Chapter 31: China

Section 1: The Emergence of Modern

China

Communists Take Over• 1930’s: Japan invaded Manchuria,

a northern province in China• Invasion forced the Communists

and Nationalists to work together• 1945: 2 parties fought each other• Communists: successful– Many popular reforms: lowering

peasants’ rent• 1949: Nationalists defeated• October 1, 1949: People’s Republic

of China

1 Nation, 2 Governments• Chiang Kai-Shek and the

Nationalists fled to Taiwan• Set up a provincial

government in Taiwan• Claimed his government

represented China• Vowed one day to re-conquer

China• 1971: United Nations

recognize the government of mainland China as the official government of China

A Communist NationCommon Ownership

• China in ruins after the war• Mao wanted to increase

agricultural productivity• Established collective farms– People work together and share

whatever they harvest

• 1956:10 million families, 88% of all Chinese peasants, were relocated to collective farms

The Great Leap Forward• China failed to meet Mao’s goals• 1958: The Great Leap Forward into

Communism• Commune settlements– Self-sufficient communal settlements– Contained both farms and industries

• Resembled life in the military• Party officials made all the decisions

“A Serious Leap Backwards”• Production fell• Difficult life in the communes• Received the same rewards

regardless of the amount they produced– Little incentive for people to work

hard

• 1960: Government abandoned the Great Leap Forward campaign

The Cultural Revolution• Many people criticized Mao • Response: more drastic measures

were needed to revolutionize China

• 1966: Cultural Revolution• Smash the old order completely to

establish a new, socialist society

Red Guards• Army of radical young men and

women• Job: destroy the Four Olds– Old ideology– Old thought– Old habits– Old customs

• Anyone who disagreed with Mao were publicly humiliated, beaten, or killed

• People lost their jobs, imprisoned, or sent to the country to work as peasants

“To Rebel is justified”• Farm production failed• Factories stopped running• Schools closed• Cultural Revolution, enormous

failure– Hundreds of thousands of innocent

people were jailed or driven into the remote, rural areas

– Entire generation of young people lost their chance for an education

1976: Power Struggle• 1976 Mao Zedong

dies• Gang of Four:

wanted to continue the Cultural Revolution

• Deng Xiaoping: Wanted to end Maoism

Four Modernizations

Goals were to improve…–Agriculture– Industry– Science and technology–Defense

AgricultureContract Responsibility System

• Government rented land to individual farm families

• Families could decide what to grow

• Contract with the government: provide crops at a certain price

• Families free to sell surplus • Chance to make more money led

farmers to increase their production

Industrial Development• Mao: Heavy Industry– Produce iron, steel, and machines

used in other industries

• 1976: Chinese technology outdated and inefficient

• Xiaoping’s Goals:– Consumer goods: Changed to light

industry– Increase production: More decision-

making power to managers and an incentive system

Special Economic Zones• China’s East Coast• Near Hong Kong and

Taiwan• Hoped to attract foreign

capital, companies, and technology

• Enormously successful• 1978: 1.5 million industrial

firms• 1993: 8 million industrial

firms

Unexpected Results• Economic growth: uneven• Coastal regions grew rich• Interior China left behind• Millions of people migrated from

rural China into the cities– 50-100 million workers drift from

job to job• Plan for more Special Economic Zones

for the interior and north• Economy is stronger today than it has

ever been