1. Chairman Mao Zedong

2. Early Life & College Studies
Born into peasantry, rebellious son, studied Chinese classics & Confucianism
Soldier in Republican Army (overthrew Qing Dynasty)
College: MARXISM!!
Classless society (no rich vs. poor)
Equal distribution of wealth—everyone is equal and makes the same amount of money!
 Favored peasant/worker class (personal & through Marxist teachings); deals with army/military later as well

3. Party Affiliation 1920-1927 Failed at democratic organization
Founded Chinese Communist Party (CCP) branch in Hunan
Joined KMT (CCP ally) to help against invaders
Organized peasant unions, got leadership roles; published power of peasants
 Marxist ideas isolated him; thought peasants were the “basis for revolution”

4. Autumn Harvest Uprising & Red Army Formation
KMT breaks away from communists; KMT & Chiang Kai-shek battled communists; Mao led peasant armies against KMT; he was defeated & left for rural area (Autumn Harvest Uprising)
 Developed land reform ideas, recruited troops
Troops became known as Red Army (cont’d into his rule); Improved on guerilla warfare
 KMT troops destroyed and Mao gained prestige

5. Long March 1934 Chiang tried to eliminate communists again, Mao
escaped & began march to
protected base (6000 miles)
 Zunyi Conference held along way where Mao gained power (more leadership)

7. Japanese Invasion
Imperial Japan moved further into China; KMT & CCP temporarily united to stop Japan from further expansion
Troops made mainly of peasants (Red Army)
 Success of peasant army solidified Mao’s efforts, he moved up in rank…began pushing out his critics in CCP

8. Civil War
Japan lost WWII; KMT vs. CCP (again!) for control of China
CCP had large, trained army and won in Oct. 1949…declared People’s Republic of China
China was in despair (war-torn), Mao in power, modeled reconstruction after USSR (socialist ideals—redistribution of land, in particular)

9. Korean War & Hundred Flowers Movement
, 1957
Mao relied on USSR aid, allied with N. Korea, millions of Chinese died fighting for North Korea during Korean War
 Became enemies with US
Mao wanted PRC to be united as one…led campaigns to weed out traitors
Hundred Flowers Movement- encouraged criticism, but it was more than expected, and attacked “rightists”
 See evidence of fear in intellectuals later

10. Great Leap Forward
(In 1949, land taken from landowners & given to peasants who worked it = )
land taken from peasants & turned into communes owned by state = 
20-40 first  county size (1,000s)
Build backyard furnaces instead of factories to make iron tools
Melt down scrap metal…but then ran out and started melting already usable objects! (had to meet quota)
Couldn’t use what they melted (too brittle)
These workers also were NOT making food…

11.  Instructional Resources Corporation, The World History CD-Rom (non-European history).

12. "Everybody is fully occupied in production, the trade sector is also fully occupied for everybody."

13. Great Leap Forward
Commune leaders forced to meet quota of food production
Couldn’t meet it lied about amount produced
Govn’t took % based on that lie peasants starved
Some food taken by govn’t rotted in warehouses before being distributed, some sent to USSR for loan payment
Told to do close planting to use land efficiently
Plants use each other’s nutrients and they all die!
(All critics were purged from office, many stayed quiet b/c of Hundred Flowers Movement)

14. Great Leap Forward  Over 20 million people died
Not realized until outsiders came in, studied demographics
People eventually turned to cannibalism
1961: Mao realized it didn’t work gave 3 men, including Deng Xiaoping, 5 years for economic recovery
1966…Mao didn’t like they had control  leads to Cultural Revolution

15. Cultural Revolution
Mao’s economic recovery task force had always been loyal, but no longer agreed with his ideologies
Mao saw same ∆s in USSR  got grp. of radicals together to purge them
Created Red Guard (students)
Closed school to allow them to join
 Mass propaganda of devotion to Mao (more so than Stalin), Little Red Book

17. Cultural Revolution
Beat, tortured, and imprisoned leaders who opposed him
Suppressed all disorder/opposition with violence
Lin Biao designated as Mao’s successor
Pushed Mao’s Little Red Book
Instituted martial law
 Mao eventually disposed of him for having too much power (fled to USSR)

18. Death & Succession
1976
1972: Mao and his new successor both have health problems brings back Deng Xiaoping
Radicals continue to purge opposition
1974: Mao favors Deng b/c economy is so bad
1976: Mao dies
His helpers (Gang of Four) are arrested
Deng emerges as leader in 1977

19. One-Child Policy
1979
Mao had encouraged large families (labor for communes, soldiers)…exponential population growth
Deng needed to cut growth dramatically
Very severe punishments at first, less strict now
 Unbalanced gender ratio, death/ abandonment of girls, controlled adoption policies, smaller population growth

21. Tiananmen Square Massacre
1989 (June 4)
In Peking (Beijing), civilian/ student protest for democratic reform
Called for the resignation of oppressive Chinese government
Demanded greater democracy
Army came in shooting, with tanks…hundreds (possibly thousands) killed
Happening simultaneously with protest in USSR
 Global condemnation