Chronology of China Under Mao

Chronology of China under Mao Zedong, 1949-­‐1976

By Professor Carol Benedict, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

1949:1 The People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.)

is established on October 1.

1950: Signing of the Sino-­‐‑Soviet Treaty. China

enters the Korean War. Marriage Law

promulgated, providing freedom of

marriage and divorce.

1952: Basic land reform completed. All land

deeds destroyed and land redistributed.

Many, perhaps two million, landlords

executed.

1954-­‐‑55: Zhou Enlai plays a major role at the

Geneva Convention and the Bandung

Conference, establishing a new

diplomatic prominence for the P.R.C.

First constitution of the P.R.C. is

promulgated. Collectivization of

agriculture is stepped up.

1956-­‐‑57: In the wake of Khrushchev’s

denunciation of Stalin and political

explosions in Poland and Hungary, Mao

calls for a “Hundred Flowers

Movement” to improve the relationship

between the CCP and the people. Critics

soon attack the legitimacy of the CCP

itself. The Party responds with an “anti-­‐‑

rightist campaign,” suppressing the

opposition.

1958-­‐‑60: Mao promotes a “Great Leap Forward”

in economic development, relying on

mass mobilization, the commune

system, and economic self-­‐‑reliance. The

effort fails after highly inflated reports

of grain production lead central

planners to divert resources into

industry rather than agriculture.

Subsequent food shortages are

aggravated by bad weather and lead to

mass starvation in many rural areas.

In August, 1959, Defense Minister Peng

Dehuai ousted after he criticizes Mao’s

1 Sources used for compiling this timeline include: Stanford

Program on International and Cross-­‐‑Cultural Education (SPICE) China'ʹs Cultural Revolution, 2005.; Maurice Meisner (1999, 3rd ed.) Mao’s China and After, New York: Free Press, pp. 309-­‐‑432; and Amy Freedman, “China’s Cultural Revolution,” Department of Government, Franklin and Marshall College (www.exeas.org/resources/pdf/china-­‐‑ cultural-­‐‑revolution.pdf).

sponsorship of the Great Leap Forward.

He is replaced by Lin Biao.

In 1960, withdrawal of the Soviet

technical advisors widens the Sino-­‐‑

Soviet split. The CCP returns to more

conventional economic development

policies to deal with the post-­‐‑Great Leap

Forward disaster.

1961-­‐‑64: The polity and economy slowly recover

but the CCP becomes increasingly

divided over how to pursue economic

development. Mao and his more radical

associates (his wife, Jiang Qing and

Defense Minister Lin Biao) are pitted

against Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and

other pragmatists. Wu Han’s play Hai

Rui Dismissed from Office, presents a

veiled attack on Mao’s dismissal of Peng

Dehuai (1961). Lin Biao leads

campaigns to increase political

consciousness in the military by

stressing the study of Mao Zedong

Thought using the first “Little Red

Books”(1962).

1965: Mao and Jiang Qing set the stage for the

Cultural Revolution when they direct a

literary critic, Yao Wenyuan, to publish

a scathing critique of the play, Hai Rui

Dismissed from Office. A few months

later, Jiang Qing writes a general

criticism of contemporary Chinese

literature and art, condemning it as

bourgeois, anti-­‐‑party, and anti-­‐‑socialist.

Mao begins to replace people in key

government positions with more radical

party members.

1966: The Cultural Revolution begins

unofficially with the “May 16

Directive.” Drafted by Mao and issued

in the name of the Politburo, the

directive states the CCP’s intention to

oust “representatives of the

bourgeoisie” in the party at all levels.

Beijing CCP and municipal leaders are

purged and replaced with loyal Maoists.

Mao calls on students to struggle

against “bourgeois elements” in the

state and party apparatus. Students and

Chronology of China under Mao Zedong, 1949-­‐1976

By Professor Carol Benedict, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

young teachers at Beijing University

(Beida) are the first to respond. On May

25, Nie Yuanzi, a young philosophy

instructor, posts a “big-­‐‑character

poster” (dazibao) denouncing the

university president. Although the

poster is immediately torn down, a

week later, Mao praises it as

revolutionary. With this signal of

support from Mao, students all over the

country become “Red Guards.”

By the summer of 1966, the Cultural

Revolution has become a national

student movement.

On August 5, 1966, Mao writes a dazibao

stating “Bombard the headquarters.”

The poster is an attack on Liu Shaoqi,

the Vice-­‐‑Chairman of the CCP. This

dazibao gives further authority and

support to Red Guard activities.

On August 8, 1966, the Eighth Central

Committee of the CCP passes the

“Decision of the Central Committee of

the Chinese Party Concerning the Great

Proletarian Cultural Revolution.” This

document, known as “the Sixteen

Points,”acknowledges the legitimacy of

the Red Guards and their activities. This

marks the official beginning of the

Cultural Revolution.

August 18, 1966: Mao greets the Red

Guards in Tiananmen Square. He gives

them his blessing and directs the police

and the army not to intervene as they

smash the “Four Olds.” Numerous

rallies are held in the square over the

next several months with Red Guards

dressed in military garb holding high

their “Little Red Books” and chanting

“Long Live Chairman Mao.”

1966-­‐‑67: The Red Guard movement picks up

steam. Red Guards travel for free

around the country, attend rallies, and

collect and trade Mao buttons. They also

denounce and physically attack teachers

and officials and they ransack the homes of intellectuals, destroying or confiscating anything identified as the “Four Olds.”Red Guards parade through the streets searching for “enemies of the revolution” while singing revolutionary songs and shouting slogans. From August to September, 1966, the escalating fervor results in many fatal beatings. Several prominent intellectuals commit suicide after being “struggled” against.

Factions of Red Guards begin to fight with one another. Each group is determined to demonstrate that they are more loyal to Mao Zedong and the revolution than others. Initially this competition is limited to outward manifestations of loyalty such as wearing the biggest Mao buttons, shouting slogans, or singing revolutionary songs more loudly than other Red Guard groups. Revolutionary zeal quickly spreads and loyalty to the “Great Helmsman” comes to be demonstrated above all by violent revolutionary struggle against “class enemies.” As Red Guards begin to be killed, the original goals of the revolution are often displaced by the desire for revenge.

In February 1967, the CCP, with Mao’s blessing begins to rein in the more anarchistic tendencies of the Red Guard movement. The Shanghai Peoples’ Commune, formed by rebel factory workers is dissolved. Students are urged to return to school and some Red Guards factions are branded as “counterrevolutionary.” The CCP and the army begin to establish revolutionary committees to take charge of the Cultural Revolution.

Between March and August, 1967, power struggles and factional fighting

Chronology of China under Mao Zedong, 1949-­‐1976

By Professor Carol Benedict, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

1968:

erupt within the ranks of the People’s Liberation Army itself, with mutinous PLA divisions defying orders from central headquarters. During the summer, the specter of civil war looms. Mao decides the Cultural Revolution must end. In September, 1967, the army is instructed to restore order throughout the country. This takes time, however, and some of the more radical militant groups fight on into 1968. Many die during the final suppression of Red Guards and other radicals in the spring and summer of 1968.

As the Cultural Revolution wanes in the spring of 1968, the cult of Mao becomes ever more extravagant. Backed by Lin Biao and Jiang Qing a nation-­‐‑wide campaign portrays Mao as almost a god-­‐‑like figure. Images of Mao are ubiquitous, not only in propaganda posters but on everyday household items like cigarette lighters and tea mugs. Statues and portraits of Mao are placed everywhere. Every published book and article opens with a quote from Chairman Mao and his “Little Red Book” is found in virtually every home and workplace. Households set up “tablets of loyalty” around which family members gathered to pay reverence.

Despite this extensive cult of personality, Mao still has little control over the activities of many Red Guard factions.

During the spring and summer of 1968, the last battles of the Cultural Revolution are fought in pitched battles on Beijing university campuses.

In July, after personally informing Red Guard leaders that they should disband, the CCP sends PLA-­‐‑directed “Workers’ Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Teams” to campuses to end the fighting and discipline the students.

Students, known as “sent-­‐‑down youth”

are packed off to the countryside to

be “reeducated” by the peasants.

Also sent to the countryside are

hundreds of thousands of intellectuals

and party officials. These “May Seventh

Cadre Schools” become a prominent

feature of Chinese political life in the

years after the “manic phase” (1966-­‐‑68)

of the Cultural Revolution ends.

1969: On January 1, 1969, an editorial in the

People’s Daily declares the Cultural

Revolution a success. In April, the Ninth

Congress of the CCP convenes. Lin Biao

is promoted to vice chairman of the CCP

and the Chinese Constitution is

rewritten to name him as Mao’s

successor. Mao declares the official end

of the Cultural Revolution at this

meeting.

1971: Although the Cultural Revolution is

officially over, tensions remain between

many PLA and Party leaders. Mao

becomes increasingly suspicious of his

chosen successor Lin Biao. The CCP

later charges that in September 1971, Lin

Biao attempted to assassinate Mao

Zedong and stage a coup d’etat.

According to official accounts, Lin Biao

tries to flee to the Soviet Union but

his plane crashes in Mongolia. Lin Biao

becomes person non-­‐‑grata within China:

his picture is airbrushed out of pictures

and the forward he penned for the

“Little Red Book” is ripped out of tens

of thousands of copies.

For many Chinese, the “Lin Biao Affair”

raises more questions than it answers.

They begin to question the legitimacy of

the Cultural Revolution and even Mao

Zedong himself.

1972-­‐‑74: In February, 1972, President Richard M.

Nixon visits China and signs the

Shanghai Communique. This begins the

process of normalizing relations

Chronology of China under Mao Zedong, 1949-­‐1976

By Professor Carol Benedict, Associate Professor, Georgetown University

1975:

1976:

between the United States and China, completed under President Jimmy Carter in 1979.

Also in 1972, Mao’s wife, Jiang Qing, initiates the“Criticize Lin Biao” campaign, in an effort to blame Lin for all of the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution. In 1974, this is expanded to the “Criticize Lin Biao, Criticize Confucius” campaign. Nominally a movement to eradicate feudal ways, this is actually an effort to discredit Zhou Enlai, the highly respected premier.

With Zhou Enlai’s influence, Deng Xiaoping—who had been denounced as a “capitalist roader” and removed from his posts during the Cultural Revolution—reenters the political scene and becomes vice premier in 1973.

The Fourth National People’s Congress is convened. Zhou Enlai inaugurates a program of economic development known as the “Four Modernizations.”

This becomes China’s guiding policy doctrine after Mao dies in 1976 and Deng Xiaoping becomes China’s leader in 1978.

On January 8, 1976, Zhou Enlai dies of cancer. Deeply loved by the Chinese people, his passing is genuinely mourned. During the annual Qing Ming (Tomb Sweeping Day) Festival that falls on April 5, thousands gather to pay their respects by laying wreaths in Tiananmen Square. When the government attempts to remove the makeshift memorials, a riot ensues.

This event is known as the Tiananmen Incident of 1976. Jiang Qing and her supporters, collectively known as the “Gang of Four” are popularly believed to have ordered the crackdown on those gathered to commemorate Zhou Enlai.

After Zhou Enlai’s death, Deng

Xiaoping becomes the first vice premier.

He is immediately criticized by Jiang

Qing. Mao demotes Deng Xiaoping and

names as his successor the relatively

unknown Hua Guofeng.

On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong

dies. Hua Guofeng becomes the

chairman of the CCP, chairman of its

Military Affairs Commission, thus

officially succeeding Mao.

Four weeks later, in October 1976, Hua

Guofeng orders the arrest of Jiang

Qing and three of her supporters and

labels them the “Gang of Four.” Their

arrest marks the end of the “stalemate

phase” of the Cultural Revolution (1969-­‐‑

1976).

1980-­‐‑1981: The government, now led by Deng

Xiaoping, blames all of the excesses of

the Cultural Revolution on Lin Biao and

the “Gang of Four.”The “Gang of

Four”are put on trial in 1980.

Unrepentant, Jiang Qing is

condemned to death with a two-­‐‑year

reprieve. In 1983 this is commuted to

life in prison. Diagnosed in 1991 with

throat cancer, Jiang Qing is released on

medical grounds. She is alleged to have

committed suicide in her hospital room

in May, 1991.

On June 29, 1981, the CCP adopts the

“Resolution on Certain Questions

in the History of Our Party Since the

Founding of the P.R.C.” Mao Zedong

is said to have been 30 percent in error

and 70 percent correct over the course of

his revolutionary career.