CIA Archives: China's Great Leap Forward - Part 1 (1958)

1958 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000UWLWIC?ie=UTF8&tag=doc06-20&link... Watch the full film: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/10/cia-documentary-film-china-leaps....

This film explores the industry and culture of the cities of Tianjin and Beijing.

The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an economic and social plan used from 1958 to 1961 which ostensibly aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern communist society through the process of agriculturalization, industrialization, and collectivization. Mao Zedong led the campaign based on the Theory of Productive Forces, and intensified it after being informed of the impending disaster from grain shortages.

Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the introduction of a mandatory process of agricultural collectivization, which was introduced incrementally. Private farming was prohibited, and those engaged in it were labeled as counter revolutionaries and persecuted. Restrictions on rural people were enforced through public struggle sessions, social pressure, and violence. Food rationing was introduced, in some cases leaving rural Chinese with less than 250g (half a jin, 8.82 ounces) of grain per day. The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, triggering a widespread famine that resulted in possibly more than 20 million deaths.

Tianjin (Postal map spelling: Tientsin) is a metropolis in Northeastern China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is thus under direct administration of the central government, and borders Hebei Province and Beijing Municipality, bounded to the east by the Bohai Gulf portion of the Yellow Sea. In terms of urban population, it is the sixth largest city of the People's Republic of China, and its urban land area ranks 5th in the nation, only after Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen.

Tianjin's urban area is located along the Hai He River, which connects to the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers via the Grand Canal in Tianjin. Its ports, some distance away, are located on the Bohai Gulf in the Pacific Ocean. Tianjin was once home to foreign concessions in the late Qing Dynasty and early Kuomintang (KMT) era. The municipality incorporates the coastal region of Tanggu, home to the Binhai New Area and the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA). Tianjin Municipality borders Hebei province to the north, south, and west; the Chinese capital Beijing is to the northwest, and the Bohai Gulf to the east.

Beijing (also known as Peking) is a metropolis in northern China and the capital of the People's Republic of China. Governed as a municipality under direct administration of the central government, Beijing borders Hebei Province to the north, west, south, and for a small section in the east, and Tianjin Municipality to the southeast. Beijing is one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China.

Beijing is divided into 16 urban and suburban districts and two rural counties. Beijing is a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and motorways passing through the city. It is also the destination of many international flights arriving in China. Beijing is recognized as the political, educational, and cultural center of the People's Republic of China, while Shanghai and Hong Kong predominate in economic fields. The city hosted the 2008 Olympic Games.

Few cities in the world besides Beijing have served as the political and cultural centre of an area as immense as China for so long. The Encyclopædia Britannica describes it as "one of the world's great cities," and declares that the city has been an integral part of Chinas history for centuries; there is scarcely a major building of any age in Beijing that doesn't have at least some national historical significance. Beijing is renowned for its opulent palaces, temples, and huge stone walls and gates. Its art treasures and universities have long made the city a centre of culture and art in China.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• China
• Great
• Leap
• Forward
• Mao
• Zedong
• documentary
• famine
• reporter
• culture
• monuments
• Peking
• parade
• national
• day
• communist
• holiday
• celebrations
• Taiwan
• liberation
• United
• States
• Red
• Square
• People's
• Republic
• solidarity
• Chinese
• hotel
• Tiananmen
• propaganda
• anti-American
• rifles
• women
• girls
• militia
• dresses

[sweetpete420]

@Merle1987 you are fucked if you think china was cool when it was communist

[wnxsilence]

Think what you want about "maoism" or "socialism." The fact is that the vast majority of the world is capitalist, it also follows that the vast majority of the world is impoverished. No one ever laments about the 27,000 children who die in misery and starvation of preventable causes daily, all over the capitalist world.

Few in the West have ever expressed moral indignation at the billions of people who have so far died because of the capitalist system.

[ummamaumaumammaummau]

@sweetpete420 hey don't call my hero Manuel Barroso fucked. He is a maoist and he is ruling europe so great. No suffering anywhere. i will give my life to Barroso. NOT!

[wnxsilence]

@ureatowel15 Yes, and I am well aware of what you say about the so called "free-market." What is known as "capitalism" has always thrived off of massive state support, subsidy, and protection... The myth of free competition, equal opportunity, and free-markets are just that... a myth. Let no one be confused by this misinformation on the part of the advocates for the status-quo.

[wnxsilence]

@ureatowel15 It's a crime against humanity, against all those who go hungry and cold tonight... of all the children who are delivered a miserable death, rather than a fulfilling life.

Yet, as we both have seen... as the whole world has seen, millions have risen up and continue to rise up every day against this injustice. The brave example set by peoples from Tunis to Tahrir speaks for itself, so too countless thousands participating in civil occupation and protests world-wide.

[ureatowel15]

@wnxsilence Almost correct, because it's even worse than you claim. Western countries use protectionism and state support to prevent their own economies from collapsing, awhile forcing third world countries to open up their markets. the consequence is that those countries cannot compete in the global market and become more empoverished. One of the reasons there was no food in Haiti after the earthquake, was that all of haitis economy was forced to focus on export.

[1sabineMai]

During Mao there was no corruption, people and the whole country had culture and a liberty charakter in any respect, with the people as rulers and rulers who did act for the people. Even town planning which you can see even today in old districts: larger assembly halls with thousends of chairs, court yards with sports playing field in the middle of residential appartments - finally everything that people can communicate with each other in order to know and rule themself.

[Merle1987]

China as so cool back in the day when it was Communist. Back then they had class. Now all they care about is world domination.

[loserkiller007]

1960 china= modern day north korea

[seka1986]

@Grimaldo35 You must be one of Mao's red guards.

[allsecrets3]

@wnxsilence You're right, 80 million is exaggerated. There were 70 million dead while Maos reign, 38 million thanks to the 'great leap forward' that was in reality a catastrophy. I'm non saying that 'capitalism' is better, I think communism is a fascinating ideology, but Mao was a dick. I wrote my essay about him. 300 pages, and he was a crazed psychopath. He said that the farmer could easily eat less, so their bellies would go away, while the people in KZ got more calories to eat.