1. Communist China

2. China’s Struggles
 Since before WWII
China had a civil war
going on.
 The US was supporting
the Nationalist party led
by Jiang Jieshi. We
feared that if the
Communists won they
would form an alliance
with the USSR (their
neighbors).

3. Mao Zedong
 Mao Zedong was the
leader of the communist
party in China.
 Mao grew up as a poor
peasant in China’s
country-side and had the
support of the people.
 He led the communist
army using guerilla
attacks against the

4. Jiang Jieshi/Chiang Kaishek
 Jiang Jieshi was leader
of the Nationalist party
and army in China.
 He did not have the wide
range of support from
the people like Mao did.
He and his officers were
corrupt and often wasted
the money they received
from the US to fight the

5. China Becomes Communist
 In October 1949 Mao
Zedong and the
communists were able to
defeat Jiang Jieshi.
 The Nationalists left the
country and China
declared themselves to
be communist.
 In 1950 they signed a
friendship treaty with the

6. China Expands Their Power
 Despite Mao’s victory in mainland China the US
continued to send money and support to Jiang
Jieshi and the Nationalists.
 The Soviets started now providing support to the
communists in China.
 The US tried to strengthen their influence in
Japan and Korea so the Soviets wouldn’t have
more power than us in Asia. We tried to contain
their influence.
 Mao began to expand his control over China and
many of the surrounding areas such as:
Mongolia, Northern India, and Tibet.

7. Mao and Marxist Socialism
 Mao’s goal was to
reshape China’s
economy based on the
principles of Marxist
Socialism
(communism).
 Mao took farmland
from the
landlords, sometimes
violently.
 He worked to gradually
bring all private

8. Communes and the Great Leap
Forward
 Mao created large
collective farms known as
communes where many
families would work.
 This plan to move towards
communes and collective
farming was known as the
“Great Leap Forward.”
 When it was not
successful Mao began to
implement other harsh
Agriculture needs a great leap
policies to get the people forward.