China’s Changing Road to Development: Political History, 1949–78

Abstract

After 22 years of conflict with its nationalist rivals domestically and Japanese invaders, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) took control of Beijing in January 1949 and Shanghai in May the same year. By 1950 the Guomindang (Nationalist) forces only retained control of the island of Taiwan. Though CCP leader Mao Zedong told the Chinese people that they had stood up, the country the CCP now controlled in their name was economically backward, predominantly agrarian and contained considerable opposition to communist rule. Victory returned the CCP to the cities they had been forced to abandon following repression by the nationalists. CCP leaders now had to return the revolution to the cities, build an industrial base and a working class whom they were supposed to represent, create new political institutions and train officials to staff them. Pockets of opposition remained from troops loyal to the nationalists with whom the CCP had fought two civil wars (1927– 37 and 1945–49, see Box 2.1) and there was armed fighting with Tibetans who resisted incorporation into the PRC. In addition many, especially in the cities and the south, were suspicious of the CCP’s motives and intent. The economy had suffered badly from the dislocation and destruction not only of the civil wars but also the Japanese invasion (1937–45), and the country was suffering from rampant inflation.