The aftermath of the Chinese civil war

The growing popularity of the CCP

China had now been at war for decades and by ending that the people were happy with the CCP. The CCP had proved itself to be better at organization than the GMD in the areas they had gained during the civil war. Mao had also proclaimed the Communist ideals would be a long term goal and the CCP would work with everyone making life in China more possible for many than in Taiwan with the GMD.

Mao’s growing power

Mao had blocked all opposition in Yunan as he saw the struggles of the GMD which had multiple factions slowing down decisions. He continued this into the civil war. As a respected commander that had overseen the PLA transition from conventional to guerilla and back to conventional he commanded the complete loyalty.

The People’s Liberation Army

They had treated the peasantry fairly during the war as they were told to by Mao. This meant they were highly respected and after years of fighting had become a well oiled machine for war.

Land distribution

To ensure the popularity of the CCP continued Mao had began handing the land back to the peasantry and executing land owners.

Industrial destruction

China hadn’t even recovered from the Great Depression by 1937 when the Japanese invaded. The Japanese seized the most productive areas and bombing raids of land they hadn’t seized only made it worse. Then, during the civil war, the GMD had used a scorched earth policy when retreating destroying industry and infrastructure. China was in ruin by 1949.

The food issue

Large portions of the peseantry had be conscripted to rival armies. Millions had been displaced by Japanese invasion. Land had been destroyed. By 1949 food production was 30% of the figure in 1937. Grain requisitiong continued after the civil war to feed the huge PLA and urban population whcih left the peasants to die. In Henan province 2-3 million died from famine.

China’s finances

The GMD had paid for the war using loans and printing more money leading to a 1000% inflation rate. Chang had also taken the foreign currency and gold bullion reserves with him to Taiwan meaning the country was in complete economic ruin.

Russia seizure of Chinese land

Just before the Japanese defeat the Red Army had moved into Manchuria facing little resistance from the defeated forces. They then held onto this land after war.

Long term agricultural issues

China was made up of 80% peasantry working in labour intensive fields with barely any mechanisation. The GMD had been slowly improving this until the great depression hit slowing progress as grain could no longer be exported for foreign currency. In 1931 droughts had caused 3 million deaths as the agriculture was so fragile. Only 15% of the land in China was cultivatable so modernisation was needed to improve output. 20 million had also died in the war not helping to provide manpower.

Modernisation of Manchuria

Under the Japanese this area had been developed now having the most modern iron and steel works in China. However, much of this had fallen into the hands of the Soviets by 1945

National Resource Committee

Set up by the GMD in 1932 to channel investment into the rest of China after the loss of Manchuria in 1931. Under the NRC 70% of industry was nationalized. It was made up of 30,000 technical experts governing 250,000 workers many of whom stayed in China to work for the CCP

Need for economic modernisation

Only Manchuria and the Yangtze basin region had any level of modernisation much of which had been destroyed or fallen into disrepair from war. Mao needed to rebuild bridges, roads, railroads, communication, and every other public facility very quickly to avoid the countries collapse.

Why didn’t China experience an industrial revolution?

The general consensus is that cheap labour and the difficulty involved in implementing train lines and communications infrastructure meant that labour saving machinery was not easy or worth it to implement like it was in Britain or Germany