How China has changed since the C.C.P (Chinese Communist Party) Essay

During this piece of coursework I shall look at how China has changed since the C.C.P (Chinese Communist Party) took power in 1949. I shall look at the differences and similarities between Mao and Dung’s social economic and political policies. In 1949 Mao won the civil war against the Guomintang and declared China communist. Many problems faced the C.C.P. the Guomintang had taken all of China’s gold reserves with them to Taiwan the civil war had left the country crippled with schools and factories destroyed and the nation had been divided up amongst warriors. Mao realised that one of his key aims must be to unite the country and utilise its vast population to boost economic productivity. Mao aimed to achieve this with several campaigns. The first of these was the agrarian reform. Mao took the land off the rich landlords and gave it to the peasants. He also introduced the speak bitterness campaigns these were meetings where peasants would denounce theie land owners. However in a trend that we see repeated on many occasions during the C.C.P time In power the people go too far and the meetings turn violent often ending with the landlords execution . Over 2 million landowners were estimated to have been killed at these meetings. However what Mao began to realise was that the peasants simply did not have the recourses necessary for independent ownership so the C.C.P decided to form Co-operatives these involved 15 to 20 peasants pooling there recourses and working together on the land so although the peasants still technically owned the land they had little say in what happened there. The land was been run on their behalf by the C.C.P. Mao’s plane also included boosting the production of steel coal and machinery he aimed to do this with the five year plan’s factories all over china would be set targets to achieve which they must achieve during each five year plan the idea was that all of china’s workforce would focus on one thing so in the first five year plan it was steel and the production of steel would increase. However these plans failed manly because workers were all paid an equal amount regardless of how much work they did so there was little incentive to work hard therefore many people decided to simply not bother. This was also not helped when at the end of the five year plan factory workers worried about possible punishments from the C.C.P for not reaching targets lied about overall production.This meant it took the C.C.P a long time to spot the problems. When they finally scrapped the plans Mao introduced the great leap forward the idea was to overtake Britain within ten years and America in 20. The great leap forward meant more moving around for peasants they were now formed into Communes. These were vast farms with thousands of families some times working on them food halls and nurseries and homes of happiness were set up to allow both parents to work without looking after the old the ill the young or cooking this allowed every body to work full time. Mao also introduced the backyard steel campaign in a attempt to increase the production of steel the idea was that people would make steel after work in small furnaces on each of there streets the plan was a disaster most of the steel made was impure and useless they had also torn up railway lines to melt down to make the steel meaning any of the steel that was useful was stuck there. Eventually the great leap forward hit a major snag the people once again had over exaggerated production this proved to be very costly on the farms. In an attempt to show the people how well the C.C.P were doing they gave out food like mad they were making plenty however that year China had some of the worst weather ever. Many crops were destroyed and twenty million people starved to death.This spelt the end for the great leap forward After Mao’s death Deng took power in China. Deng unlike Mao was a moderate communist and could see China’s problems caused by the great the great leap forward he realised the need for western ideas. This meant that the party were no longer really sure whether they were communist or not a quote to back this up would be â€Å"Not even the party sounds very convinced by communism any more. At the last party congress in 1997 members approved a written statement that achieving communism might take several tens of generations†. He allowed western companies to set up factories in china and allowed students go abroad to study People were also given incentives for working well such as bonuses. He also disbanded the communes and allowed peasant farmers to sell there extra produce independently on markets for a profit. He also introduced more consumer goods to allow the Chinese people to spend there extra money on. A quote to back this up would be â€Å"In particular they will need to satisfy the hopes of a powerful growing class of people in private business the exploiters†. Deng also introduced a ten year plan a longer term plan he had four modernisations he wanted to modernise 1. Agriculture 2. Industry 3. Defence 4. Science In industry everything would still belong to the state but factories would now be allowed to use profit to improve there factories. The source used from the economist is not very reliable it is a western magazine meaning it would not have had accesses to Chinese officials and as a western magazine it will be very one sided and look to slag the C.C.P off as much as possible. There were several differences between Mao and Dung Mao was more of a dreamer and wanted success quickly Dung however realised that things in china were in a relatively dire state and was more realistic and patient with his ideas. Deng realised he needed to introduce some western ideas. Mao rejected anything vaguely western as evil and counter revolutionary. However there were certain similarities. both planned for the future and introduced long term plans with Mao’s five year plan and Deng’s ten year plan. However I feel that this shows that Mao wanted success more quickly (5 years plan) and was more impatient and Deng was ambitious but more realistic about the time scale it would take for China to compete (ten year plan). Mao had some very strong political views as we see in many cases we see the C.C.P stirring the people up into a frenzy the people going to far and then being crushed. The C.C.P main aim was to stay in power there was no vote anybody who opposed them or spoke critically of them or were judged to be counter revolutionary were punished. In 1957 Mao realised the people were becoming frustrated so in attempt to let them let of steam he introduced the hundred flowers a campaign designed to let the people critics or as Mao said let a hundred flowers bloom. The campaign was a disaster Mao was taken aback by the huge amount of critics so the campaign was crushed and it was made illegal to critics the C.C.P. In 1963 Mao was beginning to lose power so in a attempt to regain it he formed a cult based around himself.He attempted to brain wash the children and form them into a private army for the future(the red guard) The cult also included Mao’s little red book quotes from chairman Mao. This all ultimately lead to the cultural revolution the red guard begin sweeping across China killing anybody non communist trashing anything capitalist. This went one for years but eventfully they went too far and Mao sent in the army to restore order once the red guard had served its purpose. Mao also planned to unite with the U.S.S.R the other communist nation. This was done with the treaty of friendship allegiance and mutual assistance however rift soon formed between China and Russia. Mao wanted the rest of the world to be communist and after the war in Korea and issue over border territories Russia and china fell out. Mao also feared attack by America so began strengthening his military and experimenting with nuclear weapons. Deng was not much different from Mao in many ways he used the people to his own advantage and then disposed of them when Deng was trying to gain power in china he used the democracy wall he told people to hang up posters showing their criticism of the C.C.P. Once in power he simply tore it down and made critics illegal again. However there was one unique event. During Tianemann square the people had whipped them selves up into a frenzy but to the same result a bloody ending. Deng also realised he would need to extended the arm of friendship to the west so began making allegiance with America and Britain these lead to the return of Hong Kong and Nixon’s visit in 1972. The U.N also finally recognised the C.C.P as China’s real government. The main link between the two leaders is the way they use the people to their own gain both whip the people up and then put them down once they have served their purposes The main difference between the men was on foreign policy Mao only joined with over communist countries Deng however realised that he needed to stabilize relations with the west. Mao believed that all people were equal including women so he changed the marriage laws and gave women equal rights as men, property of married couples was now shared. Mao also united the peasants in campaigns such as the speak bitterness urging them to get involved Mao also controlled all media so all was propaganda meaning the people only ever saw or heard good things about the C.C.P even old operas and films were changed to make the C.C.P look good. Deng was much more tolerant and allowed the old operas to be reintroduced as part of Chinese’s past also he allowed western entertainment films and books. Deng also reintroduced rank into the army but the key issue was the one child policy. Deng realised that the population was becoming so large that the country would starve to death in twenty years unless something was done so the one child policy was introduced – if you had more than one child you lost benefits, money, housing with all these things going to families with one child this lead to a huge increase in abortions and even babies (usually girls) being dumped on the street to die. There were rewards offered if you became sterilised,however this was difficult to monitor many children simple were not registered and in the country families needed to be large to work the farms. Babies lying dead in the street are not a uncommon sight â€Å"The body of a newborn baby lies dead in the gutter ignored by passers by as if she was a piece of rubbish† This tells us that this is something people are accustomed to not uncommon. However this source is not reliable as it is a western newspaper so having little access to china or officials wanting to make the communists sound worse than they are and also can’t sympathise for the killing of babies as it would lose readers. There is little similarity between their social policies – Mao is very cagey and worried about anything western where as Deng realises that the people want things to spend there money on. Deng also acknowledges Chinas past were as Mao tries to remove it. Deng also attempts to tackle the rising population and actually says that there is a problem, something Mao never did. Mao’s impact on China is absolutely immense. China still today is communist and despite some of his economic fallings they began a new era for China. Mao united China under one government and kept it that way and began turning a country nobody really cared about into one of the most powerful on earth. Deng continued what Mao begin and by finally embracing certain western ideas took China to a new level of power. Without the communist party and Mao and Deng it is difficult to see China being as powerful as it is today so yes they had a huge influence on China today.