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 KaiShek) 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
Please pause for a brief
intermission during WWII
• 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
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