5. Describe the Communist Revolution in China.

Nationalists Led by Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) Communists Led by Mao Zedong People’s Republic of China: In the 1920s & 1930s, China was embroiled in a civil war.

Japan occupied China during WWII (starting in 1931) and the Chinese Nationalist forces joined with the Communist forces to fight the common enemy.

After WWII… Soviet Union USSR occupied Northern China; aided the Communist side United States US liberated southern China and helped support Jiang Jieshi’s Nationalist forces

Once the US & USSR left China… The Chinese Communists and Nationalist forces resumed fighting Civil War lasted for ~4 years

The U.S. gave Jiang Jieshi millions of dollars, but the communists won the war.

Communists worked to teach peasants, improve food production – won the support of the people Thousands of Nationalist soldiers deserted, joined the Communists

China became a communist country, and Jiang Jieshi and his forces fled to Taiwan. In 1950, Communists forces took over Tibet, forcing the Dalai Lama to flee the country as well.

Mao’s army pushed south Gained control of China city by city US recognized Taiwan as “China” until 1972 “China”

Chinese poster saying: "Chairman Mao is the Red sun of our hearts.", 1966

Portrait of Chairman Mao Zedong, Tiananmen Square, Beijing Mao Zedong quotations: On Class Struggle “Our stand is that of the proletariat and of the masses.” On Socialism “The socialist system will eventually replace the capitalist system; this is an objective law independent of man's will. However much the reactionaries try to hold back the wheel of history, eventually revolution will take place and will inevitably triumph.” On Serving the People “Our duty is to hold ourselves responsible to the people. Every word, every act and every policy must conform to the people's interests, and if mistakes occur, they must be corrected - that is what being responsible to the people means.”

Great Leap Forward Economic plan Government merged production of goods, administration of laws & distribution of social services into one Stressed human labor Built dams, factories with Soviet help

The geographical size of a commune varied but most contained about 5000 families. People in a commune gave up their 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.

By the end of 1958, 700 million people had been placed into 26,578 communes. The speed with which this was achieved was astounding. However, 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. Major constructions were built in record time – though the quality of some was dubious. The Great Leap Forward also encouraged communes to set up "back-yard" production plants. The most famous were 600,000backyard furnaces which produced steel for the communes. When all of these furnaces were working, they added a considerable amount of steel to China’s annual total – 11 million tons

Communes were created to bring rural people together – backyard industries as well as agricultural land worked by the peasants Collectivization of peasant farms ~55 million starved to death

Cultural Revolution Launched by Mao to “purge” China of anyone suspected of being disloyal to the Communist party Teenagers carried copies of “the little red book”

“Quotations From Chairman Mao” (frequently referred to as the “Little Red Book”).