China Part 2-Great Leap Forward and Cultural

Revolution

Enduring Understanding

Conflict and Change: The student will understand that when there is conflict

between or within societies, change is the result.

Georgia Performance Standards

SS7H3-The student will analyze continuity and change in Southern and Eastern Asia leading to the 21st century.

d. Describe the impact of Communism in terms of Mao Zedong, the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution, and Tiananmen Square.

So remember…• China became a Communist country on

October 1, 1949 under the rule of Mao Zedong. • He was ruthless, very similar to Hitler.• Communism was supposed to be the great

equalizer-no rich, no poor, and the government owns it all!

• There were no individual rights and freedoms-Communism is the very opposite of democracy!

• From 1950-1953, the U.S. fought the Korean War to try and stop the spread of communism.

A Great Leap Forward?• 1958—Mao instituted the Great Leap Forward to speed up

economic progress and modernize China– The goal was to help China become equal to the leading powers of

the West in agricultural and industrial production

• He wanted to build factories to strengthen the country after decades of war.

• He forced people to create collective farms where they shared everything-they all worked as one.

• These collective farms soon became communes of up to 25,000 people that were created to grow crops, run small industries, and provide education and health care for their members controlled by the government.

• Unfortunately, the peasants’ labor was not enough to bring about the results Mao desired

• Peasants would even lie about how much grain they produced so they would not disappoint their leader

• Instead of success, the program shattered China’s economy in less than 2 years

• Poor agricultural production, droughts, and floods caused one of the worst famines in history.

• From 1958-1960, around 40 million Chinese people starved or died of disease.

• It was a huge failure—known to many as the Great Leap BACKWARDS

• In 1960, China abandoned the GLF and Mao lost much of his power and influence.

• http://real.doe.k12.ga.us/vod/gso/social-studies/Video-Dictionary/The-Great-Leap-Forward.wmv

More Info on the Great leap Forward

• http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/great_leap_forward.htm

•The problem: Mao wanted a classless society where everyone was treated equally and no one had more than anyone else, but the people wanted to own their own businesses and farms again.•June 1, 1966—Mao launched a movement called the Cultural Revolution which was aimed to remove opposition to the Communist Party•Mao thought Cultural Revolution could renew spirit of the Chinese revolution-he really just wanted to get rid of anyone who did not agree with him such as scholars, teachers, and foreigners

Little Red Book

The Little Red Book (1)

• The Little Red Book also known as Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (毛主席语录 ) has been published by the government of the People’s Republic of China since 1964.

• It is a collection of quotations excerpted from Mao Zedong's past speeches and publications.

• 900 million copies of The Little Red Book has been sold, second only to the bible which has been around much longer.

• It was essentially an unofficial requirement for every Chinese citizen to own, to read, and to carry it at all times during the Cultural Revolution. The punishment for failing to produce the book upon being asked would range from being beaten by Red Guards to being given years of hard-labor imprisonment.

• Studying the book was required in schools, as well as at workplaces. Workplaces have specified reading sessions during working hours for workers to study the book.

Mao shut down schools and encouraged students to join his supporters called the Red Guards which had as many as 11 million members• They had a lot of power and mistreated many innocent

people, anyone who spoke out against Mao or had contact with western people or ideas.• Foreign ideas and old Chinese cultural ideas were

frowned upon• During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the Great Wall

was seen as sign of despotism, and people were encouraged to take bricks from it to use in their farms or homes • Had government’s permission to smash and destroy

books, artwork, religious temples, or anything else that showed connections to China’s past or to foreign ideas

•Teachers were mistreated and often sent to countryside to do hard labor•Artists, writers, as well as anyone with connections to foreigners were publicly criticized•Family members were often separated for years; many sent to do manual labor in countryside•Neighbors told on each other for “crimes” they may or may not have committed•Many innocent people were killed or committed suicide during it causing people to once again call for reform•No one was safe!!!

•Mao still had all of his power but China’s economy, education, and agriculture were all a DISASTER!

•When Mao Zedong died in 1976, Deng Xiaoping became leader of China. He allowed private ownership and foreign investment, for the first time opening China up to the West.

•http://real.doe.k12.ga.us/vod/gso/social-studies/Video-Dictionary/Cultural-Revolution.wmv

Assignment in Yellow Book

Read and Complete the following exercises (Just write the answers):1. Pg. 177-The Great Debate (1 paragraph): Do

you think it is right for one country to impose its form of government, whether communism or democracy, on another country’s permission? Defend your answer.

2. Pg. 177 Quick Quiz

Assignment for Today-

• For those of you that are artistic, you can create a political cartoon about either event (Great Leap Forward or Cultural Revolution) that we learned about today.

• For those of you what are NOT artistic (like me), you can create your own Little Red Book. It should contain at least 10 quotes by you.