Mao Zedong Communist China The Great Leap Forward The .

Mao ZedongCommunist ChinaThe Great Leap ForwardThe Cultural RevolutionTiananmen Square

Mao Zedong was a Chinese militaryand political leader wholed the CommunistParty of China to victoryagainst the Kuomintangin the Chinese Civil War the leader of thePeople’s Republic ofChina from itsestablishment in 1949until his death in 1976.

Regarded as one of themost important figures inmodern world history However, many of Mao'sprograms, such as theGreat Leap Forward andthe Cultural Revolution, areblamed from both withinand outside China forcausing severe damage tothe culture, society,economy, and foreignrelations of China, as wellas a probable death toll inthe tens of millionsMao Zedong

Mao Zedong – Forbidden City

Leadership of China The People's Republic ofChina was established inOctober 1949. The Communist Partyassumed control of allmedia in the country andused it to promote theimage of Mao and theParty. The Chinese people wereexhorted to devotethemselves to build andstrengthen their country

Leadership of China In his speech declaringthe foundation of thePRC, Mao announced:"The Chinese peoplehave stood up!" More examples of hispropaganda to changeChina

Mao Zedong Mao’s first politicalcampaigns after foundingthe People’s Republicwere land reform and thesuppression of counterrevolutionaries, whichcentered on massexecutions, often beforeorganized crowds. Mao himself claimed thata total of 700,000 peoplewere executed during theyears 1949–1953.

Following the consolidation ofpower, Mao launched the FirstFive-Year Plan (1953-1958).The plan aimed to endChinese dependence uponagriculture in order to becomea world power. With theSoviet Union's assistance new industrial plants werebuilt and agriculturalproduction eventually came towhere industry was beginningto produce enough capital thatChina no longer needed theUSSR's support.Mao & Stalin

The Great Leap Forward The success of the FirstFive Year Plan was toencourage Mao toinstigate the SecondFive Year Plan, theGreat Leap Forward, in1958. Land was taken fromlandlords and morewealthy peasants andgiven to poorerpeasants. Large scaleindustrialization projectswere also undertaken.

The Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forwardtook place in 1958. TheGreat Leap Forward wasMao’s attempt tomodernize China’seconomy so that by1988, China would havean economy that rivaledAmerica. two primary tasks that hefelt they should targetwas industry andagriculture

The Great LeapForward Families in a people’scommune eating incommunal dining hall

Communes during the Great Leap The Great Leap Forwardplanned to develop agricultureand industry. Mao believed thatboth had to grow to allow theother to grow. Industry couldonly prosper if the work forcewas well fed, while theagricultural workers neededindustry to produce the moderntools needed for modernization.To allow for this, China wasreformed into a series ofcommunes. People in a communegave up their ownershipof tools, animals etc sothat everything wasowned by the commune.

Pictures ofwork on acommune

Negative effects of the Great LeapForward millions starved todeath in what isthought to be thelargest famine inhuman history. According togovernment statistics,there were 15 millionexcess deathsbetween 1959 - 1962

The Great Leap Forward Consequences The Great Leap Forwardis now widely seen, bothwithin China and outsideas a major economicdisaster effectively being a "GreatLeap Backward" thatwould affect China in theyears to come Overall, the Great LeapForward was a disaster.

Propaganda of the Great Leap Forward

Propaganda of the Great Leap Forward

Propaganda of the Great Leap Forward

Propaganda of the Great LeapForward

Mao and The Cultural Revolution Facing the prospect oflosing his place on thepolitical stage, Maoresponded by launchingthe Cultural Revolutionin 1966. One of the main focusesof the CulturalRevolution was theabolishment of the FourOlds: Old Customs, OldCulture, Old Habits, andOld Ideas.

Red Guards Role in the CulturalRevolution Throughout theCultural Revolution,the Red Guardstraveled throughoutChina, going toschools, universities,and institutions,spreading theteachings of Mao.

was published by theGovernment of thePeople's Republic ofChina from April 1964until 1976. collection of quotationsexcerpted from MaoZedong's past speechesand publications requirement for everyChinese citizen to own,to read, and to carry it atall times during the laterhalf of Mao's rule,especially during theCultural Revolution.Mao’s Little RedBook

Red Guards Role in the CulturalRevolution The role of Red Guard wasmainly to attack the "Four Olds"of society, that is what isbelieved to be old ideas,cultures, habits, and customsof China at the time. Red Guards in Beijing andelsewhere in China had takento the streets from theirschools. They made posters, speeches,criticized Party leaders, andsome committed violent acts inthe name of the CulturalRevolution.

The Cultural Revolution The decision grantedpeople the most extensivefreedom of speech thePeople's Republic has everseen, but this was afreedom severelydetermined by the Maoistideological climate and,ultimately, by the People'sLiberation Army and Mao'sauthority over the Army

The Cultural Revolution Many religious buildingssuch as temples, churches,mosques, and cemeterieswere closed down andsometimes looted anddestroyed In August and September,there were 1,772 peoplemurdered in Beijing alone.In Shanghai in Septemberthere were 704 suicidesand 534 deaths related tothe Cultural Revolution

The End of the Cultural Revolution In October 1968, LiuShao-chi wasexpelled from theparty and this isgenerally seen byhistorians as the endof the CulturalRevolution. Mao hadwitnessed theremoval of a potentialrival in the party andtherefore saw noneed for the CulturalRevolution tocontinue.

Propaganda of Cultural Revolution

Tiananmen Square is the large plazanear the center ofBeijing, China whichsits to its north,separating it fromthe Forbidden City. It has great culturalsignificance as asymbol because itwas the site ofseveral key eventsin Chinese history

Tiananmen Square protests of1989 - Background Since 1978, DengXiaoping had led aseries of economicand political reformswhich had led to thegradualimplementation of amarket economy andsome politicalliberalization thatrelaxed the system setup by Mao Zedong.

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Background Some students andintellectuals believedthat the reforms had notgone far enough andthat China needed toreform its politicalsystem. They were alsoconcerned about thesocial and politicalcontrols that theCommunist Party ofChina still had

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Background The Tiananmen Squareprotests in 1989 were inlarge measure sparked bythe death of formerSecretary General HuYaobang "rapid reform" and hisalmost open contempt of"Maoist excesses“ His sudden death, due toheart attack, 1989 provideda perfect opportunity for thestudents to gather onceagain Hu Yaobang

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Background The protests were begun byBeijing students to encouragefree-market reforms andliberalization. Protesters believed that Chinahad not gone far enough ineconomic liberalization andprivatization. They also believed that thesocial reforms made by DengXiaoping had not gone farenough and China needed toreform its political systems.

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Protests escalate 100,000 students andworkers marched inBeijing makingdemands for free mediareform and a formaldialogue between theauthorities The governmentrejected the proposeddialogue huge groups ofstudents occupiedTiananmen Square andstarted a hunger strike

Protestsescalate

Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Protests escalate The number of dead and wounded remains unclearbecause of the large discrepancies between thedifferent estimates. According to initial reports fromthe Chinese Red Cross, there were 2,600 casualties

Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, are blamed from both within and outside China for causing severe damage to the culture, society, economy, and foreign . Leap Backward" that would affect China in the years to come Overall, the Great Leap Forward was a disaster.