Dadashova Nazrin, 458r

On October 1, 1949, in a grand ceremony witnessed by Beijing people in Tiananmen Square,

Mao Zedong, chairman of the Central People’s Government, solemnly proclaimed the founding
of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This declaration signified a revolution in China that
brought an end to the costliest civil war in Chinese history between the Nationalist Party or
Kuomintang (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that had lasted a period of 22 years
from 1927 to 1949.
The early days of New China were a period of economic recovery. While developing production,
China gradually established socialist public ownership of the means of production.
The cost of restoring order and building up integrated political institutions at all levels
throughout the country proved important in setting China’s course for the next two decades.
Revolutionary priorities had to be made consonant with other needs. During the initial post-
Liberation period, the Chinese government successfully carried out land reform and also have
got amazing achievements during the First Five-Year Plan (1953-1957). China established basic
industries, that were necessary for full industrialization, such as, producing airplanes,
automobiles, heavy machinery, metallurgical and mining equipment.
The socialist transformation of agriculture, industry, and commerce thus went relatively
smoothly.
During this initial period, the CCP made great strides toward bringing the country through 3
critical transitions: from economic prostration to economic growth, from political disintegration
to political strength, and from military rule to civilian rule. The determination and capabilities
demonstrated during these first years provided the CCP with a reservoir of popular support.
A priority goal of the communist political system was to raise China to the status of a great
power. While pursuing this goal, the “centre of gravity” of communist policy shifted from the
countryside to the city, but Mao Zedong insisted that the revolutionary vision forged in the rural
struggle would continue to guide the party.
The ten years from 1957 to 1966 was the period where China started large-scale socialist
construction.
Unfortunately, the “Cultural Revolution,” which lasted for ten years (1966-1976), made the state
and its people suffer the most serious setbacks and losses since its founding.
The Jiang Qing counter-revolutionary clique was smashed in 1976, marking the end of this
“Revolution,” and the beginning of a new era. The CPC reinstated Deng Xiaoping, former
general secretary, to all the posts he had been dismissed from during the “Cultural Revolution.”
In 1979, China instituted a guiding policy of “reform and opening to the outside world” under his
leadership, and the focus was shifted to modernization. Major efforts were made to reform
economic and political systems.
Jiang Zemin became general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in 1989 and head of state
in 1993. After Hu Jintao took the position of general secretary in 2002 and president of the state
in 2003. In 2012, as Hu Jintao neared the end of his presidential term, China’s vice president, Xi
Jinping, was positioned to succeed him, and that November Xi Jinping took over both positions.
Hu Jintao stepped down from the presidency in March 2013 after Xi Jinping was elected to the
office.