communist china and mao zedong. He was quite a guy.

2. Introduction
China had been ruled by Dynasties for
thousands of years.
The Qin rulers came to power in 1644 and
ruled China until 1911.
During the 1800s, the Industrial
Revolution in Europe brought influences
from the west
­ Europeans helped stop uprisings
­ Influenced the building of infrastructure
such as railroads, factories and
shipyards
­ Bought rights to trade, build and mine
in various provinces from local leaders
The central power of the Chinese
Emperor was slowly whittled away.

3. The Rise of Communism
In 1927, Chinese communists began a
movement to gain control of the country.
Nationalist forces and Communist troops
fought for control.
During the mid-1930’s the Communist
troops had to evade the Nationalist army.
The “Long March” throughout China was
the retreat. The Communist troops traveled
8,000 miles in 370 days.
­ This began the ascent of power of Mao
Zedong whose leadership during the
retreat gained him the support of
members of the party.
­ Mao became Chairman of the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) in 1935.
The young Mao Zedong

4. Revolution
Mao’s view of revolution
and control was clear:
­ “A revolution is not a
dinner party, or writing an
essay, or painting a
picture, or doing
embroidery; it cannot be
so refined, so leisurely
and gentle, so temperate,
kind, courteous,
restrained and
magnanimous. A
revolution is an
insurrection, an act of
violence by which one
class overthrows another.
Mao Zedong addressing his followers -
1944

5. Mao’s Revolution
A revolution to remove “3 big mountains”
­ Imperialism
­ Feudalism
­ Bureaucrat-capitalism
A “united front” of…..
­ workers
­ peasants

6. Reasons for Communist
Success
Mao won the support of peasants
– land.
Mao won the support of women.
Mao’s army used guerilla war
tactics.
Many saw the Nationalist
government as corrupt.
Many felt that the Nationalists
allowed foreigners to dominate
China.

7. The People’s Republic of
China
In 1949, Mao’s communists
forced the Nationalists to leave the
Chinese mainland and go to the
island of Taiwan.
The People’s Republic of China
was born on October 1st
, 1949 with
Mao Zedong the leader.
Mao’s main goal was to make
China a strong, modern country.

8. Chairman Mao
Ruled from 1946-76 but not exclusively.
Killed 3 million people for speaking out.
Political Reform
­ One-party dictatorship
­ Denied basic rights and freedoms
Land Reform
­ Exterminated the landlord class with land re-distributed to
peasants
­ Collectivization system: laborers are not compensated for their
work with wages but receive a share of the farm’s net productivity.
Economic Reform
­ Manufacturing and mining
­ Transport and communication was rebuilt

9. Chairman Mao
Great Leap Forward (1958)
­ Communes formed
­ Military lifestyle
­ Women as full participants
­ Hours long
­ Meal breaks short
Great Leap Forward failed – reverted back to “collectivization”

10. Chairman Mao
Cultural Revolution (1966) brought
about to re-assert control
­ Little Red Book:
­ Collection of quotes,
sayings, speeches and
writings of Mao
­ Over 900 million in print
­ Was an unofficial
requirement that every
Chinese citizen own, read and
carry the book at all times