1. Communism Spreads in East Asia
30.3

2. China’s Communist Revolution
Communist Revolution in 1949
Mao Zedong – communist forces
Won  support from the poor peasants
Set up “People’s Republic of China”
1950 – captured Tibet, Dalai Lama forced to flee (religious leader)
Jiang Jieshi (Chaing Kai Shek) – nationalists
Support from the West
Lost  fled to the island of Taiwan

3. Changing Chinese Society
One-party totalitarian state
Discouraged religion – Buddhism, Confucianism
Govt seized property of citizens (landowners and business owners)
Political opponents beaten, sent to labor camps, or killed
Financial support from Soviets
Forced collectivization (pooling of peasant land and labor)

4. The Great Leap Forward
Great Leap Forward ( ): urged a huge effort to increase farm and industrial output
Communes (several villages, thousands of acres, 25,000 people)  industrial/agricultural efficiency
Epic Fail!
Cut food output…no incentives for individuals…neglect of farmland and food shortages
Terrible famine
55 million Chinese starved to death

5. Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution (1966) – purge China of “bourgeois” tendencies (propertied middle class)
Urged young to experience revolution
“little red book” – quotes from Chairman Mao
Red Guards attacked bourgeois
Beaten, killed
Skilled workers and managers forced to leave jobs and do manual labor on farms or labor camps
Schools and factories closed

6. Playing the “China Card”
Relations between the S.U. and China were tense
U.S. used this tension to drive wedge between the 2 communist govt’s
1972 – Nixon visited Mao in China
1979 – US set up diplomatic relations w/ China

7. Korean War N. Korea – Communist (backed by SU)
S. Korea – Democratic (backed by US)
Before WW2, NK controlled by Japan
After WW2, US and SU agreed to divide at 38th parallel
Both N and S wanted to rule entire country
June 1950 – NK attacked
US organized UN force to help SK
Pushed back NK all the way to the border w/ China
China worried…sent troops to help NK…forced SK back across 38th parallel
Stalemate – 1953 both signed armistice (agreement to end fighting)
Troops still stationed on either side of DMZ (demilitarized zone)