In depth analysis of:
• Introduction; establishment of Communist China in 1949 and events leading up to 1949;
• Cultural Revolution
• China’s relations with the Soviet Union and the USA from 1949 to 1973
• China's changing relationships with neighbouring states – Tibet, India, Vietnam ...
China’s Rise as a World Power
WHAT IS EXAMINABLE AND WHAT IS PURELY BACKGROUND
ACCORDING TO THE IEB SUBJECT ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES
Introduction; establishment of Communist China in 1949 and
events leading up to 1949; (NOT EXAMINABLE)
Cultural Revolution; (NOT EXAMINABLE)
China’s relations with the Soviet Union and the USA from 1949
to 1973 (clash of ideologies rather than individual events);
China's changing relationships with neighbouring states –
Tibet, India, Vietnam and Taiwan
To what extent was China established as a superpower by the
time of Mao's death?
Conclusion – impact of China's economic liberalisation on
relations with the rest of the world since Mao's death until the
present. (NOT EXAMINABLE)
Events Leading Up to 1949
Civil War (1920s – 1949)
The civil war began in the 1920s and pitted the nationalists
(Kuomintang who were led by Chiang Kai Shek) against the
communists (led by Mao Zedong)
Chiang Kai Shek was the conservative and very right-wing
leader of China.
o His party was essentially corrupt and out of touch with
the vast majority of people
o He became increasingly anti-communist and had strong
relationships with businessmen and landowners
During 1927, Chiang decided that the communists were
becoming too powerful and thus all communists were expelled
from the KMT and a ‘purification movement’ was launched
o Thousands of communist supporters were massacred
, o The Kuomintang government proved to be a great
disappointment for the majority of Chinese
Temporary Alliance (1931-1945)
In 1931, Japan invaded and conquered a province in China
called Manchuria
o By 1937 Japan had conquered virtually the entire eastern
half of China
o The nationalists and communists became allies during
World War II in the fight against the invading Japanese.
o The communists (CCP) fought an effective guerrilla
campaign against the Japanese
o This helped them win over support among the peasants
and the middle-classes.
When the Japanese were defeated in 1945 and World War II
ended , the KMT and the CCP became locked in the final
struggle for power
End of the Civil War (1945 – 1949)
International forces began to take sides in the civil war
o The Soviet Union armed the communists and the Allies
supported the nationalists with aid and military
assistance
o The Americans helped the KMT to take over all areas
previously occupied by the Japanese.
However, in 1948 the ever- increasing communist armies were
large enough to abandon their guerrilla campaign and
challenge Chiang’s armies directly
o They had attracted the discontent of the Chinese
peasantry and used it to gain popular support
, o As soon as they came under direct pressure, the KMT
armies began to disintegrate.
In 1949 the communists took Beijing, the KMT army largely
collapsed and Chiang and what remained of his forces fled to
the island of Fomosa (now known as Taiwan) leaving Mao
Zedong in command of mainland China
o Mao proclaimed mainland China the People’s Republic of
China
o The KMT – along with the United States who saw all
communist states as the enemy – viewed Fomosa as the
legitimate official Chinese state
The US placed fleets in the Taiwan Straits to protect
the nationalists
Maoism
Mao Zedong adopted a form of communism in China that
differed from the ideals of the Soviet Union
o Mao saw the peasantry, as opposed to the working class,
as the driving force against the capitalist middle class
o China was industrially underdeveloped and gained the
support of the peasants by revising traditional
communist theory
The CCP encouraged the peasants to participate in
revolutionary action
o Seizing land from their landowners and setting up
collective farms
Although he saw peasants as the main unit of change, he still
wanted to make China into a major industrial power in addition
to strengthening the power of farmers
The First Five Year Plan
From 1953- 1957 and is generally seen as a success
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