Chinas Post-1949 Political and Economic History - Research Paper Example

China’s Post 1949 Political and Economic History China had had a long history punctuated with times of economic and political prosperity and failures. The Chinese dynasties that reigned before 1949 contributed to different levels in the development of modern day China. The collapse of the dynastic period between 1911 and 1912 ushered in a period under which China continued to exist but as a republic. The year 1949 saw major changes occur in the political and economic history of China. As the People’s Republic of China was established, under the leadership of Mao Tset-tung, the hopes of the Chinese of having a great future grew. The developments that followed 1949 were a mixture of fortunes and disasters for China even as the Chinese leaders kept changing policies midway to meet different goals. The year 1949 saw the Communist Party of China (CPC) under the leadership of Mao Tse-tung win the battle against the nationalist party, KMT. In October, the same year, Mao Tse-tung proclaimed himself founder of the People’s Republic of China even as the leaders and supporters of KMT retreated to the island of Taiwan1. Mao consolidated his powers as leader of the country and begun the long path toward reshaping the People’s Republic of China. The period preceding 1949 had seen China suffer humiliation under unfavorable treaties impost by Western powers and Japan. In an effort to rid Chinese of its problems, Mao decided to institute sweeping changes in the country, opting not to rely on conservative solutions2. One of the changes that Tse-dong introduced in the republic was on land. The land reforms saw all private land change ownership; all land belonged to the government which could decide how it was distributed and used. According to an inner-party directive by Mao Tse-tung in regard to land reforms in the country, peasants were to be directed to cultivate wheat fields in line with the united will3. The move to claim and control all land was hailed by peasants who felt that they were being oppressed by rich tenants. On the other hand, tenants and wealthy peasants aired their discontentment concerning the new policy considering that they were bound to lose a lot of their heard-earned wealth. In this respect, the policy on land reforms as instituted by Tse-tung was a major cause for division among the people of China, especially among members of different social classes. In the early 1950s, many of the tenants and wealthy peasants were beaten to death by the masses even as their land was given to poorer peasants. At the same time, many businessmen, and former Kuomintang officials, intellectuals, and former employees of Western company employees were targeted for being counter-revolutionary. The three anti-campaign and the five anti- campaign were established by Tse-tung in 1951. The former movement was dedicated to relieving the republic of people (mostly members of the communist party) who were corrupt, wasteful or bureaucratic. On the other hand, the five anti-movement was dedicated to relieving the country of corrupt capitalists. In his speech titled “Let Us Unite And Clearly Distinguish Between Ourselves and the Enemy”, Tse-tung traced the situations that China had gone through over the years. He emphasized that China needed to increase its production and apply strict economy for its growth. The Chinese leader noted that the three evils and the five evils movements had been successful and that the country was getting more economically stable4. Among other things, the Korean war, resistance against U.S. aggression, corruption, waste and bureaucracy were noted by Tse-tung to be major hurdles to the economic growth of the nation. In as much as Tse-tung saw the policies he had instituted toward the rooting out of corruption, bureaucracy, and counter-revolutionary forces to have been successful, this could not have been further from the truth. The two campaigns saw the deaths of hundreds of thousands of individuals who were considered to have engaged in different crimes against the state. In effect, the deaths that resulted from the two campaigns and the target on counter-revolutionaries effectively served to further disintegrate the Chinese society in as much as it created a viable economic base for the country. The first Five Year Plan that was modeled after the Soviet plans was aimed at putting the republic in an economic growth path5. The plan that was to run between 1953 and 1957 involved transforming the country from an agrarian one to an industrial power. In line with the plan, close to 700 medium-sized and large industrial projects were initiated. Farmers worked collectively and formed cooperatives as outlined in the plan. This strategy made it possible for the people of China to work and produce more grains6. The nation received aid from the Soviet Union as it engaged gear toward its industrialization. During the period covered by the first Five Year Plan, gross industrial productions increased significantly much as the level of grain production increased. During the period covered by the first Five Year Plan, it is evident, therefore, that the economy of China grew significantly7. The level of political integration also improved to some extent considering that focus was put on economic production as opposed to fighting counter-revolutionaries. The positive impact made by the first Five Year Plan was noted by officials of the Mao regime. In one newspaper article, Ji Yun, a section chief working with the Chinese government highlighted the progress that the country was making in respect of economic growth8. Yun explained that the five year construction plan had commenced and that the country was on course toward becoming industrialized. Yun expressed hope that the industrialization of the country based on the five year plan would guarantee the country economic independence and freedom to avoid relying on imperialists9. Generally, the nation grew economically during this period as a result of increased industrial and agricultural productivity as well as the aid it received from the Soviet Union. The second Five Year Plan that was instituted by the Mao regime is popularly known as the Great Leap Forward. The plan was dedicated to expanding the country’s heavy industry, encouraging economic growth, strengthening the nation’s defense as well as transferring more property to collective entities10. In line with the plan, families were organized into communes. The arrangement of people into teams, brigades, and communes initially saw production of goods increased as the people concentrated on their work. For example, the production of steel, chemicals, cement, timber, and coal greatly increased in 1958. The second year after the initiation of the Great Leap Forward was, however, a major departure from what had been the positive trend. As political interests and beliefs took center stage and common sense was thrown to the air, the communes were given targets that were beyond their level of achievement11. The officials of the Chinese communist party made impossible demands of commune leaders whom they would later accuse of being reactionary bourgeois if they complained. The commune leader would in such a case suffer imprisonment. The high demands made of the people led to the production of highly substandard products and services; factory produced machines would fail in the middle of work, steel produced by backyard furnaces was too weak to be used for construction, and long working hours led to many people getting injured at work. Agricultural production swiftly dwindled as more emphasis was put on industrial production by the Communist Party. The gross effect of this major change was that the nation soon plunged into starvation; the food that the people so desperately needed was not being harvested which rendered starvation a common experience among the people12. The problem was further compounded by the drought that hit the country between 1959 and 1960. As a result of the drought and low food production, millions of people died and several others suffered sickness with the government resorting to the rationing of food. To this extent, it is evident that the outcome of the Great Leap Forward initiative was devastating to the nation’s economy even as national production and income significantly dropped between 1958 and 1960. The problems ailing the People’s Republic of China following the institution of the Great Leap Forward were evident even to Mao who confessed that the initiative had terribly failed13. Members of the communist party began to blame Mao for the situation prompting him to resign from his position as Head of State. Under the direction of three moderates, Deng Xiaoping, Zhou Enlai and Liu Shaoqi, the nation abandoned the Great Leap Forward in the late 60s14. As communes were cut down to manageable sizes and land restored to private owners, the peasants were incentivized to produce as much food as they could. They were free to sell the spare food that they produced. The net effect of these changes was that the economy of China started on a strong path to recovery even as political integration improved. This trend however did not last long as Mao felt that he was being sidelined by party officials. Using his favorable standing among the people, Mao launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 196615. The revolution saw those opposed to Mao undergo persecution. Millions of people were persecuted as the country degenerated to chaos16. The schools in China were closed and intellectuals who resided in cities were ordered to go to the countryside for re-education which often involved hard labor. Mao’s demand for a tightly organized and highly disciplined party led him eventually to become a personality cult17. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution had consequences that even Mao did not anticipate. Party disunity and the actions of the Red Guards served to further push the country away from achieving economic development and political integration. In effect, the period following the institution of the Cultural Revolution effectively saw the country perform dismally in economic terms as effort was shifted toward hunting counter-revolutionaries. Similarly, the level of integration in the country dwindled as people got persecuted or killed for criticizing Mao and other political leaders. The People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 after the revolution that was led by Mao Tse-tung forced nationalist leaders to flee to Taiwan. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the nation adopted sweeping changes in a bid to transform its economy and move toward being a global power. The developments that followed 1949 were, however, a mixture of fortunes and disasters for China even as the Chinese leaders kept changing policies midway to meet different goals. Although the country started its way toward economic growth and political integration on the right foot, several hiccups hit the country forcing it to contend with negative economic growth and political disintegration. Bibliography Primary Sources Tse-Tung, Mao. “Let Us Unite And Clearly Distinguish Between Ourselves And The Enemy”. Speech delivered at the thirty-eighth meeting of the Standing Committee of the First National Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference August 4, 1952. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_22.htm Tse-tung, Mao. “The Work of Land Reform and of Party Consolidation In 1948” –An inner-party directive for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of china. May 25, 1948. https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-4/mswv4_39.htm Yun, Ji.
 “How
China
Proceeds
with
the
Task
of
Industrialization” The People’s Daily. 1953. 
 Secondary Sources Bush, Richard. Untying the Knot: Making Peace in the Taiwan Strait. Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2006. Karl, Rebecca. Mao Zedong and China in the Twentieth-Century World: A Concise History. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2010. Meisner, Maurice. Maos China and After: A History of the Peoples Republic, Third Edition. New York: Free Press, 1999. Solomon Richard. Maos Revolution and the Chinese Political Culture. California: University of California, 1971. Vaughan, Edwin and Zhang, Chunhou. Mao Zedong as Poet and Revolutionary Leader: Social and Historical Perspectives. New York: Lexington Books, 2002. Read More