CHINA AFTER MAO

CHINA AFTER

MAO

Essential Question:How did China evolve in the years after Mao Zedong’s death?

Mao Zedong was the communist ruler of China from

1945 to 1976The Great Leap

Forward and the Cultural Revolution were two of Mao’s programs that he imposed on China

The Great Leap Forward was a terrible failure, while the Revolution was a success;

both meant tragedy for the Chinese people

The Great Leap had the goals of improving China’s industry and farming

Instead, it led to shoddy industry and mass starvation, killing tens of millions

The Cultural Revolution had the goal of strictly

imposing Mao’s communist beliefs on

the Chinese peopleThe “Little Red Book” was required reading

for all ChineseThe only thoughts and

opinions Chinese people were permitted

to have were Mao’s thoughts and opinions

The Cultural Revolution was successful for

Mao: traditional Chinese culture

was mostly destroyed, and

the Chinese people were

under his control

Of course, those who disagreed with or openly criticized Mao were beaten,

tortured, imprisoned, or killed by Mao’s thugs (the Red

Guard)

During his rule, Mao was

responsible for the murders or

starvation of over 40 million of his

own peopleMao was

extremely brutal, ruthless, and

absolutely uncaring of the fate of Chinese

citizens

Mao was perhaps the deadliest ruler in all of human history

The full extent of his crimes against humanity would not be known until

well after his death in 1976

Even though Mao had distanced himself from the USSR and began relations with the USA, China

remained a nation strictly controlled by communism

In 1976, Mao died and was succeeded by far more moderate Communist leaders

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping took over as ruler of China;

he kept communism in

place, but began new economic reforms

Deng Xiaoping's economic

reforms were called the Four

Modernizations; they involved

using capitalist ideas to help improve the

Chinese economy

As a result of farmers having an incentive to

work hard, food production increased

by over 50%

Price index for farm outputsGOAL #1: AGRICULTUREDeng ended collective

farms and allowed farmers to rent land and grow crops for a profit

GOAL #2: INDUSTRYAllowed private

businesses, relaxed controls over

government-run factories, and let

foreign companies open in China

As a result, incomes rose;

Chinese bought consumer goods,

like TVs and appliances

GOAL #3: DEFENSEChina modernized their military and built more nuclear weapons

GOAL #4: TECHNOLOGY China invested in

education, built a space program, and welcomed foreign

technological ideas

These economic reforms led to a boom in the overall Chinese economy; in 2010, China passed Japan and became the second-biggest economy in the world

Deng’s reforms had unintended consequences for Chinese society

China’s emphasis on education and the influx of Western companies led many Chinese to learn

more about democracy; they began to question their own lack of personal freedoms in China

Thousands of Chinese students demanded democracy from their government and protested

in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989

Thousands of Chinese students demanded democracy from their government and protested

in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989

Student leader Wang Dan in Tiananmen

Square calling for a city wide

march

How do you think the Chinese

government reacted to this

demonstration?

Check out this fun link to see what web sites are censored in china

http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org

Chinese soldiers and tanks attacked the crowd, killing

hundreds of protestors

The Chinese government arrested and executed leaders of the protest

An estimated 5000 were killed and

30,000 wounded

Check out this fun link to see what web sites are censored in china

http://www.greatfirewallofchina.org

The Communist Party increased control over citizens by repressing pro-democracy demands,

censoring the media and information, and restricting freedom of speech

In 1997, Great Britain returned Hong Kong to China after ruling the colony for 155 years

In 1997, Great Britain returned Hong Kong to China after ruling the colony for 155 years

Under British and Chinese control, Hong Kong served as one of the world’s major commercial and financial centers

Under British and Chinese control, Hong Kong served as one of the world’s major commercial and financial centers

China has one of the fastest

growing economies

in the world; others include Brazil, India,

Russia(BRIC nations)But, China has

a low wage work force, large gap

between rich and poor, few

personal freedoms, and human rights

violations

China Today Introduction to Diane Sawyer’s report on the “Stunning Economic Growth of China” (5:37)

Diane Sawyer’s full report on the “Stunning Economic Growth of China” (20:00)

Video on “Manufacturing & China’sEconomic Growth” (2.41)