CHINA UNIT 6 SS7H3d Describe the impact of Communism in China in terms of Mao Zedong, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen Square.

Nationalism Nationalism was also a powerful influence in China at the end of WWI. Chinese nationalists overthrew the old Dynasty and created a new government called the Republic of China – headed by Sun Yixian. The new government wanted to end foreign control over China’s affairs. Unfortunately, this government was not able to bring order to China or the Chinese people. Many were killed by robbers and thieves who roamed the country side. Agriculture was wrecked and many faced famine. At the end of WWI, the treaty of Versailles returned control of China back to the Republic government and gave Japan control over some of China’s territory.

Communism comes to China Many young Chinese were angry about the treaty and wanted an end to what they felt was the failed government of the Republic of China. They looked to Russia and their Communist Revolution as an alternative. In 1921 a group of young Chinese men, including their teacher, Mao Zedong, met in Shanghai to form the first Chinese Communist Party. The Republic of China – now headed by Jiang Jieshi / Chiang Kai-shek – and the new Chinese Communist Party work together and bring order to China for some years, but eventually the Republic of China turned on the communists and many were killed. In 1929, the leader of the Republic of China, Jiang Jieshi, announced the formation of his new government – the Nationalist Republic of China.

Long March Mao Zedong survived the attack on the communists, and he and his party moved to the safety of the country, finding support among the peasants. A civil war broke out between Mao, his communist followers and the Nationalist government of Jiang Jieshi. In 1933 Mao led his followers – over 600,000 people – into the mountains to escape. They walked nearly 6,000 miles to avoid capture. Less than 20,000 of the 100, 000 that started the journey survived; the communists gained peasant support along the way. This journey is known as the Long March and Chinese communists today look back on this time as a sign of Mao’s dedication to his cause and the Chinese people.

1945-1949: Communist Revolution When the Japanese surrendered, the Nationalists and the Communists began a mad scramble to seize territory that had been occupied by the Japanese. In particular, the two sides were not interested so much in territory as they were interested in the arsenals and technology that the Japanese had left behind. In July, Chiang Kai-Shek attacked communist territories head-on and the civil war began.

1945-1949: Communist Revolution Chiang's army seized over a hundred thousand square miles of communist territory. Mao Zedong, however, had seen this coming, and had been making preparations for a long, drawn out battle. The Nationalists held a national election for the National Assembly and on April 19, 1948, the National Assembly elected Chiang Kai-Shek as President of China.

Mao Zedong answers . . . By this point, however, the tide had turned in favor of the communists. The Nationalist Army had been spreading its troops all throughout the conquered areas, seriously thinning out the troops available to fight the Red Army. The Red Army, however, had been steadily growing all throughout 1946 and 1947.

Mao Zedong answers . . . As the Communist armies grew, they inflicted heavier and heavier losses on Nationalist forces. In the last year of the civil war, the communists inflicted over a million and a half casualties on the Nationalist Army. In the face of such staggering losses, the Nationalist Army simply disintegrated in mid-1949. On October 1, 1949, before all of China had been conquered, Mao declared the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled to Formosa (Taiwan) and set up their government there. The conflict still goes on.

Mao in Charge Mao tried to reorganize all of China along communist lines of collective ownership of farms and factories. Private ownership was eliminated and production quotas were set for agriculture and industry. He decides in 1958 to organize all farms into collectives, where all ownership and decision making would be in the hands of the government. This program was called the Great Leap Forward because Mao thought tremendous positive changes would follow.

1958: The Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward took place in 1958. The Great Leap Forward was Mao’s attempt to modernize China’s economy so that by 1988, China would have an economy that rivaled America.

1958: The Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward planned to develop agriculture and industry. Mao believed that both had to grow to allow the other to grow. 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. The life of an individual was controlled by the commune. Schools, nurseries, and “Houses of Happiness” were provided by the communes so that all adults could work.

The Great Leap Backwards? In 1959, things started to go wrong. Political decisions/beliefs took precedence over common sense and communes faced the task of doing things which they were not able to accomplish. 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. Quickly produced farm machinery made in factories fell to pieces when used. Many thousands of workers were injured after working long hours and falling asleep at their jobs.

Bourgeois Reactionary Taking the capitalist road Split of two groups within the working class Represented by Krushchov Struggle over socialist or capitalist Socialist believe everyone should be equal, and it is unjust for the minority of the population to own the vast majority of wealth. (Communist) Capitalist is a system in which factories, companies, land, etc. are own privately. (Democracy)

The Great Leap Backwards? 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. 1960 had even worse weather than 1959. Nine million people are thought to have starved to death in 1960 alone. The government had to introduce rationing. This put people on the most minimal amount of food and between 1959 and 1962, it is thought that 20 million people died of starvation or diseases. 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).

Cultural Revolution Farmers and factory workers began to do some work for themselves, and Mao saw his idea of a classless society slipping away. His response was to create the Cultural Revolution in 1966. He urged students to leave school and make war on anything in Chinese society that looked like it was encouraging class differences. Many students were organized into an army known as the Red Guards. These high school students had the government’s permission to smash books, artwork, religious temples, or anything else that showed connections to China’s past.

Red Guards Red Guards were to single out and remove anyone who was preventing China from becoming a classless society. Mao wanted China to become a nation of farmers and workers, all of whom would be equal. Leaders in the Chinese community who seemed to be in higher positions were attacked. Business managers, college professors, and government officials who were not in step with the Cultural Revolution were thrown out. Some were put into prison; others were actually killed.

The End of the Revolution The result was chaos. The Cultural Revolution raged on for almost ten years, at which time Mao had to admit it had been a mistake. In 1976, the Red Guard was ended and gradually order returned to China. Mao died in 1976 and by 1980 Deng Xiaoping was named leader of China. Though Deng had been with Mao since the days of the Long March, he was more moderate in his ideas about the path China should follow. He began to allow farmers to own some of their own land and make decisions about what they would grow. He allowed some private businesses to organize, and he opened China to foreign investment and technology advances. With this openness to western business came exposure to western ideas.

Tiananmen Square In 1989, when communist governments were under siege in a number of places around the world, China went through a period of student protests that resulted in a huge demonstration in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Over 10,000 students gathered to protest what they felt was corruption in the Chinese government. They called for a movement towards democracy. The world watched as Deng Xiaoping ordered thousands of soldiers into Beijing to end the protest. The students even went so far as to raise a statue they called the Goddess of Democracy, modeled on the Statue of Liberty.

On June 4th, 1989, the Chinese government ordered the soldiers in Tiananmen Square to break up the demonstration. They fired on the students, destroyed the statue of the Goddess of Democracy and arrested thousands of people. The brief pro-democracy movement was destroyed as well, and Deng Xiaoping was left in control, until his death in 1997.