CHINESE MODERN HISTORY
ChinaStudies 2023
Leiden University
Humanities
,Contents
LECTURE 7: FROM YAN'AN TO BEIJING..............................................................................................1
VIDEO 1) THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR (1946-1950)........................................................................................1
VIDEO 2) THE NATIONALIST DEFEAT.........................................................................................................2
VIDEO 3) THE UNEXPECTED VICTORY OF THE COMMUNISTS............................................................................5
LECTURE 8: CONSTRUCTING A COMMUNIST CHINA..........................................................................9
VIDEO 1) BUILDING A SOCIALIST CHINA (1949-1957).................................................................................9
VIDEO 2) FORGING THE COMMUNIST STATE............................................................................................10
VIDEO 3) TRANSFORMING CHINESE SOCIETY.............................................................................................15
9) THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD AND THE GREAT FAMINE................................................................18
VIDEO 1) INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................18
VIDEO 2) GREAT LEAP FORWARD (1958-1960).......................................................................................18
VIDEO 3) THE GREAT FAMINE (1959-1962)...........................................................................................23
10) THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION.....................................................................................................26
VIDEO 1) INTRO: GREAT PROLETARIAT CULTURAL REVOLUTION.....................................................................26
THE RADICAL YEARS (1966-1968)........................................................................................................27
LATE MAOISM (1968-1976)...............................................................................................................30
, Chinese modern history (video lectures sem. 2)
Lecture 7: from Yan'an to Beijing
In the last unit (6): how the second Sino-Japanese war indirectly
contributed to survival of and revival of the CCP. The period of the party’s
survival in the mid 1930’s was also a period of internal transformation.
During this period:
o Mao and his core supporters gain control of the party leadership;
o Mao became the party’s undisputed theoretician;
o Party decisively committed itself to the mobilisation of the Chinese
peasantry
Towards the end of the war against Japan > CCP through its strict party
discipline and popular socio-economic reforms, such as land distribution
found itself flourishing in Northwest and North China.
To understand why the Chinese civil war ended the way it did > evaluate
the actions on both sides.
Video 2: how the Nationalists lost the war;
Video 3: How the communist won the war.
Video 1) the Chinese civil war (1946-1950)
It came quickly around the end of the Second Sino Japanese War;
The Chinese Civil War saw the resumption of militarily confrontation;
o Between communist and nationalists;
o On an unprecedented scale.
The conflict consumes the entire county.
Why the Mediation failed
Before Japan its surrender, the US sought to prevent the resumption of
military confrontation between the communist and nationalists;
US president Harry Truman sent a representative Patrick Hurley on a
mission > mediate between both parties;
o Failed: Japanese surrender > US found someone else to broker
truce;
General Marshall, who was a respected military leader and diplomat;
o Failed: he analysed & concluded the mediation failed because of
complete lack of trust between both parties.
The deep-seated mistrust can be traced all the way back to 1927 during
the white terror
When Chiang violently pursed the communists;
Also has its roots in the party’s rightful vision of China;
Mao’s 3 principles of Sun Yat-Sen’s;
o Only relevant to the democratic nationalist revolution and not to the
communist revolution; which was the communist ultimate goal.
Both parties: helped divergent views on the place of traditional values;
Page 1 of 35
, Chinese modern history (video lectures sem. 2)
o Chiang and the nationalists >
the renewed version of
traditional values was
necessary to create:
National unity;
Strengthening Chinese
nation.
o Mao and the communist:
traditional values prevented
Chinese people from
overthrowing the oppressors.
They out to the may fourth movement, with this view of traditional
values.
The different views shaped strategies of both sides, especially the
communist as the conflict unfolded in March 1946.
Video 2) the Nationalist defeat
The Chinese civil war
Ended with the nationalist retreating to Taiwan;
The communist claiming all of mainland China;
For decades after the retreat to Taiwan,
The nationalist regime insisted it was the sole legitimate government of
China and plotted it to take over if the rest of China;
At the same time, the communist regime insisted it was sole legitimate
government of China and that Taiwan was a province of China;
o Recent years, their regime is the more insisted system party to the
claim of ruling over China > war planes into Taiwanese airspace.
Much of the analysis on China-Taiwan relation > legitimacy of Chinese
claims over Taiwan and the origins in the Chinese civil war.
o Many analysists tend to forgot that nobody expected the Nationalists
to lose when fighting broke out in March 1946 > not even the
communist.
Holding the upper hand
On the eve of Japan’s surrender in 1945, the nationalist and communist
prepared to resume their rivalry over China.
They were both are that the nationalist regime held the upper hand in
the contest;
That was why the communists proposed a joint government in order to
avoid a direct confrontation.
International recognition
One of the key advantages that the nationalist regime possessed was
the
Page 2 of 35
ChinaStudies 2023
Leiden University
Humanities
,Contents
LECTURE 7: FROM YAN'AN TO BEIJING..............................................................................................1
VIDEO 1) THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR (1946-1950)........................................................................................1
VIDEO 2) THE NATIONALIST DEFEAT.........................................................................................................2
VIDEO 3) THE UNEXPECTED VICTORY OF THE COMMUNISTS............................................................................5
LECTURE 8: CONSTRUCTING A COMMUNIST CHINA..........................................................................9
VIDEO 1) BUILDING A SOCIALIST CHINA (1949-1957).................................................................................9
VIDEO 2) FORGING THE COMMUNIST STATE............................................................................................10
VIDEO 3) TRANSFORMING CHINESE SOCIETY.............................................................................................15
9) THE GREAT LEAP FORWARD AND THE GREAT FAMINE................................................................18
VIDEO 1) INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................................................18
VIDEO 2) GREAT LEAP FORWARD (1958-1960).......................................................................................18
VIDEO 3) THE GREAT FAMINE (1959-1962)...........................................................................................23
10) THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION.....................................................................................................26
VIDEO 1) INTRO: GREAT PROLETARIAT CULTURAL REVOLUTION.....................................................................26
THE RADICAL YEARS (1966-1968)........................................................................................................27
LATE MAOISM (1968-1976)...............................................................................................................30
, Chinese modern history (video lectures sem. 2)
Lecture 7: from Yan'an to Beijing
In the last unit (6): how the second Sino-Japanese war indirectly
contributed to survival of and revival of the CCP. The period of the party’s
survival in the mid 1930’s was also a period of internal transformation.
During this period:
o Mao and his core supporters gain control of the party leadership;
o Mao became the party’s undisputed theoretician;
o Party decisively committed itself to the mobilisation of the Chinese
peasantry
Towards the end of the war against Japan > CCP through its strict party
discipline and popular socio-economic reforms, such as land distribution
found itself flourishing in Northwest and North China.
To understand why the Chinese civil war ended the way it did > evaluate
the actions on both sides.
Video 2: how the Nationalists lost the war;
Video 3: How the communist won the war.
Video 1) the Chinese civil war (1946-1950)
It came quickly around the end of the Second Sino Japanese War;
The Chinese Civil War saw the resumption of militarily confrontation;
o Between communist and nationalists;
o On an unprecedented scale.
The conflict consumes the entire county.
Why the Mediation failed
Before Japan its surrender, the US sought to prevent the resumption of
military confrontation between the communist and nationalists;
US president Harry Truman sent a representative Patrick Hurley on a
mission > mediate between both parties;
o Failed: Japanese surrender > US found someone else to broker
truce;
General Marshall, who was a respected military leader and diplomat;
o Failed: he analysed & concluded the mediation failed because of
complete lack of trust between both parties.
The deep-seated mistrust can be traced all the way back to 1927 during
the white terror
When Chiang violently pursed the communists;
Also has its roots in the party’s rightful vision of China;
Mao’s 3 principles of Sun Yat-Sen’s;
o Only relevant to the democratic nationalist revolution and not to the
communist revolution; which was the communist ultimate goal.
Both parties: helped divergent views on the place of traditional values;
Page 1 of 35
, Chinese modern history (video lectures sem. 2)
o Chiang and the nationalists >
the renewed version of
traditional values was
necessary to create:
National unity;
Strengthening Chinese
nation.
o Mao and the communist:
traditional values prevented
Chinese people from
overthrowing the oppressors.
They out to the may fourth movement, with this view of traditional
values.
The different views shaped strategies of both sides, especially the
communist as the conflict unfolded in March 1946.
Video 2) the Nationalist defeat
The Chinese civil war
Ended with the nationalist retreating to Taiwan;
The communist claiming all of mainland China;
For decades after the retreat to Taiwan,
The nationalist regime insisted it was the sole legitimate government of
China and plotted it to take over if the rest of China;
At the same time, the communist regime insisted it was sole legitimate
government of China and that Taiwan was a province of China;
o Recent years, their regime is the more insisted system party to the
claim of ruling over China > war planes into Taiwanese airspace.
Much of the analysis on China-Taiwan relation > legitimacy of Chinese
claims over Taiwan and the origins in the Chinese civil war.
o Many analysists tend to forgot that nobody expected the Nationalists
to lose when fighting broke out in March 1946 > not even the
communist.
Holding the upper hand
On the eve of Japan’s surrender in 1945, the nationalist and communist
prepared to resume their rivalry over China.
They were both are that the nationalist regime held the upper hand in
the contest;
That was why the communists proposed a joint government in order to
avoid a direct confrontation.
International recognition
One of the key advantages that the nationalist regime possessed was
the
Page 2 of 35
