Problems after the Chinese Civil War

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  • Created by: evasophia
  • Created on: 28-02-18 18:06
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  • Problems after the Chinese Civil War
    • Despite Mao's great exclamation of China's new regime, in reality, the country was nothing more than catastrophic.
      • Tens of millions had been killed in the battle against warlordism, the Civil War and in things such as the Long March in which Mao took around 100K men from Yanan to Shaanxi away from GMD forces, and ended the campaign with only around 20K.
      • After spending years trying to compete with Western powers, China was now ruined, bankrupt and chaotic.
    • The CCP, on a political scale had seized power via military success and so hadn't necessarily been a choice of the people's.
      • Despite this, the CCP did have support in rural areas to whom their land reform promises had great appeal
        • Nevertheless, businessmen and middle class people opposed these new reforms for they lived in large, well off areas and didn't wish for change.
          • Their problems were weakened via the fact that most lower class, peasantry people did not and could not fully understand the ideology behind Mao's communist ideas and so the regime arguably could not yet receive enough support to implement any real changes.
    • Administrative chaos became a huge problem for Mao and the Communists.
      • Prior to the GMD fleeing to Taiwan, they promised to ***** China bare of their most important assets such as gold, silver and dollar reserves, as well as cultural treasures including things from Beijings Forbidden City
        • Many businessmen and educated elites left with them leaving a lack of individuals who had sufficient knowledge on how to build the country up again.
          • Money was also scarce as the GMD took majority of Chin'a gold and silver worth.
    • Lawlessness
      • As law and order broke down, and estimated 1 million bandits roamed the streets looking for trouble to be caused
      • China began to live up to its old nickname of the 'Sick Man of Asia'
        • This held down the PLA from doing what they really needed to do.
    • Economic problems caused China's economy to be completely devastated and no feasible or reliable currency avaliable
      • The main problem for the economy was the hyperinflation caused by over printing and bankrolling the soldiers of the GMD. In places, money had collapsed and people had resorted to bartering and shortage in consumer goods led to people hoarding scarce supplies
        • In 1940, 100 Yuan was needed to buy  pig and by 1945 it was enough to buy a fish and then one year later a single egg!
    • China's industry had been badly damages by years of war and fighting
      • In places, retreating nationalist forces had attempted to sabotage industrial sites to prevent them from falling in to the hands of the communists
      • In 1949, factory output was 44% lower than it's 1937 level.
        • Before industry could be improved factories needed to be reconstructed yet raw materials were scarce and it was difficult for them to get to factories due to the amount of bandits clogging the already ruined transportation system.
    • The Communists appealed to the peasants through the slogan 'Land to the Tiller'
      • In the middle of the 20thC, the average wealth produced per person in China was half of that made in England and so when the Civil War came about, many peasants had to be conscripted in to fight,
        • Conscription, although led to the Civil War being won meant land was not tended to and so crops wilted and died, reducing food supplies to dangerous levels. By 1949, food production was at subsistence level and in many parts of China there was famine.
    • The sheer size and diversity of China came as a problem
      • The vast areas of agricultural land made it physically impossible for the CCP to send trained Party activists to and even when they could, the cadres often lacked local knowledge of how land in the village was organised
        • In addition, party cadres found it hard to communicate with vast area peasants as they did not speak the same dialect.
    • There of course still remained a threat from the Nationalists
      • The GMD send spies and saboteurs to attack the new regime and the USA sent planes to bomb coastal areas such as Shanghai.
        • One raid in February 1950 killed over 1000 people and damaged the electricity and water supply. Nationalist attacks also sunk PRC ships massed to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan.

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