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China's Economhy - From Revolution to Reform

14 important questions on China's Economhy - From Revolution to Reform

Describe the economy of China at the time of the fomation of the People's Republic.

It was poorly adapted to modernization and ravaged by a long period of war and internal strife.

What were the economic priorities of Mao Zedong in the cities when the People's Republic was formed?

To bring down the high inflation and reestablish production and distribution of manufactured goods.

How did Mao Zedong try to bring down inflation and reestablish production?

He set in place a disciplined bureaucracy and fiscal measures to bring down the inflaction and he seized plants and worked with the factory owners to start up production.

What did the First Five-Year Plan entail?

This was an industrialization strategy which the government launched in 1953. It was a replica of the Soviet industrialization strategy under Stalin. It emphazised the development of capital-intensive industries like iron and steel, railroad trains and agricultural equipment. Large state-owned industries were created to manufacture these products. A large number of people was employed and they were housed and offered social services as well as lifetime employment.

Was the First Five-Year Plan a success?

Yes. China's economy grew at an average annual rate of 8.5% in this period.

Why was Mao Zedong unhappy with the Soviet Development strategy despite the success it brought to China?

The strategy was biased against small industry and labor-intensive technology as well as rural development. He also thought that the strategy was fundamentally at odds with China's basic development conditions and resource endowment, because China had started off as a much more backward economy with a huge population and lower levels of technological development.

Because Mao Zedong was unhappy with the Soviet Model, he experimented with his own model. What measures did this include?

He organized peasants into collectives and later into people's communes. These communes mobilized peasants en massa for large-scale capital construction projects (e.g. building dams and irrigation, but also making iron and steel by native methods).

What was the consequence of Mao Zedong's experimental development model?

Farming and cultivation were largely neglected because of the mass activities. When the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1959, agricultural production was severely reduced and there were widespread food shortages in the country side.

How did the party leaders (besides Mao Zedong) try to improve the economic situation after the collapse of the Great Leap Forward?

They tried to return to the more traditional methods: producing industrial goods in factories and producing food on collectivized farms.

How did Mao Zedong respond to the other party leaders who wanted to return to the more traditional methods?

Zedong was unconvinced and he tried the mass activities again in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He also used this Revolution to get rid of "dissenting" senior party colleagues, who were considered revisionist.

Why was the Cultural Revolution less direct disruptive to economic production than the Great Leap Forward?

Unlike the Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution was primarily political in nature. It merely emphasized certain ideological attributes in the overall economic development strategy.

How did the Cultural Revolution harm China's economy on the long-term?

It resulted in damage to government administration and factory management as well as to the country's education system.

What was a positive legacy of the Cultural Revolution in terms of economic development?

Old guards, like Deng Xiaoping, realized that political and social stability were needed to establish economic development.

How did Deng Xiaoping put his new knowledge about economic development into practice when he regained power?

He launched economic reform and the open-door-policy in December 1978.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Understanding contemporary China | 9781588268440 | Robert E Gamer

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China's Economhy - From Revolution to Reform

14 important questions on China's Economhy - From Revolution to Reform

Describe the economy of China at the time of the fomation of the People's Republic.

What were the economic priorities of Mao Zedong in the cities when the People's Republic was formed?

How did Mao Zedong try to bring down inflation and reestablish production?

What did the First Five-Year Plan entail?

Was the First Five-Year Plan a success?

Why was Mao Zedong unhappy with the Soviet Development strategy despite the success it brought to China?

Because Mao Zedong was unhappy with the Soviet Model, he experimented with his own model. What measures did this include?

What was the consequence of Mao Zedong's experimental development model?

How did the party leaders (besides Mao Zedong) try to improve the economic situation after the collapse of the Great Leap Forward?

How did Mao Zedong respond to the other party leaders who wanted to return to the more traditional methods?

Why was the Cultural Revolution less direct disruptive to economic production than the Great Leap Forward?

How did the Cultural Revolution harm China's economy on the long-term?

What was a positive legacy of the Cultural Revolution in terms of economic development?

How did Deng Xiaoping put his new knowledge about economic development into practice when he regained power?

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