The Chinese Propaganda Posters And The Great Leap Forward

To what extent do the Chinese propaganda posters tell the story of the Great Leap Forward? By (Name) Institution Instructor Date In October 1949, Mao Zedong declar the People’s Republic of China (Westad, 2003). The move brought to an end civil strife that has lasted for almost half a century. Nonetheless, the path to China’s emergence as an economic superpower was a challenging. One of the major challenges facing the Chinese Communist Party were having a balance between the ideological and developmental pathways. The Great Leap Forward demonstrated the tensions that existed between the Chinese society, leaders and the nature of Communism (Westad, 2003). One of the tools that were important in Mao’s leadership was the use of propaganda posters and it was effective in telling the story of the Great Leap forward. The First Five Year Plan Mao and the rest of the communists has ambitious plans to transform China. They wanted a strong, independent China that was no longer vulnerable to domination from outsiders. They believed that it was possible to get rid of poverty through the modernization of agriculture, industrialization, and programs for infrastructure development (Qian, 2015). They dreamed of China were the ancient inequalities that existed between men and women, landlords and peasants and bureaucrats and subjects would be no more. However, the biggest question remained whether or not it was possible to achieve such rapid economic development in an egalitarian society. As a result, between 1949 and 1953, Mao emphasized on large-scale businesses and consequently seized lands from the rich landowners and gave it to the laborers (Chen, Li, and Xin, 2017). In 1953, China came up with the First Five Year Plan. The plan emphasized centralized economic planning, collectivization of agriculture and industrialization. The move led to a growth rate of 18%. However, Mao was not pleased with the outcome of the plan. Because of industrialization, there was unequal distribution of wealth where the elite managers and engineers amassed wealth while the peasants remained poor. Moreover, central planning gave rise to powerful establishments that Mao wanted to eliminate in the first place. The Great Leap Forward In 1957, Mao focus on taking China into the next stage of development, through the second Five Year Plan also called the Great Leap Forward. It aimed at to undertaking rapid industrialization and collectivize agriculture on a huge scale. Mao held that a cooperative zeal would enable peasants to participate in making a huge contribution to the industrialization of the country. One of the Mao’s goals during the Great Leap Forward was for the economy of China to “surpass that of Britain” (An, Li, and Yang, 2001). In particular, Mao wanted to beat Britain in steel production in five years’ time. The inspiration to engage in steel production was due to the factories Mao witnessed in the Soviet Union. The plan aimed at overtaking the Soviet Union so that Mao could be recognized as the leader of the Communist movement. Mao decide to accomplish this objective by redistributing labor from the large industries to small backyard factories. The farmers were encourage to abandon the growing of crops and concentrate on making steel. Whereas people were hungry, grain exported while the peasants engaged in unproductive activities. Mountainsides were destroyed to provide wood for the steel makers. The villagers destroyed the remaining forests as they also consume most of China’s birds. Since individuals spend their time smelting steel at the expense of tending their crops, they went hungry (Dikötter and Bauckham, 2012). Women were negatively affected by the famine because they could not undertake heavy physical work as the males. The production of crops declined because the farmers were required to plant the crops by uncertain practices of close planting. Interviews about the Great Leap Forward An interview with Jia Fukui demonstrate the reality of the Great Leap Forward. Fukui was born in 1932 in Yangjiazhuang Village, Shenzhou Town, Shenzhou County, Hebei Province (Duke University, 2019). Fukui say that the situation was bad during the Great Famine. With the production team yielding 20-25 kilos per acre, Fukui notes that it was impossible for everyone to fill their stomach. Despite working with his grandmother for a full year, they still could not pay the production team. Because they had money belonging to the team, they could not get food. As a result, the production team keeps the wheat they were supposed to get. Because the production team keeps the wheat at the barn, it was eaten by worms. Nonetheless, they had to pay for it even when worms damage it. Fukui recall how people were eating wild vegetables. At some point, the grasses could not grow because people picked and eat them. The trees could not grow leaves because people eat them (Duke University, 2019). At that time, Fukui indicates that no one was allowed to hide any food in the basket. There were numerous checkpoints at the entrance to the village. One day, Fukui worked in the field until midnight and carried a basket full of weeds. La...