Chinese Civil War Resumes Main Idea Chinese Communists

Chinese Civil War Resumes Main Idea: Chinese Communists defeated Nationalist forces and two separate Chinas emerge

Civil War: 1946 to 1949 o o U. S. supported Nationalists by providing financial aid Nationalist troops outnumbered communists by 3 to 1 n o o However failed to win popular support of the citizens (peasants) ***Peasants support would be huge in the outcome!*** Collapsing Chinese economy caused several soldiers to join the Communists Mao Zedong’s promise to restore land to the peasants inspired soldiers Significance: Communists would win the war

Impact of China o o Communist victory fueled U. S. anti. Communist feelings Feelings were fueled even more when the Chinese and soviets signed a friendship treaty in 1950 U. S. viewed communist takeover of china as another step in the communist campaign to conquer the world Significance: This would inspire the U. S. to become more aggressive and get involved in Vietnam and Korea

Superpowers Get Involved o o o Taiwan would become the home of the nationalists U. S. helped them set up a nationalist government Soviets gave Communist China weapons, technical aid, and money

Communists Transform China o Mao reshaped the economy based on Marxism n n n o Took land from the landlords and killed anyone who resisted (millions) Divided the land among the peasants Forced them to work on collective farms Transformed Industry and Business n n Tried to modernize like the west! Who else did this? !? !

Great Leap Forward o Mao created larger collective farms called communes n o Peasants were extremely unhappy and were not receiving the benefits they were promised! A drought severely crippled the communes and brought the need for changes

Cultural Revolution o o Mao vowed to fix the problems and inspired people to believe him Red Guards: teenagers left the classroom and formed militias to support an overhaul of the Chinese culture Cultural Revolution: goal was to establish a society where peasants and workers were equal. n The worker became more valuable than the student and the red guard shut down universities n Harsh in their changes killing anyone who resisted n Chaos began and farm production was in danger so the army was forced to put down the red guards by force Significance: China was struggling to become stable

Legacy of Mao o Failed to get the economy to grow consistently n n n First 5 year plan: industry grew but agricultural only grew slowly Great leap forward: suffered economic disaster as industry declined and food shortages emerged Cultural Revolution: regained influence by backing radicals and took part in purges and conflict causing economic, social, and political chaos

Legacy of Mao o o Cultural Revolution turned people against radical communism New moderate period emerged

Deng Xiaoping o o o Jailed radicals who had led the cultural revolution Supported moderate economic policies (elements of Capitalism) Four Modernizations: economic reforms to improve agriculture, industry, defense, and science and technology (Successful!)

Massacre in Tiananmen Square o o o Gap between rich and poor grew with the progressing economy Western ideas in democracy and contact with the west drove college students to question why they could not have political freedom as well 100, 000 students came together at Tiananmen Square (large public space in Beijing) to protest for democracy n Gained popular support and called for Deng to step down

Massacre in Tiananmen Square o Instead of making reforms or stepping down, Deng declared martial law n o o Use of any force necessary to keep order Most of the protesters gave in with this declaration 100, 000 soldiers were brought in to deal with those who continued to protest n n Last straw: students constructed a statue that called the “goddess of democracy” Heavily armed soldiers and tanks were brought in to destroy the statue and put down the resistance

Massacre in Tiananmen Square o o o Soldiers sprayed bullets into the protesting crowds Attack killed hundreds and wounded thousands Significance: EXAMPLE OF A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

China Today o o Market economy (Democratic/Capitalist principles) No Political Freedom or democratic principles in Politics/Government