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1.
Feature
Story
/A
LOOK AT
Mao
Tsetung
-
The
Chairman of the
Chinese
Communist
Party, The
President of
the People's
Republic of
China
02.
TIMELINE
-
Headed
China's
Government
•
1893
/ 12 - Birth:
Mao Tsetung was
born December
26, 1893.
City of
Shao-shan,
Hunan province.
Died
&endash;
September 9,
1976.
•
1943
/ 00 - Mao
Tsetung in
Wade-Giles)
became the
chairman of the
Politburo of
the Communist
Party of China
from 1943 and
the chairman of
the Central
Committee of
the Communist
Party of China
from 1945 until
his death in
1976. Under his
leadership, the
Chinese
Communist Party
(CCP) became
the ruling
party of
Mainland China
after victory
over Chinese
Nationalists,
the Kuomintang,
in the Chinese
Civil War.
•
1949
- China Civil
War.
•
1949
/ 10 - On
October 1,
1949, the
People's
Republic of
China was
formally
established,
with its
national
capital at
Beijing. Mao
Tsetung
announces the
People's
Republic of
China to
thousands of
cheering
supporters."The
Chinese people
have stood up!"
declared Mao
Tsetung as he
announced the
creation of a
"people's
democratic
dictatorship."
The people were
defined as a
coalition of
four social
classes: the
workers, the
peasants, the
petite
bourgeoisie,
and the
national-capitalists.
The four
classes were to
be led by the
CCP, as the
vanguard of the
working class.
At that time
the CCP claimed
a membership of
4.5 million, of
which members
of peasant
origin
accounted for
nearly 90
percent. The
party was under
Mao Tsetung's
chairmanship,
and the
government was
headed by Zhou
Enlai (
1898-1976) as
premier of the
State
Administrative
Council (the
predecessor of
the State
Council).
•
1949
/ 10 - The
Soviet Union
recognized the
People's
Republic on
October 2,
1949.
Earlier in
the year, Mao
Tsetung had
proclaimed his
policy of
"leaning to one
side" as a
commitment to
the socialist
bloc.
•
1950
- Tibet becomes
part of the
People's
Republic of
China.
•
1950
/ 02 - In
February 1950,
after months of
hard
bargaining,
China and the
Soviet Union
signed the
Treaty of
Friendship,
Alliance, and
Mutual
Assistance,
valid until
1980. The pact
also was
intended to
counter Japan
or any power's
joining Japan
for the purpose
of
aggression.
•
1950
/ 10 - By 1950
international
recognition of
the Communist
government had
increased
considerably,
but it was
slowed by
China's
involvement in
the Korean War.
In October
1950, sensing a
threat to the
industrial
heartland in
northeast China
from the
advancing
United Nations
(UN) forces in
the Democratic
People's
Republic of
Korea (North
Korea), units
of the
PLA--calling
themselves the
Chinese
People's
Volunteers--crossed
the YaluJiang
() River into
North Korea in
response to a
North Korean
request for
aid. Almost
simultaneously
the PLA forces
also marched
into Xizang to
reassert
Chinese
sovereignty
over a region
that had been
in effect
independent of
Chinese rule
since the fall
of the Qing
dynasty in
1911.
•
1951
/ 00 - In 1951
the UN declared
China to be an
aggressor in
Korea and
sanctioned a
global embargo
on the shipment
of arms and war
materiel to
China. This
step foreclosed
for the time
being any
possibility
that the
People's
Republic might
replace
Nationalist
China (on
Taiwan) as a
member of the
UN and as a
veto-holding
member of the
UN Security
Council.
•
1951
/ 12 - 1951-52
drive against
political
enemies was
accompanied by
land reform,
which had
actually begun
under the
Agrarian Reform
Law of June 28,
1950. The
redistribution
of land was
accelerated,
and a class
struggle
landlords and
wealthy
peasants was
launched. An
ideological
reform campaign
requiring
self-criticisms
and public
confessions by
university
faculty
members,
scientists, and
other
professional
workers was
given wide
publicity.
Artists and
writers were
soon the
objects of
similar
treatment for
failing to heed
Mao Tsetung's
dictum that
culture and
literature must
reflect the
class interest
of the working
people, led by
the CCP.
•
1953
/ 01 - The
First Five-Year
Plan stressed
the development
of heavy
industry on the
Soviet model.
Soviet economic
and technical
assistance was
expected to
play a
significant
part in the
implementation
of the plan,
and technical
agreements were
signed with the
Soviets in 1953
and 1954. For
the purpose of
economic
planning, the
first modern
census was
taken in 1953;
the population
of mainland
China was shown
to be 583
million, a
figure far
greater than
had been
anticipated.
•
1953
/ 1957 - The
Transition to
Socialism,
1953-57. The
period of
officially
designated
"transition to
socialism"
corresponded to
China's First
Five-Year Plan
(1953-57). The
period was
characterized
by efforts to
achieve
industrialization,
collectivization
of agriculture,
and political
centralization.
•
1954
/ 00 - In the
midst of these
major
governmental
changes, and
helping to
precipitate
them, was a
power struggle
within the CCP
leading to the
1954 purge of
Political
Bureau member
Gao Gang () and
Party
Organization
Department head
Rao Shushi (),
who were
accused of
illicitly
trying to seize
control of the
party.
•
1956
/ 00 - As part
of The First
Five-Year Plan,
that commenced
in 1953, the
govenments
effort to
encourage the
participation
of
intellectuals
in the new
regime statred
to pay off. By
mid-1956 there
began an
official effort
to liberalize
the political
climate.
Cultural and
intellectual
figures were
encouraged to
speak their
minds on the
state of CCP
rule and
programs. Mao
Tsetung
personally took
the lead in the
movement, which
was launched
under the
classical
slogan "Let a
hundred flowers
bloom, let the
hundred schools
of thought
contend" (). At
first the
party's
repeated
invitation to
air
constructive
views freely
and openly was
met with
caution.
•
1958
- Mao Tsetung
launches the
"Great Leap
Forward", a
five-year
economic plan.
Farming is
collectivised
and
labour-intensive
industry is
introduced. The
drive produces
economic
breakdown and
is abandoned
after two
years.
Disruption to
agriculture is
blamed for the
deaths by
starvation of
millions of
people
following poor
harvests.
•
1958
/ 0000 - 1958 -
The square
quadruples in
size to its
present
dimensions,
with the
massive Great
Hall of the
People on the
west side.
•
1958
/ 0000 - Mao
Tsetung under
took the great
leap forward
and established
rural communes
and a crash
program of
village
industrialization.
•
1964
/ 0000 - China
exploded its
first atomic
(fission)
bomb.
•
1966
/ 0300 -
1966-76:
Millions of Red
Guards troop
through the
square to
glimpse
Chairman Mao
Tsetung during
the Cultural
Revolution.
•
1966
/ 0300 - Mao
Tsetung moved
to Shanghai
from where he
waged the
Cultural
Revolution. The
Mao Tsetung
Group formed
Red Guard units
dominated by
youths and
students,
closing the
schools to free
students for
agitation. The
Red Guards
campaign end
against, old
ideas, old
culture, old
habits and old
customs, old.
Often they were
no more than an
uncontrolled
mob and
brutality was
frequent. They
felt that
during those 10
years of the
cultural
revolution from
1966 to 1976,
the people of
the whole
nationalism the
Chinese people
had suffered a
great loss.
Many had
died.
•
1966-76
- "Cultural
Revolution",
Mao Tsetung's
10-year
political and
ideological
campaign aimed
at reviving
revolutionary
spirit,
produces
massive social,
economic and
political
upheaval.
•
1967
/ 0000 - China
produced a
fusion
bomb.
•
1971
/ 0701 - The
People's
Republic of
China replace
Taiwan in the
United Nations.
-
•
1972
- US President
Richard Nixon
visits China.
Both
countries
declare a
desire to
normalise
relations.
•
1972
/ 0221 - The
Nixon
Administration
- Feb. 21-28
1972;
President
Richard Nixon
visits China. -
The historic
trip is the
first by U S.
President and
follows tensive
preparation by
secretary of
State Henry A.
Kissinger and
Chinese Premier
Chou En-lai.
Nixon exchanges
compliments
discusses
poetry with
ailing Chinese
leader Mao
Tsetung, and
the president
and Chou trade
toasts with
potent Chinese
liquor. To mark
the occasion,
Madame Mao
Tsetung
receives the
state visitors
in traditional
Chinese silks.
The visit
produces the
1,800 word
Shanghai
Communique, in
which the U.S.
acknowledges
that Taiwan is
a part of "one
China" and
which has been
the basis of
U.S.-China
relations
since. Nixon
later describes
his trip as
"the week that
changed the
world." He
would return
six times after
his resignation
in 1974,
including a
controversial
visit in 1989,
just four
months after
the June 4
Tiananmen
Square
incident.
•
1972
/ 0228 -
President Nixon
dines with Mao
Tsetung in the
Great Hall of
the People.
•
1972
/ 0228 - Nixon
signs historic
communique and
ends U S
containment
policy towards
China.
•
1975
/ 1201 - The
Ford
Administration
- Dec.
1-5,1975:
President
Gerald Ford
visits China. -
Relations are
tense, in part
because of
China's
political
transition.
Though still
lucid, Mao
Tsetung is
suffering from
Parkinson's
disease and can
no longer speak
cohererently or
stand without
assistance.
Although Ford
reaffirms the
goal of
normalizing
still revolving
bilateral
relations,
little
substantive
progress is
made.
•
1976
/ 09 -
Mao
Tsetung Dies,
September 9,
1976.
Mao
Tsetung was
born December
26, 1893, in
Shaoshan, Hunan
province. Mao
Tsetung was the
chairman of the
Politburo of
the Communist
Party of China
from 1943, (the
Central
Committee of
the Communist
Party of China)
-- from 1945
until his death
in 1976. Under
his leadership,
the Chinese
Communist Party
(CCP) became
the ruling
party of
Mainland China
after victory
over Chinese
Nationalists,
the Kuomintang,
in the Chinese
Civil War.
CLICK
FOR MORE
•
China
History02 -
1950-1976
TIMELINE
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•
China
History
Guide
•
China
History01 600AD
to
1949
•
China
History02 -
1950-1976
•
China
History03 -
1977-1989
•
China
History04 -
1990 to
1999
•
China
History05 -
2000 to
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