Covers unit 6 of the AQA A-level History course: The Transformation of China .
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Unit 1: The Origins of the Civil War AQA A-level History Revision Notes: The Transformation of China 1936-1997
Unit 2: CCP Victory AQA History A-level revision notes: The Transformation of China 1936-1997
Unit 3: The Transition to Socialism AQA History revision notes: The Transformation of China 1936-1997
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AQA
History
The Transformation of China 1936-1997
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China
Section 6
Revision
Notes
, SECTION 6: The PRC under Deng Xiaoping, 1976 – 1997
Political developments in the post-Mao era, 1976 – 1981
Mao’s legacy
- Mao died 9th September – left behind a political system = deeply divided by factionalism
- CCP = one of the ‘three pillars’ of the political structure of the PRC had been weakened – although leading
role hadn’t been seriously challenged
- PLA meanwhile = had been strengthened by the CR
- Leadership of CCP = dominated by those who had benefited from the CR unsurprisingly they were
determined to ‘uphold the verdict of the CR’ & continued to assert the primacy of Mao Zedong Thought
- Mao’s final choice of successor Hua Guofeng – elevated to Party Chairman in 1976 & was also Chairman
of the Military Affairs Commission
- Hua’s commitment to maintaining Mao’s ideological legacy - demonstrated in his ‘Two Whatevers’
statement in 1977:
o ‘Whatever policy Chairman Mao decided upon, we shall resolutely defend; whatever directives
Chairman Mao issued, we shall steadfastly obey’
- Gof4 – benefitted from CR & owed their positions to Mao although Mao became increasingly irritated
with them – he never formally repudiated them – their politics and their claims to be the true defenders of
his ideological legacy
- Surviving victims of the CR – who were excluded from power structures – keen to challenge the ‘verdict of
the CR’ & its emphasis on class struggle and mass mobilisation
- Victims = included Deng Xiaoping
- Deng = had been forced into internal exile after the Tiananmen Square incident in April 1976 – BUT…
o He had popular support
o And backing within the Party, State and Army
- He could not be discounted in the power struggles that lay ahead
- Between the beneficiaries & the victims of the CR = was the broad mass of Party cadres, State officials and
PLA officers who had survived – avoided being purged by keeping their heads down and keeping out of
factional struggles
o They were committed to facilitating an orderly and stable transition after Mao’s death
o Leading figure in this group = Ye Jianying (Marshal in the PLA & the senior PLA figure in the political
structure)
- Mao = said to Hua ‘with you in charge, I am at ease.’ in his mind the succession issue had been settled &
his ideological legacy was secure
- BUT… in reality his death just brought the power struggle into the open and the victor wasn’t Hua but Deng
Xiaoping
Power struggle
- When Mao died = Hua made preparations for a showdown with Gof4
- Gof4 mobilised the Shanghai militia in August = signalled that they were preparing for an armed struggle to
take power from Hua Guofeng
o With their control of the media and important positions on the Politburo they believed they were
in a strong position to do so
o They also assumed that their claim to be defenders of Mao’s ideological legacy would win over the
support of the majority of Party cadres
o Their power base = lacked the support of the PLA = a crucial element
, o They were tactically inept
Failed to build alliances with other beneficiaries of the CR
Their mobilisation of the Shanghai militia = posed serious threats to order & stability
o PLA = wouldn’t stand by and allow civil war to wreck the country
o Hua understood this & had been assured he had the support of Ye Jianying & the PLA
o Huge tactical mistake from Gof4 they ignored one of the basic Maoist principles of guerrilla
warfare – when faced with a superior enemy force & withdraw to a safe area (their secure area was
Shanghai & yet they remained in Beijing after Mao’s death – at the heart of the government system
– controlled by Hua
th
- 6 October 1976 – with the support of PLA – Hua ordered the arrest of the Gof4
- Some unrest in Shanghai as their supporters tried to fight back – but the PLA restored order within a week
- Gof4 remained under arrest until their trial in 1980
- Following their arrest = the Party Politburo confirmed Hua as Mao’s successor & he was made Party
Chairman, State Premier & Chairman of the Military Affairs Committee
The Trial of the Gof4:
1980
Accused of attempting to overthrow the socialist state, planning an armed rebellion and causing people to
be killed and tortured
They were all found guilty
Jiang Qing & Zhang Chunqiao = sentenced to death – although executions were delayed 2 years – after which
the sentences changed to life imprisonment
Yao Wenyuan = 20 years in prison
Wang Hongwen = life imprisonment
Hua Guofeng’s leadership
- With the Gof4 gone = Hua’s position = seemed to be secure
- Hua = owed his position to Mao’s patronage & he acknowledged his debt to Mao by ordering the building of
a mausoleum in Tiananmen Square for Mao’s body
- His justification for doing so (in defiance of Mao’s own wishes) was to show that ‘The Chairman is always
with us’ was a clear statement of his wish to perpetuate the cult of Mao and to emphasise the continuity
between Mao & himself (his ‘Two Whatevers’ statement in 1977 = another expression of this)
- Hua’s dependence on Mao’s legacy = blessing & a curse
o Without it = wouldn’t have risen to become Party Chairman etc
o But he also couldn’t get away from his legacy
- One of his 1st priorities when he took over = set the course for the next phase of economic planning
o Before his death Zhou Enlai – had been working on a 10-year plan to run from 1976-85
o When Hua took over = gave the plan a distinctly Maoist emphasis – leading to it being labelled ‘Hua’s
Great Leap’
o His plan failed to take account of the account of the damage to the economy resulting from the
factional battles of 1974-76 therefore = set targets that were unrealistic and not based on
accurate data
- Economic planning again = generated debates within the Party leadership
o One side = Hua & his supporters known as the ‘Whatever faction’ – they followed the ideological
certainties of Mao Zedong Thought
o Other side = some senior figures (including Deng Xiaoping & Chen Yun) – put forward a more
pragmatic approach to economic planning
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