Chinese Communist Revolution

1. Slide 1
Revolution in China
and Communist China
(How does this compare with the
Russian Revolution and Stalin’s
Soviet Union)
This presentation relies heavily on a power point created by Dan
McDowell. Teaching Point, ©2003

2. Slide 2
Background
• Manchu /
Qing Dynasty
maintained
limited power
while other
nations held
major
concessions
in the 20th
century.

3. Slide 3
QING DYNASTY FELL
• Rural & urban
workers,
nationalists,
communists, and
intellectuals
protested against
the government.
• The dynasty fell in
1911 and a weak
provisional
government took its
place.
• 1911 – 1925
Chinese Republic

4. Slide 4
CIVIL WAR 1925-1937
• After the provisional government failed,
the NATIONALISTS led by Chiang Kai-
shek, the COMMUNISTS led by Mao
Zedong, and various WARLORDS began
a CIVIL WAR for control of China

5. Slide 5
Mao Zedong
• Led the army in
developing
guerilla warfare
tactics to fight the
Nationalists and
later the
Japanese

6. Slide 6
1937 – Japan invaded China
• Communists &
Nationalists fought
the Japanese
“separately
together”.
• Communists were
more effective in
their guerilla war
against the
Japanese.

7. Slide 7
Civil War Continued 1945-
1949
• The West
supported the
Nationalist
Army and the
USSR sent
some support
to Mao

8. Slide 8
Communist Victory
1949
• the Communists
founded the People’s
Republic of China.

9. Slide 9
China under Communist
• Foreigners were
kicked out
• Redistribution of land
by the government
• Industrialization
began
• Women gained power

11. Slide 11

12. Slide 12
Mao consolidated power
• Many who were
nationalists,
upper-class, or
dissidents were
imprisoned in
forced labor
camps or killed.

13. Mao Zedong
“Communism is not love.
Communism is a hammer
which we use to crush the
enemy.”
“The danger of democracy
lies in the fact that it
wrecks the Communist
Party organization and
weakens or even
completely undermines the
Party's fighting capacity.”

14. Slide 14
Social Class Changes
• Wealthy upper class
(including ruling
aristocracy) was
removed.
• Landowning class
was destroyed.
• Intellectuals attacked

15. Slide 15
Great Leap Forward 1950s-
• Mao’s government took
control of all the land.
• Started “back yard
industrialization”

16. Great Leap Forward
• The plan failed miserably – famine caused
over 20 million deaths in rural areas, steel
production dropped drastically.

17. BOTH USSR and CHINA
• Totalitarian government and leader
– TOTAL control of all of the gov, econ, culture
• LAND collectivization /Industrialization
• “gains” in industrialization & women’s status
• Millions of political “opponents” imprisoned
and/or executed
• Millions died in famines
• U.S. and its allies are enemies
Slide 17