Communism in China

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CHINA

Communism in

Dying Dynasty

• China was ruled by emperors for

thousands of years.

• By the early 1900s, China’s Qing

dynasty had become very unstable.

• The majority of China’s population lived

in poverty and the widespread
starvation propelled them to rise up
against the emperor.

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Open Ended

Why was the Qing dynasty unstable?

A New China

• In 1912, a group of nationalists took

over the country and the Republic of
China was established.

• The Chinese Nationalist Party was able

to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, which
had been in power since the 1600s.

• Unfortunately, the new government was

too weak to keep control of the country.

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Multiple Choice

What was the Chinese Nationalist Party was able to do?

• Establish a republic

• Unify the country

• Expand its territory

• Overthrow the Qing Dynasty

Turmoil

• The new government was failing to

provide for the Chinese people and
many years of turmoil followed.

• Chinese warlords took over different

regions and began to fight between
themselves for total power.

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Two Parties

• Many Chinese were angry and became

interested in the Communist Revolution
that was occurring in Russia.

• As a result, two political parties

formed—the Communist Party and the
Nationalist Party.

• Each had their own ideas about solving

starvation and poverty in China.

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Open Ended

Why were the Chinese interested in Communism?

Communists

• In 1921, a group of young men met in

Shanghai to form the first Chinese
Communist Party, headed by Mao Zedong.

• These Communists wanted the government

to control all land, property, and
businesses.

• They also believed China should have a

command economy where the government
planned everything.

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Multiple Choice

Who led the Communist Party in China?

• Deng Xiaoping

• Mao Zedong

• Sun Yat-sen

• Ho Chi Minh

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"Revolution is not a dinner
party, nor an essay, nor a

painting, nor a piece of

embroidery; it cannot be so

refined, so leisurely and

gentle, so temperate, kind,
courteous, restrained and
magnanimous. A revolution
is an insurrection, an act of
violence by which one class

overthrows another.”

~Mao Zedong 1927

Communists

• The Communist Party promised to

improve peasants’ living conditions and
bring food to the poor.

• Mao and the Communists became very

popular with farmers and poor peasants
and won the support of many Chinese
people.

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Multiple Select

Communism was very popular with which group of people?

• Farmers

• Peasants

• Nobles

• Merchants

Nationalists

• The Nationalists were led by Chiang

Kai-shek.

• They wanted China to have a market

economy where citizens could make
economic decisions and own their own
businesses, factories, and property.

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Multiple Choice

Who led the Nationalists?

• Mao Zedong

• Sun Yat-sen

• Chiang Kai-shek

• Ho Chi Minh

Civil War

• In 1927, civil war broke out in China.

• Mao led over 600,000 people on the Long

March through the mountains for over
6,000 miles to avoid being captured by the
Nationalist government.

• The two sides continued to fight

throughout China until 1935 when they
joined forces to resist Japanese invasion.

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Multiple Choice

The Communists and the Nationalists continued fighting each other during the Japanese invasion

• True

• False

Control

• The truce ended and the relationship

became tense again after World War II.

• The Soviet Union supported the

Communist Party and the United States
helped the Chinese Nationalists.

• Communism gained more and more

supporters until they finally gained
control of the Nationalist government.

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P.R.C.

• On October 1, 1949, Mao declared the

creation of the People’s Republic of
China, a communist state.

• Mao was appointed head of China’s

government and had almost complete
control over the country.

• He became extremely popular with many

Chinese when he took land from the
wealthy and gave it to poor peasants.

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Multiple Choice

What happened on October 1, 1949?

• Mao Zedong declared the People's Republic of China as a communist state.

• The United Nations was founded.

• The Berlin Wall was erected.

• The Korean War began.

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Mao Zedong declares the founding of the
People's Republic of China on October 1st,

1949.

Economy

• At this time, China had very little industry

and relied heavily on agriculture.

• Mao had a big challenge of increasing

wealth among China’s citizens because
the economy was so weak.

• In 1958, the Communist government

developed an economic plan that they
hoped would solve this problem.

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Multiple Choice

What was the Communist Party trying to solve when they came into power?

• Social inequality

• Political unrest

• The economy

• Environmental degradation