Mao's China

• What were the strengths of GMD during the Chinese Civil War?

  Bigger army of 2.5M soldiers

  Controlled 75% of the population

  controlled major cities and factories which could produce weapons and vehicles

  Official government, backed by US
• What were the weaknesses of GMD during the Chinese Civil War?

  Lost support of peasants due to failed land reforms

  Lost support from workers due to poor working conditions, Lost support from women due to inequality

  Lost support of students as they introduced censorship

  Inability to effectively run the economy
• List CCP's Strengths


  Strengths

  PLA had experience, especially in guerrilla warfare from fighting the Japanese in WW2

  Has support from peasants due to their policy of land reforms women and workers

  Backed by Soviet Union due to their communist ideologies

  Controlled most of China's northern countryside

  Controlled much of China's northern countryside
• List CCP's Weaknesses


  Weaknesses

  Small Army with little resources

  No aircraft

  Couldn't count on the majority of the population

  Have no industry
• When did the civil war begin officially?

  April 1946
• Phrase 1 of the Civil War (uneasy peace)


  - The US led peace negotiations between the two parties

  - Peace was unstable as they both had very different beliefs, mistrusted each other due to years of conflict and Mao and Chiang both wanted to be sole leader of China

  - They secretly worked with their alloes to strengthen their position
• What happened with USSR and GMD in Manchuria?

  USSR invaded Manchuria to defeat Japan in August 1945. Soviets agreed to give GMD control

  The USSR flew 110,000 GMD troops to Manchuria to give Chiang control

  However, they have already allowed the PLA to take 100000 guns and thousands of artillery left from the Japanese.
• What was Chiang worried about in Manchuria

  - He suspected the Soviets would aid the CCP

  - Worried the Soviets would help the CCP gain control of the whole of northern China

  - Concerned the CCP would gain access to the large stock of Japanese weapons
• The GMD problems in Manchuria

  Many Manchian people regarded the GMD as 'southerners' and therefore as foreign invaders

  The GMD only reopened a third of the factories so unemployment rose

  They found it difficult to control rural areas due to PLA guerrilla units - by early 1946 by had effectively lost control of Manchuria's rural areas
• Peace negotiations


  USA urged Chiang to establish a united, democratic government and in Feb 1946, the GMD and the CCP agreed a ceasefire. Fighting began again in april and by July, there was a full-scale civil war
• Phrase 2: GMD advances

  - CCP extended control of the north during ceasefire

  - USA provided military + economic support to the GMD

  - 1946, GMD fought to end communist control in the north

  - 1947, GMD control all cities in northern china (expect Harbin)
• Mao's role


  PLA retreated meaning to survived the attacks

  Mao sped up land reforms so peasants began taking control of the land they worked on and many joined to PLA
• Phrase 3: PLA counter attack

  Jun 47. Around 400,000 PLA troops fought across Sungari River and Liu Bocheng made the decision to push further South and attack across the Yellow River.

  The GMD lost most of Manchuria and the PLA secured its hold on north-east China
• The significance of the loss of Manchuria

  - Mao's strategy of surrounding cities meant the GMD couldn't retreat and by 1948 lost 1/3 of its troops

  - CCP control allowed it to recruit more troops (1.6m peasants had joined the PLA by October 1948)

  - Also allowed PLA to capture the GMD's weapons (after the loss of Manchuria the PLA had more artillery)
• What happened in the Huai Hai Campaign?

  - The largest battle in the Civil War

  - GMD: 800,000

  - CCP: 600,000 soldiers, 600,000 guerrilla fighters and 1m peasants (many GMD soldiers switched sides)

  - In addition PLA spies infiltrated the GMD and supplied Mao with Chiang's plans

  - 500,000 GMD soliders lost left them hopeless - Chiang resigned as president of the Republic of China

  - Many of his supporters moved to Taiwan
• What was the Resist America, Aid Korea campaign?

  Encouraged workers and peasants to aid the war against capitalism in Korea
• Why was the Korean War important to Mao?

  - At mass rallies, the CCP presented USA as imperialists

  - Chinese solders sent to Korea to stop USA troops (Mao could claim his forces stopped a superpower's)

  - Rumour that US forces were using biological weapons

  - Mao executed 135,000 people as it was believed American spies were in the government
• Democratic centralism


  - All CCP members could participate in debates about the future of China

  - They could vote on key issues

  - Then all members had a duty to help implement the policy
• The use of terror

  A decree entitled 'Regulations Regarding the Punishment of Counter Revolutionaries' - 1951

  - Allowed the CCP to persecute potential enemies, including religious leaders who were an alternative source of authority to the CCP
• Urban terror


  - Focussed on intellectuals, property owners and government officials who had worked with the GMD.

  - Public humiliation and forced to confess (many sentenced to death)

  - Atmosphere of fear, 100,000 commited suicide

  - Estimated 2% of urban population targeted
• Rural terror


  - PLA + CCP used terror against landlords who refused to surrender land

  - Land reform committees, poor peasants put in charge

  - PLA encouraged villages to turn against their landlords, many were evicted, beaten, expelled and killed
• What was the speak bitterness campaign?

  - Mass meetings were organised where peasants were encouraged to 'speak bitterness' against landlords, reminding them of their crimes

  - They were fined for crimes and had their land, houses and possessions confiscated
• What percentage of land was redistributed to poor peasants

  40%
• How many landlords were killed?

  Around 1m
• What and when were the two antis movements?

  Sanfan: 1951 Wufan: 1952
• What was the three antis?

  waste, inefficiency, corruption
• Who did the three antis target?

  Officials based in cities, who worked with the previous government, distrusted members of the CCP, those responsible for running the economy
• How were they targeted?

  - -Fired, publicly humiliated.

  - Around 1M of the 4M investigated were convicted.

  - People who refused to confess were tortured
• Consequences of three antis?

  - Disruption in the government as people arrested worked in government administration.

  - 200,000 CCP members arrested as Mao didn't trust them

  - So it had to be stopped after a month
• What were the five antis?

  bribery, tax evasion, fraud, theft of gov property, theft of gov secrets
• Who was targeted?


  People who ran industry, the nation's bourgeoise. (China's capitalism.)
• How were they targeted?

  Businesses were raided or investigated to find evidence of a crime.

  Trade unions encouraged to put capitalists on trial - 450,000

  1% of those put on trial were sent to prison/labour camps and the rest paid heavy fines
• Consequences of Wufan?


  Affected almost every major business and frightened business owners into working with the gov.

  Many became bankrupt due to fines and CCP had more money to invest in industry

  Overall, heavily increased the CCP's control of industry
• How many people took their own lives as a result of both campaigns?

  200,000
• What were the five domestic causes for the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

  1. Worried that the CCP was getting out of touch with its people

  2. Concerned that the CCP was behaving like a privileged elite instead of communists

  3. Worried that the CCP was inefficient economically

  4. Concerned about the series of industrial strikes in 1956

  5. Wanted intellectual support for further development
• What were the three international causes for the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

  1. Stalin's death and Khrushchev's secret speech

  2. Mao believed communist countries in Europe had lost touch with its people

  3. Doesn't want to make the same mistakes as the soviets
• What and when was Phase 1 in the Hundred Flowers Campaign?

  Dec 56: experts expressed limited concerns about the regime like CCP interference in the running of the economy
• Mao's reaction to Phase 1 in Hundred Flowers Campaign?


  welcomed it and encouraged more
• What and when was Phase 2 in Hundred Flowers Campaign?


  Jan 57:Radical writers joined in and Liu Pin-yan wrote about corrupt PLA officials who stood in the way of engineers trying to build a bridge
• Mao's reaction to Phase 2 in Hundred Flowers Campaign?

  Unpopular within the CCP but Mao welcomed it