'The Mao Years' Review History Coursework Research

Name:
Tutor:
Course:
Date:
'The Mao Years' Review
Question 1: The 'Great Leap Forward' and the consequences of this nationwide campaign
This nationwide campaign aimed to develop China into one of the world's richest and most powerful countries within 15 years. Under the campaign, socialism was introduced, which destroyed the concept of families with people operating in communities. The government took ownership of all the land, forcing people to sell at lower prices while only allowing the citizens to keep small portions (Russ). With pressure to produce more grain, overreporting the harvests became common in the regions. However, the government's collection based on the fake yields made more peasants starve since they were left with little to no food. The effect of these actions led to the largest famine experienced in the country, with over 30 million people dying.
Question 2: Mao Zedong's launch of the Cultural Revolution in 1966
Mao launched the cultural revolution to fight off the communist party leaders that opposed his radical ideas of revolution. In his opinion, China would only be prosperous through a process of constant change and struggle. However, other party leaders were satisfied with the policies that had made china one of the largest economies at the time. Mao called upon the peasants in the country to depose the party leaders and replace them with new ones that would be in line with his policies (Russ). Consequently, a growing disorder struck young people, including students protesting to support Chairman Mao. This further led to the formation of the Red Gua...