Emphasis on - The Mao Years 1949 Maoism 1976

1. Observe how Mao gained the “love and support” of the Peasants during his “Long March” 2. Examine the ideology and indoctrination of the Chinese people by Mao’s “Little Red Book”

3. Examine power of propaganda - censorship and other “tools of persuasion” such as concentration camps

4. Analyze the purpose and implementation of the Great Leap Forward. Examine the reality.

5. Analyze the purpose and implementation of the Cultural Revolution and Red Guards. Examine the reality.

6. Role of China in the Korean War (1950) and the invasion of Tibet (1959)

7. Historical significance of President Richard Nixon’s visit to China February 1972

D.

China

A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an

insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.

In Following the Revolutionary Road, Strive for an Even Greater Victory Mao as the Reddest Red Sun in people's hearts, floating above Tiananmen Square, At the front of the huge, Little Red Book-wa\ang crowd are the figures of a worker, peasant, and soldier, while representatives from other occupations stand just behind. The Book was compiled bom Mao's Selected Works by L i n Biao in the early .1960s to be used for propaganda work in the People's Liberation A r m y After the Cultural Revolution began, it became an integral part of the ritual of Mao worship. By 1970, this kind of orchestrated adulation [staged praise] and the power of L i n Biao were both at tlieir zenith [height].

Source: Picturing Power: Posters from the Chinese Cultural Revolution Exhibit, Indiana University

• According to this document, what was one way that Mao's government attempted to influence die people of China? [l]

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In an attempt to break with the Russian model of Communism and to catch up with more advanced nations, Mao proposed that China should make a "great leap forward" into modernisation. H e began a militant Five Year Plan to promote technology and agricultural self-sufficiency. Overnight, fertile rice fields were ploughed over, and factory construction work began. Labour-intensive methods were introduced and farming collectivised on a massive scale. The campaign created about 23,500 communes, each controUing its own means of production. But former farmers had no idea how to actually use the new factories and what was once fertile crop land went to waste on a disastrous scale. The Great Leap Forward was held responsible for famine in 1960 and 1961. Twenty million people starved, and Mao Zedong withdrew temporarily from public view.

Source: BBC News, Special Reports, China's Communist Revolution

(Based on this B B C News article, what is one effect the Great Leap Forward had on China's economy? [l]

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This select ion is an excerpt f r o m a m e m o i r of N i e n C h e n g , w h o is descr ibing the personal experiences of a fr iend dur ing the G r e a t L e a p F o r w a r d , an industr ial izat ion program after the C h i n e s e C o m m u n i s t Revolut ion.

W h e n L i Z h e n [a Chinese woman] re turned to Shanghai, the city was suffering f rom a severe food shortage as a result o f the catastrophic economic failure of the Creat L e a p F o r w a r d Campaign launched b y M a o Z e d o n g i n 1958. L o n g lines o f people were f o r m i n g at dawn at Shanghai pol i ce stations, wait ing to apply for exit permits to leave the country. This was such an embarassment for the Shanghai authorities that they v i e w e d L i Zhen's return from affluent H o n g K o n g to starving Shanghai as an opportu­nity for propaganda . . . to help project an image of popular support for the C o m m u n i s t Party. . . . T h e government granted members of this organization [the C o m m u n i s t Party] certain minor privileges, such as better housing and the use of a special restau­rant.

— Life and Death In Shanghai, Cheng , 1986

W h a t was the effect of the Great L e a p F o r w a r d on the people? [i]

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^ - H o w d i d the Chinese Communist Party treat members of its organization differently from nonmembers?

[i]

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H o w w o u l d an official of the Chinese C o m m u n i s t Party react to this excerpt? [i]

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A revolut ion is an upris ing, an act of violence whereby one class overthrows another A r u r a l revolut ion is a revolut ion by w h i c h the peasantry overthrows the authority of the feudal landlord class. If the peasants do not use the m a x i m u m of their strength, they can never overthrow the authority of the landlords w h i c h has been deeply rooted for thousands of years.

— M a o Zedong , 1927

A c c o r d i n g to M a o Z e d o n g , a revolution w o u l d involve struggle between w h i c h two classes o f people

This is an excerpt from Chapter 1, Cenera l Principles , of the 1954 "Consti tution of the People's Republ ic of C h i n a . "

Article 1 T h e People's Republic of C h i n a is a people's democratic state led by the working class and based on the alliance of workers and peasants. . . .

Article 6 T h e state sector of the economy is the socialist sector owned by the whole people. It is the leading force in the national economy and the material basis on w h i c h the state carries out sociahst transformation. The state ensures priority for the development of the state sector of the economy.

A H minera l resources and waters, as w e l l as forests, undeveloped land and other resources w h i c h the state owns by law, are the property of the whole people.

Article 7 T h e co-operative sector of the economy is either sociahst, w h e n collectively ovraed by the masses of working people, or semi-sociahst, when i n part collectively owned by the masses of working people. Partial collective ownership by the masses of working people is a transitional fonn by means of which individual peasants, individual handicraftsmen and other individual working people organize themselves i n their advance towards collective ownership by the masses of w o r k i n g people. . . .

Source: Constitutions of Asian Countries, N. M. Tripathi Private

Based o n these articles from the "Const i tut ion of the People's RepubUc of C h i n a , " state two characteristics of the communist economic system in C h i n a . [2]

(1)

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(2)

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