Economic and Social Policies

Question 1

Collectivization

Answer 1

The collectivisation of individual peasant households into larger units of production would be more efficient and produce more

Question 2

Early Modes of Collectivization

Answer 2

1. 1951, mutual aid teams were encouraged in villages. Usually composed of ten or fewer households held together by kinship. During harvest, equipment and labour would pool together to increase efficiency. → By 1952, 40% of peasant households were team members.
2. 1951 saw the encouragement of Agricultural Producers’ Cooperatives (APCs). Continued to involve central management of privately-owned land.
3. 3-5 teams (30-50 households) were involved in the communal contribution of labour, animals, and equipment → sharing the harvest.
4. Drive for APCs became general in 1953 but a lack of machinery meant APCs became gradually redundant.

Question 3

Mutations of Collectivization

Answer 3

1. April 1955, Mao visited rural regions where local leaders fraudulently downplayed the scale of resistance → Mao was convinced to go on with the drive
2. Mao supposedly said to a local leader that “Peasants want freedom, but we want socialism” → indication of the incompatibility between the two
3. July 1955, Conference of Local Party Secretaries: Mao pushed his vision of APCs and rural socialism
4. Jan 1956, 80% of households were part of APCs → formed Higher level APCs that were comprised of 300 or so households
5. End of 1956: Only 3% of peasants farmed independently → breached the glorified advertisement that the CCP told the peasants → peasant discontent

Question 4

Effects of Collectivization

Answer 4

1. Collectivization basically destroyed the idea of a traditional Chinese family → Mao stated “It is necessary to destroy the peasant family; women going to the factories and joining the army are part of the big destruction of the family”.
2. Ancestor worship was prohibited → affected the historical and emotional attachments of the families.
3. Not many women were happy that their role as mothers was seen as unnecessary.
4. In many communes, women and men lived separately and were only allowed to see each other for conjugal visits
5. Social change was too sudden → women felt detached from their traditional ways

Question 5

First FYP (1953-1957)

Answer 5

1. To develop agriculture, produce steel, produce coal.
2. Soviets provided technical assistance
3. Industrial production increased by 19% and agricultural output increased by 4% a year.
4. CCP was concerned that 78% of coal mines were in foreign hands

Question 6

Aim of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)

Answer 6

1. Develop China as an industrial power
2. Break the USSR grip and catch up with the West → surpass Britain and Catch up to the USA
3. Produce surplus grain

Question 7

Methods of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)

Answer 7

1. Peasants would produce surplus and workers would create a modern industrial economy
2. China would bypass certain industrial steps
3. Rejected modern technology for mass effort
4. Backyard furnaces were made to produce steel
5. 4 Pests Campaign → elimination of mosquitos, flies, rats and sparrows = rampage of crop-destroying insects (locusts)

Question 8

Effects of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962)

Answer 8

1. Mass famine (3 years - largest famine in history) - crop yield fell
2. 99.9% of produce was useless
3. 70000 communes were built with half a billion peasants →Individual peasants were no longer allowed to make a profit
4. Collectivization was a disaster → disrupted the way of life and peasants were unable to adapt to the new system → Had no understanding of how to farm on a large scale
5. Mainly focused on steel so agriculture was greatly ignored
6. Rigged production figures → propaganda campaign to make collectivization appear successful.
7. Everyone was scared to offend Mao → lack of opposition
8. Lushan Conference 1959, met to modernize targets but failed to address famine issue → leaders did not want to admit there was an issue
9. Peasants who protested were put into labour camps
10. 40 million starved to death
11. Martial Law in 1962 as the government feared mass revolution.

Question 9

Health Policies: Barefoot Doctors

Answer 9

1. 1965, Mao expanded the idea of health for the masses beyond infectious disease → “In health and medical work, put the stress on rural areas.”
2. Barefoot doctors were peasants: men and women who had been trained to examine ill or injured people. Instructed in anatomy, bacteriology, diagnosing disease, prescribing traditional and Western medicines, maternal and infant care.
3. The barefoot doctors continued their farming alongside the other peasants → did not take much money when treating, making it easier for peasants to access basic health care.
4. Provided basic health care: first aid, immunizations against diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough and measles, and health education.
5. Taught hygiene as basic as washing hands before eating and after using latrines.
6. An estimated 1 million barefoot doctors were in China.

Question 10

Health Policies: Advancement of the Medicinal Sector

Answer 10

1. 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was one of the world’s leading research institutions in medicine
2. China had estimated that there were about 40,000 physicians trained in Western and Soviet medicine in the country, serving a population of 540 million people → those doctors were reluctant to go to the rural areas, where 80% of the Chinese people lived.
3. Advanced medication were only available for the rich people living in the cities → “bourgeois” policies of “self-interested” physicians were denounced as “disregarding the masses.”

Question 11

Evolution of Health Policies

Answer 11

1. PRC’s plans to provide health care was only partially successful
2. PRC had tried since 1949 to recruit and encourage doctors to move from the cities to the countries → largely failed
3. Doctors would only stay in rurally for a few weeks, as they were hardly any chance of receiving decent incomes.
4. Rural areas suffered from the increasing spread of schistosomiasis (came to be something of an iconic symbol for the lack of healthcare)

Question 12

Education

Answer 12

1. 1949, most peasants were barely literate or completely illiterate → literacy rate was 20%
2. Mid-1950, a national system of primary education was set up → led to a great increase in the literacy rate
3. 1955, PRC adopted a reform of the Chinese language → the new form of written Mandarin (Pinyin style) to overcome the problem of different pronunciations across China
4. Helped the people in the PRC as there were no alphabets in the previous language
5. End of 1976, the literacy increased to 70% → a huge propaganda victory for Mao

Question 13

Education

Answer 13

1. 1949, most peasants were barely literate or completely illiterate → literacy rate was 20%
2. Mid-1950, a national system of primary education was set up → led to a great increase in the literacy rate
3. 1955, PRC adopted a reform of the Chinese language → the new form of written Mandarin (Pinyin style) to overcome the problem of different pronunciations across China
4. Helped the people in the PRC as there were no alphabet in the previous language
5. End of 1976, literacy increased to 70% → a huge propaganda victory for Mao

Question 14

Laogai (Labour reform)

Answer 14

1. Chinese criminal justice → used as a place during Mao’s regime to store his political enemies (re-education)
2. Used to enforce conformity and obedience in China
3. Chances of survival in the camps were incredibly slim
4. For the bare minimum ration of food, prisoners had to make full confessions to the crime
5. Those who persisted were subjected to interrogation, starvation, beatings and solitary confinements
   6.The camps were able to give the Chinese industry a continuous supply of slave labour
6. Prisoners in the camp had to do heavy manual labour such as mining and working on hazardous projects
7. Chinese Industry maximised its resources through these labour projects without having to pay wages

Question 15

Religion

Answer 15

1. Mao expressed strong antipathy towards religion and declared it was poison → compared the Christian missionaries in China to the Nazis in Europe.
2. Regarded religion as a threat as Mao believed that the Chinese population could only worship him → feared that religion would combine with politics to create a separatist movement
3. Mao came in power in 1949, he started state attacks on religion → all Christian churches were forcibly closed and 6000 monasteries were destroyed in Tibet.
4. Confucianism, Buddhism and Christianity were denounced as worthless → forbade religion to be openly practised and priests were prohibited from wearing distinctive dressed.
5. Ancestor worship was also forbidden from being practised. Mao attacked Chinese customs and traditions.
6. Formal expression of belief were outlawed and traditions were replaced by political meetings.
7. Collectivization was used to destroy the time-honored pattern of rural life → peasants were to accept Maoism as their new faith.
8. Used purges to destroy religion → those who practiced religion publicly, were placed in the laogais where they were tortured (attacked by dogs, burnt, whipped etc) →over 1 million people were placed in these camps.
9. Propaganda was used to spread a country-wide condemnation of religion → was the main mean of enforcing conformity and solidarity and depicted Mao as a God everywhere around the cities. Loudspeakers also kept a running condemnation of religion.
10. Red Guards acted out shows depicting the ‘horrors’ of religion and the greatness of Maoism.
11. There were some advantages for the PRC to permit some forms of public worship →would give the peasants an appearance of toleration.
12. Some churches were kept open so long that they did not “endanger the security of the state” → the clergy has to swear total loyalty to Mao

Question 16

Religion in Border Regions

Answer 16

1. 1950, Mao sent the PLA in Xinjiang, Guangdong and Tibet to enforce his authority and the acceptance of central control.
2. Tibetan Buddhism inspired Tibetan nationalism in its resistance to Chinese occupation.
3. The majority of Xinjiang population was Muslim → bordered Pakistan, Turkistan and Kazakhstan. Mao feared religion + politics would create a separatist movement in Xinjiang.
4. To prevent this, the PRC condemned all independent organizations in border regions as “handful of national separatists” with “reactionary feudal ideas”.
5. Mao tried to dilute the Muslin element by sending large numbers of Han Chinese to settle in Xinjiang → was only partially successful. In 1976 (Mao’s death), Muslims were still a large minority of the Xinjiang population

Question 17

Women

Answer 17

1. Mao grew up in a patriarchal society (male-dominated) in Imperial China → Obedience of wives to husbands and women did not have equal rights and say on who they want to marry: When Mao was 14, he betrothed Luo Yigu (18yrs old). Mao was unhappy about the arranged marriage and refused to live with Luo →could have affected his views on women, leading him to criticize arranged marriages.
2. 1950, PRC introduced new marriage laws → concubinage was forbidden, arranged marriages discontinued, women forced to marry are entitled to divorce their partners, all marriages had to be registered.
3. Laws:
   -1950, Land Law: Laws allowed women to own and sell land and property.
   -1950, Marriage Law: Concubines and bride prices abolished
   -1953, Abortion legalised
4. Women were now officially considered the equals of men → between, 1949 and 1976, proportion of women in workforce increased from 8% to 32%.
5. Mao’s party still operated as a male-dominated system → Only 13% of CCP were women

Question 18

Advantages of Collectivization on Women

Answer 18

1. Women could join the workforce with men → ‘Women hold up half the sky’ – women’s work was seen as equal to men.
2. Housework and childcare became a communal effort.
3. Communal dining halls fed families (women no longer had to cook every night).
4. Women were more independent and free → no longer restricted to house work at home, and could do real work.
5. Great Leap Forward: opportunity for more independence of women.
6. Amount of women in the workforce increased from 8% to 32% between 1949-76.

Question 19

Disadvantages of Collectivization of Women

Answer 19

1. Used as a tool to achieve national objectives
2. Women’s rights were often sacrificed for other government goals
3. Great Leap Forward: abolished former laws which granted women the right to own and sell land and property.
4. People were required to live in communes (less privacy, less individuality).
5. Often labor was too heavy and physical for women.
6. They still had to take care of domestic work afterwards (exhaustion and extra-work not valued).
7. Many women were unhappy with working in factories and losing their role as caretakers.
8. Role of the mother was no longer valued.
9. Many men did not appreciate women gaining same training as them.
10. Even if women did more jobs, men usually received more work points.
11. Women’s health deteriorated (especially in peasant women) due to the hard work and famine.