UNIT 8

• Communism in China


  • Conflict between Chinese Communist and Chinese Nationalist as to who would rule/govern China
  • Chinese Communist Party was under Mao Zedong
  • Communist Party and Nationalist Party only worked together when Japan invaded but they went back to war after
  • Chinese Communist Party won
• Mao Zedong


  • Founded the People's Republic of China
  • Under his leadership, China nationalized its industries and redistributed land to peasants by means of a massive collectivization of agriculture
• Mao Zedong's approach to collectivization in China

  Less bloodshed and relatively peaceful compared to Stalin's approach in the Soviet Union, because the Communist Party had built up trust with peasants during the civil war period
• The Great Leap Forward


  • An economic plan to rapidly industrialize China through the development of heavy industry
  • In contrast to Stalin's 5-Year Plan, which aimed to industrialize by focusing mainly on urban areas, Mao focused on small-scale industrialization in rural areas
• The Great Leap Forward


  Led to famine areas, because Mao was so concerned to show the world his brand of communism was working fine, he didn't accept any foreign aid during the famine era and continued to export grains that could've saved the people
• Factors contributing to the failure of the Great Leap Forward

  1. Disruption of traditional farming

  2. Mismanagement and unrealistic targets

  3. Diversion of labor

  4. Adverse agricultural techniques

  5. Natural disasters
• Deng Xiaoping


  • New leader who focused on restructuring the economy and reimplementing education
  • Introduced free-market capitalism elements, property ownership, and foreign relations, but China remained largely communist
  • Tiananmen Square Massacre: hundreds of protesters for democratic reform killed by government troops
• Genocide in Cambodia


  • Communism took over Cambodia and the communist faction Khmer Rouge took over the government
  • Goal was to get rid of the professional class and religious minorities, leading to 2 million deaths by the government