Communist China

The Early Years

1911
10 October

Double Tenth

Uprising at Wuchang ends the Qing Dynasty

1912
Sun Yat-sen becomes President of the Republic of China
Three Principles of the People
-Nationalism (rid china of Western invaders)
-Livelihood and the Peoples Welfare, Socialism (government control of capital)
-Representative Government, Democracy (Chinese collectivism)

1913
14 February
Yuan Shikai becomes President because Sun was not able to win the support of the military. He began
to campaign against the GMD using bribes and double agents. When this caused Sun Yat-sen to escape to
Japan, Yuan completed his government take-over. Yuan's subsequent reorganization of the provincial
governments after his victory set the precedent for warlords by designating an army to each provincial
governor.

1915
Yuan agrees to most of Japan's 21 Demands, and protests are made against his leadership. He takes out
massive loans to support his government.
He becomes self-proclaimed "Emperor", thus losing of his power base, as the military felt he would be less
dependent on them after his assumption of the monarchy.

1919

May 4th Movement

Violent protest in reaction to the terms of the Treaty of Versailles. China had entered the war in 1917,
anticipating the recovery of the province of Shangdon that Germany had controlled. However, the land went
to the Japanese, who had entered the war in 1914. May 4th started the movement towards a new culture, and
a mass rejection of all foreigners, giving a more directed purpose to the revolutionaries. Mao participated by
starting a newspaper The Xiang River Review, notable for his avocation of anarchy and denunciation of
violent revolution: "we will not pursue that ineffectual 'revolution of blood.'"

Idea for CCP

Started in Moscow, under the hidden, but active involvement of the Comintern until 1949.

1920
April

CCP formed

Votinsky goes to China to set up the CCP

1921
Mao becomes the local CCP Party boss in Hunan

1922
Mao is dropped from the 2nd Congress, but he is kept on in the party because of his excellent military
skills.

1923
Under encouragement from the Comintern and the CCP, Mao became a member of the GMD. Members
of the CCP were instructed by the Comintern to work with the GMD to bring China under a single nationalist
government - First United Front.

1925
Sun Yat-sen dies of cancer. Chiang Kai-shek emerges as leader of the GMD.

1926
Northern Expedition
Under the leadership of Chiang, United Front forces overthrow many provincial warlords. Unites more
than half of China under GMD.

1927
Chiang Kai-shek marries the sister of Sun's wife. (He now appears to be the 'true hier' of Yat-sen
although Sun Yat-sen's widow sides with the CCP. Also, Chaing's wife was educated in America this will put
the GMD in good favour with the US)

Right-wing elements of the GMD led by Chiang conspire with provincial warlord allies to purge leftwing leaders. End of the First United Front and the beginning of a bitter rivalry between the CCP and the
GMD.

1928
Hedged in by enemy forces in the mountains, Mao is largely cut off from CCP and Comintern. In the
mountains, Mao experiments with collective agriculture and builds a peasant army trained in guerrilla
tactics.

1929
Mao joins other CCP leaders to establish the Jiangxi Soviet.

1931
The GMD launch the White Terror.

Japanese invasion of Manchuria

The Rise of Mao

1934

Long March to Yan'an

Jiangxi Soviet is abandoned. Although Mao was not one of the initialorganizers of the march, he takes
command of the Communist forces after the first three months and set the armys destination for a distant
communistbase in Shaanxi province (North-Central China). Sustaining heavy losses from disease, famine,
and enemy attack, Mao leads Red Army through six thousand miles of rivers, swamps, forests, and
mountains to reach its new base in the city of Yanan.
This shows the success of Mao's guerilla tactics and elevates him to a high position in the CCP.

1935

Zunyi Conference
The first significant time when the pro-Bolshevik faction of the Party supports Mao (largely because

they were disillusioned with the Comintern line after so many poor judgments of the military situation in

China, such as those by Braun, who pushed for large-scale battles).

Zhou Enlai starts backing Mao. Henceforth, Mao's military deviations from orders seem more
legitimate. Mao is also put back in the Central Committee.

1936

Xi'an Incident

Chiang needs support of warlord Zhang Xueliang, but Zhang refuses because he wants to fight Japan,
not the CCP (+He admired Mao's tactics). He kidnaps Chiang, who is released after two weeks when he
agreed to ally with the Communists (Second United Front) against the Japanese. Chiang's reluctance to fight
the invaders was bad PR, so Zhang agrees to fly back to Nanjing as Chiang's prisoner to save the GMD leader
some face. Instead of being released as planned, Zhang becomes one of the longest held political prisoners.

1937 Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

Japanese capture the GMD capital city of Nanjing - Rape of Nanjing.
Japanese forces were also pushing into the provinces surrounding Maos Shaanxi base, where they were
met with effective resistance by CCP forces.

1943
Mao receives title Chairman of the Communist Central Committee and becomes a Chairman of
the Politburo, making him the unchallenged leader of the CCP.

1946
Summer Paper Tigers
Peace talks between the CCP and the GMD fall apart with the Americans supporting the GMD. To
Mao, the "paper tigers;" or reactionaries, although they might look more powerful, were not to be feared
because they only represent "reaction," where the Communists "represent progress."
Later, this is the name that Mao gave to other countries that had more military strength than China,
particularly in reference to the atomic bomb, to show that he was neither afraid nor impressed by shows of
force.

1945

Chinese Civil War

As the Japanese evacuate China, the conflict between the CCP and the GMD reemerges. Within a year,
full-scale war erupts between the two parties.

1947
The GMD was initially successful in the north -captures Yanan base. However, the CCP had already
established a foothold in Manchuria, which their Russian allies had allowed them to occupy after the SinoJapanese War. The CCP use this base to begin an aggressive military campaign to drive the GMD armies
south.

1949
September
Temporary constitution 'Organic Law'
-military rule with 6 military districts

1 November

PRC Formed

December
CCP forces h completely overwhelm GMD armies. Chiang flees to Taiwan/Formosa, where he installs
the remnants of his GMD administration, claiming to be the legitimate government of China.

1950
Campaign against Counterrevolutionaries
-nearly 1 million former GMD members are killed

Korean War (1950-53)

At the promting of Stalin, Kim Il Sung of North Korea launches an offensive on South Korea to unite the
peninsula under communist rule. Although most of the troops fighting against the North Koreans are
Americans, they are UN forces, so according to treaty wording, the USSR does not have to become involved.
China becomes involved as US troops push past the Yalu River. The united communist forces execute a
successful counterattack, forcing UN troops to retreat. The war ends in 1953 with the Treaty of Panmunjom,
which split the peninsula into the communist north and the capitalist south at the 38th parallel.

Summary of CCP Strengths/GMD Weaknesses during the Chinese Civil

War (1945-49)
GMD Weaknesses
GMD corruption (not really Chiang himself, but the people below him. Chiang led a very modest life)
(Officers were corrupt within the army, stealing etc.)

HyperInflation - price index in 1937 was 100, by 1946 it had risen to 378,217.

Ruthless Political Terror (The White Terror- against Communists)

Destitution and Starvation (flawed tax system, no subsidization, no help to peasants -treated them harshly
(bad PR)

The GMD army (Forced Conscription, Morale, desertions)

+As recognized leader of China, Chiang has to fight the Japanese, but fails to do so.

CCP Strengths
Peasants view the CCP as favorable (elliminates taxes for poorer peasants, set price controls, only upper
20% pay taxes)

Discipline in Red Army was effective (soldiers educated and taught to be kind to civilians, compensate for
peasants services, still encourage people lives to continue and city life when they took over towns)

Red Army = Peoples Liberation Army (good PR)

Taxation was kept low (not till 1946-1948 where Mao has harsh policy against rich landowner peasants,
took all their land and made them own up to their torturous nature, then after 1948 CCP goes back into
moderate policy) (Maos land policies are always more favorable to the MASSES)

Red Armys Production Drive of 1941 : Mao solidly gets his supply lines going (Mao takes land, cultivates
it, makes food in preparation for the upcoming war, devotes some of his troops to being farmers, much
better at supplying his army then the GMD)

Local councils could deal with local affairs (more control of rural areas, less centralization)

Reforms of Shaanxi were modeled in areas reoccupied (education centers, distributing the land, and
improving their lives, marital reforms)

Propaganda exploits Chiang's failure to combat the Japanese

Mao's Domestic Policies

1950
June

Land Reform Law

-begins moderately, then encouraged peasants to attend and organize Speak

Bitterness sessions. Around 2 million landlords killed. Redistribution follows and

establish mutual aid teams to share equipment and labor

-40% of China's arable land is redistributed to 60% of the population
-landlords who confessed their wrong-doings and gave over their land are saved, others
are killed
Marriage Reform Law

-Ends arranged marriages and concubinage. Women get equal divorce rights and equal
property rights.
Campaigns to Eliminate Prostitution, Gambling, and Drug Addiction

these problems had reached epidemic proportions in urban areas

-serious offenders were executed
-the GMD was so corrupt that it spawned a black market, these criminals had close ties
to nationalists, tended to be capitalists.
-

1951-52
Three Antis (focused

on government)
Attempt to remove corruption, waste and bureacratism; 10% of govt officials fired,
intimidation tactics, not many deaths
Five Antis (focused

on industry)
Targets bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft mostly results in fines for businesses (75%
of businesses fined)
1953

The First Five Year Plan (1953-57)

-Centralized industrial production (results in too much specialization)

-Builds Anshan Steel Centre (like Soviet's Magnitogorsk, not good quality)
-90% of government spending is in industry
-Builds bridges across Yangxi to increase flow of goods from North to South
(Financed by $300million loan from USSR in Sino-Soviet treaty. USSR gets to use
Chinese resources and naval bases. +China must pay for upkeep of lots of advisers from
the USSR)
Effects on Industry

-70% increase in light industry

-15% increase in heavy industry each year
Effects on Agriculture

-Only 2% increase a year (slower than population growth)

-Damages agriculture by setting a low price so it can be sold (way too much grain is
exported) to finance industry

1954

Constitution

-CCP is now the sole legal party

-Peoples National Congress set up (ostensibly ran from bottom up, but was really topdown)
Single-Party dictatorship now entrenched, all government officials were party members
(1954 - Mao has complete political control)
-secret police -Special Security Forces
-prison camps Laogai
National Womens Association and the Youth League
Mao wants collectivization

Controversy of whether to force Agricultural Producers Co-operatives. Zhou Enlai and

Lui Shaoqui felt there werent enough tractors and fertilizers, but the Central Committee
backed Mao. In 1958, mandatory collectivization becomes mandatory. Collectivization
was more gradual in China (Mao didnt need violence forcing collectivization like Stalin
did).
1955-56

Economic Reconstruction - National Capitalism

Gradually build economy. No immediate class struggle in cities
moved to full state ownership ( even by 1952, gross industrial and agricultural
production had increased by 77%)
Inflation is tackled by introducing the Yuan (eliminates the old currency, hurts the
middle class with savings, but stops inflation) inflation falls to 15% per year, before that
it was increasing at 1,000% a year
Education

80% illiterate in 1949, only 25% of kids attended school in 1949

1956: primary attendance rate jumps to 56%
Soviets help, some 600 teach at Chinese universities. Students attend Soviet
Universities too
Little impact on literacy shown... Still catering to small portion of the population
(only top students)
focused on expert education, trade schools
1956

Hundred Flowers Campaign

-encourages Chinese to express their opinions about the government openly. Many
intellectuals and writers respond with critiques of party policy. In a massive crackdown

in 1957, those who had followed Maos encouragement to let a hundred flowers bloom,
let a hundred schools of thought contend are arrested and sent to Laogai. Mao used this
campaign to expose 'enemies' within the Party.

1957

Great Leap Forward (1957-62)

Background

-Mao wants to equalize industry and agriculture, thus improving the 'socialist conscious.'
-Collectivization: Individual farms to Co-ops to Communes (set up Mess Hall day
cares so women could work too)
-Cut Defense spending as of '56 to finance Communes, which form militias
-Agricultural schools increase by 27 million at same time as 90 million are send to urban
industry
-backyard steel furnaces to improve rural industry (also backyard Uranium mines)
-Economic planning goes to local CCP officials in February '57 (decentralization)
Goals

1.) Overtake the UK in industrial production in 15 years and catch up to the US

2.)Egalitarian Communism (communes)
3.)Technology for increase in agriculture
4.)New Culture- celebrate communism and independence from Russia
Results

-Damaged Industry backyard furnaces produces worthless steel (Uranium more

successful), but continued to have it be produced so as not to admit failure/damage
morale.
-Gross National Income declines by 22% as of 1960
-Poor structure of Communes (Mao even said he didn't know how they were to work so
he just said "collectivize and let it go from there) means that farms are less productive
and there is not enough agricultural technology. Agriculture is too regionalized not
enough central direction
-Lysenkoism Socialist farming techniques (close planting) that don't work damage
harvests.
-Man-made famine inflated figures claimed by villages meant that too large a % of grain
went to the state. Poor weather in '59 and Mao's unwillingness to hear of the issue
compound the problem.
-Lushan Conference: Peng Dehua and the USSR criticize the Great Leap Forward, which
puts Mao on the defensive and makes him even more unwilling to change his
policies. Start of Sino-Soviet split
Abandonment and New Measures Afterwards
1959 Mao

steps down as Chairman

1962 Liu Shikai, Deng Xiaoping are supposed to fix the problem, but their kind-of NEP

capitalism period (giving farming incentives like rural markets and introduce
differentiated payment for skilled/unskilled workers) upsets Mao.
1963- Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) Mao's little Red Book is published
1966 Gang of Four, Red Guards
-focus on youth
Mao's "Great Swim" he steps back into power.
1969

Sino-Soviet Split

The split is official as border clashes emerge.

1972

Dtente with the US

Mao invites Nixon to come to the PRC

1976

6 September
Mao dies at the age of 81