The Extension of the Cold War: China

These flashcards cover the extension of the Cold War and relations between China, the USA, and the USSR.

What was the Chinese Civil War?

A conflict from 1927-1936 and 1946-1950 between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Who were the Kuomintang?

The right-wing government forces of the Republic of China during the Chinese Civil War.

Who was the People’s Liberation Army?

The left-wing People’s Liberation Army, who fought for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Chinese Civil War.

Who did the communists find the most support from?

The communists found most of their support among the landless and starving Chinese peasants.

Who was the first person to sign the United Nations Charter on behalf of his country?

Chiang Kai-shek.

Who attempted to get Chiang to form a coalition government with the Chinese communists?

General Marshall of the USA.

Who led the communists that defeated Chiang's Kuomintang?

Mao Zedong.

When was the People's Republic of China established?

October 1, 1949.

Where did the Kuomintang under Chiang retreat to after the communists controlled the Chinese mainland?

Taiwan.

What was disputed by Taiwan and China leading to the First and Second Taiwan Strait Crises?

A number of the islands in the Taiwan Strait.

Why did Mao want China to be industrialised and modernized?

Mao believed China needed to be industrialised and modernised with speed and force to become a superpower able to compete with the USA and USSR.

What periods resulted in a fundamental overhaul of seemingly every aspect of Chinese society?

The Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

Under what law was land seized from landlords and given to the peasants?

Under the Agrarian Reform Law of 1950.

What happened in the Hundred Flowers Campaign, in 1956?

Mao encouraged citizens to criticise the communist regime so that problems could be solved.

What campaign did Mao begin in 1957?

Mao stopped the campaign and began the Anti-Rightism Campaign against people whose ideas were not sufficiently communist.

What happened during The Great Leap Forward policy which Mao introduced in 1958?

Farms were collectivised and industry was restructured.

What were the results of the policies similar to those that the communists had earlier imposed in the USSR?

Famine and the deaths of millions.

What did the Chinese call the period of the Great Chinese Famine?

The Three Bitter Years.

What was the result of Mao's literacy policy?

Literacy levels rose from 20% in 1949 to 90% in 1965.

When did China explode its first atomic bomb?

In 1964.

What was the Cultural Revolution?

A period of political persecution of people who did not agree with the existing communist regime.

Why did Mao introduce the policy known as the Cultural Revolution in 1966?

To remove so-called 'revisionists', who, he claimed, were trying to revive capitalism.

What is Revisionism?

A policy of modifying an already-formulated ideology (such as communism).

Who was Chairman Mao?

Mao Zedong (1893-1976).

What are Mao's theories, military strategies, and political policies collectively known as?

Maoism.

What were the Red Guards?

A paramilitary organisation of young adults that Mao started to Institute his Cultural Revolution.

What were the 'Four Olds' of Chinese society that the Red Guards were instructed to attack and overcome?

Old culture, old customs, old habits and old ideas.

What happened in the Down to the Countryside Movement, which began in 1968?

Many privileged young people were sent from the cities to the countryside to learn from the peasants.

When did the Cultural Revolution end?

In 1976, after Mao died.

What happened to the leaders of the Cultural Revolution, often called the 'Gang of Four'?

They were then arrested.

Why did the USSR want the Chinese Communist Party to win the Chinese Civil War?

The USSR hoped to have an ally in its worldwide communist revolution.

When did China and the USSR sign the 20-year Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance?

February 14, 1950.

What did the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance state?

The USSR would grant a large loan to China so it could rebuild its economy after the Chinese Civil War, and would supply China with industrial technicians and military support.

In what war did both the USSR and China back the North Koreans?

Korean War (1950-1953).

Why did the relationship between Stalin and Mao worsen?

Because of a growing power struggle.

What caused friction when Khrushchev became leader of the USSR after Stalin's death in 1953?

Khrushchev embarked on a policy of improving relations between communist and capitalist countries, but Mao did not approve of Khrushchev's foreign policy of 'peaceful co-existence' with capitalist countries.

What did Mao and Khrushchev call each other?

Mao called Khrushchev a 'revisionist' and Khrushchev called Mao a traitor.

What did the USSR refuse to do, even after assisting China to develop nuclear energy between 1954 and 1960?

The USSR refused to show the Chinese how to make an atomic bomb.

What is the Sino-Soviet Split?

The breakdown in the relationship between China and the USSR in the early 1960s.

When did the USSR cancel all aid to China?

In 1960.

In 1963, what did China accuse the Soviets of?

China accused the Soviets of colluding with the West by signing the Limited Test Ban Treaty with the USA and the UK, which was designed to reduce nuclear testing.

When were there anti-Soviet demonstrations in China, and the USSR removed its diplomatic staff from the country?

In 1967.

What did Mao do because he became so antagonistic towards the USSR?

In October 1968 he forced the North Vietnamese government to choose between China and the USSR for continued support in the Vietnam War.

When did The USSR invade Czechoslovakia?

in 1968 after the Prague Spring.

When and where were China and the USSR involved in military conflicts?

In 1969, along their shared border, with deaths occurring on both sides.

What did China demand in 1969?

China demanded control of Damansky/ Zhenbao Island on the Ussuri River, which forms part of the Sino-Soviet border.

When did the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance expire and was not renewed?

In 1970.

When did China start building the Tanzam Railway?

In 1970.

In 1972 China embarked on what new foreign-policy strategy?

China invited the president of the USA to visit.

Why did China and the USA move closer together?

Due to a shared suspicion of the USSR's behaviour in the 1960s and 1970s.

What are some signs of improved relations between the USA and China during the 1970's?

President Nixon lifted the ban on Sino-American trade, and by 1971 the USA agreed that China should become a permanent member of the UN Security Council and have the power of veto.

What did the growing trust and friendship between the USA and China culminate in?

Nixon's historic official visit to China in 1972.

When the communists defeated the Kuomintang, what did the American embassy staff do?

The American embassy staff followed the Kuomintang to the island of Taiwan.

What was UN Resolution 82 about?

Condemning the North Korean invasion across the 38th Parallel and into South Korea as 'aggressive'.

When relations between the USA and China became tense during the Korean War, what did the USA and China do?

The USA froze Chinese assets in the USA, and then China seized all American assets within its borders and expelled all Americans from the country.

In the First Taiwan Strait Crisis (1954-1955) what happened?

China took control of some islands in the Taiwan Strait that had been claimed by Taiwan.

What did Premier Zhou Enlai of China tell the USA about the issue of Taiwan?

The issue of Taiwan was 'a purely internal affair of China'.

When did the USSR also back China?

In the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis (1958).

In 1958 Mao said what?

'It is the task of the people of the whole world to put an end to the aggression and oppression perpetrated by imperialism, and chiefly by U.S. imperialism.'

Why was Zhou Enlai the most powerful person in China after Mao?

He had been involved in all the Chinese decisions regarding the Korean War.

What war also brought the USA and China into conflict, because the USA supported South Vietnam and China supported North Vietnam?

The Vietnam War (the Second Indochina War), which lasted from 1955 to 1975.

Why did The USA actually view China under Mao as a greater threat than the USSR under Khrushchev?

Mao seemed committed to worldwide communist revolution.

In 1968, What event caused the USSR to invade Czechoslovakia?

The Prague Spring

When did Richard Nixon became the new president of the USA?

On 20 January 1969.

What is the 'Two Chinas' policy?

In 1969, the USA announced this policy that accepted the existence of both Taiwan and China.

What is the Nixon Doctrine?

Nixon said that the USA was going to stop being the ‘global policeman’.

In 1971 Kissinger, the USA's secretary of state, visited China, and saw to it that what was removed?

USA's trade embargo against China.

Who were some of the first American firms that gained production and trading concessions in China?

Coca-Cola and McDonalds.

Besides Deng visiting the USA, what else happened in 1979, under Carter?

Produced the Taiwan Relations Act, which allowed for unofficial diplomatic relations between the USA and Taiwan, and allowed the USA to help Taiwan to help defend itself if it were attacked.

Who was the de facto leader of China from 1978?

Deng Xiaoping.

Under Deng, China embarked on what plan?

A massive policy of modernisation and economic reform.

Under Deng's policies of modernisation and market socialism, what happened to Agriculture, industry and the military?

Agriculture, industry and the military were modernised. Farms were de-collectivised and household subsistence farming was allowed.

What did the 'open door policy' do?

An 'open door policy' allowed trade between Chinese and Western companies.

When did the USA's President Jimmy Carter announce that from the beginning of 1979, the USA would officially recognise the People's Republic of China as a legitimate political entity, and stop recognising Taiwan as an independent state?

In 1978.

What difficult relationships did China have with the neighboring states of India and Vietnam?

A border conflict with India and a civil war, later invasion, in Vietnam.

After Taiwan became the territory controlled by the Kuomintang, what never happened between China and Taiwan?

China and Taiwan never recognised each other as legitimate governments, and never signed a formal peace treaty to finish the Chinese Civil War.

What remains the same between China and Taiwan, and what is the reality?

China still claims Taiwan and vice versa. However, in reality China and Taiwan are separate and independent countries.

By the time of its independence in the late 20th century, what powers subjected Vietnam to extended imperial and colonial control?

By the time of its independence in the late 20th century, Vietnam had been subjected to extended imperial and colonial control by three powers: Imperial China between 100BCE and 900 CE, France between the mid-19th century and 1940, and Japan from 1940-1945.

In 1945, what movement declared Vietnam to be free from Japanese control and therefore an independent nation?

A communist liberation movement called the Viet Minh.

What is another name for the First Indochina War?

The Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam.

During the First Indochina War, what kind of supported did China provide to the Viet Minh?

China supplied arms, technical advice and diplomatic support.

Why did China advise the Viet Minh?

To end the First Indochina War before the USA got involved on the side of the French.

How did the First Indochina War end in 1954?

A negotiated settlement.

During the conflict where After the Vietnam War restarted, the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese Government were given aid by who?

He Chinese and the USSR.

After the Sino-Soviet Split in the early 1960s, what did China told the leaders of the Viet Minh?

China told the leaders of the Viet Minh that China would supply them with military and economic aid if they refused Soviet aid.

Who won the Vietnam War and what did that lead to?

The North Vietnamese army and the communist forces in the south won the Vietnam War in 1975, and in 1976 South Vietnam and North Vietnam became the unified Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

What led to China invading Vietnam and laying waste to the north?

Vietnam invaded Cambodia.

When did Tibet declare itself independent?

In 1913

When Tibet, what did the Chinese started to do within the country?

But in the mid-1950s.

what did The Chinese authorities felt when the Tibetan exiles fled to India in 1959 ?

That India was hosting a resistance movement against China.

What kind of Power is a major nation that is significantly more powerful than all others - economically, militarily, technologically and diplomatically?

Superpower

Economically, in relation to super powers , how strong was China

China was not nearly as strong as the USA and USSR.

In 1976 China was what kind of a military power?

China was definitely a major power.