The People's Republic Of China![]() ![]() On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was formally established,
with its national capital at Beijing. "The Chinese people have stood up!"
declared Mao as he announced the creation of a "people's democratic
dictatorship." The people were defined as a coalition of four social classes:
the workers, the peasants, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national-capitalists.
The four classes were to be led by the CCP, as the vanguard of the working
class. At that time the CCP claimed a membership of 4.5 million, of which
members of peasant origin accounted for nearly 90 percent. The party was under
Mao's chairmanship, and the government was headed by Zhou Enlai ( The Soviet Union recognized the People's Republic on October 2, 1949. Earlier in the year, Mao had proclaimed his policy of "leaning to one side" as a commitment to the socialist bloc. In February 1950, after months of hard bargaining, China and the Soviet Union signed the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance, valid until 1980. The pact also was intended to counter Japan or any power's joining Japan for the purpose of aggression. For the first time in decades a Chinese government was met with peace, instead of massive military opposition, within its territory. The new leadership was highly disciplined and, having a decade of wartime administrative experience to draw on, was able to embark on a program of national integration and reform. In the first year of Communist administration, moderate social and economic policies were implemented with skill and effectiveness. The leadership realized that the overwhelming and multitudinous task of economic reconstruction and achievement of political and social stability required the goodwill and cooperation of all classes of people. Results were impressive by any standard, and popular support was widespread. By 1950 international recognition of the Communist government had increased
considerably, but it was slowed by China's involvement in the Korean War. In
October 1950, sensing a threat to the industrial heartland in northeast China
from the advancing United Nations (UN) forces in the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (North Korea), units of the PLA--calling themselves the
Chinese People's Volunteers--crossed the YaluJiang ( After China entered the Korean War, the initial moderation in Chinese
domestic policies gave way to a massive campaign against the "enemies of the
state," actual and potential. These enemies consisted of "war criminals,
traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and counterrevolutionaries." The campaign
was combined with party-sponsored trials attended by huge numbers of people. The
major targets in this drive were foreigners and Christian missionaries who were
branded as United States agents at these mass trials. The 1951-52 drive against
political enemies was accompanied by land reform, which had actually begun under
the Agrarian Reform Law of June 28, 1950. The redistribution of land was
accelerated, and a class struggle landlords and wealthy peasants was launched.
An ideological reform campaign requiring self-criticisms and public confessions
by university faculty members, scientists, and other professional workers was
given wide publicity. Artists and writers were soon the objects of similar
treatment for failing to heed Mao's dictum that culture and literature must
reflect the class interest of the working people, led by the CCP. These
campaigns were accompanied in 1951 and 1952 by the san fan (
The First Five-Year Plan stressed the development of heavy industry on the Soviet model. Soviet economic and technical assistance was expected to play a significant part in the implementation of the plan, and technical agreements were signed with the Soviets in 1953 and 1954. For the purpose of economic planning, the first modern census was taken in 1953; the population of mainland China was shown to be 583 million, a figure far greater than had been anticipated. Among China's most pressing needs in the early 1950s were food for its burgeoning population, domestic capital for investment, and purchase of Soviet-supplied technology, capital equipment, and military hardware. To satisfy these needs, the government began to collectivize agriculture. Despite internal disagreement as to the speed of collectivization, which at least for the time being was resolved in Mao's favor, preliminary collectivization was 90 percent completed by the end of 1956. In addition, the government nationalized banking, industry, and trade. Private enterprise in mainland China was virtually abolished. Major political developments included the centralization of party and
government administration. Elections were held in 1953 for delegates to the
First National People's Congress, China's national legislature, which met in
1954. The congress promulgated the state constitution of 1954 and formally
elected Mao chairman (or president) of the People's Republic; it elected Liu
Shaoqi ( In the midst of these major governmental changes, and helping to precipitate
them, was a power struggle within the CCP leading to the 1954 purge of Political
Bureau member Gao Gang ( The process of national integration also was characterized by improvements in
party organization under the administrative direction of the secretary general
of the party Deng Xiaoping ( As part of the effort to encourage the participation of intellectuals in the
new regime, in mid-1956 there began an official effort to liberalize the
political climate. Cultural and intellectual figures were encouraged to speak
their minds on the state of CCP rule and programs. Mao personally took the lead
in the movement, which was launched under the classical slogan "Let a hundred
flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend" ( |