Mao introduced several reforms between 1949-1957 to transform China's agriculture and industry: 1. An Agrarian Reform Law was passed in 1950 that redistributed land from landlords to peasants. Peasants were also encouraged to put landlords on trial through "People's Courts" where some landlords were executed. 2. Agricultural collectivization began with the introduction of Mutual Aid Teams in 1951, followed by agricultural cooperatives in 1953, and larger collectives encompassing multiple villages by 1955-1956. This aimed to boost food production through pooled resources and mechanization. 3. Industrial reforms included nationalizing private businesses, stabilizing prices and currency, and launching the First Five Year Plan in 1953 to rapidly develop heavy

1. Changes under Mao: 1949-1963
Learning Objectives:
To examine how the agricultural and industrial reforms altered China
between 1949-1957
Key Words:
Common
Programme
Agrarian Reform
Law
Peoples Courts
Speak Bitterness
Meetings
Mutual Aid Teams
Co-Operatives
Collectives
Five Year Plan

2. What problems did Mao & the
CCP face in 1949?
Starter: Discuss with the people on your table the
Economic, Social, Political and Foreign issues that Mao
would have faced after the end of the civil war?
Mao’s
Problems in
1949
Economic?
Industrial? Agricultural?
Political?
Foreign?
Social?

3. How did the
communist
flag differ
from the
Republican
flag?
A new start meant
a new flag for
China and the
CCP

4. The
Party
workers
peasants
Lower
middle
class
‘patriotic’
capitalists

5. Agricultural Reform
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

6. Stealing of harvests
Forcible conscription of
peasants for military service
Massive numbers
of refugees
Much destruction
and use of terror.
Maurding armies in the Japanes and Civil Wars had
caused widespread destruction
What caused the reduction in agricultural
productivity during the wars?

7. We communists are now in power.
But China is weak after 20 years of
war and civil war. We need to build
up China’s strength to protect its
borders from our enemies.
We need a strong army!
But most of our factories
have been destroyed and
China has few arms
factories anyway.
We can buy weapons from
our friends the Russians!
China has few resources available
to sell to the Russians to buy
weapons. We also need to buy
machines for our factories.
China has lots of
land and millions
of peasants. We
will sell FOOD!
The purpose of
agricultural reform?

8. • In 1950 Mao introduced an
Agrarian Reform Law. He
sent CCP workers into each
village to review social
class of each person.
• They took the land from
landlords and shared it out
amongst village peasants
(2.5 acres each).
• They also got peasants to
put landlords on trial in so-
called ‘People’s Courts’.
How did agriculture
change?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

10. • At these trials (Speak Bitterness
Meetings) the landlords were
accused of charging high rents
or mistreating their tenants
(Review poster on pg.30 – Qu.C)
• Some were let off, but many
landlords were imprisoned or
executed. Party workers set up
the courts but peasants ran
them. Why?
• Between 700,000 – 3 million
landlords were executed. This
further increased support and
faith in Mao. Why?
Peoples Courts?
Mao wanted the executions
to have maximum impact
by involving peasants in the
killing and having
executions in public:
“Peasants who killed with
their bare hands the
landlords who oppressed
them were wedded to the
new revolutionary order in a
way that passive spectators
could never be.”
From P. Short, Mao: A Life,
1999
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

11. • Land reform made Mao
popular but in the short-term it
only decreased productivity.
WHY?
• Mao eventually planned to
‘collectivise’ farming to raise
productivity, but this would
only anger peasants who has
just won their own land.
• The population was growing
and to avoid famine, Mao
slowly tried to persuade
peasants to work together to
raise food production.
Population ↑, Food
Production ↓ = ?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

12. • His first step was to introduce
Mutual Aid Teams.
• Peasants worked on each
other’s land, fertilising, killing
pests or harvesting so that each
family’s plot would become
more productive.
• Government supplied extra
fertiliser & tools to reward
hardworking families but it did
not raise productivity enough.
• Fear that peasants would
become a new class society
concerned with profits.
Mutual Aid Teams?
How effective do you feel
this would be?
“In 1951 we set up a Mutual
Aid Team. The work went
well, but there were lots of
quarrels about whose land
should be worked on first. It
was difficult to solve all
these problems. Some said
‘Why should his field be
taken first? I’ve got a bigger
crop.’ Whatever we did this
went on. So we then began
to talk about forming a
peasant’s co-operative.”
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

13. • From 1953, Mao encouraged
peasants to form co-
operatives.
• This meant land was jointly
owned so one large crop
could be grown efficiently.
Resources could be pooled
to buy equipment, fertilisers &
seeds.
• Some peasants opposed this
(Why?) but by 1955, over 90%
of China’s peasants
belonged to co-operatives.
The Co-Operatives
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

14. 1955 - The ‘co-operatives’ were
gathered into larger units called
‘collectives’, consisting of 200-300
families (ie. several villages). By 1956
95% of peasants were in collectives.
The Communist
Party further
increased its
control over the
peasants by:
- All peasant land had to be handed
over to the collective.
- Private ownership, except for small
garden plots, ceased to exist.
- Peasants had to give up the title
deeds to their land, surrender their
animals
- Families now received a wage and
were no longer paid a rent for use of
their land.
- Peasants were allowed to keep only
a few small square metres of land for
growing vegetables, etc.
The Collectives
Qu. D – Pg. 33

15. f
0
50
100
150
200
250
1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957
Food Production in China: Billions of Kg of Food Produced 1949-1957
1950 -
Agrarian
Land
Reform
1951 –
Mutual
Aid Teams
set up
1953 – All
peasants
encourage to join
co-operatives
1957 – Over 90%
of peasants now in
co-operatives

16. How did Agriculture
Change?
Use your text books (pg.30-33) and your own knowledge
to answer the below questions.
1. What was Chinese farming like before 1949?
2. Why did Mao introduce the Peoples Courts?
3. How did farming methods change?
4. What were the aims of the PRC in introducing Co-
operatives?
5. Did peasants attitudes to reforms change over time?
6. Were the changes in farming successful?
7. Did this achieve the stated purpose of the Common
Programme?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

17. Industrial Reform
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

18. How did Industry
Change?
• When the CCP
took over the
economy was in
ruins. Industry
had been
destroyed and
inflation was over
1000%.
• Mao introduced
a series of
measures to deal
with this chaos:
1. Mao ordered prices and wages to be
fixed at a low rate. He punished black
marketeers severely. Inflation was down to
15% within a year.
2. He increased the taxes paid by business
and in 1953 took over all businesses.
Government planned and organised what
should be produced.
3. He took over private banks and
introduced the ‘People’s Bank’ in 1951 and
a new currency the Yuan introduced. This
helped to stabilise the currency.
4. Railway links were repaired and taken over
by government so that industries could be
supplied with coal.
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

19. • By 1953 the economy had
stabilised and Mao began
the first 5 Year Plan.
• With the help of the USSR he
began an ambitious
programme to build new
industries.
• Thousands of Russian
scientists and engineers
supervised millions of
Chinese on over 700 major
projects.
The Five Year Plan 1953-
1957
What does the above
poster tell us?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

20. Nanjing Bridge over the Yangzi River
Steel -
bridge
spars
Girders –
Steel
Steel -
Deisel
engine
Steel –
railway
lines
Steel -
pipes
Iron -
Railings
Steel - Motor Vehicles
Iron –
lamp
posts
Ships
IRON COAL CEMENT OIL RUBBER
Why did Mao want to develop
Heavy Industries first?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

21. The idea for Five Year Plans was borrowed from Stalin’s Russia.
It involved the ideas of:
• NATIONALISATION - Private businesses and industries are
taken over and run by the national government – state
control.
• CENTRAL PLANNING - All decisions about the economy are
decided by the central [national] government.
• TARGETS / QUOTAS - To increase output the government sets
production ‘targets’ which have to be met within a 5 year
time span.
• INCENTIVES - To encourage workers [and supervisors] to
work harder to reach the targets set, ‘incentives’ are
offered eg. bigger food ration, better apartment, better
schooling for their children.
How was the 5 Year Plan
organised?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

22. • The plan achieved
astounding results. Motivated
Chinese workers surpassed all
the targets.
• In five years, China was criss-
crossed with railways which
moved vital goods over vast
distances.
• The population of cities
soared as peasants moved to
the jobs created in the new
industries.
The Five Year Plan 1953-
1957
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

23. Production figures
before the start of
the 1st Five Year
Plan.
Expected production figures
at end of 1st Five Year Plan.
Compare 1957 figures with
1952 figures.
S
S
S
F???
F???
S
Were these
failures?
How successful was the first
Five Year Plan?
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

24. • PRIDE - in helping to build a strong, modern and
industrialised China with a 9% growth rate.
• CONCERN - due to increasing shortages both of food and
luxury and consumer goods. Why were there shortages?
• FOOD - Most surplus farm produce was being sent overseas
to buy machinery for China’s industries.
• LUXURY AND CONSUMER GOODS - The Chinese economy
was focused on developing heavy industries, there were
few resources available for consumer products - soap,
clothing, etc.
• CONCERN - movement of peasants from countryside into
the cities to work in the new industries. More mouths had to
be fed. (1949-57 went from 57 to 100 million)
The Five Year Plan 1953-
1957
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

25. Use your text books (pg.30-33) and your own knowledge to answer
the below questions.
The Five Year Plan 1953-
1957
Reasons for the
plan
Industries
Success and
failures
Soviet Help
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957

26. Review Pgs. 34-37 in Brooman and the associated website in
the workbook. Complete the questions in the workbook from
there.
Homework: The Great
Leap Forward
LO: To examine how
the agricultural and
industrial reforms
altered China
between 1949-1957