China in 1949 Flashcards
(7 cards)
Political problems
October 1949 - Mao led his Communist forces into victory in the Chinese civil war over the Kuomintang (GMD).
China lacked an organises central government, no history or experience of democratic rule or efficient government.
Chinese society
Confucian tradition - women faced discrimination and did not have the right to own property.
Many peasants lived in poverty, exploited by corrupt landlords and threatened by criminal gangs and bandits.
80% of the population lived in poor rural areas - survived by farming the land.
Little health care outside of the cities.
Vast majority were illiterate.
Aftermath of the Civil War 1946-1949
Civil War killed millions, destroyed infrastructure and spread poverty and malnutrition.
Refugees clogged the remaining transport networks and filled the streets.
Nationalists fled to Taiwan and stripped the country of assets such as cultural treasures, silver and gold.
Economy was devastated - no unified currency, hyperinflation, people returned to bartering, hoarding scarce supplies.
Many of the educated elite fled to Taiwan with the Nationalists - left no experienced officials to run cities.
State of China’s industry
China’s industry had been badly destroyed by years of war and much of China’s industrial equipment had been destroyed.
At the end of WW2, the USSR controlled Manchuria in the north-east of China - they dismantled industrial equipment in factories and mines, confiscated tools and gold and shipped them back to the USSR.
In 1949, factory output was 44% below its 1937 level.
State of China’s agriculture
The Communists did have support among the Chinese peasants, who made up 80% of the population, because they promised to introduce land reform.
Agricultural tools and livestock were in short supply - most common fertiliser used by peasants was human waste - this spread disease.
Why was China’s farm left unattended?
During the Civil War, many peasants had been forcibly conscripted into the Nationalist forces to replace soldiers lost in battle to the Communists.
The farmers were dragged from their fields - with the farms left unattended, the crops wilted and died - this reduced food supplies to dangerously low levels.
National infrastructure
The previous Nationalist government had been very corrupt: bribery of officials was common, many leaders hoarded supplies or sold food meant for the people for their own profit.
Transport networks were badly damaged - blowing up railway tracks and bridges had been a key tactic of the Communists during the Civil War because it disrupted the Nationalists’ ability to move their troops into battle.
China’s government had to rebuild them quickly to consolidate their control in particularly isolated areas like Beijing.
