Mao Zedong

1. Mao Zedong

3. Words to Know Nationalism Cultural Revolution Long March Great Leap Forward Chiang Kai-Shek Republic of China (ROC, Tiawan) People’s Republic of China (PRC) Communist Party of China (CPC)

4. Graphic Organizer

5. Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976) was a • Chinese military and political leader, • led Communist Party of China (CPC) to victory in the Chinese Civil War • leader of People’s Republic of China (PRC). • Very respected in China even though his leadership resulted in the deaths of millions of people

6. Mao Zedong Video-GA DOE

7. Emperor to Naitonalism Nationalism led to the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty in 1912. The Republic of China was created, however, the new government led by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) was unable to prevent crime and other hardships on the people. Many were murdered by thieves and criminals and agriculture slowed which resulted in famine. In addition, many were upset that the new government gave into European pressure to allow Japan to control parts of Chinese territory. Slowly the new republic slid into chaos and civil war.

8. Mao was born to a peasant familyin Shaoshan, a village in Hunan Province. He was still a student when the revolution of 1911-1912 overthrew the Manchu government and made China a republic. While he was employed as a library worker at the National University in Beijing (Peking) in 1918, Mao became attracted to the ideas of Communism. In 1921, Mao and 11 other people founded the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai.

9. Communists Young Chinese were disillusioned with western style democracy and looked to the communists as an alternative. In 1921, young intellectuals gathered to form the Chinese Communist Party.

10. Brief overview of Communism:Karl Marx Karl Marx (1818-1883), German political philosopherand revolutionary, the creator of a system of thought called Marxism. With political economist Friedrich Engels, he founded scientific socialism (now known as communism). Communism Video

11. Brief overview of Communism:Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), Russian revolutionary leader and theorist. Lenin was the leader of the radical socialist Bolshevik Party (later renamed the Communist Party), which seized power in the Russian Revolution of 1917.

12. Interactive Notebook Question (Left Side) • Think-Pair-Share • Why do you think Mao chose communism over other forms of government?

13. Graphic Organizer Peasant Family University Student Mao Zedong

14. Overtime China fell into a civil war between groups supporting democracy, monarchy, and communism. Eventually, two groups formed the main struggled for power. At first the Kuomintang (Nationalist/Democratic) and the Communists tried to work together to make China a better place. However, the Kuomintang decided to attack the communists and attempted to kill most of their followers.

15. Mao Zedong survived the attack on the communists and decided to lead the few remaining communists to the countryside to gather additional support from the peasants.

16. Nationalist China (Kuomintang) leader Chiang Kai-shek In 1928, became head of the Nationalist Government Democratic Leader, US supported.

17. In 1934, Mao led the Communists in what is called The Long March. The 6,000-mile (9,700-kilometer) march lasted over a year and welded the survivors into a tightly-knit group under Mao's leadership.

18. Graphic Organizer Peasant Family University Student Mao Zedong The Long March Violent Revolution Theory

19. Interactive Notebook Question (Left Side) • Think-Pair-Share (Pick one to answer) • Which side did the U.S. support and why? • How did the Long March solidify Mao’s reputation in China?

20. In the middle of the Chinese Civil War, Japan invaded China causing the start of WWII. Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong were forced to work together, along with the U.S., against the Japanese.

21. An Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend-Ancient Chinese Proverb Unit 731

24. Graphic Organizer Peasant Family University Student Mao Zedong The Long March Fought against Nationalist Chinese Violent Revolution Theory

25. After the end of World War II, the U.S. continued to support Chiang Kai-shek, openly against the Communist Red Army (led by Mao Zedong) in the civil war for control of China. The U.S. support was part of its view to contain and defeat world communism. Likewise, the Soviet Union gave quasi-support to Mao and gave large supplies of arms to the Communist Party of China. On December 10, 1949, Chiang Kai-shek’sforces suffered massive losses against Mao's Red Army and evacuated from the mainland to Taiwan (Formosa).

26. Establishment of Communist China • Mao’s first political goals were land reform and the suppression of counter-revolutionaries, which centered on mass executions, often before organized crowds. These campaigns of mass repression targeted former KMT officials, businessmen, former employees of Western companies, and intellectuals whose loyalty was suspect. The U.S. State department in 1976 estimated that there may have been a million killed in the land reform, and another 800,000 killed in the counterrevolutionary campaign. Mao himself claimed a total of 700,000 killed during these early years (1949–53).

27. Graphic Organizer Land Reform Mass Executions Mao Zedong

28. Great Leap Forward • After firmly establishing himself as the leader of China, Mao decided the country should target industrial and agricultural growth in an attempt to become a world power. This plan was called the Great Leap Forward. • Mao believed that both industry and agriculture had to grow to allow the other to grow. Industry could only prosper if the work force was well fed, while the agricultural workers needed industry to produce the modern tools needed for modernization.

29. Great Leap Forward-GA DOE

30. To allow for this, China was reformed into a series of communes. The geographical size of a commune varied but most contained about 5000 families. People in a commune gave up ownership of tools, animals etc so that everything was owned by the commune. People now worked for the commune and not for themselves. The life of an individual was controlled by the commune. Schools and nurseries were provided by the communes so that all adults could work. Health care was provided and the elderly were moved into "houses of happiness" so that they could be looked after and also so that families could work and not have to worry about leaving their elderly relatives at home.

31. The commune provided all that was needed – including entertainment. Soldiers worked alongside people. The population in a commune was sub-divided. Twelve families formed a work team. Twelve work terms formed a brigade. Each sub-division was given specific work to do. Party members oversaw the work of a commune to ensure that decisions followed the correct party line.

32. Interactive Notebook Question (Left Side) • Think-Pair-Share • What do you think would be the drawbacks to living in a Commune?

33. By the end of 1958, 700 million people had been placed into 26,578 communes. The government did all that it could to whip up enthusiasm for the communes. Propaganda was everywhere – including in the fields where the workers could listen to political speeches as they worked as the communes provided public address systems. Everybody involved in communes was urged not only to meet set targets but to beat them. If the communes lacked machinery, the workers used their bare hands.

34. The consequences of the Great Leap Forward However, in 1959, things started to go wrong. Political decisions/beliefs took precedence over commonsense and communes faced the task of doing things which they were incapable of achieving. Party officials would order the impossible and commune leaders, who knew what their commune was capable of doing or not, could be charged with being a "bourgeois reactionary" if he complained. Such a charge would lead to prison.

35. Quickly produced farm machinery produced in factories fell to pieces when used. Many thousands of workers were injured after working long hours and falling asleep at their jobs. Steel produced by the backyard furnaces was frequently too weak to be of any use and could not be used in construction – it’s original purpose. Buildings constructed by this substandard steel did not last long.

36. The excellent growing weather of 1958 was followed by a very poor growing year in 1959. Some parts of China were hit by floods. In other growing areas, drought was a major problem. The harvest for 1959 was 170 million tons of grain – well below what China needed at the most basic level. In parts of China, starvation occurred.

37. 1960 had even worse weather than 1959. The harvest of 1960 was 144 million tons. 9 million people are thought to have starved to death in 1960 alone; many millions were left desperately ill as a result of a lack of food. The government had to introduce rationing. This put people on the most minimal of food and between 1959 and 1962, it is thought that 20 million people died of starvation or diseases related to starvation.

38. By 1959, it was obvious that the Great Leap Forward had been a failure. Some party members put the blame of the failure of the Great Leap Forward on Mao. He was popular with the people but he still had to resign from his position as Head of State (though he remained in the powerful Party Chairman position).

39. The day-to-day running of China was left to three moderates: Liu Shaoqi, Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping. In late 1960, they abandoned the Great Leap Forward. Private ownership of land was reinstated and communes were cut down to a manageable size. Peasants also had the incentive to produce as much spare food as was possible as they could sell any spare that they had a market. These three moderates had restricted Mao’s power but his standing among the ordinary Chinese people was still high as he was seen as the leader of the revolution. He was to use this popularity with the people to resurrect his authority at the expense of the moderates. This was in the so-called Cultural Revolution.

40. Graphic Organizer Land Reform Mass Executions Mao Zedong Great Leap Forward Widespread Famine

41. Cultural Revolution • Facing the prospect of losing his place on the political stage, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in 1966. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao closed schools in China and young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to the countryside and forced to manufacture weapons for the Red Army. The Revolution led to the destruction of much of China's cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of Chinese citizens, as well as creating general economic and social chaos in the country. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.

42. Cultural Revolution-GA DOE

43. Mao believed that the progress China had made since 1949 had lead to a privileged class developing – engineers, scientists, factory managers etc. Mao also believed that these people were acquiring too much power at his expense. Mao was concerned that a new class of mandarins was emerging in China who had no idea about the lifestyle of the normal person in China. Red Guards (groups of youths who banded themselves together) encouraged all the youth in China to criticize those who Mao deemed untrustworthy with regards to the direction he wanted China to take. No-one was safe from criticism: writers, economists and anyone associated with the man Mao considered his main rival – Liu Shao-chi. Anyone who was deemed to have developed a superior attitude was considered an enemy of the party and people.

44. Mao deliberately set out to create a cult for himself and to purge the Chinese Communist Party of anyone who did not fully support Mao. His main selling point was a desire to create a China which had peasants, workers and educated people working together – no-one was better than anyone else and all working for the good of China – a classless society. However, the enthusiasm of the Red Guards nearly pushed China into social turmoil. Schools and colleges were closed and the economy started to suffer. Groups of Red Guards fought Red Guards as each separate unit believed that it knew best how China should proceed. In some areas the activities of the Red Guard got out of hand. They turned their anger on foreigners and foreign embassies got attacked. The British Embassy was burned down completely.

45. Graphic Organizer Land Reform Mass Executions Mao Zedong Great Leap Forward Widespread Famine Cultural Revolution Mass Executions

46. Interactive Notebook Question Mao Zedong (Left Side) • Essay (1st-5th periods) • Write a 5 paragraph essay describing the leadership of Mao and his affect on China.

47. Mao Zedong Essay(6th period)On your own paper; chose only one! • Write a 5 paragraph essay describing the leadership of Mao and his affect on China. • Write a 5 paragraph letter to Mao as the President of the United States detailing his mistakes in leading China and how to fix them. • Write a 5 paragraph letter as Mao to the United Nations explaining your decisions as the leader of Communist China. • Write a 5 paragraph letter as a Chinese Peasant to the United Nations explaining your life under the rule of Mao Zedong.

48. Summarizing Activity 1 • On the left side of your INB: • Place the following events in chronological order: • The Cultural Revolution • World War II • The Great Leap Forward • The Long March

49. Summarizing Activity 2 On the left side of your INB: Match the person with their government: Mao Zedong Chang Kai Shek Democracy Communist PRC ROC

50. Summarizing Activity 3 On the left side of your INB Pick ONE and draw your interpretation of the event: The Long March The Great Leap Forward The Cultural Revlution