Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
The degree of control in Mao's China - Coggle Diagram
The degree of control in Mao's China
Defeating the CCP's opponents
Regime promised to free people from oppression
Quickly began to use violence against them
Campaign to Supress Counter-Revolutionaries
was launched in
March 1950
Three Antis Campaign (August 1951)
Five Antis Campaign (February 1952)
Targeted opponents for intimidation, imprisonment and even execution.
Aimed at preventing nationalist sympathisers and their spies from undermining the regime.
Mao used the Korean War (
1950-53
) as an excuse to
further increase use of terror.
Self-registration
The regime tricked many victims into implicating themselves.
Asked all who had previously held positions in the nationalist regime to register in order to help those who had made 'political mistakes' to 'start life anew'
They and their associates were arrested, often
never seen again
Mass participation
Citizens encouraged -> become involved in political activities
The People's Daily published long lists of political criminals alongside gruesome details -> act as a deterrent
The Three Antis Campaign (
August 1951 - July 1952
)
Directed against:
corruption, waste and obstructionist bureaucracy
Many Chinese people supported this aim
The Five Antis Campaign (
February - May 1982
)
Dedicated to ending:
bribery, tax evasion, theft of state property, cheating on government contracts, stealing state economic information.
Targets were middle classes and private business owners.
Denunciation boxes
People tortured, ordered to confess
'Capitalist tigers'
The Characteristics of the campaigns
Both campaigns very successful
99 percent of businessmen in Shanghai guilty of one of the 'Five Antis'
Helped the party's control over private businesses
Businesses found guilty forced to pay hefty fines -> had to sell stock to the state
Many chose to save themselves by denouncing others
Loyalty to the CCP started to mean more than personal relationships for some
The reunification campaigns
Mao used the PLA to consolidate his control within China's borders
One of Mao's primary aims -> establish his control of peripheral regions in China
Religion in Tibet and Xinjiang
Control of Tibet and Xinjiang was important for the Communist regime. Religion was fundamentally interwoven into the society.
Buddhist leaders held influence
Muslim ideas moulded attitudes to issues as wide ranging as politics, education and women's rights
Religious ideas represented a challenge to Mao -> he wanted to create a state based on Communist principles only, arguing that God did not exist.
Invasion of Tibet (
October 1950
)
Mao sent the PLA to invade Tibet officially in order to 'liberate it from imperialist oppression'
Propaganda and exile
Invading PLA forces accompanied by propaganda units
Many Tibetans fled to India
Xinjiang
Province had a large Muslim population and close ethnic ties with Muslims in Soviet Union.
Bordered soviet-controlled Outer Mongolia -> Chinese feared growth of separatist sentiment or Russian influence.
The Uighurs
Largest minority group in Xinjiang 3/4 of the 4 million population
Long history of opposition to central control
Guangdong
The southern province had traditionally been a pro-nationalist stronghold
Regime feared remaining spies and saboteurs
Estimated 28,000 executed during the "Suppress the Counter-Revolutionaries" campaign
The Laogai
Inspired by Stalin's Gulag in the Soviet Union
'Reform through labour'
Extremely poor work conditions, back-breaking tasks
Inmates were viewed as expendable