Mao Zedong led the Chinese communists to victory in the 1945 civil war, establishing the People's Republic of China. He launched campaigns like the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution to rapidly industrialize China and transform it into a communist state, resulting in the deaths of millions from famine and persecution. After Mao's death in 1976, Deng Xiaoping reformed China's economy and opened it up globally, leading to dramatic growth but also a movement for more political democracy and Western influences that the government continues to suppress.

1. Communist China
Ch.16 section 1

2. Chairman Mao
• Mao Zedong, leader of the Chinese
communists won the civil war in 1945
– People’s Republic of China
• Chaing Kai-shek and 2 million Nationalists fled
to Taiwan and declared it the Republic of
China
• Mao began the Red Guard to destroy old
culture and pushed to build a socialist society

3. The Great Leap Forward
• Combined collective farms into vast
communes
– 30,000 lived and worked cooperatively
– Hoped it would create a classless society
• Bad planning and bad weather drove food
production down
– 16 million starved to death

4. The Cultural Revolution
• 1966 Mao launched the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution
– Wanted to create a permanent revolution
– Wrote the Little Red Book-became their “bible”
– Used the red guard to eliminate the “four olds”

5. China After Mao
• Mao died 1976 and Deng Xiaoping seized
power and brought the cultural revolution to
an end.
• Called for 4 modernizations
– Industry, agriculture, technology, and national
defense.
• Agriculture and industry increased
dramatically and China now has the worlds
fastest growing economy

6. Movement for Democracy
• More and more students were studying
abroad and learning the ways of the West
• Began protests like the one in Tiananmen
Square
– Protests began again in 1999

7. Chinese Society Under Communism
• Women were now allowed to participate in
politics and had equal rights with men in
marriage
• Children were encouraged to report on their
parents
• After Mao’s death more clothing choices were
available
• One-child policy began in 1979