Mao Zedong &

China
Authoritarian leader and state
Starter
• Watch the first two minutes of this
video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
02SHeHR3zOg&ab_channel=AlphaHi
story

• According to the video, what were

the characteristics of Mao as a ruler,
and what was his legacy?
Road to communist
China
• What was the road to Communist takeover of
government?
• First Chinese civil war (1927-1936)
• Second-Sino Japanese war (1937-1945)
• Second Chinese civil war (1945-1949)
• Theme One: Emergence of China as an authoritarian
state
• What were the circumstances in which Mao
become leader of China?
• How did Mao and the CCP establish their
power?
• We will need to look specifically at:
• Economic factors
• Social factors
• Political factors
• Impact of war
Long term
problems for
Imperial China
• Recap time!
• Discuss: What problems did
China face from the late 19th
century until the 1920s?
• Government
• Army
• Economy
• Foreign influence
China, a Century in Revolution
• To understand the circumstances in which Mao became leader of the CCP and ultimately
of China, watch the following video, China, a Century in Revolution:
https://youtu.be/I5cl0GjPjy4
• The Documentary comes from PBS and was first shown in 1989
• It’s in two parts and the running time is 1 hour and 53 minutes.
• The video starts in 1911 so it gives a good context to the rise of Mao and traces the key
events from Sun Yet Sen, through the Northern Expedition and then the outbreak of the
civil war. It also includes interesting eye-witness accounts.
• As you watch, make notes on the key factors that allow the CCP to be successful between
1928 and 1936 (later from 1936 to 1949)
• Project on Inna
Post video discussion
• It could be argued that the final success of the CCP could never have
occurred if it had not been for the successes achieved by the CCP
between 1928 and 1936
• From what you have learned from the video discuss in pairs:
• The successes of the CCP during this period
• Why the GMD failed to destroy the communists
Did you have these points?
• CCP Successes
• The Long March ensured CCP survival and offered a defensible base in Yenan
• It was also a propaganda victory; the CCP were able to use the journey to proclaim their
policies and they won patriotic support for their claim to be going North to fight the
Japanese. It gave the CCP fighting experience.
• The war with Japan and Mao's offer to create a joint front with the Nationalists against
the Japanese allowed the CCP to pose as the true nationalists.
• GMD Errors
• The failure of the GMD to defeat the CCP led many to question their long term ability to
win the war.
• The decision to deal with the CCP before the Japanese, lost them a good deal of patriotic
support.
• The treatment of peasants by the GMD forces during the war lost them popularity.
Mao’s background and troubles in China
• Mao’s background
• Son of a prosperous farmer
• Had basic education – unlike most peasants
• Worked as an assistant library in Beijing
• Responses to China’s foreign interference
• First Sino-Japanese war – Chinese failure that emphasizes the problems they faced
• Boxer rebellion 1900: Violent reaction against foreign influence in China, especially Christianity, supported by
the empress dowager Cixi. Suppressed by foreign troops
• Sun Yixian (Sun Yat-Sen) and the Guomindang. Calls for Nationalism, Democracy and People’s livelihood
• Revolution 1911
• Badly organized but the last Qing Emperor is replaced by a Republic
• At first Sun Yixian becomes president but he is soon replaced by Yuan Shikai, who used the army to maneuver
into power
• Yuan is seen as being responsible for three main failures:
• Failure to create an orderly and effective system of parliamentary government
• Attempting to restore the monarchy
• Encouraging warlordism
• In 1916 Yuan Shikai tried to be proclaimed emperor but failed and died soon after
China and World War I
• China was an inviting victim in World War I
• European powers’ attention were turned to Europe and Japan took advantage of this
• China was also in disarray with Yuan Shikai vying with other warlords for control of the country
• Japan made the Twenty-One demands on China in 1915
• This included rights in former German areas in Shandong province including railways and cities
• Rights in southern Manchuria and Eastern inner Mongolia, including extraterritoriality and right of
settlement and economic influence
• China was forbidden to give further concessions to other powers
• China was supposed to hire Japanese advisors that would take effective control of its finances and police
• Yuan Shikai’s government accepted as it was in no position to fight back
• Entry and fate in World War I
• To secure future Western assistance later China ended up declaring war on Germany in 1917
• Despite being a victor in the war China was forced to relinquish control of territories in Shandong to
Japan
The May Fourth Movement
• People were unhappy with China in World War I
• The state of China: No stability or peace, failure of democracy,
warlordism and violence, no sense of direction
• Nationalism: Foreign influence continued during WWI and after
• Changes in Chinese society: Bigger middle class from trade and
working class in cities, increased nationalism and political
participation, people more open to new ideas
• Events of 1919: May Fourth incident
• The Chinese believed that the Versailles Conference following the
First World War would work in their favour given Woodrow Wilson’s
14 points which emphasised self-determination.
• Japan, however, came first for the Allies, who supported their position
on China
• This caused outrage in China; students at Beijing university held a
large demonstration on May 4th 1919
• Protests and strikes and demands for abolition of foreign concessions
spread to other parts of China
May Fourth Movement
• Read the following two extracts.
• '[The May Fourth Movement was] led by intellectuals who brought both the
new cultural ideas of science and democracy and the new patriotism into a
common focus in an anti-imperialist programme' . J Fairbank
• It was as if the far-off events at Versailles and the mounting evidence of the
spinelessness of corrupt local politicians coalesced in people’s minds and
impelled them to search for a way to return meaning to Chinese culture. What
did it mean to be Chinese? Where was the country heading? What values
should one adopt to help one in the search? In this broad sense, the May
Fourth movement was an attempt to redefine China’s culture as a valid part of
the modern world’ J. Spence pg. 312
• What were the main characteristics of this movement?
 China in the Warlord era
• After Yuan Shikai died in 1916 China effectively disintegrated into various
competing states
• ‘..this period…[was] the darkest in republican history’ Immanuel Hsü
• ‘The warlord period exemplified the extremity of China’s territorial disintegration’
John Fairbank
• The warlord regimes had several characteristics in common:
• Loyalty was maintained through a variety of methods: discipline, personal loyalty,
regional feeling and patriotism;
• Conditions varied; some soldiers were very harshly treated, others drank and smoked
heavily, spending more time gambling than training;
• Each warlord was responsible for civil and military administration. Some taxed heavily
• The warlords encouraged the planting of opium to provide a source of income
• Public projects were ignored and trade was restricted, and modernisation projects
stalled;
• Most warlords were connected in some ways with foreign political or economic
concerns.
• Northern warlords benefitted especially by cooperation with the Japanese
• Political stances ranged from reactionary to pro-reform
• Some warlords disseminated nationalistic and patriotic ideas because they believed in
them as a way of legitimising their actions.
• But all relied on force for their rule, none worked with political parties
• All participated in wars of expansion or defence.
• And their soldiers lived off the land causing hardship for the people in under the rule
Origins of the CCP (Chinese communist
party)
• The Chinese Communist Party [CCP] was established in 1921 in Shanghai.
• The party was tiny at this stage and had just 432 members by 1923.
• Soviet influence on the party was substantial
• The Soviet Union was against imperialism and thus an ally for nationalist Chinese in
their fight against foreign concessions
• The CCP was not only inspired by the successful Bolshevik revolution in Russia in
October 1917 but there was also direct involvement from Soviet Comintern agents
who arrived in China in 1920.
• Together with Chinese Marxists, Comintern Agent Voitinsky drew the party
together. Therefore, the CCP was initially under the influence of the Soviet
Communist Party and indeed was structured in line with the Soviet Communist
Party (CPSU).
How were the CCP and the CPSU similar?
• Both were run by a party elite – the Central Committee - and this elite had control
over party members.
• Like the CPSU (Communist party of the Soviet Union) it followed the principle of
‘democratic centralism’ whereby the leaders discussed policy but once a decision
had been made all had to abide by it.
• No opposition to party decisions was allowed.
• Membership was controlled by the Party Secretary and was organized through
elected national, provincial and local officials.
• The rank and file members had to execute party policies set down by the
leadership. Therefore, the leadership rather than the party made policy.
• Party congresses were held frequently to ensure unity of purpose and to motivate
members. This structure meant that the leader of the party had extensive power.
To what extent was the CCP nationalistic?
• The May Fourth Movement was also significant in the establishment of the
CCP as several of its founding members had been involved in the May Fourth
demonstrations.
• Two Chinese professors, Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were the leading members
of the party.
• Chen Duxiu became the first leader of the CCP and he supported the Comintern’s ideas
for the party.
• Li Dazhao, however, was more independent in his thinking. He was more of a nationalist
communist who wanted to adapt Marxist ideas to the reality of conditions in China; he
thus had different solutions to China's problems to those of the Comintern.
• From the beginning there were thus two ideological factions within the CCP.
These factions would vie for control of the party for over a decade.
Orthodox vs. National Comunism
• In pairs read through the chart below and discuss the differences between the orthodox and
national communist factions.

• What would be the

benefits of supporting the
orthodox group?
• What advantages would
there be in supporting the
national communists?
Why did the CCP join in the First United
Front?
• Weakness of the CCP in 1923
• Neither the CCP nor the GMD was strong enough to independently attempt to unify China in
the early 1920s; China was deeply fragmented, divided by regionalism, warlords and foreign
imperialist control.
• Role of the Soviet Union and the Comintern
• The Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin did not believe that China was ready for a communist
revolution. He ordered the Comintern to facilitate an alliance between the middle class
nationalist GMD and the CCP. CCP members were permitted to join the GMD but there was
no merger of the two parties.
• Lenin’s plan was that the CCP would help the GMD to take power but would at the same
time infiltrate senior positions in the GMD. The CCP would then be in a position to finally
seize power from the GMD. Moscow had attempted to establish diplomatic relations with
the Beijing government; however when this failed the Soviet decided to work with the GMD
and CCP.
• The intention was to gain influence in China by removing the pro-western government. The
Comintern provided the GMD and CCP with political and military advisers and some
economic assistance.
United Front Power Sharing
• Leadership of the Guomindang
• The leader of the GMD, Sun Yixian, died in 1925 whilst planning the Northern Expedition in which the
forces of the First United Front would defeat the warlords.
• General Jiang Jieshi took over as leader of the GMD and the expedition
• Jiang was further to the political right than Sun and was also deeply suspicious and hostile towards the
communists.
• Wang Jingwei was another more left leaning leader who the CCP would have preferred
• United Government
• In the Wuhan government in 1926 communists controlled the ministries for worker and peasant affairs.
• Mao was in charge of the Agitprop department which managed propaganda for the First United Front.
• The communists had around 50% share of the membership of the main committees, including the
Central Committee.
• In Shanghai, the key activist was Zhou Enlai.
• The First United Front set out to unify China by force in the Northern Expedition in 1926.
• Jiang successfully led the First United Front on the Northern Expedition [1926-27]. Joint CCP-GMD
forces aimed to defeat the warlords and create a strong central government. Although Jiang was
ultimately successful he did not militarily ‘defeat’ all of the warlords, but instead brokered deals with
several of them to join his forces.
New start in 1927
• In 1927 Jiang turned on the CCP – over 5000 communists killed in
Shanghai
• The rest went into hiding or exile
• Mao went south and established the Jiangxi Soviet
• Change in ideology
• Peasantry no longer seen as backward but capable of leading the revolution
• USSR distrustful
• Land reform rather than collectivization
• Richer peasants included in the benefits
• Changes in tactics
• Guerrilla tactics
 Consolidation and
maintenance of power
Mao
Guiding questions
• How did Mao deal with opposition?
• How important was propaganda in the consolidation and
maintenance of power?
• How significant was the use of ideology in the consolidation and
maintenance of power?
• What was the impact of foreign policy on the consolidation and
maintenance of power?
Challenges faced by the CCP in 1949
• Tens of millions had been killed
• There was no real unified national identity
• Central government had broken down
• An estimated 1 million bandits were roaming the countryside.
• Warlords still controlled large areas
• Administrative chaos: many bureaucrats and business-men had
left with the nationalists - few experienced officials were left
• The economy was in ruins
• No unified or stable currency and hyperinflation.
• Industry badly damaged by war and by the retreating
Nationalists.
• Skilled personnel had fled to Taiwan.
• Agricultural production had fallen and food shortages were a
serious problem
• Damaged transport networks - rural and urban China were
largely isolated from each other
• Problems in foreign affairs
• The Nationalists in Taiwan still provided a threat
• Due to the Cold War, China was now cut off from trade and
contact with the West
Uncertain future of Red China in 1949
• Support for the Communists was far from unconditional
• Communist rule was far from being absolute
• The communists’ takeover was based on military success – not democratic
support
• In 1949 few people really understood Mao's ideology and his ideological goals
• Great support in rural areas of the country (promises of land reform), but less
enthusiasm in the big cites amongst businesspeople and middle classes
• Positives
• China was finally free from foreign domination
• The Nationalist leadership had run off to Taiwan
• Mao could enact his ideas for reform somewhat unopposed
When authoritarian rulers consolidate
their power we often see …
• Changes in government
• Changes to the constitution
• New laws
• Different governmental structure
• Use of force
• Arresting opponents
• Purging of political enemies from the
party
• Persuasion that resistance in useless and
that people will be punished for
disobeying
• Propaganda & populist policies
• Foreign policy
• What do we see that applies to Mao?
• What is done in the following fields
from 1949-1953?
• Agricultural policy and land reform?
• Industrial policy?
• Social policy?
• Mao's control of China went through a
number of phases of development
during which his power fluctuated.
• As in Russia, there was increased party
control to begin with followed by a
transition to a more personal dictatorship.
Cautious first steps
• Mao did not immediately launch a 'Second Revolution’.
• Mao said that he wanted to 'arouse the masses of the people' to co-operate in a 'united front’.
• The system he initially introduced was called 'democratic centralism’.
• The objective was to stabilise the economic and political situation
• Initial economic reforms
• Inflation was brought under control through strict regulation of the economy
• Public expenditure was cut, taxes raised and a new currency introduced
• Mao said that private property and private enterprise would be encouraged.
• Treatment of potential opponents
• Property of nationalists who had fled was seized, and all foreign assets, apart from those of the USSR,
were also taken over.
• All public utilities brought under state control, but compensation was offered to the former owners and
share-holders, as long as they were prepared to cooperate with the new regime
• Those of the middle classes who had not fled were invited to stay in their positions and become loyal
servants of the new government – many took up on this offer
• Initially other political parties remained and many GMD and non-CCP officials were left in place.
• What do you think Mao's reasoning was for carrying out each of these measures?
Consolidation was nonetheless rapid
• Extension of political control over China was carried out ruthlessly via the PLA and a series of 'campaigns’.
• The Korean War helped to consolidate power and mobilised the population to participate in a wave of terror:
• A 'Resist America, Aid Korea' campaign launched in 1950 led to the execution of around 28,000 suspected counter-revolutionaries in
Guangdong province alone.
• Foreigners were accused of being spies - and most had left the country by the end of 1950.
• Police searches led to the confiscation of radios and weapons kept at home, while mass rallies were organised to draw ordinary
Chinese citizens into the growing frenzy of suspicion
• People’s liberation Army (PLA)
• Helped in 'suppressing bandits’, a euphemism' for any opposition to the CCP’
• Over 100 000 enemies of the communists were killed.
• The 'Learn from the PLA' campaign instructed people to learn from the PLA’s revolutionary and personal attributes: Discipline,
bravery, resourcefulness, incorruptibility and, most importantly, commitment to the communist cause.
• CCP cadres and the PLA were sent out into the countryside to help mould people's ideas.
• Special labour camps were set up and rapidly filled with 1.5 million inmates
• Both criminals and political opponents
• In the cities, the basis of control became the danwei industrial organizations
• Both an organization and a neighborhood unit
• The danwei offered lifetime employment and socioeconomic benefits and served social, political or economic ends desired by the
regime
• Exercised surveillance over its members as well as and was a key building block in the creation of a totalitarian society.
Anti Campaigns and mass participation
• These campaigns signified the end of capitalism in China – and brought violence, false imprisonment
and executions
• The Three Antis Campaign in 1951
• Targeted former Guomindang party members and bureaucrats
• Sought to combat corruption, waste and delay
• The Five Antis Campaign 1952
• Targeted businessmen
• Aimed to end bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating and stealing economic information
• Mass participation was encouraged in these campaigns.
• Rallies were organised to denounce 'counter-revolutionaries’
• Victims were subjected to public struggle meetings where they were forced to admit their guilt in front of large
crowds
• Mass participation was also encouraged in a range of other state-sponsored organisations
• Workers were encouraged to join trade unions to mobilise workers in the interests of the Party.
• The youth also had to join the Communist Youth League
• Women's Federation was also set up.
• Land reform was carried out.
• This transformed China, destroying the old ruling elite and bringing the support of vast numbers of peasants for
the new regime.
Impact of the Antis Campaigns
• What, according to the extract below, was the impact of the Three Antis and
Five Antis campaigns?
• The whole process was aimed at control and ending dissent. Terror and
humiliation was meted out and the mass meeting became a way of life in most
businesses. Positive attributes of the two campaigns were a reduction in criminal
gang control in cities like Shanghai and a reduction in the endemic corruption of
nationalist China. But the price was the subordination of the individual to the
state in ways more total than that achieved in Nazi Germany'.
• Geoff Stewart, China, 1900 - 1976, Heinemann, 2006, p. 92
Consolidation of power in the rest of China
• Mao was determined to establish his control of the
peripheral regions of China in what became known as
'reunification campaigns’.
• These areas - Tibet, Xinjiang, Guangdong - were border
regions which were thus vulnerable to foreign influence
and so needed to be controlled
• Mao was also concerned that the Soviets might extend
influence into Xinjiang, whose large Muslim population
meant that it had a lot in common with other Soviet
areas.
• The leader of Tibet, the Buddhist Dalai Lama, also
represented a threat to Mao's position.

• In both Tibet and Xinjiang, the importance of religion in all

areas of life was also a challenge to communist attempts
to order society according to communist principles.
Tibet
• Status of Tibet
• Tibetans regard themselves as culturally and racially different from the Chinese
• Had been de facto independent since 1912
• Mao wanted to reassert Chinese control over Tibet
• Conflict
• The PLA invaded Tibet in October 1950 officially to 'liberate it from imperialist
oppression’.
• Some 60 000 attempted to resist the invasion but to no avail
• The capital Lhasa was captured in November 1950
• Representatives of the Dalai Lama had little choice but to sign a 17 - point
'Agreement on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet' which set out the
terms of the merging of Tibet into the PRC
• New status and broken promises
• Chinese imposed policies aimed at wiping out all traces of separate Tibetan
identity - religion, language and history.
• New superficially Tibetan government set up, but dominated by Beijing
• Mandarin Chinese was now imposed as the official language
• Political meetings were prohibited
• Thousands of Han Chinese encouraged to move to Tibet in order to promote
the dominance of the Han Chinese ethnic group into Tibet.
• Propaganda units spread communist ideas and tried to convince Tibetans that
they needed liberation from their traditional 'feudal' society.
Dalai Lama to the U.N. November 1950
Chinese troops, without warning or provocation, crossed the Dri Chu river, which has for long been the
boundary of Tibetan territory, at a number of places on October 7, 1950. In quick succession, places of strategic
importance such as Demar, Kamto, Tunga, Tshame, Rimochegotyu, Yakalo, and Markham, fell to the Chinese.
Tibetan frontier garrisons in Kham, which were maintained not with any aggressive design, but as a nominal
protective measure, were all wiped out. Communist troops converged in great force from five directions on
Chamdo, the capital of Kham, which fell soon after. Nothing is known of the fate of a minister of the Tibetan
Government posted there.
Little is known in the outside world of this sneak invasion. Long after the invasion had taken place, China
announced to the world that it had asked its armies to march into Tibet. This unwarranted act of aggression has
not only disturbed the peace of Tibet, but it is also in complete disregard of a solemn assurance given by China
to the Government of India, and it has created a grave situation in Tibet and may eventually deprive Tibet of its
long-cherished independence. We can assure you, Mr. Secretary-General, that Tibet will not go down without a
fight, though there is little hope that a nation dedicated to peace will be able to resist the brutal effort of men
trained to war, but we understand that the UN has decided to stop aggression whenever it takes place.
The armed invasion of Tibet for the incorporation of Tibet in Communist China through sheer physical force is a
clear case of aggression. As long as the people of Tibet are compelled by force to become a part of China
against their will and consent, the present invasion of Tibet will be the grossest instance of the violation of the
weak by the strong. We therefore appeal through you to the nations of the world to intercede on our behalf and
restrain Chinese aggression.
• According to this source, what tactics were used by the Chinese to take over Tibet?
Xijiang and Guandong
• Xinjiang – North-West China
• The Uighurs were the largest minority group in Xinjiang with a long
history of opposition to central control.
• The CCP used a combination of military force and negotiation to
extend its control over this region.
• Nationalist leaders were invited to the Political Consultative
Conference in 1949, but on the way to Beijing their plane crashed,
killing all on board. Rumours that Mao had had them murdered
spread, and although never proven, their replacements agreed to
submit to Chinese rule.
• The PLA then cleared all resistance and, by March 1950, secured
territory to allow government -sponsored in-migration of Han
Chinese settlers.
• Guandong – South-East China
• The Southern province with its important coastal capital of Canton
(renamed Guangzhou by the communists) had traditional been a
pro-nationalist stronghold and the CCP feared that enemy spies and
saboteurs remained.
• An estimated 28,000 people were executed in Guangdong during the
'Suppress the Counter-revolutionaries' campaign.
People‘s Century: The Great Leap
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=4srwSkD05ws&t=178s&ab_channel=TreyCooley
• Questions from 8.30 to 20 minutes
• How were communist ideas initially spread?
• Why did peasants support the revolution?
• Why was this revolution 'from below'?
• What was the attitude of the business-people in the cities?
• How were women treated?
• What can you learn from this video about how the CCP tried to make the
people conform to their ideas?
Everyone to fight the sparrows!
Treatment of opposition
• The GMD, the main opposition to the CCP, fled from China to Taiwan.
• Re-education of those that remained (‘exploiting classes’ and the ‘enemies of the people)
• The old ruling classes had no role to play in the new China
• The CCP did not automatically execute class enemies; rather they sought to ‘re-educate’ them in special prison camps.
• Many were actually freed following this re-education
• Many landlords became peasants and businessmen became the managers of their factories for the state.
• Nevertheless, many killings did take place, either by the state or by the people.
• There was no systematic ‘Red Terror’ as had happened in Russia after the Revolution.
• There was also no secret police; rather the CCP encouraged people to look for enemies and act against them.
• This in itself created a ‘terror’ due to the zeal of ordinary people in seeking out enemies.
• This combination of enthusiasm for repression by the ordinary people alongside public humiliation, torture and, sometimes,
executions created an atmosphere of intimidation and fear and meant that few were prepared to speak out against Mao.
• Such an atmosphere reached its height during the Cultural Revolution where the Red Guards came close to being a State Terror
organisation.
• How was opposition identified?
• Throughout Mao’s rule, there were several purges of the party and the people which sought to identify class enemies; these purges
were part of Mao’s attempt to establish his authority on the party and his own line of thinking.
• Two more major purges took place after the CCP had been in power for some time: the Anti-Rightest Movement that took
place as a result of The Hundred Flowers Campaign and the Cultural Revolution.
Use of ideology - Questions
• In what ways was the Great Leap Forward driven by ideology?
• In what ways can it be argued that the Cultural Revolution was driven
by Mao’s ideology?
• What was the role of ideology in causing the Sino-Soviet split?
Use of Propaganda
• Propaganda was key to the CCP’s success.
• They needed people to change the way they thought and acted and they needed to know about the
government’s various campaigns in social and economic policy.
• Propaganda was all pervasive and took many form: posters, slogans, the use of the press and the
media.
• Propaganda needs education for maximum impact
• A literate population was necessary and so education was opened up to as many people as possible
so that they could know and understand the aims and policies of the CCP.
• Schooling was changed to reflect Mao’s messages and children were expected to impart these to their
parents.
• Special classes were held for adults in the factory and in the village.
• The masses were encouraged to feel part of a great adventure that would make China a modern state
and would increase their living standards.
• In pairs, research different forms of propaganda used by Mao and the different areas in
which it was used. For each poster/video/slogan etc identify the message of the
propaganda.
• This website is very useful for posters (https://chineseposters.net/)
Use of ideology
• Mao’s views on communism were key to the direction of policy.
• Mao believed in ‘continuous revolution’.
• This meant that the Party needed to be periodically purged to ensure that it did not lose
its revolutionary edge as Mao believed it had done in the Soviet Union.
• Purges were a key part of the Antis campaigns, the Hundred Flowers Campaign of the
Cultural Revolution; these purges struck deep into Chinese society and caused political,
economic and social chaos.
• Ideology of ‘continuous revolution’ also led to the economic experiment of the
Great Leap Forward and the political experiment of the Cultural Revolution
• Both of these were highly detrimental to the development of China.
• However for Mao, ideology was key, even if it meant sacrificing other achievements in
the economy and society.
Role of Foreign policy
• Foreign policy was a significant factor in allowing Mao to consolidate his power to maintain
control.
• The Korean War of 1950 – 53 played a key role in this process.
• The growing hostility with the USSR also strengthened his position as he was able to portray
China as the more revolutionary of the two communist states.
• Meanwhile, the Cold War also helped strengthen the CCP’s power.
• The USA was portrayed as the great enemy that wanted to destroy China and her government.
• Thus, threats from foreign enemies were used to urge people to obey the government and to
work hard.
• Consider each of the following. Identify how in each case the outside threat was used by Mao
to strengthen the position of the CCP:
• The Korean War
• The threat from the USA
• The growing hostility from the USSR
Propaganda assignment
• In pairs, research different forms of Categories
propaganda used by Mao and the different • The Mao Cult
areas in which it was used. • The Great Leap Forward
• Each pair will research one of the themes to • The Cultural Revolution
to research
• Women
• Use https://chineseposters.net to find
• Agricultural reform
interesting and typical posters.
• PLA
• Paste the posters you find on our communal
Padlet – and for each poster identify the • Health and social welfare
message of the propaganda and why you like • Arts & Culture
this poster. • Foreign friends
• Write your name at the end of the padlet text • Sports
What is the
message of
this poster?
• Long live the
victory of the
Korean
People's Army
and the
Chinese
People's
Volunteers
Army!