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May 4th Movement
Thousands of angry students in Bejing demanded change through strikes and protests because China was still looked at as a weak nation and they wanted democracy. These protests swept the country. -
An Uneasy Partnership
The Communists and the Guomindang formed a partnership and made many gains in the early 1920's. Jiang turned against his Communist allies and in 1927 he had his forces attack Communists in several cities, killing thousands of people. (Mao Zedong-communist VS Jiang Jieshi *Guomindang-nationalist) -
The Long March
Mao Zedong survived Jiang's attacks and led 100,000 Communist supporters through China in hopes of finding a safe place for the Chinese Communists in a part of China beyong Guomindang control. Only 8,000 followers survived and regained theur strength to begin another battle againast Jiang. -
Communists Take Over China
By 1949 the Communists had driven the Guomindang almost entirely from China, so on October 1st, Mao Zedong stood before a huge crowd in Beijing and announced the formation of the People’s Republic of China. -
The Great Leap Forward
China started to step away from Soviet influence when Mao announced The Great Leap Forward, which called for Chinese citizens to have farms and their own small-scale industries. This plan backfired when the combination of bad weather and poor farming made it impossible to grow the quality and quantity of crops China needed, resulting in a huge famine. China was isolated from the world community. -
Rebuilding China
The new Communist ideology helped change China's political and economical systems, Mao's policies led to improvement in China but not without a cost. The government eliminated the people who had spoken out against the government’s policies by sending them to labor camps or killing them. -
Cultural Revolution
In hopes of regaining his power and prestige lost from the failure of The Great Leap Forward, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution which shut down schools and encouraged militant high schoolers to become Red Guards to go around and criticize people who they thought wanted to go against Mao and his new government. They ended up killing many people and caused terrible destruction to Chinese society. -
Reforms Begin
During the time Mao was in poor health and nearing the end of his life, the Gang of Four was responsible for many of the worst features of the Cultural Revolution. Deng Xiaoping became leader and made a reform plan called the Four Moderizations, after the four economic areas it sought to modernize: agriculture, industry, science and technology, and national defense. -
Tiananmen Square
Many Chinese wanted more political freedom so protestors occupied the Tiananmen Square. After Chinese leaders became angry, they used forced and killed many protestors in what is known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre. -
China Today
Today, China's economy is the second largest in the world and the standard of living has also improved, as China encourages families to only have one child. Unfortunately, their industrial expansion has led to polluted air and water throughout China.The Chinese government continues to limit free speech and religious freedoms, and has strict control over the media.
