China's Economy and Society in the Late 1940's and 1950's
In 1945, the war with Japan had ended. It left China's economy and
society in ruins. The country was divided in two. Most of China was
ruled by Chiang Kaishek, a military dictator. The rest of China was
ruled under communism by Mao Zedong.
Chiang Kaishek aimed to modernise the railways, the postal services
and the telecommunications. In addition, powerful foreign companies
such as ICI and Standard Oil were encouraged to construct factories in
China to aid its backward industry.
Chiang Kaishek then created The New Life Movement. It was based on the
four principles of ancient ideas - Li, I, Lien and Chih. 'Li' means
courtesy; 'I' means service towards your fellow men and towards
yourself; 'Lien' honesty and respect for the rights of others; and
'Chih' means high-mindedness and honour. Great emphasis was put on The
Movement but it didn't deal with any real problems: - poor housing,
lack of medical care and poverty. This meant China still had basic
welfare problems.
The liberation areas were made up of poor and mostly small farms. The
Communists and their leader, Mao Zedong began making land reforms. Big
estates of land were taken from the rich landlords and shared out
among peasants who did not have land of their own.
The communists also introduced many social reforms, particularly for
women. Outdated and undesirable practices such as foot binding, murder
of unwanted babies, child slavery, prostitution and sale of women were
all made illegal.
In January 1949, Chiang Kaishek retreated to the only part of China
not under communist control, the Island of Taiwan. He took with him
200,000 Guomindang troops as well as all of China's gold reserves.
Chiang Kaishek ruled Taiwan as the Republic of China.
On 1 October 1949, the communists were able to proclaim the existence
of a new China - the Peoples Republic of China. The Civil War had
ended, the country had no gold and the country's infrastructure was
destroyed by war.
Following the Chinese Revolution of 1949, China’s economy was in ruin. The new leader, Mao Zedong, was responsible for pulling the economy out of the economic depression. The problems he faced included the low gross domestic product, high inflation, high unemployment, and high prices on goods. In order to solve these issues, Mao sought to follow a more Marxist model, similar to that of the Soviet Union. This was to use government intervention to develop industry in China. In Jan Wong’s Red China Blues, discusses Maoism and how Mao’s policies changed China’s economy for the worse. While some of Mao’s early domestic policies had some positive effects on China’s economy, many of his later policies caused China’s economy to regress.
The Political Turmoil of China From 1911 to 1927 There were many reasons why China slipped into political instability or turmoil between 1911 and 19287. There reasons include the questionable leadership of Yuan Shih Kai, the presence of the warlords, the One of the reasons was that questionable leadership of Yuan Shih Kai. When Yuan took over control from Sun Yat Sen as the President, he tried to revert to the monarchical system of rule. From 1912 until 1915, he ruled as a military dictator with the support of the army. His rule was already blemished with resistance and that demonstrated that the people did not quite accept him as the leader of China.
There were plenty political continuities for the Chinese from 100CE to 600CE. One political goal that China had is that protection was a must. Protection was important because China has been in battles many of times. For an example in 221 CE to 222 CE there is the battle of Xiaoting where Wu defeats Shu. For protection purposes the Chinese had built a structure known as The Great Wall of China. This is considered a political conti...
China has an extensive history that spans thousands of years and various dynasties. Each dynasty has made their own significant achievements which have contributed to the shaping of China. However, some historians believe that because China followed a "dynastic cycle" for so long, the society was unchanging and stagnant. But the fact of the matter is that China was actually undergoing massive changes within itself which would lead to the shaping of a new China.
Success, as defined by the Oxford English dictionary, is the prosperous achievement of an objective. (Oed.com 1968) Conferring to this definition, the 1949 Chinese revolution was certainly a successful revolution. The communist party of China (CCP) was incredibly successful in its attempt in replacing the bourgeoisie dominated nationalist government – The Kuomintang (KMT) - with a proletariat class lead communist government. However, whether the achievement of such objective proves to be prosperous for China and its peoples requires further analysis. Ever since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the legitimacy of the revolution of which it was built upon has perennially been in question. For example, in a 1999 issue of the
Immigration, the act of coming to live permanently in a foreign country. Throughout the United States’ history, immigrants faced various challenges and especially after 1880. Most immigrants moved to achieve the American dream of having a better life and pursuing their dreams. But, this experience as they moved, was different for every immigrant. Some lives improved while others did not. Immigrants such as Catholics, Italians, and the Chinese were not welcomed into America in the late 19th century and early 20th century because of their differences in beliefs and cultures.
Mao's period of communal reform and the establishment of the Communist party from 1949-1976 was needed in order for Deng's individual oriented, capitalist society to thrive. Mao's period encompassed the structure of a true dictatorial communist government. It strove to concentrate on unifying communities to create a strong political backbone while being economically self-sufficient and socially literate and educated in Maoist propaganda. Under Mao's leadership individual wealth was seen as a hindrance to community goals in meeting production quotas and was crushed by such policies as collectivization, land reformation, and movements such as The Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution. Under his rule, modeled under the Stalinist USSR archetype, China raised its masses from poverty and starvation to a standard of living that was considered a substantial upgrade.
For the remainder of Chiang Kai-shek’s life, he instituted and directed a government on Taiwan that was accepted by a large number of nations as the actual government of China. (“Chiang Kai-shek”) Shortly before his death, Kai-shek nominated his son his son Chiang Ching-kuo as his successor. Chiang Kai-shek died on the fifth of April 1975, but did not leave the world as a nonentity. Kai-shek left behind a legacy of Chinese unification and was a momentous source of assistance in developing China and its modernistic growth as a powerful nation. (Fredriksen)
In States vs. Markets, Herman Schwartz presents two economic development strategies that have been employed by late industrial developers in order to either take advantage of existing comparative advantages or facilitate rapid industrial growth through state intervention and provision in order to gain a competitive foothold in world markets. Schwartz demonstrates how China was able to employ elements of these development strategies to generate capital from an abundant rural labour supply in order to pursue industrial development and attract foreign investment through economic reform starting in the late 1970's.
It can also be argued that the political activities of Chairman Mao’s Communist China were more of a continuation of traditional Imperial China, based heavily in Confucian values, than a new type of Marxist-Leninist China, based on the Soviet Union as an archetype. While it is unquestionable that a Marxist-Leninist political structure was present in China during this time, Confucian values remained to be reinforced through rituals and were a fundamental part of the Chinese Communist ...
China has been ruled by the Communist Party ever since. It was the events between 1946 and 1964 that strengthened communism in China. At the end of World War II, the Nationalist Party (GMD) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) raced for power in China. The chairman of the Communist Party was Mao Zedong and their army was known as the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). The Nationalist’s were led by Chiang Kai-shek and their army was the Kuomintang.
Relation between china and Taiwan Introduction The current conflict between china and Taiwan originally began in 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek (President of Republic of China) and his followers fled to Taiwan after their defeat by the Chinese communist party (led by Moa Tse-Tung) in the Chinese civil war, which erupted immediately after the Second World War. In 1950, the Chinese Communist Party established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and invaded Taiwan, to unify all of China under their rule. Their plan failed, when the United States sent naval forces to defend Taiwan. Since then, both countries have existed in neither a state of complete independence nor integration of neither war nor peace.
people on to the side of the CCP. The CCP’s victory was also down to
China's development is praised by the whole world. Its developments are not only in the economic aspect, but also in its foreign affairs. Compared to other developed countries, China is a relatively young country. It began constructing itself in 1949. After 30 years of growth, company ownership has experienced unprecedented changes.
History of China under Mao Zedong The Great Leap Forward programme was introduced in 1958 when Mao saw that a new middle class of "experts" growing up, calling the shots in high places of society. He also wanted to increase the country's production and catalyse industrialisation. Seeing an urgent need to lead China back to "true" Communism, he announced the "Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap Forward programme is said to be an economic failure, as it did not meet its initial aims.