Lesson 1: How successful was the First Five-Year Plan 1952-56?

Question 1

What were Stalin’s FYPs?

Answer 1

In the USSR, between 1929-1953, Stalin had revolutionised the Soviet economy by a series of government-directed plans.

Question 2

What is heavy industry?

Answer 2

Iron and steel based productions and constructions

Question 3

What does the term ‘lift off’ mean?

Answer 3

Increasing output and production at such a pace as to turn China into a modern industrial power.

Question 4

What are backyard furnaces?

Answer 4

Primitive smelting devices that every family was encouraged to build on its premises.

Question 5

What is Zhongnanhai?

Answer 5

Building compound off Tiananmen Square.

The historic centrepiece of Beijing which housed the government offices and minister residences.

Question 6

What does the term ‘iron rice bowl’ mean?

Answer 6

System that provided a worker with a guaranteed job and wage.

Question 7

What are manufactured goods?

Answer 7

Sellable products made from raw materials.

Question 8

What is quality control?

Answer 8

The monitoring of industrial production to maintain set standards.

Question 9

What is Applied Communism?

Answer 9

Planning according to Marxist principles involving state direction of the economy and the ending of private ownership.

Question 10

What is Capitalism?

Answer 10

An economic system in which the trade and industry of the economy is owned and controlled by private individuals, to make profit.

Question 11

What has an impact on production and the price of goods in a Capitalist system?

Answer 11

The markets

Question 12

How much government intervention is there is a Capitalist society?

Answer 12

Often minimal

Question 13

In a Capitalist system, wealth is gained by business owners, who decide and invest.
True or false?

Answer 13

True

Question 14

What key elements would you expect to find in a Socialist economy?

Answer 14

Ownership of production

Distribution

Capital

Land within the community as a whole.

Question 15

Who owns means of production in a socialist economy?

Answer 15

Democratic state

Question 16

What is Socialism the precursor to?

Answer 16

Communism

Question 17

[QUOTE] What did Lenin say about Socialism?

Answer 17

‘The goal of Socialism is Communism.’

Question 18

What do workers share equally in a Socialist economy?

Answer 18

Share equally in wealth and services according to their needs.

Question 19

What is Communism based on the theory of?

Answer 19

Shared ownership

Question 20

What is there none of in a Communist society?

Answer 20

Private ownership of goods

Class

Money

Question 21

What do people in a Communist society do individual work for?

Answer 21

A common goal

Question 22

Who regulated the ownership of industries in a Communist economy?

Answer 22

Government

Question 23

By 1951, what had happened to industrialisation?

Answer 23

Had been reduced to a manageable level.

Question 24

By the end of 1952, what had Mao moved to do?

Answer 24

Impose a Soviet industrial model on China.

Question 25

What is the 1st aim of the First FYP?

Answer 25

1. Make China self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods

Question 26

What is the 2nd aim of the First FYP?

Answer 26

2. To produce spectacular public work projects.

Question 27

What is the 3rd aim of the First FYP?

Answer 27

3. To channel resources into heavy industries and away from consumer goods (seen as less important).

Question 28

What is the 4th aim of the First FYP?

Answer 28

4. To force collective farmers to sell food at low prices to keep industrial wages low.

Question 29

What is the 5th aim of the First FYP?

Answer 29

5. To nationalise businesses owned by foreigners such as banking, gas, electricity and transport.

Question 30

Between what years was the First FYP?

Answer 30

1952-56

Question 31

When was the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 31

1950

Question 32

Mao's mistrust of Stalin was well founded. True or false?

Answer 32

True

Question 33

What was the Soviet intent on doing with the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 33

Exploiting the agreement in its own favour

Question 34

What did Mao believe the Soviet would provide?

Answer 34

Expertise and aid at low cost

Question 35

Stalin struck an easy bargain for the Sino-Soviet treaty. True or false?

Answer 35

False-hard bargain

Question 36

What was Stalin's 1st term of the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 36

1. The $300 million Soviet advance was a loan, not a gift; the PRC had to undertake to repay the full amount plus interest

Question 37

What was Stalin's 2nd term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 37

2. The upkeep of the 10,000 Soviet economic and military advisers who went to China to be paid for fully by the Chinese

Question 38

What was Stalin's 3rd term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 38

3. China had to give the bulk of its bullion reserves to the Soviet Union

Question 39

What was Stalin's 4th term for the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 39

4. Russia received economic concessions (allowance) and extraterritorial rights in Manchuria and Xinjiang

Question 40

What is bullion?

Answer 40

Gold (or silver) stocks in bulk

Question 41

What is Stalin's 5th term of the Sino-Soviet treaty?

Answer 41

5. Mao received a full list of comintern agents who were operating in China

Question 42

Who did Nikita Khrushchev admit the Sino-Soviet treaty had been an insult to?

Answer 42

The Chinese people and continuing its centuries of exploitation.

Question 43

What did Khrushchev suggest that Stalin deliberately prevented?

Answer 43

An early armistice (truce) being reached in Korea in order to exhaust the Chinese

Question 44

Why did an angered Mao tolerate the USSR?

Answer 44

For the time being there was no alternative. Judged that the new China could not survive without the USSR's economic assistance until China was able to achieve economic independence.

Question 45

What was industry essential to?

Answer 45

PRC's survival as a nation

Question 46

Mao wanted to build the same FYP's model as the USSR. True or false?

Answer 46

True

Question 47

What year was China's First FYP?

Answer 47

1952

Question 48

What did the First FYP aim at?

Answer 48

Growth of heavy industry

Question 49

Between the 1930s and 1940s, what had Chiang established under the GMD?

Answer 49

National Resources Committee (NRC)

Question 50

What has Chiang's NRC taken control of?

Answer 50

Industrial investment policy

Question 51

How much of the NRC's workforces had stayed on in China after 1949?

Answer 51

200,000

Question 52

Between what years had migration from the countryside to towns nearly doubled?

Answer 52

1949-57

Question 53

How much had the urban population increased from between 1949-57 due to migration from the countryside?

Answer 53

57 million - 100 million

Question 54

Benefits of migration from countryside to towns doubling.

Answer 54

Large workforce with industrial expertise available.

Question 55

What was the annual inflation rate at in 1949?

Answer 55

1000%

Question 56

What was the annual inflation rate in 1951?

Answer 56

15%

Question 57

3 reasons inflation was bought under control between 1949 and 1951.

Answer 57

1. Slashed public expenditure 2. Raised tax rates on urban dwellers 3. Replaced Old Chinese dollar with new currency, known as the renminbi or yuan.

Question 58

Between what years was the First Five-Year Plan?

Answer 58

1952-56

Question 59

What had Mao envisaged for his Five-Year Plans?

Answer 59

There would be 3 Soviet-style Five-Year Plans.

Question 60

Why did China want to have Soviet-style Five-Year Plans?

Answer 60

Russia was at this stage still an inspiration for China.

Question 61

How was Mao's task in introducing a centrally planned economy made easier?

Answer 61

There had been some degree of state involvement in Chinese industry since imperial times.

Question 62

Who were the high salaries of the Soviet technicians paid for by?

Answer 62

The Chinese

Question 63

What did some Chinese people complain about due to Soviet interference in China?

Answer 63

The fact that traditional Chinese buildings were being replaced by Soviet-style buildings.

Question 64

Main target of the 1st FYP?

Answer 64

To make China as self-sufficient in food and manufactured goods as possible in order to protect China in a potentially hostile Capitalist world.

Question 65

Who were targets set by for the 1st FYP?

Answer 65

Economic planners

Question 66

What were targets NOT set according to?

Answer 66

Consumer demand

Question 67

What were resources channelled into and away from?

Answer 67

Channelled into heavy industry and away from consumer goods.

Question 68

What things were targeted so there could be increased production of them?

Answer 68

Coal Steel Petrochemicals Automobile industry

Question 69

What did the government hope people would invest in rather than spend extra income on consumer goods?

Answer 69

Patriotic saving schemes

Question 70

Initially, what were the industries which were more often nationalised?

Answer 70

Those belonging to foreigners e.g., banking, gas, electricity and transport sectors.

Question 71

By what year was ownership of businesses brought entirely to an end?

Answer 71

1956

Question 72

What was introduced to encourage higher morale?

Answer 72

A number of civil engineering projects were undertaken

Question 73

Give examples of civil engineering projects undertaken to increase morale.

Answer 73

Construction of vast roads Rail bridge across the Yangzi River at Nanjing

Question 74

Target in 1952 and output achieved in 1957 for Gross industrial output (yuan, millions).

Answer 74

Target = 52,560 Output = 65,020

Question 75

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for coal (millions of tonnes).

Answer 75

Target = 113 Output = 115

Question 76

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for oil (millions of tonnes).

Answer 76

Target = 2012 Output = 1468

Question 77

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for steel (millions of tonnes).

Answer 77

Target = 4.12 Output = 5.35

Question 78

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for electric power (billions of kilowatts).

Answer 78

Target = 15.9 Output = 19.34

Question 79

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for hydroelectric turbines (kilowatts).

Answer 79

Target = 79,000 Output = 74,900

Question 80

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for ,machine tools (units).

Answer 80

Target = 12,720 Output = 28,000

Question 81

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for locomotives (units).

Answer 81

Target = 200 Output = 167

Question 82

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for freight cars (units)

Answer 82

Target = 8500 Output = 7300

Question 83

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for merchant ships (tonnes)

Answer 83

Target = 179,000 Output = 54,000

Question 84

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for trucks (units)

Answer 84

Target = 4000 Output = 7500

Question 85

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for bicycles (units)

Answer 85

Target = 550,000 Output = 1,174,000

Question 86

Target (1952) and output achieved (1957) for manufactured chemicals (millions of tonnes)

Answer 86

Target = 1,580 Output = 2,087

Question 87

Why has care have to be taken when it comes to figures relating to economic performance?

Answer 87

There was a tendency for officials to manipulate them. Party cadres would check on performance-there was corruption.

Question 88

What was the economic growth rate of China between 1953 and 1957?

Answer 88

9%

Question 89

According to official statistics, few sectors of the economy succeeded in reaching their targets. True or false?

Answer 89

False-most succeeded.

Question 90

How did urban living standards improve due to the 1st FYP?

Answer 90

Improved in terms of wages

Question 91

According to Western analysis, was there successes of China's 1st FYP?

Answer 91

Yes

Question 92

What shortcomings did Soviet aid expose in the plan?

Answer 92

Shortcomings in skill and literacy of the Chinese workers.

Question 93

By the time the plan ended, how many children, under 16, were in full-time education?

Answer 93

Less than half

Question 94

After 1949, what happened to many of the GMD's nationalist economic planners?

Answer 94

Remained in place

Question 95

Why did the bureaucratic administration within China suffer massively following on from the 1952-53 anti-campaigns?

Answer 95

Many of the GMD nationalist economic planners had been removed.

Question 96

Why did peasants in the countryside suffer from the 1st FYP?

Answer 96

Shortages of food due to it being requisitioned to pay back Soviets for the aid.

Question 97

How did Lysenkoism theories brought over by Russians impact China?

Answer 97

Negatively-had already been proven wrong in Russia.