Temporary government structure used while constitution was being written (5 years)

Central People’s Government Council (CPGC) controlled China, Chairman Mao, 6 vice chairmen, 56 elected members. If not in session State Admin. made decisions, if they weren’t available Mao made the decisions, China % into 6 administrative areas

1950 equal union, both man and woman had to agree to marry, no arranged marriages, women could no longer be sold into prostitution, no disposing of female babies, foot binding abolished

Mao gained support from women, improved his people’s quality of life (divorces were legalized) -later laws allowed women to own property and land -Mao lost favor in Western China (mostly Muslim)

1950 Land distribution Land taken from large landowners and given to peasants -end of mou had been distributed among 300m. peasants

-Gained/Maintained peasant support by fulfilling promise of land reform -Rectification campaigns and struggle meetings against former land owners resulted in the removal of a possible opposition group (wealthy landowners) by the peasants

June 1950 North Korea attacked South Korea – Mao pledged support to the North because of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship Alliance

$ raised for modernization diverted to the war effort State unified against common enemy Although the war ended in a stalemate, the reputation of Mao and China improved Gave Mao excuse to launch the 3 Antis Campaign

Mao took action against elements of Chinese society that might not support him 1951 Sanfen directed against party members, gov. officials, business owners 1952 Wufan cheating on gov. contracts, stealing state economic info., tax evasion, theft of state property, bribery

State revenue increase, inflation was reduced Another section of society was brought under gov. control -Private business employers and intellectuals were struggled against because they were not members of the peasantry -Hukou (residence permits), Danwei (work permits), Dangan (secret personnel files) registration system gave Mao personal information on all of his citizens

Mutual Aid Teams (3-30 people) shared tools, labor, and materials 1955 Teams merged into large cooperatives – land was pooled together 1956 Collectivized farms – land officially owned by the state, little/no private property

,000 cooperatives with 300 families each 5 year quota for agriculture met = revealed that China did not have enough agriculture to sustain their population

1956 speech to Politburo encouraged progress in art, literature, and science by allowing criticism and some free speech. Mao thought the new ideas would move the country forward.

1957 criticism spread to the CPC – within a month the campaign was ended and the Anti-Rightist Campaign began

July 1957 led by Deng Xiaoping -hundreds of thousands of intellectuals were labeled ‘rightists’ (against communism) -party members committed suicide or were executed – million were sent to labor camps in the countryside

Chinese citizens learned that they were never to criticize the CPC or Mao Zedong

1958 collectives merged into even larger scale communes, private ownership of land was abolished -backyard furnaces produced unusable steel

50 million people died Quality had been sacrificed for quantity Standards not maintained – no assessment of needs Shortages of some things, oversupply of others, less enthusiasm from the people -cereal and steel output reports were exaggerated = increased communes, huge exports to USSR and N. Korea drought, floods, famine

1966 movement began by Lin Biao against ‘counter-revolutionaries’ University students were encouraged to attack the CPC and the ‘four olds’ (ideas, culture, customs, habits) ‘Red Guards’ Mao’s student army attacked anything they considered ‘bourgeois’ Red Guard got out of control wreaking havoc on the country, Mao called on the PLA to restore order Lin Biao and Jiang Qing used the PLA to persecute counter revolutionaries

12 million sent to the countryside to ‘learn from the peasants’ 100 million people suffered at the hands of the Red Guard or PLA Ended in 1976 with the death of Mao Almost bankrupt China Damaged the CPC by purging many of its leaders Deng Xiaoping earned respect and would later become the Premier of China