IB History Unit 7: Authoritarian States - Mao Zedong

Vocabulary flashcards covering the rise, maintenance of power, policies, and historiography of Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China.

Meiji Restoration

Major changes to the Japanese system including returning power to the Emperor to modernize the country and avoid Western colonization while centralizing power.

Confucian values

A philosophy based on social harmony, morality, and order including principles such as benevolence, filial piety, ritual propriety, and loyalty.

Mandate of Heaven

A philosophical doctrine establishing that the right to rule China was granted by Heaven, allowing for only one legitimate ruler whose authority is based on virtue and performance.

Qing Dynasty

China's last imperial dynasty, a multi-ethnic empire ruled by Manchu forces that created the territorial boundaries of modern China.

Taiping Rebellion

A massive civil war (1850-1864) led by Hong Xiuquan against the Qing Dynasty with the aim of replacing Confucianism with Christianity and establishing social reforms.

Boxer Rebellion

An anti-foreign, anti-Christian, and anti-imperialist uprising led by the Righteous and Harmonious Fists that led to the stationing of foreign troops in Beijing via the Boxer Protocol of 1901.

Empress Dowager Cixi

The 'de facto' ruler of the Qing dynasty for approximately 50 years who initiated the Tongzhi Restoration and managed the empire through several uprisings and invasions.

Hundred Days of Reform

A failed modernization effort by the Guangxu Emperor to counter Western imperialism via reforms in education, military, and government, which ended in a coup by Empress Dowager Cixi.

Sun Yatsen

A Chinese revolutionary and physician known as the Father of Modern China who founded the Republic of China and helped overthrow the imperial system in the 1911 Revolution.

Guomindang

A major political party founded by Sun Yatsen in 1912 based on the ideals of nationalism, democracy, and modernization; it later governed China and then Taiwan.

Twenty-One Demands

A set of secret demands sent by Japan to Chinese President Yuan Shikai in 1915 that sought to turn China into a de facto Japanese protectorate.

Yuan Shikai

An important Chinese general and the first formal president of the Republic of China who caused instability by attempting to restore the monarchy with himself as emperor.

Warlord Period

A period from 1916 to 1928 where regional military leaders broke China apart due to a lack of central authority after the death of Yuan Shikai.

May Fourth Movement

A 1919 intellectual and political student protest against imperialism and feudalism sparked by Japan gaining part of Chinese territory after WWI.

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

The political party that solidified control in China under Mao Zedong, utilizing strategies like mobilization, centralized authority, and intense ideological indoctrination.

Communist Internationals

An organization founded by Lenin to promote worldwide communist revolution, which guided the early CCP on strategies and cooperation with the Nationalists.

Marxist

A follower of Karl Marx's ideas on class struggle; Mao adapted this to China by focusing on the peasantry rather than industrial workers.

United Front

A political alliance between the CCP and the Nationalists to cooperate against warlords and later against Japanese invasion.

Chiang Kai-shek

The leader of the Nationalist party (Guomindang) after Sun Yatsen and Mao's primary rival during the Chinese Civil War.

Northern Expedition

A military campaign led by the Nationalists to unify China by defeating warlords, which was initially supported by the CCP but ended with a purge of communists.

Shanghai Massacre

A violent purge of communists carried out by the Nationalists in 1927, marking the collapse of the United Front and forcing the CCP into hiding.

Nanjing Decade

The period from 1927 to 1937 when the Nationalist government ruled China from Nanjing, characterized by modernization efforts despite conflict with communists.

Red Army

The military force of the CCP led by Mao Zedong that utilized guerrilla warfare and was eventually renamed the People's Liberation Army.

Futian Incident

An internal CCP purge in 1930 within the Red Army where suspected dissenters were executed, demonstrating Mao's willingness to use violence for control.

Long March

A 6,000-mile retreat and relocation of the CCP over 18 months that helped spread the message of communism despite approximately 90% of participants being killed.

Yan'an

A remote base area in Northern China where the CCP regrouped after the Long March and where Mao developed his ideological framework.

Mass Line

Mao's political method of consulting the people's needs to shape and implement policy, allowing the CCP to gain legitimacy among the peasantry.

Six Principles of the Red Army

Rules for soldiers emphasizing discipline, respect for civilians, and fair treatment, which were crucial for winning support from peasants.

Nanjing Massacre

A 1937 mass atrocity committed by Japanese troops in Nanjing involving mass disrespect of human rights and horrific war crimes.

Taiwan

An island off the coast of China where Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists fled and set up a government after losing the civil war.

Cadres

Professional revolutionaries and managers who executed CCP policies, enforced land reform, and spread propaganda to bridge the gap between leadership and the population.

Reunification Campaigns

Drives to consolidate control over peripheral territories like Tibet and Xinjiang to create a centralized communist state.

Three Antis Campaign

A political campaign targeting corruption, waste, and bureaucratism among government officials to strengthen party discipline.

Five Antis Campaign

A campaign targeting the urban bourgeoisie for bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, and economic espionage to eliminate capitalist influence.

Labels

Categorizations like 'landlord' or 'counter-revolutionary' used by the CCP to justify repression, arrests, and the elimination of opposition.

Struggle Sessions

Public meetings where individuals were accused of crimes, humiliated, and abused by the community to enforce social pressure and conformity.

Laogai

A system of forced labor camps for political prisoners and criminals used for re-education and as a source of labor for economic projects.

Land Reform

The early 1950s redistribution of land from landlords to peasants that destroyed the landlord class but involved widespread violence and struggle sessions.

Politburo

The top decision-making body of the CCP; though theoretically collective, Mao Zedong was the primary decision-maker who could override others.

Democratic Centralism

A system where party members may discuss policies, but must strictly follow decisions once they have been finalized by the leadership.

Korean War

A conflict from 1950 to 1953 in which China's involvement boosted Mao's prestige, strengthened nationalism, and justified internal militarization.

United Nations

An international organization that excluded Mao's China until 1971 while it was initially represented by the Nationalists.

Monolithic

The concept of a completely unified society without internal divisions, opposition, or diversity of thought, which was Mao's goal for Chinese society.

Bamboo Curtain

A term referring to China's isolation from the non-communist world during the early Cold War, similar to the Iron Curtain.

Zhou Enlai

The first premier of the People's Republic of China and a leading official important for diplomacy and governing state affairs.

Lin Biao

A senior military leader and close ally of Mao who helped build the cult of personality and led the army before falling from favor.

Hukou

A household registration system that classified citizens as rural or urban, restricting migration and tying access to jobs and services to birth location.

De-Stalinization

A Soviet policy criticizing Stalin's authoritarian rule, which Mao viewed as a threat to his own leadership style and ideology.

Hundred Flowers Campaign

A movement that encouraged citizens to openly criticize the government, though Mao later punished those who did during the Anti-Rightist movement.

Anti-Rightist Movement

A campaign following the Hundred Flowers movement that purged intellectuals and critics by labeling them rightists and sentencing them to forced labor or exile.

Deng Xiaoping

A senior CCP leader strong in economic policy who eventually led China through major economic reforms after Mao's death.

Peng Dehuai

A high-ranking military leader and defense minister who was purged after criticizing the failures of the Great Leap Forward.

Tibetan Uprising

A 1959 revolt against CCP control in Tibet that was violently suppressed and led to the exile of the Dalai Lama.

Cultural Revolution

A mass political campaign (1966-1976) by Mao to reassert control and enforce communist ideology through the mobilization of youth and the purging of enemies.

Liu Shaoqi

A senior CCP leader and president of China who was purged as a 'capitalist roader' during the Cultural Revolution and died in disgrace.

Little Red Book

A widely distributed collection of Mao's quotes that became a symbol of his ideology and authority during the Cultural Revolution.

Gang of Four

A political group of four leaders, including Jiang Qing, who were blamed for the violence and failures of the Cultural Revolution and arrested after Mao's death.

Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG)

A powerful body overseeing the Cultural Revolution that bypassed traditional party structures to guide the direction of the movement and political purges.

Jiang Qing

Mao's wife and a member of the Gang of Four who used her influence to promote radical ideology and attack political enemies during the Cultural Revolution.

Red Guards

Groups of students and young people encouraged by Mao to challenge authority and spread revolutionary ideology through widespread violence.

Four Olds

The target of a Cultural Revolution campaign seeking to eliminate old customs, culture, habits, and ideas from Chinese society.

Cleansing the Class Ranks

A later phase of the Cultural Revolution focused on purging suspected class enemies within the CCP and society to consolidate Mao's control.

Ping Pong Diplomacy

A series of exchanges between American and Chinese table tennis players in the early 1970s that paved the way for improved US-China relations.

Sino-Soviet Split

The breakdown of relations between China and the USSR due to ideological and political differences over the leadership of the communist world.

Bandung Conference

A 1955 meeting of Asian and African nations in Indonesia to promote cooperation and reduce reliance on superpowers.

Tiananmen Incident 1976

A public protest in Beijing mourning Zhou Enlai and criticizing the Gang of Four, showing dissatisfaction with radical Maoist policies.

Command Economy

A state-controlled economic system where the government owns production, sets quotas, and determines prices to industrialize the nation.

First Five Year Plan

A 1953-1957 economic policy modeled on Soviet methods that focused on rapid industrialization and socialist transformation, successfully growing the economy by 9% per year.

Great Leap Forward

A campaign to further industrialize China through rural reorganization and collectivization that ultimately resulted in the Great Chinese Famine.

Backyard Furnaces

Small furnaces built in homes and urban areas to smelt steel during the Great Leap Forward, which largely produced unusable pig iron and caused massive deforestation.

Iron Rice Bowl

A system of lifetime employment and welfare benefits providing job security for workers in government-owned units in exchange for career freedom.

Applied Communism

Also known as Maoism, this adaptation of Marxism emphasized mass mobilization and identified the peasantry as the primary force for revolution.

Great Famine

The deadliest famine in history (15-55 million deaths) caused by the failure of the Great Leap Forward, collectivization, and mismanagement.

Collectivization

The process of consolidating land and resources into large communal farms where the state directly controlled production and income distribution.

Communes

Large collective farms created during the Great Leap Forward that combined agricultural and industrial production and organized peasants into shared spaces.

Lysenkoism

A pseudo-scientific agricultural theory rejecting genetics that influenced practices during the Great Leap Forward and worsened the famine.

Pinyin

A system for romanizing Chinese characters using the Latin alphabet developed to improve literacy rates and standardize communication.

Patriotic Health Movements

Mass campaigns aimed at improving public health and hygiene by mobilizing citizens to eliminate disease and improve sanitation.

Barefoot Doctors

Healthcare workers with basic training who provided medical care in rural villages, combining traditional and modern practices.

1950 Marriage Law

A law that banned child marriage, arranged marriages, and polygamy to promote gender equality and weaken traditional patriarchal systems.

Religious policies

CCP measures promoting atheism and restricting religious practices to maintain ideological control and reduce the influence of competing belief systems.

Female Infanticide

The traditional practice of killing infant girls due to a preference for male children, which the CCP officially opposed as part of its push for gender equality.

Lucien Bianco

A historian who emphasizes that peasant support was the crucial factor in Mao's rise to power.

Jung Chang

A historian who argues that Mao's rise was driven by manipulation and brutality rather than popular support, emphasizing the suffering caused by his policies.

Frank Dikötter

A historian who argues that Mao maintained power through violence, terror, and repression, and highlights the failure of the Great Leap Forward.

Maurice Meisner

A historian with a more sympathetic perspective, emphasizing the role of ideology and mass participation in Mao's China.

Mark Selden

A historian who highlights the social gains achieved under Mao, such as improvements in literacy and healthcare.