Activity 1 - What were the aims of the Plan?

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Activity Tasks

1. Explore - Examine Slides 1-5 of the Lesson Presentation to find out more about the First Five-Year Plan.
2. Select - Choose one of the following sources to investigate about the aims of the First Five-Year Plan:
   1. Ji Yun (1953) - How China proceeds with the task of Industrialisation
   2. Li Fuqun (1955) - Report on the First Five-Year Plan for Development of the National Economy
3. Identify - For the source you have selected, answer the following questions and discuss as a class. What does your article indicate about:
   1. The aims of the Five Year Plan
   2. Strategies to meet those aims
   3. China's relationship with the Soviet Union at this point
      
4. Summarise - Using your findings from the sources, write a series of bullet points outlining the objectives of the First Five-Year Plan.

Activity 2 - How did Industry change?

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Activity Tasks

1. Examine - Explore and make notes from Slides 5-10 of the Lesson Presentation on how industry changed during the First Five-Year Plan. 
2. Analyse - Examine the following four statistical sources on the impact of the Plan on industry. For each source:
   1. What successes of the Plan are evident?
   2. What failures of the Plan are highlighted?
3. Discuss - Do the sources presented here suggest that the First Five-Year Plan was a success or failure for industry?

Activity 3 - How did agriculture change?

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Activity Tasks

1. Identify - Read Slides 11-16 of the Lesson Presentation and make a list of all the agricultural changes between 1949-1957.
   
2. Analyse - Examine the following speech by Mao Zedong which launched the ‘Socialist High Tide’ push and answer the following questions:
   
   1. ​In Mao’s opinion, what is driving the move toward cooperativization?
      
   2. ​What can you deduce from this speech about the debate within the Communist Party on the subject of land reform?
3. Examine - Examine the following source about the share of peasant households in different types of ownership. What does the source suggest about whether collectivisation was a success or not?
4. Discuss - What are the values and limitations of statistical data for historians studying Mao’s economic policies?

Activity 4 - Was the Plan a success?

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Activity Tasks

1. Analyse - Read Source A. What, according to this source, were the results of the First Five-Year Plan?​
2. Research - Conduct some brief further research on the successes and failures of the First Five-Year Plan using the further readings and/or any other similar sources to help you.
3. Write - Write a short paragraph explaining the successes and limitations of the First Five-Year Plan.
4. Discuss - How accurate is the description of aid received by China from the USSR as ‘sweet and sour’?

1. Source A - Even allowing for exaggeration of figures, the Plan achieved a considerable degree of success in stimulating production. Annual growth rate averaged 16% and heavy industrial output nearly tripled. However the value of agricultural output grew only an average of 2.1% and not enough food was getting into the cities to feed the growing working class. Consumer goods were also in short supply. The peasantry suffered the most; the Plan could only work if food prices for workers were kept low, so they received little reward for their hard work. Moreover the Soviet aid had to be paid for by commercial concessions. The PRC had to spend a portion of its bullion reserves to the USSR and had to pay for the 10,000 economic advisers by taking out high interest loans. Only 5% of the capital sent to China was genuine industrial investment. This strained the relationship between the Soviet Union and China.

Further Reading

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OBLIGATORY READING

1. Lynch, M. (2016). Access to History: China 1839-1997, pp. 163-165

RECOMMENDED READING

1. Fairbank, J.K., & Goldman, M. (2006). China - A New History, pp. 352-359

SUPPLEMENTARY READING

1. Spence, J.D. (1990). The Search for Modern China, pp. 541-551

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