Chiang Kaishek then created The New Life Movement. It was based on the four principles of ancient ideas – Li, I, Lien and Chih. ‘Li’ means courtesy; ‘I’ means service towards your fellow men and towards yourself; ‘Lien’ honesty and respect for the rights of others; and ‘Chih’ means high-mindedness and honour. Great emphasis was put on The Movement but it didn’t deal with any real problems: - poor housing, lack of medical care and poverty. This meant China still had basic welfare problems.
The liberation areas were made up of poor and mostly small farms. The Communists and their leader, Mao Zedong began making land reforms. Big estates of land were taken from the rich landlords and shared out among peasants who did not have land of their own.
The communists also introduced many social reforms, particularly for women. Outdated and undesirable practices such as foot binding, murder of unwanted babies, child slavery, prostitution and sale of women were all made illegal.
In January 1949, Chiang Kaishek retreated to the only part of China not under communist control, the Island of Taiwan. He took with him 200,000 Guomindang troops as well as all of China’s gold reserves. Chiang Kaishek ruled Taiwan as the Republic of China.
On 1 October 1949, the communists were able to proclaim the existence of a new China – the Peoples Republic of China. The Civil War had ended, the country had no gold and the country’s infrastructure was destroyed by war. Roads, canals, farms and hospitals were all affected.
The new government introduced the Marriage Law in April 1950. This brought an end to arranged marriages, the marriages of children, the killing of unwanted baby girls, and bigamy. Women were also given other rights such as divorce by mutual consent and husbands and wives jointly owned the family property, whereas before it belonged to the husband.
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In December 1949, Mao Zedong travelled to Moscow for talks with Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader. They signed a Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance which gave China the benefit of financial and technical advice. The aid was only $300 million over a five year period and most was in credits rather than cash. Furthermore, the treaty supplied 10,000 engineers and planning experts to contribute to developing China’s economy.
With the help of the Russian advisers, the Chinese drew up a Five-Year Plan for developing the economy. The Plan began in 1953 and finished in 1957, it gave priority to heavy industry – steel and coal. The Plan created nearly 700 production plants in Manchuria and made a massive boost to the economy.
In conclusion, although China’s economy and society was very weak in the late 1940’s Mao Zedong strengthened it by the 1950’s by developing the economy and establishing new laws and policies for the society. However, this strength came from a dictatorship.
