Welcome / Introduction:

Response to the essential question:

The early period of the founding of the People's Republic of China was a critical period
for the country's rapid development, reform, and institution-building. In order to achieve better
development, the Communist Party of China has carried out socialist transformation. In the
second half of 1952 to 1956, new China took four years and finished on agriculture, handicraft
industry, and capitalist industry and commerce socialist transformation (known as the Three
Great Remodeling). Realized the transform of production private ownership as the socialist
public ownership; making China the new democracy society into a socialist society.1 The country
initially established the basic system of socialism. Since then, China has entered the primary
stage of socialism. In these four years the implementation of the system and the transformation
of the people's lives is earth-shaking.

From my grandfather (from my mother’s side) 's perspective, the development of socialist
industrialization in recent years shows that while the country is marching toward a more ideal
socialism, the quality of life of him and his family has been gradually declining during these
years of reform. He was born into a relatively wealthy upper-middle class family. From his
grandfather's generation, his family started businesses and worked hard to accumulate wealth.
After two generations of tireless efforts, his family owned a large amount of land and a well-run
Chinese medicine shop. However, self-owned shops were not considered as enterprises that
made contributions to society at that time. The task of China's socialist transformation is to
transform private ownership of the means of production into socialist public ownership. The
bourgeoisie is not advocated and needs to be eliminated in order to develop socialism.2
Therefore, during this period of reform, the state promulgated a series of policies: land reform,
the establishment of agricultural production cooperatives and handicraft production cooperatives,
also the promulgation of public-private joint venture policies. These policies had a key impact on
my grandfather's family. Under the land reform, my grandfather's family land was taken away
and redistributed by the government. Under a public-private buy-out policy, pharmacies were
taken over by the state, and my grandfather's father and grandfather were given only basic jobs in
a state-run pharmaceutical company. Land was considered an important asset in those days, and
to lose ownership of land in a short period of time was essentially to lose all property. Moreover,
pharmacies, another source of income, can no longer support families. Their relatively wealthy
family quickly became unlivable. Although the three reforms were devastating to my
grandfather(from my mother’s side)'s family, from my grandfather(from my father’s side)'s point
of view, these socialist policies were extremely helpful and spread positive effects. He was born

1
Rebecca Cairns and Jennifer Llewellyn, "Agrarian Reform," Alpha History, last modified September 21,
2019, accessed June 1, 2021, https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/agrarian-reform/.
2
Baidu.com, ed., "Joint State-private Ownership," Baidu.com, last modified June 14, 2007, accessed
June 1, 2021, https://baike.baidu.com/item/公私合营/6775045?fr=aladdin.
into a lower-middle class peasant family. His family owned a small amount of land, but they
needed to farm some landlord’s land for a better quality of life. Agrarian Land reform usually
referred to the transfer of ownership of land from a relatively small number of wealthy owners,
owners of a large number of lands (e.g., nobles, manors, farmers, or landowners)3 to those who
worked on the land. My grandfather's family, as farmers and middle and lower class, was given a
small portion of the land once owned by the rich by the government. In the promotion of
agricultural production cooperative, my grandfather's family joined in. They share their
possessions and make them communal. We make progress together and develop gradually.
During the period of the Three Great Reforms, it is striking how the same policy has different
effects and changes on different classes of people.

Thesis / Line of reasoning:

It can be seen that the period of reform and progress from 1952 to 1956 had a serious
polarized impact on people. As China progresses toward the primary stage of socialism, some
will encounter assistance that significantly improves their lives, while others will be deprived of
a life of fulfillment. Each policy during the period, land reform; the establishment of agricultural
production cooperatives and handicraft production cooperatives; and the public-private
partnership, were having severely different effects in families from disparate social classes. In
my interview with my grandfather from my mother’s side and grandfather from my father’s side,
Comparing their experiences, it was obvious that two people of the same age were affected
differently in the three major transformations due to the difference of social status.

Overview of what I have been doing:

Interviewing my grandparents gave me insight into my family's history and their rough
personal experiences. After collecting their personal information, I started with "your most
memorable historical period" as a starting point. Surprisingly, they were able to respond quickly
and firmly , as if they had already prepared the story for me for a long time. Listening to them
recount their stories is like accompanying them to review each important period of their life. For
the first time, I realized the hardships and struggles of their time, and I saw the difficulties and
glories beneath the wrinkles of their vicisitudes. The transcript of their voices to words made the
information visual and organized. Research and study the historical period they have been
talking about makes their experiences more real and clear. To be able to relate their experiences
to history that actually took place. After lateral reading and working with online sources, the
sources were transferred and recorded in Noodletools for summary and citation.

Summary and Synthesis:

3
Baidu.com, Baidu.com, last modified April 16, 2021, https://baike.baidu.com/item/土地改革法
/5376394?fr=aladdin#4.
Body paragraph 1:

Chronologically, the first period of the Three Great Reforms was the land reform, which
was completed in 1953. The main main principle of land reform was to distribute land from the
landlords to the peasants. Therefore, the upper classes are the ones that are being taken, while the
poorer classes are the ones that are being given. When Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's
Republic of China in 1949, China's economy was dominated by agriculture, with 85 percent of
the population classified as farmers. In the interview my grandfather (from my father’s side)
stated: “There are five different kinds of people in the countryside. The poor peasants had
nothing and lived in the landlords' homes. The lower middle peasants still have a little land in
their own homes, but they still need to farm for others to make a living. The middle peasants are
relatively wealthy and can be self-sufficient. A kulak is someone who has extra land and is
already wealthy. A landowner is someone who has a lot of land, is very rich, and gives his land
to poor peasants to manage and cultivate.” For centuries, most farmers have been poor, with little
or no land. They are often exploited by high rents, interest payments on debts, and suffer from
malnutrition and disease. Thus, the abolition of the old system of landowner - peasant relations
was one of the main goals of the Chinese Communist Party. My grandpa was born in a lower
middle peasant family. During the land reform, his family got extra land allotted by the
government. More land means more harvest. This is very necessary for a middle and lower
farming family.Real cases and statistics prove that land reform has indeed changed the economic
situation of many families. Significant changes have taken place in the class structure of rural
areas, among which the most prominent phenomenon is the rise of the middle peasants. The
proportion of the middle peasants in the rural population has increased from 20 percent to about
80 percent, while the proportion of the poor peasants has decreased from 70 percent to about 10
to 20 percent. 4

From the macro point of view, this is a successful reform and progress for both
agricultural and economic. But since Land Reform is a redistribution of property and land, some
people getting more means others’ losing their assets. My grandfather (from my mother’s side) ‘s
family has lost their land. His father and grandfather were businessmen who owned a pharmacy
in Weifang with a good profit. Although everyone lives in the city, there was still some land in
the countryside that has been handed down from generation to generation. His father and
grandfather rented the land to local farmers for free, because although they no longer struggled
for money by starting their own businesses and no longer needed to make a living from farming,
they understood the hardships of being farmers and hoped that their land could help the villagers
in the place they used to live. Second, they can't manage the land from the city. In September
1947, the Communist Party of China held a national land conference in Shijiazhuang City, Hebei
Province, and passed the Outline of China's Land Law, which was announced by the Central

4
Baidu.com, Baidu.com, last modified April 16, 2021, https://baike.baidu.com/item/土地改革法
/5376394?fr=aladdin#4.
Committee of the Communist Party of China on October 10. It officially operated in 1950 and
expired at the end of 1987. According to Article 2 of the Land Reform Law "Confiscation and
Expropriation of Land" : "Confiscation of landlords' land, farm animals, farm tools, surplus grain
and their surplus houses in the countryside. However, other property of the landlord shall not be
confiscated." All the land in my grandfather's family was surrendered to the state. According to
Article 2 of the Land Reform Law "Treatment of Certain Special Problems", it states: "No land
shall be distributed to those whose occupational income is sufficient for the constant
maintenance of their family."5 My grandfather's family has a drugstore as a source of income to
support themselves, so they were not allowed to keep any lands.

My grandfather's family was lucky in the land reform. As landlords,they lost their land.
However, as businessmen, they have another way of making a living. Other landowning families,
who lived off the land alone, were not as lucky. They also had to work hard when their land was
handed over to the state, and this made most landowners uncomfortable because their original
role was that of administrator rather than laborer. On the other hand, the land reform also caused
class struggle. "Landlord" was once a derogatory term, often associated with images of slavery
and the exploitation of working people. My grandfather also said, "Some people hate the
landlords, because the farmers feel that the income they get from their efforts in farming is not as
much as the landlords' income, so they feel dissatisfied." It is estimated that between one million
and two million former landlords died during the 1947 and 1952 campaigns.6 While land reform
and land redistribution helped farmers to own lands, they also faced many difficulties and
problems as new landowners. Many farmers lack the knowledge, equipment and resources to
produce their land. In the past, these were provided by the landlord as the leader. Farmers now
own and manage their own land and need to deal with these difficulties themselves. During this
period of land reform, food supply and markets were disrupted because land production was
lower than in the past, leading to shortages and higher prices. Although the initial period of land
reform was not very effective, on the whole, land reform liberated the productive forces,
promoted the development of agricultural production, and provided the necessary conditions for
the fundamental improvement of the national financial and economic situation.

Body paragraph 2:

The second stage of the Three Great Remodeling was the Public-private partnership
(socialist transformation of capitalist industry and commerce) was carried out from 1954 to the
end of 1956. The Party adopted the policy of "peaceful redeemable purchase" and gradually
transformed it into a socialist public owned enterprise through the form of state capitalism. The
policy is mainly aimed at private businesses, which are almost always owned by upper-class

5
Law.cn, China Law, last modified March 22, 2020, accessed June 1, 2021,
https://www.66law.cn/laws/254183.aspx.
6
Rebecca Cairns and Jennifer Llewellyn, "Agrarian Reform," Alpha History, last modified September 21,
2019, accessed June 1, 2021, https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/agrarian-reform/.
people, meaning that the lower-class populations will not be affected by the policy.
Public-private partnership (1954-1956) was a policy enacted by China during the Three Great
Remodeling periods to eliminate the bourgeoisie and carry out socialist transformation of
capitalist industry and commerce.7 The Communist Party of China adopts a main policy of
utilizing, restricting, and transforming capitalist industry and commerce. My grandpa’s (from my
mother’s side) family used to own a traditional chinese medicine store before the policy of
public-private partnership. Their pharmacies were taken away by the government after the
enactment of the policy that aimed at transforming private enterprises into socialist public
enterprises. My grandfather recounted the tremendous transform of life brought by the
public-private partnership policy: “The life from owning the store to the store shutting down later
has been a big change. My grandfather spent all his savings on the store because it used to be an
important property and a source of income. After the public-private partnership, all the private
companies were taken over by the state, and all our main support of life were suddenly gone.”
After losing the ownership of the medicine store, my grandfather's father and grandfather, who
had been the manager and operator of the store, were only assigned by the government to basic
jobs in a state-run pharmaceutical company in order to support their livings. My grandfather's
tone is very heavy in the process of narration. His regret at the loss of the pharmacy was visible.
Generations of entrepreneurship and efforts were eventually taken away by the government ,the
main source of income was cut off, hopeless and uncertain about the future; public-private
partnerships had far more negative effects than positive ones on capitalists(upper class groups) at
the time.

Compared to the capitalists who own self-run businesses, the population in the
lower/middle class were hardly affected by the implementation of public-private partnerships.
For the reason that people in this class do not have the economic strength to meet the criteria of
owning self-employed enterprises, policies against self-employed enterprises do not reach them.
During the interview of my grandpa(from my father’s side) and I, when I mentioned “Do you
have any impressions or thoughts about public-private partnerships?” He answered:
"Public-private partnerships basically affect people in cities. In the countryside we are not
affected at all. It was just after the land reform and we were still dealing with the changes that the
land reform brought about."

It is observed that upper class groups have been radically transformed by public-private
partnerships, losing their business, jobs, and their main source of income. For economic reasons,
however, the lower classes were almost entirely unaffected.

Body paragraph 3:

7
Baidu.com, ed., "Joint State-private Ownership," Baidu.com, last modified June 14, 2007, accessed
June 1, 2021, https://baike.baidu.com/item/公私合营/6775045?fr=aladdin.
 The other phase of the Three Great Remodeling is agricultural production
cooperatives(Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft) (1951.12-1956). The main stage
of practice was after the completion of land reform in 1953, with the goal of gradually
transforming the peasant individual economy into a socialist collective economy. Therefore, the
main audience of agricultural production cooperatives is all land-owning population after the
land reform.8 The ownership of land was all handed over to the rural lower middle class group
after the Land Reform, so the upper class people were not affected by this policy at all. The
Communist Party of China at that time believed that only by organizing and cooperating with
each other could we develop production and achieve common prosperity. Against this
background, agricultural production cooperatives were established and popularized. By the end
of 1956, 96.3% of rural households nationwide had joined cooperatives.9 When my
grandfather(from my father’s side) recalled the period of joining the cooperatives, he stated:
“Farm tools, land and animals owned by individuals were put under the name of the production
cooperatives. Everybody joined back then. The food produced by the land and the eventual
profits will also be distributed according to the work. This is collective ownership, communism.
From my point of view, the cooperative was more stable and life was guaranteed. Working
together can help each other and make progress together. Pay was also fairly distributed
according to labor.” Agricultural production cooperatives are another progress on the socialist
road of collectivization and common prosperity. After the establishment and development of
agricultural production cooperatives, the irrigated area of farmland in China increased from
299.38 million mu in 1952 to 4808 million mu in 1957. 10From the people's perspective,
cooperatives ensure at a lower level the needs of urban and rural people for agricultural products.
From the national point of view, it has made a contribution to the industrialization of the country,
and has laid a favorable condition for the implementation of the socialist transformation of the
capitalist industry and commerce.

Agricultural co-operatives were an additional layer of protection for the Lower Middle
Class after the Land Reform, however for the upper class, co-operatives were far from their lives.
After the Land Reform, the owners of the land became farmers who lived in the countryside.
High social status groups, most of which developed businesses and industries in cities, were not
the target groups for agricultural production cooperatives. They do not own land and have no

8
Zedong Mao, "About Agricultural Co-operation," in Selected Works of Mao Zedong (People's Publishing
House, 1955), [Page #], accessed June 1, 2021,
https://www.marxists.org/chinese/maozedong/marxist.org-chinese-mao-19550731.htm.
9
The National People's Congress of China, "Model Regulations for Advanced Agricultural Production
Cooperatives," www.npc.gov.cn, last modified June 30, 1956, accessed June 1, 2021,
http://www.npc.gov.cn/wxzl/wxzl/2000-12/10/content_4304.htm.
10
Zedong Mao, "About Agricultural Co-operation," in Selected Works of Mao Zedong (People's Publishing
House, 1955), [Page #], accessed June 1, 2021,
https://www.marxists.org/chinese/maozedong/marxist.org-chinese-mao-19550731.htm.
need to join cooperatives. Therefore, this was a help and stabilization for the farmers without any
change or impact on the Upper Class.

Analysis of Research and Sources:

The experience of conducting interviews and gathering information is very new to me.
Since my interviewees are my grandparents, and I usually have little in common with them, this
opportunity enables me to get to know them better. Because of the age difference and
geographical distance, I hardly have time to communicate with them. We interviewed them on
the phone, and for the first time I heard about their life story. In my memory, they seem always to
have been in an old appearance, living an insipid life. During the interviews, listening to them
talk about history, they even remember every exact date, listening to them talk about their
childhood and the glorious past of their youth. As a part of the family, I know more about the
development and history of the family. Listening to their stories made me truly feel the existence
of the past and the change of society. Nevertheless, in terms of evidence searching and
collection, I hope I will be able to have access to some written materials and resources directly
next time. For example, when my grandfather talked about land ownership, he mentioned that
when they own the land, they had a title deed as proof of land ownership. When they handed
over all their land to the government, the city government praised their behavior in the
newspapers because it could be seen as a selfless contribution and the act of supporting the
government’s policies. However, my grandfather did not retain any of that valuable information,
and I could not trace it.

1. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DlYKuxb-xiBn2LANs5TuG3HP8bcB6YsI0T4hE
KExtX4/edit#
This is a primary source, interviews between me and my grandfathers. The main topic of
the interview was the Three Great Remodeling and its influence on their lives. Through
the dialogue, we can see the influence of this historical period on their life trajectory. By
comparing their experiences, the theme of my thesis can be shown and reflect the
different effects of policies on different classes. This source can be helpful to those who
want to know about the lives of people during the Three Great Remodeling period. As a
recorder of this resource, my purpose is to record the historical events experienced by my
family and keep them as evidence to support the arguments of my paper. While
recording, I also learned about the history and background of my family. My purpose is
to prove that the three major policies during the Three Great Remodeling period exist the
gap between different classes and groups.

2. https://www.marxists.org/chinese/maozedong/marxist.org-chinese-mao-19550731.htm

This is a primary source, the report delivered by Mao Zedong, the principal leader of
New China, to the meeting of the party secretaries of provincial, municipal and
autonomous regions committees convened by the Central Committee of the Communist
 Party of China. From "selected works of Mao Zedong", vol. 5, the first edition, people's
press, April 1977. The author mainly discusses the establishment and future prospects of
agricultural cooperatives and agricultural production cooperatives. Mao Zedong is an
authoritative and leading figure, and his report will be analyzed and implemented by the
Chinese people's government as a policy and direction. Therefore, the report is influential
to the vast majority of Chinese people. The purpose of the author is to record his thoughts
and analysis of the current situation, as well as the measures to be taken in the future and
the areas that need to be consolidated and improved. The author's report conveys a kind
of urge and yearning for the development and progress of new China.

3. http://www.npc.gov.cn/wxzl/wxzl/2000-12/10/content_4304.htm
This is a primary source of the "Model Regulations for Advanced Agricultural
Production Cooperatives" issued and implemented by the Chinese government. This
document was adopted at the Third Session of the First National People's Congress on
June 30, 1956, and promulgated by the President of the People's Republic of China on
June 30, 1956. The purpose of this document is to promulgate guidelines or laws for
agricultural production cooperatives. Therefore, its implementation scope and target
group are all Chinese farmers. The source is a set of rules, so it is intended to be used by
people as a measure and a code of conduct.

Further Research and Studies:

In the second half of 1952 to 1956, new China took four years and finished on
agriculture, handicraft industry and capitalist industry, and commerce socialist transformation
(known as the Three Great Remodeling). During this period of time, the government's policies
on these three aspects have significantly different effects on different classes of people. Firstly, in
the agricultural land reform, the government took land from landlords and redistributed it to poor
peasants. As a result, the property and life of the upper class people were greatly affected, while
the middle and lower class people got more land and improved their lives. Secondly, in the
reform of capitalist industry and commerce, the policy of public-private partnership also
seriously affected the upper class. All privately owned shops and companies are taken over by
the government, while the lower classes of the population have few private shops of their own,
so they are not affected by any public-private partnership policies. Thirdly, during the
implementation of agricultural production cooperatives, farmers who own land get more stable
income and secure development by joining the cooperatives. The land reform had been
completed in this period, and the Upper Class no longer owned land, so they had no need to join
the cooperative, and thus were completely unaffected by the policies of the agricultural
production cooperative. From these three points, it can be seen that the implementation of three
major periods of reconstructing during the Three Great Remodeling had almost completely
different impacts on the lower-middle class and upper class.
 In the process of making statements and testimonials, my family's experiences in that
period were used as real cases for analysis and supporting evidence. In the interview between me
and my grandfather(from my mother’s side) who was born in an upper class family; also my
grandfather(from my father’s side), who was from a lower-middle class family, they presented
their respective views of the period of the Three Great Remodeling. My grandfather(from my
mother’s side) described that time as “difficult and calamitous”. While my grandfather(from my
father’s side) said it was “a gradual development and the victory of the communist party”.

If I had more energy and resources, I would use stronger and more detailed evidence.
Other examples are added and compared to highlight the vastly different effects of policies on
groups of different classes. Collect and use not only the examples of my family members, but
also more persuasive cases to reflect the wide audience and high credibility of my arguments. In
my current argument, it is certain that policies have different impacts on groups of different
classes, because my family has experienced and provided reliable primary sources. The point
might be possible to argue was that some people of higher social class may not be significantly
affected in the short term, such as government officials and people already working in state
enterprises. Since my grandfather(from my mother’s side)'s experience saw these policies and
their effects from the perspective of a family of self-employed businessmen, I did not discuss
those groups. The contrast between listening to the story of the life of my grandfather(from my
mother's side) and my grandfather(from my father's side) is overwhelming. One side has been
losing property and future security, while the other side's life has been supported and developed
steadily, and these differences were mainly due to the difference in class status. This sense of
extreme contrast made me decide to choose and develop in this topic.

Annotated Bibliography:

1. Yang, Zhen han. Telephone interview by the author. Qingdao, China. May 10, 2021.
2. Baidu.com. Baidu.com. Last modified April 16, 2021. https://baike.baidu.com/item/

土地改革法/5376394?fr=aladdin#4.

3. Law.cn. China Law. Last modified March 22, 2020. Accessed June 1, 2021.
 https://www.66law.cn/laws/254183.aspx.

4. Cairns, Rebecca, and Jennifer Llewellyn. "Agrarian Reform." Alpha History. Last

modified September 21, 2019. Accessed June 1, 2021.

https://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/agrarian-reform/.

5. Baidu.com, ed. "Joint State-private Ownership." Baidu.com. Last modified June

14, 2007. Accessed June 1, 2021. https://baike.baidu.com/item/公私合营/

6775045?fr=aladdin.

6. The National People's Congress of China. "Model Regulations for Advanced

Agricultural Production Cooperatives." www.npc.gov.cn. Last modified June

30, 1956. Accessed June 1, 2021. http://www.npc.gov.cn/wxzl/wxzl/2000-12/10/

content_4304.htm.

7. Mao, Zedong. "About Agricultural Co-operation." In Selected Works of Mao Zedong,

168-91. People's Publishing House, 1955. Accessed June 1, 2021.

https://www.marxists.org/chinese/maozedong/marxist.org-chinese-mao-19550731.htm.