Qing Dynasty Collapses

• In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the Qing Dynasty weakened until it collapsed

• Sun Yat-Sen became the first provisional president of the Republic of China, and eventually gave power to Yuan Shikai

• After some time, Yuan Shikai declared himself emperor-- people were unhappy with this, as China had moved past dynastic rule

• Because China was no longer centralized, the Warlord Era began

Warlord Era

• Regions were controlled by different warlords with their own militaries

• After Sun Yat-Sen’s death, Jiang Jieshi began to continue his movement with the Kuomintang/Guomindang (Nationalist) movement

• However, after WW1 ended, an anti-imperialist movement arose in China (people were done being controlled by countries with spheres of influence)

• From this movement, the Chinese Communist Party was created

  • Called for a Communist party in the government

  • Seen as a threat by Jiang Jieshi, so he sent members of the Kuomintang (KMT) to massacre communists and sympathizers

  • The KMT and the CCP quickly became locked in conflict: the Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War

• Communists-- Red Army, heavily persecuted by Nationalists and forced to retreat

• Nationalists had the advantage at first, nearly destroying the organizational structure of the CCP

• However, Mao quickly gained followers-- especially through the Long March in which the Red Army escaped the KMT in a long march across China

• However, the fighting was interrupted when Japan invaded China

WW2 in China

• The Red Army and the Nationalists temporarily stopped fighting each other to work together to fight off Japan

• Mao Zedong and the Communists:

  • Controlled most of northern China

  • Mobilized peasants for a guerilla war against Japan

  • Promoted literacy and improved food production, won loyalty for this

• Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists:

  • Controlled most of southern China

  • Were aided by the US but most of the money was kept by corrupt officers

  • Had an army of 2.5 million but saved their strength for the battle against the Red Army of the communists

• After WW2, the fighting between the Communists and Nationalists resumed

Civil War Resumes

• The Nationalists had a larger army and aid from the US, but little popular support

• Communist troops were loyal due to Mao’s promise to return the land to peasants

• The Red Army took control of China’s major cities

• Mao gained control of China and the Nationalists fled to the island of Taiwan

• The People’s Republic of China and the USSR signed a treaty of friendship soon after

Transformations in China

• Chinese troops expanded into Tibet, India, and Inner Mongolia

• Mao issued the Agrarian Reform Law

  • 10% of the rural population controlled almost all the farmland

  • This law allowed Mao to seize their lands and divide them among the peasants

  • His forces killed over a million landlords who resisted

  • This greatly reduced economic inequality

• Private companies were nationalized (became owned by the government)

• Campaign to Suppress Counter-revolutionaries-- public executions targeting:

  • Former KMT officials

  • Businessmen accused of “disturbing” the market

  • Former employees of Western companies

  • Intellectuals whose loyalties were suspicious

• Campaign to reduce opium addiction, which nearly eradicated the problem but executed drug dealers and forced addicts into treatment

• Hundred Flowers Campaign-- people were encouraged to share ideas and criticisms about the government, but a few months later the policy was reversed and people who had spoken out were executed

• Mao created a Five-Year Plan setting high industrial production goals that greatly increased Chinese production

Great Leap Forward

• Meant to further the success of the Five-Year Plan

• Called for larger collective farms called communes

  • Giant farms of thousands of acres of farmland

  • Supported thousands of peasants

  • Everything was communally shared

  • No one owned any personal items

• Because only the state profited, people had no incentive to work

• The program ended after crop failures caused a famine that killed millions

Post Sino-Soviet Split

• After the Great Leap Forward backfired, Mao took less of a role in the government

• The government leaders began to move away from his strictly socialist ideals

  • Farm workers could live in their own homes

  • Farmers could sell crops grown on private plots

  • Factory workers could earn wage increases and promotions

• Mao was unhappy with this and thought it weakened social equality

• He convinced millions of young people to form militia units called Red Guards

• They led an uprising, the Cultural Revolution, with the goal of creating a society where all were equal

The Cultural Revolution

• Working peasants were heroes, while intellectuals and artists were considered dangerous

• Red Guards shut down schools and made intellectuals "purify” themselves through hard labor

• Historical artifacts and cultural sites were destroyed to eliminate traditional parts of society

• Anyone who was considered a threat was persecuted and even killed

End of the Cultural Revolution

• Thousands were killed or imprisoned during the Revolution

• The chaos endangered farm production and caused factories to shut down

• The army was ordered to put down the Red Guards and the Communist Party began to restore order

US and Russia Involvement

• The US helped Jiang Jieshi set up a Nationalist government in Taiwan

• The USSR gave aid to Communist China and the countries pledged to defend each other if one was attacked

• However, as time passed, China and the USSR began to clash more often

  • Fought over border disputes

  • Political competition to be seen as the leader of the Communist movement

• Sino-Soviet Split- CCP ideology separated from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

  • After Stalin’s death, the USSR began to branch out and seek worldwide coexistence

  • The CCP wanted to root out capitalist and traditional elements of society and became strictly Marxist

Worldwide Effects

• China provided military and financial support to Communists in Korea and Vietnam

• Mao helped expand communism in Latin America (Cuba, Peru, Bolivia)

• Latin American communist leaders came to China to learn about Mao’s techniques for ruling

• African revolutionaries later did the same and used these tactics in their own countries