The Social and Economic Changes Made by the Communists in China in 1949

The Social and Economic Changes Made by the Communists in China in 1949

On his ascension to power in China in 1949, Chairman Mao said: “The

People’s Republic of China will strive for independence, democracy,

peace, unity, prosperity and strength.” Little did Mao know it would

be nine years, and many reforms later that China would still be

striving for those things.

Mao would start a whole series of reforms aimed to appease and change

the public, starting with the Marriage Law. The Marriage Law stated

that women had to be 18 years and men 20 years in order to marry; thus

preventing the marriage of children which had gone on for years before

Communist rule. Women were given more rights, divorce by mutual

consent was made legal, husbands and wives jointly owned property,

before Communist rule, any divorce was illegal and only husbands owned

property. Perhaps more importantly than these changes was that 1949

saw the end of the feudal system that had ran through China for

centuries upon centuries. Women were no longer ‘owned’ by their

fathers, husbands or sons – women were given freedom and

independence. Finally, under the Marriage Law, arranged marriages and

barbaric traditions such as foot binding were made illegal.

Mao’s next reform was the Agrarian Land Reform; this saw great

advances in the poor agriculture of China. It also saw members of the

Communist party going into the countryside and starting a revolt among

peasants against landowners. Proprietors were beaten and humiliated,

in order for the peasants to gain larger plots of land. Despite

peasants receiving more land they were discontented, as they had no

tools ...

... middle of paper ...

... The Chinese had experienced it seldom before, but now

loudspeakers played speeches and music whilst people worked and it is

down to this, it could be said, that huge projects were completed

ahead of schedule. One such example being when a dam outside Beijing

was built without great machinery and people dug the materials with

their bare hands.

The final major reform the Communists made was in the form of the

“Backyard Steel Campaign”. Steel furnaces were placed in towns, and

people with little experiences of how to operate them attempted to

make steel with them. Against all odds, the amount of steel produced

in 1957 rose by 65% on the year prior.

The Communist Party made many social and economic changes after they

came to power; some good, some bad but all had an impact on the

success of modern day China.