Communist China

5.01 Authoritarian States

Notes

• Modern Authoritarianism (post-1914)
• Conditions for the Chinese Authoritarian State’s Emergence
• Conditions for the Chinese Authoritarian State’s Establishment
• 1949-1961 Consolidation of the Chinese Communist State
  • 1950-1952 Agrarian Land Reform Policy
  • 1958-1962 Great Leap Forward
• 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution
  • 1966 Social Changes under Mao]
• 1949-1976 Communist China’s Foreign Policy and Affairs
• USSR and China’s relationship – in reference to 1921-1991 🇷🇺 Communist Russia

Key historical concepts

• Imperialism: Pu Yi (last emperor of China)
• Socialism: when workers take control of the state
  • factories + machines are owned collectively and run by the state
  • everybody is equal
  • ends the class system
  • wealth is shared fairly
  • everyone is entitled to good housing and standard of living
• Communism: an ideal utopia
• China was huge

Important people

• Emperor Pu Yi – last emperor of China
• Jiang Kai-Shek – Nationalist president of China
• Mao Zedong – Supreme Leader of the Chinese Communist Party, ex-President of China
• The Big Three of China’s administrative government
  • Liu Shaoqi
  • Deng Xiaoping
  • Zhou Enlai – husband to Jiang Qing
• Gang of Four (infamous)
  • Zhang Chunqiao
  • Jiang Qing – wife of Mao Zedong
  • Yao Wenyuan
  • Wang Hongwen
• Lin Biao – creator of the Little Red Book
• Bo Yibo – veteran & survivor of The Long March, ‘heavy hitter’ in the Party
• 👤 Hua Guofeng

Background

• 1856-1860 Opium War
• 1914-1918 World War I
• 1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War
• 1939-1945 World War II
• 1945-1949 Chinese Civil War