AP World HistoryPOD #23 – Emerging Asia

Mao Zedong

Class Discussion Notes

Bulliet – “Beyond A Bipolar World (Japan and China)”, pp. 866-867

Red China China was at the center of Cold War politics Mao and the Communists defeated the

Nationalists (Guomindang) in 1949 securing control of the mainland establishing the People’s Republic of China and forcing Chaing Kai-shek and the Nationalists into exile on the island of Taiwan

China established close ties with the Soviet Union, gaining arms from the Soviets

Sino-Soviet Split “By 1956, however, the PRC and the Soviet Union

were beginning to diverge politically, partly in reaction to the Soviet rejection of Stalinism and partly because of China’s reluctance to accept the role of subordinate. Mao had his own notions of communism that focused strongly on the peasantry, which the Soviets had ignored in favor of the industrial working class.” (Bulliet, p. 866)

Great Leap Forward Economic reform agenda intended to

propel China into the ranks of the world economic powers initiated in 1958

Attempted to maximize the output of small-scale, village level industries through a series of Five Year Plans

Mass collectivization of agriculture

Great Leap Backward Mao carried out these reforms despite the

criticism from the Soviets and traditional economists

The Five Year Plans resulted in highly inefficient and ineffective industrial productivity

The peasants were greatly dismayed by collectivization – this was not the land reform and redistribution they envisioned

By 1962 the revolutionary reforms were a miserable failure leading to an estimated 20 to 30 million deaths

Cultural Revolution A second round of reforms initiated by Mao in

1966 and ideologically rooted in his own Little Red Book

He ordered the mass mobilization of Chinese youth into Red Guard units

Goal – rekindle the revolutionary fervor in a new generation and increase his own political power

Red Guard units purged teachers, party officials and intellectuals for “bourgeois values”

500,000 were killed and 3 million more were purged by 1971

Jiang Qing Mao finally admitted that the attacks on

individuals had gone too far and personally intervened to put an end to the chaos and reestablish order

Jiang Qing was the wife of Mao and controlled the final years of the Cultural Revolution along with a group of radical allies putting in place harsh restrictions and limitations on artistic and intellectual activity

Sino-American Relations “The rift between the PRC and the Soviet Union allowed

the U.S. President Richard Nixon (served 1969-1974) to revive relations with China. In 1971, the United States agreed to allow the PRC to join the United Nations and occupy China’s permanent seat on the Security Council. This decision necessitated the expulsion of the Chinese nationalist government based on the island of Taiwan, which had previously claimed to be the only legal Chinese authority. The following year, Nixon visited Beijing, initiating a new era of enhanced cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the United States.” (Bulliet, pp. 866-867)