Establishing Communist Rule - China In 1949

Question 1

The Civil War 1946-49

Answer 1

• Chinese civil war had raged since 1927, killing millions, destroyed infrastructure and spread starvation and poverty
• GMD led by Chang Kai-Shek
• CCP led by Mao Zedong
• War paused due to Japanese invasion in 1937, continued in 1946 ending in CCP victory by 1949
• CCP had widespread popularity among peasants, defeating GMD who outnumbered them 4:1
• GMD fled to Taiwan establishing republic of China

Question 2

China after the civil war - administrative chaos

Answer 2

• GMD vowed to reclaim power
• Despite fleeing, GMD stripped the country of assets such as gold, silver and dollar reserves
• Many of educated elite left with GMD

Question 3

China after the civil war - lawlessness

Answer 3

• 1 million bandits began to roam countryside
• clogged transports systems or crammed into unsanitary cities

Question 4

China after the civil war - economic problems

Answer 4

• completely devastated
• no unified currency
• experiencing hyperinflation due to GMD printing money to fund army
• shortages of consumer goods led to people hoarding scarce resources
• 1940, 100 yuan could buy a pig
• 1946, 100 yuan could buy an egg

Question 5

China after the civil war - state of industry

Answer 5

• retreating GMD sabotaged industrial sites
• Soviet Union dismantled industrial equipment in factories and mines of Manchuria to be shipped back to the USSR
• during civil war factory output was 44% below its per civil war levels
• skilled personnel had fled to Taiwan with GMD
• only 5% population worker in industry

Question 6

China after the civil war - state of agriculture

Answer 6

• 80% population living in rural areas
• agricultural tools and livestock were in short supply
• most common fertiliser used remained human waste, spreading disease
• many peasants conscripted to GMD, farms left unattended reducing food supplies to dangerous levels
• 1949, in some parts of China there was a famine

Question 7

China after the civil war - national infrastructure

Answer 7

• nationalist forces still present in China
• GMD had US support
• previous government had been very corrupt
• warlords still controlled large areas
• no unified language, over 50 ethnic and religious groups each with their own customs and traditions

Question 8

China after the civil war - transport

Answer 8

• estimated half of the railway network destroyed
• telephone lines had been damaged
• rivers and harbours clogged up with sunken ships
• e.g. Hankou, largest port in China had been bombed by US bombers targeting Japanese

Question 9

China after the civil war - cities

Answer 9

• rural and urban China largely isolated from eachother
• communist soldiers mostly peasants farmers
• communist force not prepared to run China’s cities or set up an efficient government administration

Question 10

China after the civil war - nationalist threat

Answer 10

• GMD sent spies and saboteurs to attack new regime
• US supplied planes bombed coastal cities like Shanghai, one raid killed over 1000 people and damaged electricity and water supply
• GMD attacks sunk PRC ships aiming to invade Taiwan