China: 1949-1980sPeople’s Republic of China

# 9

Mao and Communism VictoriousOctober 1949:

Mao and Peoples Liberation Army win

Jiang Jishi and Nationalists flee to Taiwan

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Jiang and Nationalists: Establish Republic of China Violently repress Taiwanese Govern as if they were CHINA Enact land reform (no longer tied to Gentry) Defended by US, 7th Fleet Engage in business revolution Brilliantly successful economy Nationalist Dictatorship Holds seat at UN as “CHINA”

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Jiang Kaishek (Jishi) dies in 1984 Jiang Ching Kuo (son takes over) Begins democratic reforms Dies 1988 Real Democratic Elections in 1988

Tensions between Taiwan and China have been very tense and continue to be tense at times.

Taiwan today is economically advanced, wealthy and democratic society Officially still a province of China, but functioning as a separate nation

People’s Republic: 1949 +Mao Establishes Single Party government Centralized under Chinese Communist Party Restores order Organizes production and food distribution Eliminates mass starvation within 3 years

Land Reform: land to the peasants

People’s Republic

Class Backgrounds Matter Core leaders come from Long March Survivors Party membership based on class background (Red Scarf Girl gives good examples) China gets off to a good start Korean War: Chinese “volunteers” first route then fight to a stalemate with UN/US

People’s Republic

Independent China, Great China Mao envisions China restored to Greatness Works with USSR at first Later asserts China’s independence from

USSR Pursues military strength to guarantee

independence

Mao: Cult of PersonalityCharismatic leadershipMao becomes the preeminent leaderMao can do no wrongMao is the father and hero

Mao has a radical vision of where China must goResents any delayDespises gradualismLongs to see China truly “Communist” immediately

China’s Communist Revolution: Fits and Starts

East Wind – West Wind

Red v Expert

Political Enthusiasm or Pragmatism

Endless campaigns… Political purges Reeducation and Struggle Meetings

East Wind – West WindPatternRevolutionary Campaigns ChaosChaos Economic disasterEconomic disaster PragmatismPragmatism Economic stability

Pragmatism frustrates Mao’s “Revolution” Mao reasserts leadership with new Campaign Political purge of pragmatists as “capitalists” or

“counterrevolutionaries” Start over ….

Great leap Forward

1950s1950-1953: Korean WarStabilize control in China

1956 Hundred Flowers Campaign “Let 100 flowers bloom, let 100 ideas contend” Attempt to push revolution forward Opened up for criticism of Party and Mao Shut down and critics purged/punished

1958:Great Leap ForwardCollectivize AgricultureTake away private plots

Leap past phases of industrial developmentJump straight into heavy industryModernize militaryBack yard steel millsCommunal kitchens

1958:Great Leap ForwardBack yard steel millsEvery village had one

Communal kitchens and daycareFree women’s labor for factories

Catastrophic crop failures food shortagesBack yard steel useless and can’t be delivered

1958+Great Leap Forward

Mao and “Reds” discredited

Pragmatist: Deng Xiaoping emerges

“It doesn’t matter what color the cat is, so long as it catches mice” or “black cat, white cat, just so it catches mice”

Order and economic stability restored 1960-62

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution1966-1976This is the background for

Red Scarf Girl

1966: Economy is stable Mao sees a lack of progress Mao has been pushed aside by pragmatists: wants

back in the limelight

Cultural RevolutionPlay: "Hai Rui Dismissed from Office“Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, sees it as an attack

on Mao’s dismissal of Peng Dehuai

Jiang Qing publishes an attack on the play in the Shanghai paper

Calls on people to defend Mao

Mao joins in and calls on students and young people to defend the revolution and criticize “reactionary” leaders in Schools and the Party

Jiang Qing: "Let the new socialistic performing arts

occupy every stage."

Cultural RevolutionOfficially:

Revolution had stalled

Old culture was the cause

Only youth untainted by pre-revolutionary culture can lead forward

China can and must move forward to new phases of the ongoing Revolution

Cultural RevolutionBehind the Scenes:Mao was weakened by Great LeapMao was agingMao wanted to reassert controlPower battle between Mao and Pragmatists: especially

Liu Shaoqi and Deng XiaopingMao mobilized the youth to help him with the internal

power struggle in the Party and government

Lui: Dies, Deng: Sentenced to farm labor

Cultural RevolutionEffects:School StoppedLocal Party decimatedEnormous sufferingStruggle meetingsFamilies destroyedChina’s “lost generation”

“Red Scarf Girl”Movie: “To Live” (last part)

Post Mao ReformMao Dies: 1976

Official mourning but little real public grief

Mao’s wife and three friends seize power to reinvigorate the Cultural Revolution

Post Mao ReformReformers out-manipulate radicals

and arrest “Gang of Four”

Gang of Four tried:

Vilified as the perpetrators of the Cultural Revolution

Jiang Qing, especially took advantage of Mao’s dotage

Cultural revolution was her fault

Mao’s memory remains infallible and untainted by Cultural Revolution

Post Mao ReformDeng Xiaoping reemerges:Becomes chairman of party, head of

the government and commander of the People’s Liberation Army

“To get rich is glorious.” Deng institutes agricultural reforms First, sales of garden vegetables OKed Over-quota farm produce approved for open market Ag sector got wealthy

Deng Xiaoping’s reformAfter Ag sector, business sector gets market reforms

Businesses can sell over-quota items on open market

Cooperatives can buy business from government

Foreign investment sought

Effectively, China becomes a thriving, market-capitalist economy, growing like mad

Tienanmen Square1989Deng retires in mid ’80s

Pressure for democratic participation builds

Some government leaders concede it might be desirable or at least acceptable

Demonstrations and a sit-in in Tienanmen: summer 1989

Tienanmen Square1989Government waivers for weeksDemonstrations continue strong

Government calls in troopsPeople of Beijing stop the troops

Classic picture of one man stopping a column of tanks

As world watches, Deng returns from retirement and calls in special forces: bloody massacre

(AP Photo/Jeff Widener)

Post TienanmenEconomic Reforms Continue

Chinese business prospers

Chinese democracy seems stillborn and few seem interested for now