Lesson 2: China After World War II

Lesson Focus

Following World War II, Mao Zedong's Communist Party took power in China. We will explore his radical attempts to create a socialist society and how these efforts impacted China's path and its role in the Cold War.

People to Know

Mao Zedong

Learning Objectives

• Explain how Mao used economic policies, such as collective farms and communes, to try and establish a classless society in China.
• Understand why Mao Zedong believed a permanent revolution was essential to achieve the final stage of communism and overcome China's past.
• Analyze how the Cold War shaped China's foreign policy, its relationship with the Soviet Union, and its eventual opening to the West.

After World War II, a civil war erupted between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists and Mao Zedong's Communists.

Mao's People's Liberation Army attracted millions of peasants with promises of land, while many in the middle class turned against the Nationalists' repressive policies.

By 1949, the Communists had defeated the Nationalists, forcing Chiang Kai-shek to flee to Taiwan. Mao then announced the formation of the People's Republic of China, a major turning point for the country.

To speed up economic growth, Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward in 1958.

This program forced peasants onto vast communes—huge collective farms—in an effort to rapidly industrialize China and achieve a classless society.

Note that the program was an economic disaster. Poor weather and peasant resistance caused food production to plummet, leading to a massive famine that resulted in nearly 15 million deaths and the eventual breakup of the communes.

Following the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao Zedong feared China was losing its revolutionary spirit. He believed a permanent revolution was necessary.
In 1966, he launched the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Using his Little Red Book as a guide, he unleashed the Red Guards to destroy the “Four Olds”—old ideas, culture, customs, and habits.
This campaign created chaos, destroyed historical artifacts, and led to brutal attacks on intellectuals and artists.

The intense chaos of the Cultural Revolution caused many people, including Communist Party officials, to turn against the movement.

After Mao Zedong died in 1976, a group of practical-minded reformers led by Deng Xiaoping seized power.

Deng Xiaoping and his allies quickly brought the Cultural Revolution to an end. This marked a major shift away from radical revolution and toward a new era of economic reform and modernization for China.

After the Communist victory in 1949, China allied with the Soviet Union, intensifying Cold War fears in the United States.

However, disputes over economic aid and global strategy caused the relationship between China and the Soviets to break down in the 1960s.

Faced with a threat from the USSR, China improved relations with the U.S., culminating in President Nixon's visit in 1972. This ended China's long isolation from the West.