of Japanese held areas. By early Jiang Zemin succeeded Deng intellectualism and focus on 1946, civil war had broken out again. The after the 1989 Tiananmen cities. In 1925 he was CCP had only 900,000 soldiers vs. Square Protests. Hu Jintao excluded from the CCP 2.7million KMT troops but by Sep 1949, replaced him in 2002 and later Central Committee and was most of China was under CCP control. resigned in 2012 to be replaced attracted to the Rural Chiang Kai-Shek fled to Taiwan. by Xi Jinping. All three leaders Communism of Peng Pai. would continue Deng’s modernisation policies. Peng Pai Hua Guofeng Chen Duxiu Li Dazhao Mao Zedong Deng Xiaoping 6.) The Northern Expedition: 1926-1928 Causes What happened? Effects After the death of Sun Yat-Sen in The Northern Expedition was a The Communists were left with little 1925, Chiang Kai-Shek became leader combined military operation by the alternative to armed struggle against of the KMT and was eager to destroy United Front (KMT & CCP) against the the KMT. After the Shanghai the warlords and reunite China. rule of the warlord Beiyang Massacre they were forced to flee to Government in Beijing as well as local Kiangsi Province, setting up a Soviet The Whampoa Military Academy in warlords. which they were eventually forced to Canton produced a National abandon in 1934. Revolutionary Army (NRA) which was It started in July 1926 and targeted superior to many warlords. the three most notorious and powerful The Warlord problem was still not warlords: Zhang Zoulin of Manchuria, fully resolved. Many warlords simply The NRA was 100,000 strong and Wu Peifu in the Central Plain region and formed an alliance with the KMT to equipped with the latest Russian and Sun Chuanfang on the east coast. avoid being destroyed. They continued German weapons. Chiang personally to fight amongst themselves and relied on the Russian Military advisor, By 10th October 1926, Wuhan on the treated peasants badly – resulting in General Blyucher, known as Galen. Yangtze had been captured and the continual resentment of Chiang’s new NRA had grown to 250,000. By 1927, KMT government. The NRA was supported by the Nanjing and Shanghai had been communist ‘Farmers’ Movement captured. This was achieved by a Chiang Kai-Shek’s position was Training Institute’ in which Mao combination of NRA military success, strengthened. And he ruled as worked. Propaganda from this communist propaganda and bribing many dictator, similar to Hitler in Germany. institute persuaded many peasants to warlords. He was chairman of the military serve as guides and labourers for the committee and commander in chief, NRA against their warlords. The United Front ended on 12th April prime minister and head of the KMT 1927. Chiang Kai-Shek arranged the party. The declared political objectives of massacre of over 5000 communists the NRA were: …to protect the with the help of the triad ‘Green Gang’ Chiang’s new regime was supported welfare of the people. We must in Shanghai. by the army and enforced control overthrow all warlords and wipe out through a secret police called the reactionary power so that we may The KMT and NRA pressed on along and Military Bureau of Statistics. Most implement the Three Principles and by June 1928, Beijing had been social support came from rich, complete the National Revolution.’ captured and Chiang setup a new capital commercial elites in the cities and of unified China at Nanjing. It was richer peasants and gentry in the recognised by foreign powers. countryside. Chiang Kai-shek General Blyucher or ‘Galen’ 7.) The Shanghai Massacre: 12th April 1927 Causes What happened? Effects The CCP Problem – In 1923 Sun The massacre occurred on 12th April Power Struggle – The KMT left-wing Yat-Sen concluded an alliance with 1927 and was the violent suppression of government in Wuhan expelled Chiang the USSR. This gave the KMT Communist Party organisations in from the Party on 17th April. However financial and military support but in Shanghai by the KMT. he simply declared a rival KMT return, the KMT had to cooperate government in Nanjing. His financial with the CCP. Sun agreed to let After capturing Shanghai, the CCP began links with commercial interests in individual Communists join the KMT inciting huge protests and strikes, Shanghai enabled him to gain more as long as their remained loyal. demanding the return of international influence, resulting in the Wuhan Covert Communist activities soon settlements. Chiang immediately made Nationalist government collapsing. attracted opposition amongst many arrangements with representatives of Wang Jingwei fled to Europe. right-wing KMT members. the commercial classes and Shanghai underworld to purge the CCP. End of USSR/KMT Cooperation – The KMT Split – Since the death Stalin recalled all Soviet advisors to of Sun in 1925, the KMT was On the morning of 12th April, heavily the KMT included Galen and Borodin. divided between the NRA and armed members of Big-eared Du’s Stalin switched his support to the Chiang Kai-Shek on the right and Green Gang moved through the CCP, inciting the Autumn Harvest KMT leader Wang Jingwei, international settlement to attack the Uprising in Nanchang in August 1927 Communists and Soviet Agents on CCP union strongholds in the working- and later in Canton – both were the left-wing. Chiang was concerned class districts. complete failures. Over 300,000 to protect the business interest of people died in the ensuing anti- many KMT supporters. Du met with the leader of the big CCP Communist suppression. workers union to persuade him to change Attacks on Foreign Concessions - sides but he refused and was beaten and CCP Forced to Flee – The CCP was Between Jan-Mar 1927, the left- buried alive. Du’s men aided by General forced to flee from the Urban areas wing of the KMT and CCP forces Bai Chongxi’s troops, rounded up of China, with many Communists like began attacking western interests Communists and beheaded or shot them. Mao setting up soviets in Jiangxi and in Hankou and Nanjing. Chiang Kai- Some were thrown alive into the fires of Hunan provinces. This transformed Shek needed the support of locomotives at the South Railway Station. the Communist Party’s base of support western powers in order to take from the urban proletariat to the Shanghai. By April, Chiang and the Police put the death toll at 400 although rural peasantry. Old CCP leaders like right-wing of the KMT became the American journalist Edgar Snow Chen Duxiu were discredited and lost determined to purge the party of estimated between 5000-10,000 their leadership roles to Zhu De and communist influence. deaths. CCP leader Zhou Enlai escaped. Mao, both leaders of the biggest CCP army groups. Big-eared Du 8.) The Long March: 1934-1935 Causes What happened? Effects Planned by Zhou Enlai, on the night of 16th October 1934, 80,000 Communists started to cross the Gan Survival – The Long Growth of Jiangxi Base Area – River and break out westwards towards Guangxi March had seemed like a After the Shanghai Massacre, many province. disaster but it enabled Communists regrouped in rural the CCP to survive and areas. Communists like Zhu De and Two corps led the break-out, one under Lin Biao, and rebuild for the next 12 Mao Zedong led Red Army/PLA a smaller one of 13,000 under Peng Dehuai. Zhou had years. It was remote units in these areas. Zhou Enlai negotiated with the warlord of Guangdong for safe enough to be safe from arrived in 1932 and ousted Mao passage – The governor did not want to give Chiang an Japanese attack. from his military positions. In 1933 excuse to interfere in his area. the rest of the leadership arrived, Propaganda Victory – along with German COMINTERN In Dec 1934, the CCP faced a major defeat on the The march was vital in agent Otto Braun. The CCP at this Xiang River, on the border of Hunan. The CCP lost helping the CCP gain a time were led mainly by Zhou, most of their baggage and over half of their troops. positive reputation Braun and Bo Gu. This forced the CCP to change direction westward into amongst peasants due to Guizhou. the determination and KMT Extermination Campaigns - good nature of the Red The growth of the base area began The Wu River was crossed on 7th Jan 1935 and the Army. The ‘Eight Points to concern Chiang. Between 1930- city of Zunyi captured where a meeting was held. The of Attention’ issued by 34 he launched 5 massive Zunyi Conference criticised Bo Gu and Otto Braun for Mao instructed the army extermination campaigns. They their mistakes (retreating in straight lines, carrying to avoid harm or were failures but over 1 million too much equipment), and Mao was made a full member disrespect to peasants. civilians died with brutality on both of the Politburo. Land redistribution along sides. The fifth campaign in the way also help gain Summer 1933 was finally successful Under Mao, the columns changed routes and split up, support. due to the ‘blockhouse’ tactics of trying to avoid KMT and warlord forces. On 25th May German General Hans von Seeckt. 1935 they crossed the Dadu River which would later Strengthened Mao’s The KMT surrounded the Soviet be turned into a propaganda event. Position – Mao was hailed with over 500,000 troops, building as the great hero of the roads and 14,000 blockhouses which By Oct 1935, they had reached the communist base at March and was re- slowly strangled the Soviet area. Yanan in Shaanxi province where they were safe. established as the Zhu, NOT Mao, was forced to make They had: fought dozen of battles; crossed 24 rivers; unchallenged leader of the decision to abandon the Soviet. 18 mountain ranges; 24 miles a day; 6000 miles in the CCP. total; 5000-6000 out of 85,000 had remained alive. Otto Braun Zhou Enlai 9.) War with Japan: 1937-1945 Causes of the War What happened? The KMT/CCP during the War The KMT generally emerged weaker as a The Mukden Incident – In Sep 1931 result of the war: the Japanese invaded the northern The Japanese swept the KMT province of Manchuria and renamed it armies away for most of the  The KMT appeared unpatriotic & unwilling Manchukuo. Fearing a full-scale war – in Nov 1937 Shanghai to attack Japan. Chiang took until 1937 invasion, Chiang did little to stop them fell, Nanjing in Jan 1938, to declare war & had retreated to other than complain to the League of Wuhan and Canton in Oct Sichuan. He was cut off from his main Nations. He was more concerned with 1938, Hong Kong in 1941. industrial base. the Communists, saying: ‘The Japanese  KMT officials were corrupt and did little were a disease of the skin, but the By 1941, the Japanese had to improve welfare problems. Rents Communists were a disease of the 34/50 divisions in China and remained high, lack of medical care and heart.’ had over extended themselves. the economy was wracked by high By declaring war on the USA in inflation. Xi’an Incident - In 1936 he ordered December 1941, Chiang had  Warlords remained able to do what they another extermination campaign just secured a new ally against wished doing little for their people. against the CCP base in Yanan. However the Japanese.  KMT had little support in countryside, KMT troops led by Zhang Xueliang, the being seen as the Party of bankers, warlord of Manchuria, refused to fight US supplies were flown to business and landowners. the CCP. They wanted Chiang to focus Chiang’s capital of Chongqing on the Japanese. To ensure this, in Dec over the Himalayas by However the CCP actually emerged stronger 1936 Chiang was kidnapped at Xi’an by following a route called ‘the from the war: Zhang’s troops and kept prisoner for 2 Hump’. The assistance of the weeks. He was eventually released American air force also helped.  Quality of life for peasants was better: when he agreed to form a Second land was redistributed to peasants, rents United Front. Despite the success of the and taxes were reduced. Ichigo Offensive of 1944,  Women’s lives improved: foot binding was Marco Polo Bridge Incident – On 7th Japan was finally forced to eradicated, new marriage laws introduced July 1937, a clash occurred between surrender with the dropping of and Women’s Associations set-up. Japanese and Chinese troops around the Atomic Bombs on  Red Army treated peasants well & were the famous bridge 10 miles west of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in military successful – 100 Regiments Beijing. By 26th July, China was given an August 1945. The USSR had Battle in 1940 paralysed Japanese ultimatum to withdraw all forces from also declared war and invaded transport; by the end of the war Beijing. Chiang finally refused and war Manchuria on 8th August. controlled 300,000 sq miles and over 95 was declared. million people. Zhang Xueliang 10.) The Chinese Civil War: 1945-1949 Causes What happened? Reasons for CCP Victory Long-Term: Chiang’s Conduct Phase 1: Early Setbacks: July 46 – May 47 during the War – Chiang’s The KMT started the war with 2,800,000 troops Military Factors –Manchuria was attacked the CCP, despite & 6000 artillery pieces however the CCP could well suited to guerrilla warfare their United Front. Chiang was only muster 320,000 and 600. The KMT took the with its hills and forests. KMT seen as unpatriotic whereas initiative and captured larger cities, establishing forces were slowly worn down, the communists were seen as a ‘corridor’ of control through Manchuria. The reducing their numerical advantage. true patriots. Corruption, low CCP were in full retreat and even lost their base They were also able to seize the morale & lack of trust between at Yanan. Chiang committed over half a million of initiative by destroying KMT generals further weakened the his best troops to capture Manchuria however he railway lines, isolating them in NRA & Chiang’s prestige. failed to break through PLA defences in Harbin. cities. The PLA led by Lin Biao also Nationalist-minded Chinese The PLA from their rural bases adopted Guerrilla became a formidable fighting were more impressed by the Warfare, ambushing KMT units and keeping them force. Intensive training and CCP, making a renewed conflict locked down in cities by blowing up railway lines. political indoctrination enabled more likely. The KMT became isolated in the cities whilst the them to adapt and absorb CCP controlled all the countryside. nationalist deserters. Chiang also Short-Term: A Divided Phase 2: Counter-Attack: May 47 – Nov 48 made a serious error by Country – At the end of War, In May, Lin Biao decided launch a full-scale overstretching his best forces. The Japanese forces still assault on KMT positions. Despite not having an NRA was also corrupt with poor controlled much of China, the airforce, the PLA inflicted serious losses on the morale, lacking fighting spirit. Many KMT were strong in NRA which sapped the morale of troops. KMT commanders like Wei Lihuang southern/central China, the In 1948, the PLA moved to a strategy of were even CCP spies, supplying CCP controlled most of conventional warfare with massed infantry information to the PLA! north/north-east China whilst assaults. They captured Luoyang in April 48 and the USSR had invaded made gains in Shandong, isolating the KMT. In Political Factors – The CCP was a Manchuria. The race was on to June they captured Kaifeng giving the CCP access peasant-based party and attracted occupy as much territory as to the interior of China up the Yellow River. Jinan huge support with land reform. possible. US aircraft airlifted (Shandong) was captured in Sep. They were adept at using 100,000 nationalist troops into On 15th Oct, the key railway junction of Jinzhou propaganda to spread support in northern China. In response, was captured, trapping KMT forces in Manchuria. the cities. PLA troops were the CCP moved into Manchuria, Changchun fell in Oct and Shenyang on 2nd Nov. indoctrinated and disciplined, going receiving many captured Manchuria was lost and Chiang had lost over out of their way to help peasants. Japanese weapons from the 400,000 of his best troops. This was in contrast to the unruly Red Army. Clashes soon broke Phase 3: Final Stages: Dec 48 – Oct 49 behaviour of KMT troops. out between the NRA and PLA. Northern China was captured in two major offenses. The first against the vital railway Economic Factors – The economy Immediate: Failure of junction of Xuzhou which lasted 65 days from under Chiang suffered from high Mediation -The USA & USSR Dec 49 to Jan 49. Both sides committed over inflation with 3000% in Feb 1947, wished to avoid civil war and 600,000 troops each. The defeat of the KMT reducing support further. under US pressure, Chiang was a major blow and cut off the rest of agreed to peace talks. In Oct northern China from Chiang. Tianjin was easily Foreign Support – The KMT failed 1945, an agreement was captured first then Beijing on 31st Jan. The whole to make full use of US equipment reached however both sides of China north of the Yangzi was now under PLA whilst the CCP was highly trained were unwilling to give up control. and equipped by the USSR. The US military control. Stalin In April, the PLA renewed the attack. Chiang’s brokered ceasefire in 1946 even ordered the CCP to hand over capital of Nanjing was captured on 23rd April prevented the CCP from being cities in Manchuria to the with Wuhan and Shanghai falling in late May. wiped out in Harbin! KMT. The PLA then divided into two to attack the south. Peng Dehaui struck westwards towards Role of Mao – Whilst Mao made In 1946, the US sent General Xian and Lanzhou, falling in August 49. Lin Biao military mistakes, his cult of George Marshall to mediate marched south, capturing Canton in Oct. personality and use of terror made again but talks broke down. Chongquing was taken in November with Chiang the CCP an efficient fighting force, The CCP took control of and the remnants of the KMT fleeing to Taiwan. whilst Chiang’s weak leadership Harbin in northern Manchuria On 1st October 1949, Mao declared the creation allowed corruption to spread, and rural areas. By late 1946, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with affecting KMT morale. civil war had broken out. himself as Chairman. 11.) Mao’s Early Changes: 1949-1953 Problems Changes To strengthen control of China, the CCP turned China into a one-party state. All Political other political parties were suppressed in a series of purges from 1950-1952. The communists had to prove they Foreigners were also driven out and foreign businesses taken over or had their were capable of providing a strong assets frozen. and effective government. 37 years The basis of control was the ‘danwei’, a work or neighbourhood unit. It exercised of warlords and war had produced surveillance over its members and demanded active participation. The 1951 social disintegration and criminal Movement for the Study of Mao Zedong’s Thought encouraged this. This habits on a vast scale. There were involved close study of his writings, combined with public self-criticism at Party an estimated one million bandits in meetings. Special labour camps were set up for those who resisted and by 1953, 1949. Thieves and gangsters filled with over 1.5 million inmates. As many as one million opponents were stalked the cities. Many women had executed between 1949 and 1951, with over 65,000 killed in Guangzhou alone. turned to prostitution as a means of survival. To gain further control, mass participation was encourage through mass There was also many ex- campaigns: sympathisers with the KMT 1950 Three Mountains Campaign – targeted feudalism, capitalism and imperialism. regime who had not escaped to 1951 Three Antis Campaign – targeted party members and bureaucrats and Taiwan and some even launched sought to combat corruption, waste and bureaucracy. sabotage expeditions. Opposition to 1952 Five Antis Campaign – targeted businessmen and sought to combat bribery, the government had to be removed tax evasion, fraud, theft and spying. or brought under control. The economy was brought under control by a series of short-term measures:  The state nationalised major banks, railways and heavy industry.  In 1951 a People’s Bank was opened which replace private banks and controlled the issuing of money. It fixed the prices of goods to control inflation.  Food shortages were dealt with by making farmers sell 20% of grain at fixed Economic low prices to the government. The Chinese economy had been devastated by war. Production was The Communist had been committed to land reform since 1921 but arguments down 50% on pre-war levels and occurred within the Party on how to proceed. Many favoured extreme redistribution food production down by 25%. schemes by Mao favoured moderate reforms: Manchuria has been devastated and  June 1950 Agrarian Reform Law – Attempted to speed up the process of the economy racked by rapid land reform even though Mao was resistant to targeting wealthy peasants due inflation. Agriculture was to their productivity. CCP members were sent to villages to organise peasants dominated by richer landowners against the landlords in ‘People’s Court’s’. Peasants were encouraged to who controlled the peasants. denounce the landlords and many were beaten or executed. Mutual-Aid Teams (10 families) were also setup that pooled labour and equipment.  By 1952 land reform had transformed China. 40% of land was redistributed with 60% of the population benefiting. However between 750,000 – 1 million landlords had been killed. Social Many women benefited from the 1950 Marriage Law which declared women have Most of the population were equal rights and forbade arranged marriages, dowries, concubinage, child peasants who could not read or marriage. Women’s property rights were also asserted and divorce became write. Chinese people did not want available on equal terms. Prostitution was declared illegal with all houses change. Many distrusted modern registered and visitor lists kept by street committees. Opium addiction was also ideas, especially on women’s rights. targeted with poppy fields uprooted and dealers shot. 12.) The First Five-Year-Plan: 1953-1957 Area Reasons for Change Changes 1951 – The first cautious steps towards more cooperative forms of Mao’s long-term aim was to transform farming. Mutual-aid teams group 10 or more households together China into a socialist country. He to share labour, tools and animals. believed this would take 15 years. In agriculture, he envisaged grouping 1952-3 – Lower-Stage Cooperatives were introduced. These were together small, privately owned farms into groups of 30-50 households who pooled land as well as labour. By much larger, collective farms. He believed working together, peasants were able to get rid of the old system this would make farms more productive of strip farming, which released more land for cultivation, cut down and able to feed China’s growing industrial travel time and enabled peasants to share the cost of new population. machinery. Peasants still owned their private plots within the Agriculture However, Mao also recognised that cooperative and any profits were shared between all households. peasants had long been exploited by the landlords and wanted nothing more than 1955 – Higher-Stage Cooperatives were introduced which their own small farms. He knew peasants consisted of 200-300 households. Families were not paid rent for showed a ‘spontaneous tendency towards their land and only received wages for labour. Equipment, land and capitalism.’ He was unwilling to lose their animals were now property of the cooperative except for a small support during the war with the KMT, but plot (5%) kept for private use. by 1953, Mao felt that his position was secure enough, and the economy stable Success? By 1957, 97% of all peasants land had been collectivised. enough, to press ahead with rapid CCP control in the countryside was strengthened and Mao declared collectivisation of farming. it a success – however, during the Five-Year Plan, agricultural production had only risen by an estimated 3.8%. Industrialisation was necessary in order to ‘build socialism’ but Mao also believed that The government tried to persuade people to save money in State China should be self-sufficient in food banks through ‘patriotic savings’ campaigns, which helped fund and manufactured goods. Foreign-owned investment. By deliberately limiting the supply of consumer goods, businesses were nationalised and foreign the government ensured that workers had little to spend their trade was to be kept at a minimum. money on, further increasing savings. Industrial development was therefore an absolute priority. Success? The Plan set ambitious targets for all key sectors of the Industry economy, and most targets were achieved and even exceeded (see The Plan was focused on increasing the table below). There was greater job security and incomes and living capacity of heavy industry such as iron, standards even rose in cities. steel, energy, transport, communications, Failures? However there were failures: Workers lacked skills and machinery and chemicals. The production were not trained for industrial work; emphasis on quantity rather of consumer goods was a low priority due than quality; serious bureaucratic delays and competition for scarce to scare resources and money. The plan resources; lack of consumer goods. was to be aided by over 10,000 Soviet advisors and 13,000 Chinese students were educated in Russia. Industrial Sector 1952 (actual) 1957 (target) 1957 (actual) 1957 (% target) Coal (million tonnes) 68.50 113.00 130.00 115% Steel (million tonnes) 1.35 4.12 5.35 129.8 Cement (million tonnes) 2.86 6.00 6.86 114.3% Electrical Power (billion 7.26 15.90 19.34 121.6% kWh) Locomotives (units) 20 200 167 83.5% Trucks (units) 0 4000 7500 187.5% Insecticide (tonnes) 600 70,000 61,000 87.1% Machine Tools (units) 13,734 12,720 28,000 220.1% Bicycles (thousands) 80 555 1,174 211.5% 13.) The Hundred Flowers Campaign: 1956-1957 Causes What happened? Effects Historians have drawn sharply different In February 1957, Mao made a conclusions about Mao’s motives in launching the speech on the subject of ‘On This was too much for Mao who, 100 Flowers Campaign: the Correct Handling of in June 1957, suddenly cracked Contradictions among the down on his critics. A full-scale 1.) Serious Error of Judgement - One school of People’, in which he repeated counter-attack on intellectuals thought argues that he genuinely encouraged free his early call to ‘Let a hundred was launched. In the ensuing speech and criticism but was shocked by the flowers blossom, let a ‘anti-rightist’ campaign, perhaps reaction and then clamped down on his critics. hundred schools of thought as many as 500,000 intellectuals Jonathan Spence argues: ‘…a muddled and contend.’ He meant that free were branded ‘rightists’ and inconclusive movement that grew out of conflicts speech was healthy and should subjected to persecution. within the Communist Party leadership. At its be encouraged. centre was an argument about the pace and type Some were sent to labour camps, of development that was best for China.’ The speech was published others to the countryside for widely and Mao supported it ‘re-education’. Many were driven 2.) Trap to Expose Anti-Communist Elements – with a 3-week train journey to suicide by the severe mental This school of thought believes that the Campaign through eastern China, pressure they were subjected to. was a deliberate plan by Mao to flush out critics spreading this message. Some were sacked from their of the government and CCP. Jung Chang and John jobs and a few students were Halliday argue: ‘He cooked up a devious plan. Few In April the Politburo were shot in public. guessed that Mao was setting a trap and that he persuaded by Mao to sanction was inviting people to speak out so that he could the campaign and it was Silenced Criticism for a then use what they said as an excuse to victimise officially launched in May, Generation - As a result of this them.’ unleashing a torrent of wave of persecution, criticisms that attacked the independence of thought was Despite the debate, what is clear is that Mao was communist system. systematically crushed; influenced by a number of considerations: intellectuals in China would never In the press, magazines, at trust Mao or the CCP again and  The CCP was now securely in control and felt rallies and on posters, intellectual life was stultified. able to relax its grip of free speech. intellectuals attacked the  The First-Five-Year Plan had been achieved regime for treating people as Party Unity was Strengthened – but serious problems of waste and chaos in their obedient subjects and for Mao’s position became planning, esp agriculture, had led to debate developing into a new, unchallengeable which enabled with the CCP. Mao wanted to speed up privileged, bureaucratic class serious problems in the Great economic change but faced opposition in the that was out of touch with the Leap Forward to go unchecked by Politburo. people. At Beijing University, the Party. A popular saying at the  He also believed the greatest danger facing students created a ‘democracy time was: ‘After the Three-Antis the CCP was growing ‘bureaucratism’. He wall’ that was covered with no one wants to be in charge of thought Party officials were becoming too posters critical of the money; after the anti-rightist alienated from the masses and serving the communist party. Even Mao campaign no one opens their needs of the organisations they worked for himself began to be mouth.’ rather than themselves. criticised. 14.) The Great Leap Forward: 1958-1962 Mao’s Motives What happened & Why did it fail? Results of the GLF Political Context - Mao In January 1958, Mao launched the Great Leap Forward Food production actually believed mass mobilisation which was his Second Five Year Plan. China was to be slumped - Too many peasants could be used to take China transformed into a leading industrial power, overtaking were forced into industry. In very quickly from the stage Britain in 7 years and the USA soon after. 1958 there was a good harvest of Socialism to fully of 375 million tonnes of grain developed Communism Mao quickly got caught up in the euphoria of his recorded but closer to 200 without the need for more belief that communist rule could finally unlock China’s million. Nevertheless, Mao set bureaucracy. A success like vast potential. In Autumn 1957, he declared China would an even more fantastic figure this would further produce 40 million tonnes of steel by the 1970s. By – 430 million for 1959. The consolidate his political Autumn 1958 he raised this to 100 million by 1962 and harvest of 1959 was a power. Propaganda could be 700 million by early 1970! disaster with only 170 million used to encourage peasants tonnes produced. In 1960, it to work harder. Mao’s regime Agriculture – High-Level Cooperatives were to be was only 143 million. By also lacked checks and incorporated into even larger units called ‘people’s summer 1959, food shortages balances to stop him: nobody communes’. Communes held over 20,000 people and hit cities. had the courage to stand up would become the basic unit of rural society. Workers to him! were organised into platoons and by the end of 1958, The Great Famine – 700 million people (90%) lived on 26,578 communes. Mao Inefficiencies combined with Economic Context – The aimed to ‘communise’ the peasants by abolishing the floods and droughts and First Five Year Plan boosted private lives of peasants and take away private plots of between 1959 and 1962, over industrial production by land. Work was organised military style and children 20 million people died of 18.7% but agriculture lagged looked after in kindergartens. starvation! at 3.8%. Unless agriculture could be improve, Industry – Communes also had to aid industrial Industrial Production industrialisation would be production by building 600,000 ‘Backyard Furnaces’ to Slumped - 11 million tonnes of held back. Surplus food produce iron and steel. Metal implements of all kinds Steel was produced by 1958 would free peasants to work were melted down into pig iron. however only 9 million was of in factories. acceptable quality and most Why did it Fail? was left to rust. They also Ideological Context - Mao Mao ignored economic realities - Economic laws could required too much fuel, wanted to ‘decentralise’ ignored as ‘bureaucratic’ or ‘revisionist’. The speed with leading to a lack of fuel for control away from the which communes were established and the exaggerated trains. People could not work centralised State production figures which local officials – anxious to fast enough, often falling bureaucracy to local Party avoid being labelled ‘rightists’ – reported to the asleep at machines. cadres as he feared the government caused Mao’s confidence to grow, further Overworked machines even revolution was becoming inflating already impossible targets. broke down. Targets remained bogged down in bureaucracy. Anti-Rightist Campaign – Had purged China of crucial set at impossible high levels The GLF would be a way to experts and scared officials into telling Mao what he which were not met and ‘continue the revolution’. wanted to hear. Targets were inflated to ensure Backyard Furnaces were survival. abandoned in 1959. International Context – Mao Waste & Inefficiency – Military training & factory wanted China to become a work took peasants away from food production, leaving Mao Steps Down – Mao took great power, free of foreign grain to rot. Farming tools were even melted down to part of the blame and stepped influence, including the produce steel! down as China’s head of state. USSR. Khrushchev’s Failure of Commune System – Peasants resented being He was still Chairman of the ‘peaceful coexistence’ policy forced to give up land and private lives. There was no CCP but China was now with the USA scared Mao incentive to work hard and many peasants hoarded grain controlled by President Liu and enforced the belief that due to lack of food. Shao-chi, Prime Minister Zhou China had to stand alone. The Natural Disasters – In 1960 north & central China Enlai and General Secretary GLF was in part, an assertion faced droughts and the Yellow River dried up. Flooding Deng Xiaoping. They reversed by Mao of Chinese hit southern China. many of Mao’s policies, independence from the Split with USSR – In 1960 the USSR withdrew its reducing communes in size and USSR. technical advisors, leaving China short of technicians. returning some private plots of land. 15.) The Cultural Revolution: 1966-1969 Causes What happened? Effects Power Struggle – After the GLF In early 1965 Mao began scheming against Mao Triumphant – The 9th Mao’s own political position was his ‘revisionist’ rivals, using his allies to place Party Congress in April 1969 weakened whilst his economic policies attacks in newspapers. On 16th May 1966, Mao confirmed Mao’s thought as had been rejected. One aim was to persuaded the Politburo to issue a circular the guiding ideology in China. defeat his opponents, regain political which launched the Cultural Revolution: Liu Shaoqi was denounced as ‘a supremacy and ensure his economic ‘Representatives of the bourgeoisie have hidden traitor and scab’ and policies were accepted. sneaked into our party. They are a bunch of died of medical neglect. All country-revolutionary revisionists. Some these rivals had been demoted or Economic Arguments - From 1962 – people have already been exposed. Others have killed although Zhou Enlai and 1966 the leaders of the CCP argued not.’ Deng Xiaoping had survived by with one another about which road not opposing Mao. they should follow in developing Mao then publically announced his return to China. Moderates led by President political life with a 15 km swim in the Yangtze Army most Powerful Liu Shao-chi and General Secretary and gave a speech to the CCP in Beijing, Institution – Lin Biao was of the CCP Deng Xiaoping, wanted to launching the Cultural Revolution with an attack named as successor to Mao introduce more incentives to get on the Four Olds – old culture, old ideas, old and over half of delegates peasants working hard like wages and customs and old habits. On 18th August, Mao wore army uniforms. The army private plots. By 1962, 20% of farm gave the first of eight giant rallies, calling on composed 45% of the 279 land had actual reverted to private Red Guards to attack the four olds and root out members in the new Central ownership. They also wanted a new revisionists. Committee. The 25-man class of skilled managers to plan the Politburo contained 9 serving economy. Mao totally opposed these The Red Guards were groups of young people soldiers and 3 former policies and retained his faith in mass and students who were encouraged to do Mao’s marshals. mobilisation. bidding. They formed under the slogan: ‘We are the critics of the old world; we are the Education Disrupted – During Purify Communism – Ideologically, builders of the new’. They were given the the Revolution, some schools Mao was upset by the direction of right to travel free on railways and the Police were close for up to 2 years the CCP. Incentives undermined the and PLA were ordered not to interfere. They and the exam system was ideal of communist equality. In 1962 soon used violence to achieve their aims: abolished. he launched the Socialist Education shaving hair off girls with western style Movement to get people back on the haircuts, burning libraries and museums, Deaths – 500,000 have been right road. Chinese culture and attacking foreign embassies. By 1967 there was estimated to have been killed, education were also criticised by Mao anarchy as the Red Guards split into rival mostly through torture and for producing ‘high and might factions, with over 400,000 deaths. beatings. Millions more were bureacrats’. Culture had to change to sent for re-education through reflect the ideological purity of Red Guards were inspired by the Cult of Mao. hard labour. Maoism. Mao was worshipped as a new emperor, with workers forced to worship his portrait and read Industrial Output – Dropped New Support – The PLA led by Lin his sayings in the Little Red Book. 740 million by 14% in 1967 and fell in Biao supported Mao from 1965. Lin copies were printed in 1966-69. They were even 1968. Incentives were stopped reformed the PLA, emphasising inspired to attack Party leaders like Liu Shao- and technicians dismissed. loyalty to Mao through the issuing of chi who was physically attacked and expelled the famous Little Red Book. Mao from the Party in 1969. Culture – Culture and the arts began to rely on the army as a had suffered heavily in the counterweight to the ‘revisionists’. By Sep 1967, Mao attempted to restore four olds campaign and under Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing was also a order. The PLA was used to quell the fighting Jiang Qing, became agitprop powerful supporter, in charge of and over five million young people were sent to (propaganda pretending to be cultural change. the countryside for compulsory re-education. art). By 1969, law and order had been restored. 16.) The Gang of Four: 1969-1978 Growing Power Struggle Rise of the Gang of Four Fall of the Gang of Four When Mao died, Hua Guofeng After the Cultural Revolution, Mao developed succeeded to all the top positions in a suspicious hostility to the power of the government. Whilst he now controlled army and removed many of Lin Biao’s the CCP and army, he lacked real status supporters. In retaliation, Lin drew up a plan In 1976, the right suffered a of his own and the Gang of Four to overthrow Mao in 1971 but was discovered. setback when Zhou Enlai prepared to manipulate him out of He tried to escape in an aircraft but died died and was succeeded by power. when it in the Mongolian desert. Deng. Thousands went to Tiananmen Square to pay He was rescued by the army. There After Lin’s death, Mao’s health began to fail their respects, laying was evidence that they had plotted and there was a growing power struggle wreathes and posters. On 5th against Hua and on the night of 6th between right-wing moderates and left-wing April 1975 visitor found all October 1976, the Gang of Four were radicals for control of the CCP. the wreaths removed. arrested. Their supporters were also put 10,000 people rioted in in prison. The Left – led by Mao’s wife Jiang Qing and support of Zhou and Deng, 3 radical politicians from Shanghai, known as followed by over 200 They were hated and many demanded the Gang of Four: Zhang Chunquiao, Yao arrests. severe punishments. The CCP used the Wenyuan and Wang Hongwen. They were press, radio and newspapers to attack supported by the Communist Youth League, There were similar protests the Gang of Four and in the winter of and control press and radio. in other cities like Shanghai 1980-81, they were put on trial and however the left blamed found guilty – sentenced to long prison The left believed in Maoism and wanted to Deng and removed him from terms. continue the political struggle against the Party and government. ‘revisionists’. They put all their energy into a He was replaced by a minor Over the next three years, the series of campaigns against bourgeois and official called Hua Guofeng moderates led by Deng Xiaoping gently outdated ideas like the 1973 Anti-Confucius who was nicknamed ‘the eased Hua from power, and in 1980, Campaign. helicopter’ due to his rapid from office. Under Deng, China began a rise to power. period of moderate policies, carrying out The Right – led by Prime Minister Zhou Enlai the Four Modernisations of Zhou Enlai. & Deputy Prime Minister Deng Xiaoping who The Gang of Four now had been rehabilitated by Mao who wanted to seemed in control of the CCP The Cultural Revolution was finally balance the factions within the CCP. The right when Mao died on 9th over. In 1981 the Central Committee of was supported by the CCP and PLA, who were Septemeber 1976. the CCP announced that Mao had been eager to end political arguments. They 70% correct and 30% mistaken. The supported Zhou’s plan for Four CCP could not condemn its Chairman Modernisations of China’s industry, farming, without fatally undermining its own defence and science. legitimacy. Zhang Chunquiao Jiang Qing Deng Xiaoping Yao Wenyuan Wang Hongwen Zhou Enlai 17.) Changes under Deng Xiaoping: 1978-1980s Area Reasons for Reform Reforms The economy had suffered hugely In 1979 a new and ambitious Ten-Year Plan was introduced. New under Mao and the Gang of Four. factories were built and workers were paid bonuses for extra output. Many machines were old-fashioned People were free to own their own businesses. Record numbers of and many Chinese factories were old- consumer goods, such as bicycles, watches and sewing machines were fashioned and inefficient, running at produced. Foreigners were encouraged to visit China and invest their a loss. money, even from the USA. There was far less control from the centre. Factory managers were Industry The economy was also too told to run their factories profitably and to produce what people wanted micromanaged by Beijing. In one to buy. Many switched to consumer goods. area, there were 2 million pairs of Deng also created ‘Special Enterprise Zones’ (SEZ) and ‘open’ coastal shoes piled up in warehouses. Nobody sites. The SEZs were to encourage western firms to establish was buying them because the style themselves in areas such as Shanghai and Guangdong, through the was old-fashioned, yet factories were promise of cheap land and local labour. These foreign businesses were still producing them because the expected to train Chinese personnel and to give priority to using Chinese managers were under order to do so. raw materials. The size of peasant plots was increased. A Responsibility System for commune land was started in 1978, by which families were given The cooperative farms were failing responsibility for cultivating areas of land within their commune. They Agriculture to produce enough food. In 1982 signed contracts promising to produce fixed amounts of food for sale to China had to import 13.7 million tons the state, and were allowed to sell any surplus at market for profit. of grain to feed its population. By 1983 China had 44,000 markets as farmers could sell their produce privately. The income of agricultural workers tripled between 1977 and 1983. Under Mao, students were admitted Deng restored tough examinations for university places. Success in to university if they had a good Education academic subjects once again became essential. political, not academic, record. Special key schools for the best students were set up to provide China Examinations were boycotted with the skills needed to prosper. Moreover, the time spent on political because they were seen as creating education and manual labour was reduced. an unequal society. During the Cultural Revolution, birth In 1979 he introduced the ‘one-child’ family policy with massive control programmes were abandoned publicity. It was a series of measures designed to discourage couples and the birth rate spiralled out of from having more than one child. control. It was estimated that by the  The minimum age for marriage was set at 20 for women and 22 for Birth Control year 2000, China’s population would men; be 1.282 billion. Moreover, a 1982  Couples had to get the consent of their commune and take a written census of the population showed that test in family planning; ¾ of the population worked in  Those with only one child were given generous family allowances and agriculture and that population was more rations; increasing by 12 million a year. China’s  Single children found it easier to get into higher education whilst economic growth would be slowed if their parents got priority housing; this carried on unchecked.  People who were willing to be sterilised got extra cash and holidays. The 1978 ‘Open Door’ Policy was designed by Deng to open up China to Under Mao, China was virtually world capitalism and western influences. On TV, the Chinese were able closed off from the world. Foreign to see the Pope or US President. They could buy foreign books in influences and trade was limited and translation and listen to foreign music. There was more entertainment Westernisation during the Cultural Revolution, many and less political meetings. In communist newspapers, the Chinese could foreign embassies were attacked. read about the darker side of life in China such as industrial accidents, This improved in 1972 when US crime and Party officials who had used their power for their own ends. President Nixon visited China leading Deng realised that economic recovery would be helped by Western to a thaw in relations. Deng technology and expertise. He sent students abroad to study engineering recognised that China lagged in and technology. He encourage foreign companies to set up projects in economic development in comparison China in partnership with state-owned Chinese businesses. These ranged to the West. from textiles and hotel construction to oil prospecting. 18.) The Democracy Movement: 1979-1989 Growing Opposition Deng’s Opposition to Reform Rise of the Democracy Movement and Unrest Although Deng believed in The ‘Democracy Wall’ movement began in early Opposition grew economic reform and 1979. Wall posters began to appear in the Avenue throughout the mid Westernisation, he was a of Eternal Peace, near Tiananmen Square. It was a to late 1980s. communist hardliner and was common meeting place for students who often very conservative towards attached small letters and posters onto walls. Some  The Democracy political change. He believed were political graffiti whilst others expressed anti- Movement was that China had gone through too government and anti-Party feelings. disappointed at much in the Cultural Revolution his rejection of and needed a rest from political Many Chinese suffered during the Cultural democracy and argument. Deng believed Revolution but struggled to benefit from Deng’s repression of popular democracy would reforms. Wei Jingsheng was one such person. He student undermine his economic was a writer who on 25th March 1979, published an demonstrations. reforms. article called ‘Democracy or New Dictatorship’  Many economic which attacked Deng. reforms proved This was expressed in 1980 by to be very the National People’s Congress The attack shocked Deng and in Summer 1979, the disappointing. which condemned the view that government tore down the posters. Wei was Inflation had people had a right to speak brought to trial and sentenced for 15 years risen as had freely and even criticise the imprisonment. unemployment. government. The growing Wei was viewed as the first ‘martyr’ of the population and He was influenced by his ‘four movement who saw in Deng’s reforms the rural to urban cardinal principles’: opportunity to modernise the political system as migration led to  Keeping to the Socialist well as the economy. It urged Deng to adopt severe road Democracy and accused the CCP of corruption. overcrowding in  Upholding the people’s the cities. democratic dictatorship In 1986, major disturbances broke out in  Students felt  Upholding leadership by the universities in Hefei, Wuhan and Shanghai. that Deng and CCP Thousands followed Fang Lizhi who was a professor the CCP had  Upholding Marxism-Leninism at Hefei and demanded open government and failed to and Mao Zedong Thought democracy. On 5th Jan 1987 students at Beijing deliver. University burnt copies of local CCP newspapers  Many also In addition, Deng wanted to and protested against ‘conservatives’. resented the restore the authority and lack of jobs control of the CCP after the Deng generally tolerated the movement unless he and the fact disasters of the GLF and was personally attacked. The punishment of Wei that top jobs Cultural Revolution. He wanted Jingsheng was a warning and insisted that genuine often went to to show that the CCP was still Democracy was not an option for China. members of the capable of governing China. CCP. Wei Jingsheng Fang Lizhi 19.) The Tiananmen Square Massacre: June 1989 What happened? Effects The events of 1989 were a culmination of tension that had been building up for over 10 years: In the weeks that followed, Death of Hu Yaobang – Hu was the General Secretary of the CCP and died on 15th demonstrators who April 1989. He had been sympathetic to the democracy movement but had been escaped were rounded removed in Jan 1987 for supporting protests. Large crowds gathered in Tiananmen up and imprisoned. Square for his memorial. 3 students tried to give a petition to Premier Li Peng. Ringleaders were given He refused it which sparked off sit-ins and boycotts of university classes. heavy sentences. Students from 40 universities joined protesters in Tiananmen Square with transport workers giving them free travel. CCP officials that had supported the Hunger Strike – By mid-May, a group of 300 students went on hunger strike and protests were they refused government calls to end it. They were receiving worldwide publicity dismissed whilst those for international journalists. USSR leader Gorbachev was also visiting Beijing and who opposed the protesters believed the authorities wouldn’t dare to crush the protest during the demonstrations were visit. promoted. Zhao Ziyang – On the 6th day of the hunger strike, General Secretary Zhao asked The government students in tears to end the strike, promising to resolve all issues. He was admitted that 23 dismissed from his post with Deng deciding that force would be used and declared students had been martial law. Protests continued. killed accidentally. Further Support – When news broke of the continuing protests, many thousands The massacre marked returned to the square. Residents in Beijing blocked the roads leading to the end of the Tiananmen Square to prevent troops from entering. Troops hastily withdrew to the democracy movement outskirts of the city. in China. At the 14th Party Congress of the Troops Move In – By 2nd June 1989, 350,000 PLA soldiers and crack troops CCP in Oct 1992, the supported by tanks surrounded the Square and controlled all routes in, ignoring dictatorship of the protests of local people. Communist Party was confirmed – no The Massacre – At 10PM on the night of the 3rd June, shots were