In 1912, a group of nationalists in China led by Sun Yat-Sen ended the Chinese dynastic system and created a democracy called the Republic of China. The Republic did not modernize the country and by 1920 the republic was ruled by Chiang Kai-shek who ruled China like a dictator.
Meanwhile, Communism was growing in China under the leadership of Mao Zedong by gained popularity among poor peasants by offering to redistribute land from wealthy warlords
From 1930 to 1949, Nationalists and Communists fought a bloody civil war for control of China. In 1949, the Communists won the war and Mao created the People’s Republic of China; Chiang’s Nationalist government fled China and set up in Taiwan.
Mao was determined to reshape China’s economy based on Marxist Socialism and seized land from the rich and divided it among the poor peasants.
Mao followed Stalin’s example by creating collective farms and a Five Year Plan to improve Chinese industry
In 1958, Mao began a massive program called the “Great Leap Forward” to boost Chinese agricultural and industrial output
The Great Leap Forward was seen as a failure and led to famine and poor quality industry and was ended after three years
After the failure of the Great Leap Forward, Mao began a new program known as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The goal of the Cultural Revolution was to emphasize Mao’s strict socialist ideas and attack traditional Chinese ideas and culture.
Mao distributed to all Chinese citizens the “Little Red Book”, - a book of his quotes that reinforced what was acceptable for Chinese Communists. Mao targeted young people to join the Red Guards, a group which protected the revolution by closing schools, burning books, and beating and killing those who opposed Mao’s teachings
“We should encourage comrades to take the interests of the whole into account. Every Party member, every branch of work, every statement and every action must proceed from the interests of the whole Party; it is absolutely impermissible to violate this principle.” Ibid., p. 44.
“Communists should set an example in study; at all times they should be pupils of the masses as well as their teachers.”
"The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in the National War" (October 1938), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 198.*
“The young people are the most active and vital force in society. They are the most eager to learn and the least conservative in their thinking. This is especially so in the era of socialism. We hope that the local Party organizations in various places will help and work with the Youth League organizations and go into the question of bringing into full play the energy of our youth in particular. The Party organizations should not treat them in the same way as everybody else and ignore their special characteristics. Of course, the young people should learn from the old and other adults, and should strive as much as possible to engage in all sorts of useful activities with their agreement.”
Introductory note to "A Youth Shock Brigade of the No. 9 Agricultural Producers' Cooperative in Hsinping Township, Chungshan County " (1955), The Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside, Chinese ed., Vol. III.
The Cultural Revolution unified the Chinese people behind Mao’s Communist ideology, but also led to the deaths and imprisonment of thousands of citizens.
When Mao died in 1976, more moderate Communist officials followed; China remains Communist today. The fall of China to Communism had a major impact on the Cold War between the USA and the USSR. The USA’s response to the fall of China was to much more aggressively confront communism around the world.