Study Guide 2 – The Socialist Period (1949-1978)
The Chinese Communist Party took control in 1949 and until 1978 the leadership was led by Mao Tse
Tung and his minions. Mao died in 1976 and Deng Xiao Ping gained control in 1978 which is usually used
as the start of China’s opening to trade and market reforms. The objective of this material is to identify
legacies from this period that continue to have lingering effects on China’s modern economy.
1.
Understand the key ingredients of the Big Push Development Strategy. Pay particular attention
to Table 3.1 and the discussion in section 3.2.
2. Review the use of Input Output analysis in the Week 3 lecture material on planning. Note the
differences between China’s planning and the planning used in the USSR as described on pages
61-62.
3. Be able to briefly describe what characterized each of the periods {Economic Recovery (49-52),
First 5 year plan (53-56), Hundred Flowers (56-57), Great Leap Forward (58-61)…….}.
4. Understand the components, effects, and legacy of the Great Leap Forward (text pages 69-72)
and “Great Leap Forward or Backward?” by An, Li, and Yang (2001).
5. Examine the Great Leap data (and condensed data) and summarize the findings reported by An,
Li , and Yang with respect to these data.
6. The Nobel Prize winning economist, Amartya Sen, studied three great famines of the 20th
century and reported that famines need not be accompanied by a decrease in food production.
There are cases where food production increased, but famine broke out for those who had lost
access to the food. (Example; food expropriated by military forces). Sen observes, “so many
cases of ‘food countermovement’, with food moving out of the famine area, rather than into it.”
In what ways does Sen’s description fit the Great Leap Forward?
7. Identify an important legacy of the Third Front (1964-66). (pictures of Lanzhou)
8. What was the Cultural Revolution and, according to Naughton, how important was it to the
Chinese economy?
GDP/pop
500
400
300
200
100
25000
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
1968
1966
1964
1962
1960
1958
1956
1954
1952
0
GDP/pop
20000
15000
10000
5000
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
0
9. I constructed the data above from the web site All China Data Online which is available to WSU
on a one month trial basis. Please visit this site and see what is available for your topic. I wanted
to compare per capita income growth for Naughton’s Socialist period (1949-1978) to the post
1978 period. What would you conclude from the charts above?
10. Naughton lists 5 characteristics of the Maoist Model. Describe each one briefly.
a. Militarization
b. Decentralization
c. Autarchy in world trade
d. Decreased Material Incentives
e. Labor Immobility
11. Be able to summarize the legacies of the socialist period. Try to expand on Naughton’s list.
What legacies from this period made a positive contribution to China’s economy?