1. Emergent Nationalism in Asia
Chinese Domestic Policies:
“Becoming more prosperous every day” 1972

2. OVERVIEW In the following lesson we examine:
Consequences of the Hundred Flowers Campaign
Causes and effects of the Great Leap Forward
The short and long-term effects of the Cultural Revolution
“The commune is like a gigantic dragon, production is visibly awe-inspiring” 1959

3. The Hundred Flowers Context Question:
After gaining absolute power, what steps did Stalin and Hitler take to consolidate their rule?

4. After the civil war, the CCP and the Chinese government turned its attention to reconstruction. Chairman Mao’s Hundred Flowers Movement was intended to permit a forum for discussion of party policies. What were the major consequences?

5. Criticism
Scientists, writers and intellectuals were called upon to criticize the new socialist system:
"Letting a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend is the policy for promoting progress in the arts and the sciences and a flourishing socialist culture in our land."
On billboards and in newspapers, they heavily criticized the party’s monopoly of power

6. Punishment and fear
Hundreds of thousands of students, teachers, intellectuals and party officials experienced:
Public humiliation
Imprisonment
Torture
Execution

7. Expansion and obedience
The Hundred Flowers campaign resulted in:
An increase in CCP membership
Promotion of politically loyal party members

8. The Great Leap Forward
The effects of Soviet-style economic planning were largely positive in terms of collective farming but industrial growth was slow. As a result, Mao established several key goals in the Second Five-Year Plan of
“We must grasp revolution and increase production, increase work, increase preparation for struggle, to do an even better job” 1976

9. Under the Great Leap Forward:
Collective farms would be consolidated into regional communes
Workers would be sent to the countryside to create light industry for consumer goods
Heavy industry would surpass British steel production in 15 years

10. Although Soviet advisors and party officials warned of potential failure, the government went ahead. Why was massive human labour unable to meet the goals of the Great Leap Forward?

11. Peasants Lowered agricultural output
Diverted from fields to work in industries
Poorly educated
Forced to sell all food to the state
Unable to produce high quality steel
Lacked motivation and ownership

12. By the end of 1960, the program was considered a complete failure
By the end of 1960, the program was considered a complete failure. What were some of the major effects?
Iron production dropped below 1958 levels
Widespread famine killed an estimated million
Social services expanded into the countryside
Private enterprise and de-collectivization were introduced
Mao stepped down from power to avoid embarrassment
Why might the Soviet Five Year Plans have been more successful than the Great Leap Forward?

13. The Cultural Revolution
In response to both his loss of influence and fears of China’s return to middle-class capitalism, Mao called upon students to engage into a permanent revolution of the masses in 1966.
“Hold high the great red banner of Mao Zedong Thought--thoroughly smash the rotting counterrevolutionary revisionist line in literature and art, 1967”
“Criticize the reactionary thought of Lin Biao and Confucius, firmly walk with the workers and peasants on the road of unity, 1974”
“Carry on the struggle to the end to strike against the right deviationist wind of reversing verdicts, 1976”

14. Students formed groups which became loosely organized as the Red Guards, targeting the “Four Olds”:
Old Customs
Old Culture
Old Habits
Old Ideas
What external factors might also have influenced Mao to reject “old” ideas?

15. In following these goals, what aspects of Chinese society were affected?
“Struggle sessions” put counter revolutionaries on public trial
“Rightist” intellectuals and party officials were sent for “re-education”
Religious institutions were burned down and destroyed
Books and cultural artifacts were destroyed

16. By 1967, China was immersed in political and economic chaos:
Industrial workers joined the Red Guards
Red Guard groups created local ruling councils
Competing Red Guard groups fought each other
Workers in Shanghai attempted to create their own government
“Warmly welcome another great victory of Mao Zedong Thought--The birth of the Shanghai People’s Commune” 1967

17. In late 1967, the People’s Liberation Army was called to end the unrest. After Mao’s death in 1976, moderate elements within the CCP moved against the radical groups that had supported the Cultural Revolution.

18. In its aftermath:
The “Gang of Four” was put on trial
An estimated 400, ,000 died
Entrance exams were not re-instituted until 1979
Intellectuals who survived “re-education” left China

19. SUMMARY QUESTIONS
What was the significant legacy of the Hundred Flowers Campaign?
Why was the Great Leap Forward a failure?
What were the social and economic costs of the Cultural Revolution?
In what ways were China’s domestic policies similar or different to Soviet domestic policies?
“We must grasp revolution and increase production, increase work, increase preparation for struggle, to do an even better job, 1976”