China and the

Rise of

Communism Democracy’s Failed Battleground

Big Trouble in Little China

• Qing Dynasty Falls (1911)

• New republic under Sun Yixian and Shikai

• Warlords began to seize power

– Foreign powers increased influence

– Take over N. China

Dealing with the Warlords

• Sun Yixian and Nationalist Party form gov’t in S. China

– Raises an army to defeat warlords

– Western powers refuse to help so he goes to Russia

• 1920’s Chinese Communists form political party

Death and a Change in

Leadership

• Sun Yixian died 1925

• Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek) took control of Nationalist Party

– Did not like Communism or democracy

An Unlikely Alliance

• Nationalists join forces w/ Communists against

• Mao Zedong – leading member of Communist party

– Believed Communists should look for support among peasants

The Shanghai Massacre, 1927

• Communists winning supporters

• Jieshi doesn’t like this

– Orders slaughter of Communists and workers who support them

• Civil war starts that lasts 22 years

• Communists join forces w/ the Nationalists – Mao Zedong (Communist)

• Organizes guerrilla attacks against Japanese

• Improves literary and food production

– Gains peasant’s loyalty

• Controls N. China

– Jiang Jieshi • Controlled S. China • Aided by the US

– Much of the money and aid went to corrupt officers

• Fought few battles against Japan

Please pause for a brief

intermission during WWII

Civil War Starts Again

• Communists and Nationalists fight again WWII

– Lasted from 1946-1949

– Communists initially outnumbered

– US pull back on support of Nationalists

The Creation of Two Chinas

• People turn to Communism

– Oct. 1949, Mao gains control of China

– Names it People’s Republic of China (PRC)

• Jieshi flees to Taiwan

– Recognized by the US as Republic of China

People’s Republic of China

(PRC) - 1949

China in the Cold War

• US aids Nationalist gov’t in Taiwan

• USSR aids the Communist gov’t in China

– Chinese and USSR sign a pact to always come to each other’s aid

Chinese Expansion

• Tibet (1950)

• Parts of India

• Fighting French in Indochina

• Southern Mongolia

– Clashed with USSR

Tibet and China

• 1950 China takes Tibet

– Chinese promised Tibetans autonomy under Dalai Lama (religious leader)

– Chinese control tightens, Dalai Lama flees to India

– India took in Tibetan refugees after 1959 failed revolt

• Creates resentment btw India and China

Communist Stability

• Mao reforms

– Agrarian Reform Law (1950)

• Seizes land from large landlords – Kills over a million who resist

• Redistributes land to lower classes

– Nationalized industry

• Gov’t owned

• Huge increases in production

– Collective farms

The 100 Flowers Campaign

• People reject his changes

– Mao lets people state grievances

– Angry about demands, Mao stops program and murders dissenters

Great Leap Forward, 1958

• Five-Year Plan in 1955

– Failed because it was “not bold enough”

• Great Leap Forward (1958) meant to fix problems

– Communes created – larger collective farms

• Life strictly controlled by gov’t

• People owned nothing

– Ended 1961 after famine killed 15-40 million people

China and the

USSR

• Problems start btw China and USSR

– USSR and China share huge borders – leads to fighting

– China wants to own Communist decisions

• By the late 1950s, both countries want to be the leading communist country

Mao Backs Off (kind of)

• After Great Leap Forward (1961), Mao reduces gov’t role

– New leaders move away from strict policies

• Families could own homes and sell crops they grew on private plots of land

– Mao said weakened China’s goal of equality

• Called for cultural revolution – High school and college students form RED GUARD

Cultural Revolution, 1966

• Lead by Red Guards

• Cultural Revolution – Goal: establish equal society of

peasants and workers

– Hero: peasant who works hard

– Enemy: scholar, artist who questioned

– All students read the Little Red Book – explained ideology of Chinese Communism

• Anyone who resisted was targeted

End of the Cultural

Revolution

• 1968 - Mao ordered stop to Cultural Revolution

– Used army to put down Red Guards

– Zhou Enlai, Communist party founder and premier, restored order