Establishing Communist Rule - China In 1949

Question 1

What was the Chinese civil war 1945-49?

Answer 1

• civil war since 1927
• GMD led by Chang Kai-Shek
• CCP led by Mao Zedong
• CCP had widespread popularity among peasants, defeating GMD who outnumbered them 4:1
• GMD fled to Taiwan establishing republic of China

Question 2

How did the civil war lead to administrative chaos?

Answer 2

• GMD stripped country of assets such as gold, silver and dollar reserves
• Many of educated elite left with GMD

Question 3

How did the civil war lead to lawlessness?

Answer 3

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

Question 4

What economic problems did China face after the civil war?

Answer 4

• 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

How was industry affected by the civil war?

Answer 5

• retreating GMD sabotaged industrial sites
• Soviet Union dismantled industrial equipment to be shipped back to the USSR
• skilled personnel fled to Taiwan with GMD
• only 5% population worked in industry

Question 6

How was agriculture affected by the civil war?

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

What was the state of national infrastructure after the civil war?

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

How was infrastructure weakened by the civil war?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

How were cities affected by the civil war?

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

Did the nationalist threat remain after the civil war?

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