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Communist China
Mao Zedong proclaimed the founding of the People´s Republic of China, making the country officially a communist country. -
Retreat of Nationalist Troops to Taiwan
Chiang Kai-Shek, 600 thousand Nationalist troops, and about two million nationalist refugees fled to Taiwan. -
Reform Law of 1950
This law was the start of creating giant farms belonging to many peasants. It gave 300 million peasants land. Some peasants belonged to farms of 30-50 families. However, more than 95% were given land belonging to 200-300 other families. These farms did not give enough food to the peasants- many were malnourished or starved. Most of the time, they did not even receive tools to farm the land. -
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Sino-Soviet Treaty
The Sino-Soviet Treaty was a treaty of friendship between China and Russia. In it, Russia gave China 300 million dollar loan. -
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Land Distribution
After a five year campaign, all land deeds were destroyed and land was distributed. To get there, over two million landlords were executed. -
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The First Five-Year Plan
The Chinese government gave priority to heavy industry, including steel, coal, and machinery. In Manchuria, 700 new factories were built. -
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Hundred Flowers
Mao decided to lift the free speech ban, saying people could voice their criticism to improve their society. Predictably, many people said bad things about Mao and his ways. Mao got angry, so in January of 1957, those who complained were sent to labor camps. Free speech was quickly eliminated, and press was soon censored. -
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Opposition with the party silenced
Mao purged many of his party members if they disagreed with him or his methods in any ways. They were replaced by firm believers in Mao. -
Mao Visits Moscow
Mao visits Moscow to view the launch of Sputnik where he claims that his new plan will make the Chinese economy surpass the British economy in just 15 years. He claimed that, after that, he would overtake all the other capitalist countries to become one of the richest, most advanced countries in the world. -
Four Pests Campaign
The Four Pests Campaign was a campaign to eradicate four creatures that Mao believed were threats to public health- mosquitoes, rats, flies, and sparrows. The first three were obvious threats- however, sparrows were picked because of their tendency to eat grain. Sparrows were nearly eradicated in China. However, sparrows also eat locusts. Because of this, locust populations went wild, and they ate much more grain than the sparrows ever would have. This contributed greatly to famine. -
Steel Furnaces
By now, over 600,000 steel furnaces were put into backyards all over China, to melt down steel to contribute to extreme industrial deadlines and due dates for steel. However, the steel was low quality, and almost all of it was unusable for construction purposes. -
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The Great Leap Forward
Mao aimed to further develop his plan to increase industrial and agricultural output in China. He put the already big farms filled with peasants into even bigger communes. Each commune contained about 5000 families, who gave up their land and housings. By the end of 1958, about 700 million people were put into 26, 578 communes. -
Anti-Rightist Campaign
At the end of the Hundred Flowers Campaign, everybody who had spoken ill of Mao or the Chinese government had been rounded up. The amount of people totaled more than half a million. Most of these people were sent to labor camps, but some were even executed. Many historians believe that the Hundred Flowers Campaign was a ruse, meant to make Mao's enemies reveal themselves. -
Shanghai Conference
Mao presses for higher agricultural targets, by a third, even though there is widespread famine throughout the countryside. -
Lushan Conference
Mao and the rest of his party disagreed on the success of the Great Leap Forward, Peng Duhuai at the lead. This was what started the Campaign of Repression. -
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Campaign of Repression
Peng Duhuai was the Chinese military leader and Minister of Defense from 1954 to 1959. He opposed Mao's ways, and brought it to his attention that the widespread famine must be stopped. Because of this, Mao ordered the Campaign of Repression. Anybody, though mostly aimed at party members, who shared a similar view to Peng Duhuai was purged. Tens of millions of villagers were either killed or starved. -
Realization of Starvation
Mao finally realizes the amount of famine taking place in his country because of a famine report that he was given a month early. He sent an emergency order letting peasants keep a private plot of land and eight hours of rest. This was meant to lessen the famine. Because of this, Mao directed a greater, more widespread report to be done over the next few months. -
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Famine Report
A report that was directed mainly at communes to see the results of the Great Leap Forward. -
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End of the Great Leap Forward
After the inspections were done, party members decided to retreat from the Great Leap Forward. A Chinese Revolutionary, Lui Shaoqi effectively diverted the blame from Mao, blaming the party as a whole. Even though it was the end of the Great Leap Forward, the measures to stop the famine were not fully functional, and many in the countryside continued to die until 1962. The death count has been censored by the Chinese government, but historians place it from anywhere to 45 to 55 million.
