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Period: to
timespan
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China becomes communist
Mao announced the establishment of the People's Republic Of China. -
Marriage Reform Law
Family life was changed. In 1950, Mao introduced the Marriage Reform Law which banned forced marriages. The law stated: "All marriages are to be based on the free consent of men and women."
Divorce was a;sp made easier to get. It had been all but impossible under the old regime. -
Hundred Flowers Movement
Mao launched campaign with slogan "let a hundred flowers blossom, let a hundred schools of thought contend" . It was an apparent call for intellectual freedom and let people who didn't believe in his approach to speak out. Athough, criticisms began shifting toward Mao personally, so he suppressed the Hundred Flowers movement and punish some of its participants. -
The Great Leap Forward
Mao launched a program attempting to increase agricultural and industrial production.He created large communes of people where they would work in the fields, although 3 years of floods and bad harvests caused 30-40 million people to die of hunger between 1959-61. -
China splits with Soviet Union (Sino-Soviet split)
Mao was unhappy with:
Russia was making peace with the United States
Russia reduced it's level of aid to China
Mao was a strong believer in Stalin and didn't like that Russia was moving away from Stalin beliefs. support -
Cultural Revolution
Mao created a crisis, so that he could solve and show the people of China his stength as a leader. He told his followers that some people in China were aiming to restore capitalism.
The youths that followed Mao wore red arm bands and carried Mao's book, Little Red Book. They terrorized Chinese citizens and determined who went to camps. The Revolution destroyed much of China's traditional cultural heritage as well as creating economic and social chaos. -
Nixon visits China
President Nixon flew to China to meet with Mao as a gesture to ease tension between the two countires. It also elivated China's promoinence as a world player. With Mao getting older, his health was deteriorating and the talks with Nixon didn't accomplish much. -
Mao Tse-tung dies
Mao died from compications of Parkinson's disease at the age of 82 in Beijing, China