Communists Take Control of China 2

Derek, Noah, Cameron, Alec, Adam

World War II in China

• Mao Zedong was communist leader held stronghold in northwestern China.
• Guerrilla War against Japanese 
• Communist win peasants loyalty from improved food production and literacy.
• Nationalists forces under Jiang Jieshi.
• Southwestern China army of 2.5 million men
• U.S aids Nationalists
• Not many battles against Japanese
• Japan surrenders and Nationalists vs Communists start again.

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The War resumes 

• Lasted from 1946 to 1949.
• Nationalists have advantage more men and more aid
• Economy collapses and thousands of troops go over to the communists.
• Mao keeps giving promises to peasants
• 1949,Mao gains control of the country he called it peoples Republic of China.
• Chinese and soviets sign treaty to alliance in 1950 this made U.S have stronger feelings toward communism.

Super powers react

• China split into two nations
• Jiang Jishei fled to Taiwan where he set up a nationalist government under the help of the U.S.
•  Soveits give aid and help to China 
• The United States tried to stop the expansion of the Soveits in Asia.

China expands under communists

• During the early years of Mao's reign his troops expanded into Tibet, India, and Mongolia.
• 1950 to 1951 a brutal assault occurred in Tibet and china took over.
•  This take over led to the dalai lama leaving Tibet and went to India man Tibetans Followed.
• This angered china and conflict broke out between the two countries In 1962 but this was shortly lived but Hatred still continued.

Communist Claim New Mandate of Heaven

• After the communist took control of China they began to strengthen their hold.
•  The party's 4.5 million members only made up 1% of China's population but they were a very disiplined group.
•  Just like the Soviets the communists set up two parallel organizations:the communist party and the national government.
•  Mao Zedong headed both until 1959.

Mao's Brand of Marxist Socialism

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• Mao wanted to reshape China's economy based on Marxist socialism.
•  Eighty percent of the people lived in rural areas but most owned no land.
• Instead ten percent of the rural population owned seventy percent of the land.
• Under the Agrarian Reform law of 1950 Mao seized the holdings of these landlords.
•  Mao's forces killed more then a million landlords that resisted.
• He then divided the land among peasants who worked on the farms together.
•  Mao's changes also transformed industry.
• Private companies were nationalized or brought under government ownership.
• Mao's 5 year plan set high production goals for industry and by 1957 China's output of coal,cement,steel,and electricity had increased dramatically.

"The Great Leap Forward" 

• Plan that called for large farm called communes.
• By end of 1958, 26,000 communes created, each covering 15,000 acres and supporting 25,000 people.
• Everything was done in a communal way: people slept in ate in a communal dining rooms, slept in communal dormitories, raised kids in communal nurseries
• Everybody owned nothing, only the state profited from their work
•  Giant step backward
• Program ended in 1961 after crop failures caused a famine that killed 20 million people. 

New Policies and Mao's Response

• China and the Soviet Union both wanted to lead the worldwide Communist movement, faced numerous territorial disputes because of shared borders
• After the Great Leap Forward failed and the split with the soviet union, others moved away from Mao's strict socialist ideas
• Farmers could now sell their crops and factory workers could compete for increases in wages and promotions
• Mao urged young people to revive the revolution 
• Millions of high school and college student left class and formed militia units called "Red Guards" 

The Cultural Revolution

• Major uprising led by the Red Guards
• Goal was to establish a society of peasants and workers who were all equal.
• Red guards shut down colleges and schools
• Targeted anyone who resisted the regime, intellectuals had to purify themselves by doing hard manual labor
• Thousands were executed and imprisoned
• By 1968, Mao admitted cultural revolution had to stop
• Army was forced to put down Red Guards
• Zhou Enlai, founder of the Chinese Communist Party, restored order

The 5 Major Facts

•  After World War II, Chinese Communists defeated Nationalists forces and two separate Chinas emerged

• China is currently still a communist country.

• 1942-1945 the United States sent Nationalists at least $1.5 billion for aid to fight the Japanese.

•A raging civil war between the Nationalists and the communists when the Japanese invaded China, and after  Japan surrendered the Nationalists and Communists resumed fighting

• Under the leader, Mao Zedong the Communists had a stronghold in northwestern China. Meanwhile, the Nationalists forces under Jiang Jieshi dominated southwestern China.