138-555: The Sino-Korean Border Agreement ( Chinese : 中朝边界条约 ; Korean : 조중 변계 조약 ) was signed by China and North Korea on October 12, 1962, in Pyongyang . This agreement and a subsequent agreement in 1964 define the modern border between the two countries . The agreement is widely viewed by both modern scholars and by contemporaries as being favorable to North Korea. As a result of the agreement, North Korea acquired 280 km of territory on and around Paektu Mountain , and 54.5% of
276-615: A catastrophic drop in agricultural output; consequently, food shortages became widespread. According to demographic studies, the famine caused an estimated 15 to 45 million deaths, with rural areas being the hardest hit. Ashton et al. (1984) highlight, “During the period 1958-62, about 30 million premature deaths occurred in China: deaths that occurred earlier than they would have on the basis of mortality trends for more normal years.” During this rapid expansion, coordination suffered and material shortages were frequent, resulting in "a huge rise in
414-548: A collection of agreements compiled in 1975 by the Foreign Affairs Office of Jilin province. The collection included 461 pages of documents, of which 360 were related to North Korea and China. This allegedly included the minutes of several October 1962 discussions and the texts of the 1962 and 1964 agreements in Chinese. Shen and Xia conducted an analysis of the materials, matching publicly available information to
552-443: A component—either a character or a sub-component called a radical —usually involves either a reduction in its total number of strokes , or an apparent streamlining of which strokes are chosen in what places—for example, the ⼓ ' WRAP ' radical used in the traditional character 沒 is simplified to ⼏ ' TABLE ' to form the simplified character 没 . By systematically simplifying radicals, large swaths of
690-517: A contentious issue since antiquity. Although the practice of using the Yalu and Tumen rivers as the border became largely established by the 15th century, the rivers' changing locations and ambiguous status especially near their origins on Paektu Mountain provided an enduring source of friction. In addition, Korea's view of Paektu Mountain and its Heaven Lake as its mythic ancestral homeland, first attested to around three centuries ago, has further invigorated
828-434: A conversion table. While exercising such derivation, the following rules should be observed: Sample Derivations : The Series One List of Variant Characters reduces the number of total standard characters. First, amongst each set of variant characters sharing identical pronunciation and meaning, one character (usually the simplest in form) is elevated to the standard character set, and the rest are made obsolete. Then amongst
966-407: A few revised forms, and was implemented for official use by China's State Council on 5 June 2013. In Chinese, simplified characters are referred to by their official name 简化字 ; jiǎnhuàzì , or colloquially as 简体字 ; jiǎntǐzì . The latter term refers broadly to all character variants featuring simplifications of character form or structure, a practice which has always been present as
1104-503: A halt to the backyard steel furnaces so as not to dampen the revolutionary enthusiasm of the masses. The program was only quietly abandoned much later in that year. On the communes, a number of radical and controversial agricultural innovations were promoted at the behest of Mao. Many of these innovations were based on the ideas of now discredited Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko and his followers. The policies included close cropping, whereby seeds were sown far more densely than normal on
1242-645: A hunting trip, in which he asked to discuss the border dispute. Ten days after the trip, the Chinese MFA agreed to the request. On March 26, Pak proposed that each side send vice foreign ministers on April 10 to plan the negotiations. On March 30, Zhou called a meeting to plan resolutions to the Sino-Korean and Sino-Mongolian border disputes. The first round of negotiations was held from April 10 to 14, 1962, in Andong Province , China. Ji Pengfei led
1380-518: A large number of ethnic Koreans in illegally crossing the border from China to North Korea. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) took a permissive stance, citing the need to maintain their positive relationship, and encouraged Ambassador Qiao Xiaoguang to not "overreact" to the incident. Between 1956 and 1960, China and North Korea signed a number of other agreements related to the border, including agreements on trade, water, fishing, and navigation of vessels on border rivers. On April 25, 1958,
1518-515: A much stronger geopolitical position. They noted that in 2018, Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping stated that it would be "absolutely impossible to separate any inch of our great country's territory from China". Simplified Chinese characters Simplified Chinese characters are one of two standardized character sets widely used to write the Chinese language , with the other being traditional characters . Their mass standardization during
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#17327871846621656-557: A national conference of the Party, Mao declared that China "would catch up with and surpass the most powerful capitalist countries in several dozen years", and in October, Mao announced that he would complete the building of a socialist state in 15 years. In the late 1950s, China's socio-political landscape experienced significant rural reforms and the aftermath of previous policies aimed at collectivization rather than individualism. Before
1794-610: A newly coined phono-semantic compound : Removing radicals Only retaining single radicals Replacing with ancient forms or variants : Adopting ancient vulgar variants : Readopting abandoned phonetic-loan characters : Copying and modifying another traditional character : Based on 132 characters and 14 components listed in Chart 2 of the Complete List , the 1,753 derived characters found in Chart 3 can be created by systematically simplifying components using Chart 2 as
1932-518: A part of the Chinese writing system. The official name tends to refer to the specific, systematic set published by the Chinese government, which includes not only simplifications of individual characters, but also a substantial reduction in the total number of characters through the merger of formerly distinct forms. According to Chinese palaeographer Qiu Xigui , the broadest trend in the evolution of Chinese characters over their history has been simplification, both in graphical shape ( 字形 ; zìxíng ),
2070-464: A proposal from China. They then held a second round of talks that ended on October 3, in which both countries negotiated details of the upcoming agreement. This meeting is mentioned on the final section of the leaked agreement itself. On October 11, Zhou and Chen Yi visited Pyongyang to meet with Kim Il Sung. The next day, they signed the agreement. On November 7, both North Korea's Supreme People's Assembly and China's National People's Congress approved
2208-542: A relatively linear progression of development and a worldwide revolution beginning with the most developed countries. At the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the country was one of poorest in the world. The Great Leap Forward attempted to defy the conventional understanding of the time required for economic development. Through rapid industrialization, it aimed to close the gap between China's developmental stage and its political aspirations. In March 1955, at
2346-523: A result of the famine. Author Yan Lianke also claims that, while growing up in Henan during the Great Leap Forward, he was taught to "recognize the most edible kinds of bark and clay by his mother. When all of the trees had been stripped and there was no more clay, he learned that lumps of coal could appease the devil in his stomach, at least for a little while." The agricultural policies of
2484-496: A semi governmental structure where activities in the countryside could manage what went on in there. People's commune took care of every aspects of people's lives: health care, job employment, food, housing, finance, defense, culture, education, political affairs and entertainment. People in the communes were united with the saying: Exceeding the UK, catching the USA, created by Mao to energize
2622-548: A straight line defined by two border markers: numbers 5 and 6. Of the islands distributed, 205 were on the Yalu and 246 on the Tumen. 127 of the Yalu islands and 137 of the Tumen islands went to North Korea. They also clarified that the borders and ownership of islands would not change, even if the river changed course or the islands disappeared. On June 28, 1963, at a meeting with a North Korean Academy of Sciences delegation, Zhou reportedly said: Unearthed artifacts have proven that
2760-452: A unified Korea may have a basis for claiming Jiandao (called Gando in Korean), an area ceded to China that roughly corresponds to the current Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture . Most legal scholars agree that a unified Korea should attempt to uphold the legitimacy of the agreements and that it is likely China will try to renegotiate the border. The border between China and Korea has been
2898-415: A vassal state of China since ancient times Mao reportedly reaffirmed the above ideas on October 7, 1964. North Korean officials reportedly expressed satisfaction with the agreement on a number of occasions afterwards. The agreement was seen by its contemporaries and by modern scholars to be a major concession to North Korea. Still, North Korea sought confirmation on several occasions of China's commitment to
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#17327871846623036-440: Is actually more complex than eliminated ones. An example is the character 搾 which is eliminated in favor of the variant form 榨 . The 扌 'HAND' with three strokes on the left of the eliminated 搾 is now seen as more complex, appearing as the ⽊ 'TREE' radical 木 , with four strokes, in the chosen variant 榨 . Not all characters standardised in the simplified set consist of fewer strokes. For instance,
3174-454: Is derived. Merging homophonous characters: Adapting cursive shapes ( 草書楷化 ): Replacing a component with a simple arbitrary symbol (such as 又 and 乂 ): Omitting entire components : Omitting components, then applying further alterations : Structural changes that preserve the basic shape Replacing the phonetic component of phono-semantic compounds : Replacing an uncommon phonetic component : Replacing entirely with
3312-813: Is now discouraged. A State Language Commission official cited "oversimplification" as the reason for restoring some characters. The language authority declared an open comment period until 31 August 2009, for feedback from the public. In 2013, the List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters was published as a revision of the 1988 lists; it included a total of 8105 characters. It included 45 newly recognized standard characters that were previously considered variant forms, as well as official approval of 226 characters that had been simplified by analogy and had seen wide use but were not explicitly given in previous lists or documents. Singapore underwent three successive rounds of character simplification , eventually arriving at
3450-623: Is referred to as the " big seal script ". The traditional narrative, as also attested in the Shuowen Jiezi dictionary ( c. 100 AD ), is that the Qin small seal script that would later be imposed across China was originally derived from the Zhou big seal script with few modifications. However, the body of epigraphic evidence comparing the character forms used by scribes gives no indication of any real consolidation in character forms prior to
3588-475: Is to be human. To share joy, grief, and pain is humanizing." Failure to participate in the CCP's political campaigns—though the aims of such campaigns were often conflicting—"could result in detention, torture, death, and the suffering of entire families". Public struggle sessions were often used to intimidate the peasants into obeying local officials; they increased the death rate of the famine in several ways. "In
3726-561: Is too much diversity and dynamism in the country for one work to capture ... rural China as if it were one place." Mahoney describes an elderly man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying "Before Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did not." Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers recall the Great Leap Forward as a period of famine and death, and among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those who could digest leaves. The failure of agricultural policies,
3864-547: Is used instead of 叠 in regions using traditional characters. The Chinese government stated that it wished to keep Chinese orthography stable. The Chart of Generally Utilized Characters of Modern Chinese was published in 1988 and included 7000 simplified and unsimplified characters. Of these, half were also included in the revised List of Commonly Used Characters in Modern Chinese , which specified 2500 common characters and 1000 less common characters. In 2009,
4002-526: The Long March : "mass mobilization, social leveling, attacks on bureaucratism, [and] disdain for material obstacles". In the absence of material development inputs, Mao sought to increase development through voluntarism and organizational advantages brought about by socialism. Mao advocated that a further round of collectivization modeled on the USSR 's " Third Period " was necessary in the countryside where
4140-668: The Socialist Education Movement in 1963 and the Cultural Revolution in 1966 in order to remove opposition and re-consolidate his power. In addition, dozens of dams constructed in Zhumadian, Henan , during the Great Leap Forward collapsed in 1975 (under the influence of Typhoon Nina ) and resulted in the 1975 Banqiao Dam failure , with estimates of its death toll ranging from tens of thousands to 240,000. Classical Marxist theory hypothesized
4278-521: The Soviet Union . Together, taxation and compulsory purchases accounted for 30% of the harvest by 1957, leaving very little surplus. Rationing was also introduced in the cities to curb 'wasteful consumption' and encourage savings (which were deposited in state-owned banks and thus became available for investment), and although food could be purchased from state-owned retailers the market price was higher than that for which it had been purchased. This too
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4416-636: The United Nations Secretariat , and never publicly confirmed. However, in 2000, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo published leaked copies of the Chinese version of both agreements that are considered by scholars to likely be authentic. The legality of the 1962 and 1964 agreements are studied in South Korea. Of particular interest is the legal status of the agreements if Korean reunification occurred and also whether
4554-599: The "Dot" stroke : The traditional components ⺥ and 爫 become ⺈ : The traditional component 奐 becomes 奂 : Great Leap Forward The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign within the People's Republic of China (PRC) from 1958 to 1962, led by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Party Chairman Mao Zedong launched the campaign to reconstruct the country from an agrarian economy into an industrialized society through
4692-459: The "external appearances of individual graphs", and in graphical form ( 字体 ; 字體 ; zìtǐ ), "overall changes in the distinguishing features of graphic[al] shape and calligraphic style, [...] in most cases refer[ring] to rather obvious and rather substantial changes". The initiatives following the founding of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) to universalize the use of their small seal script across
4830-482: The 1986 General List of Simplified Chinese Characters , hereafter the General List . All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Chart 1 and Chart 2 in the 1986 Complete List . Characters in both charts are structurally simplified based on similar set of principles. They are separated into two charts to clearly mark those in Chart 2 as 'usable as simplified character components', based on which Chart 3
4968-520: The 1986 mainland China revisions. Unlike in mainland China, Singapore parents have the option of registering their children's names in traditional characters. Malaysia also promulgated a set of simplified characters in 1981, though completely identical to the mainland Chinese set. They are used in Chinese-language schools. All characters simplified this way are enumerated in Charts 1 and 2 of
5106-459: The 20th century was part of an initiative by the People's Republic of China (PRC) to promote literacy, and their use in ordinary circumstances on the mainland has been encouraged by the Chinese government since the 1950s. They are the official forms used in mainland China and Singapore , while traditional characters are officially used in Hong Kong , Macau , and Taiwan . Simplification of
5244-598: The Chinese MFA notified the country's border provinces and autonomous regions that they had begun making efforts to resolve border disputes with neighboring countries. However, their efforts ended up being delayed due to domestic turmoil caused by the failed 1958 Great Leap Forward , clashes on the Indian border in 1959, and cooling relations with the Soviet Union around the time of the Sino-Soviet split . Meanwhile,
5382-606: The Chinese delegation and Ryu Jang-sik ( 류장식 ) the North Korean. They held five talks in this round. Shen and Xia speculate that North Korea asked for full ownership over Heaven Lake on Paektu Mountain, and that Chinese negotiations were hampered due to their lack of historical records. They argue this because there is a record of the Chinese MFA requesting documents on the lake around this time but receiving nothing in return. In addition, on April 18, Hao met with Pak and proposed postponing negotiations, as they were dissatisfied with
5520-525: The Chinese economy had improved and the Ministry of Finance still decided to include the fiscal surplus of the previous fiscal year as credit funds in the 1953 budget revenue to cover the current year's expenditures. As a result, budget expenditures were expanded and so was the size of the budget. At that time, only the Soviet expert Kutuzov warned the Chinese fiscal authorities not to use the fiscal surplus of
5658-470: The Chinese government published a major revision to the list which included a total of 8300 characters. No new simplifications were introduced. In addition, slight modifications to the orthography of 44 characters to fit traditional calligraphic rules were initially proposed, but were not implemented due to negative public response. Also, the practice of unrestricted simplification of rare and archaic characters by analogy using simplified radicals or components
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5796-495: The Chinese were exporting food to Africa and Cuba during the famine. He said during the news conference on 23 May 1962, "Well, there has been no indication of any expression of interest or desire by the Chinese Communists to receive any food from us, as I have said at the beginning, and we would certainly have to have some idea as to whether the food was needed and under what conditions it might be distributed. Up to
5934-661: The Great Leap Forward were accelerating the construction of waterworks on the North China Plain during the 1957-1958 winter and next the development of people's communes and crude forms of rural industrialization. Some Great Leap Projects had lots of long-term value to China's economy and continued to benefit China after The Great Leap Forward ended. Some of the projects included bridges, railroads, canals and reservoirs. However, some of these projects were completed quickly, resulting in errors and delays that did more harm than good. The Great Leap Forward campaign began during
6072-496: The Great Leap Forward, during the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in 1962, which led him to launch the Cultural Revolution in 1966. Despite the harmful agricultural innovations, the weather was very favorable in 1958 and the harvest was also good. However, the amount of labor which was diverted to steel production and construction projects meant that much of the harvest was left to rot because it
6210-695: The Great Leap Forward, reflecting the government’s belief that collectivization and large-scale projects would boost agricultural and industrial outputs. The communes were meant to centralize farming and labour, supposedly leading to increased efficiency and output; still, in reality, and practice, these measures often disrupted traditional farming practices and led to decreased productivity. Dali Yang stated, "The initial stages of collectivization brought chaos and inefficiency, with agricultural productivity often declining". Before 1949, peasants had farmed their own small pockets of land and observed traditional practices—festivals, banquets, and paying homage to ancestors. It
6348-437: The Great Leap Forward, the Chinese government initiated land reforms that redistributed land from landlords to peasants, but these reforms still needed to attain the expected agricultural productivity. The early 1950s saw the establishment of agricultural cooperatives, yet these changes brought mixed outcomes. However, the push towards rapid industrialization and the establishment of people’s communes in rural areas were central to
6486-609: The Great Leap [Forward] was a very expensive disaster". The CCP studied the damage that was done at various conferences from 1960 to 1962, especially at the " Seven Thousand Cadres Conference " in 1962, during which Mao Zedong ceded day-to-day leadership to pragmatic moderates like Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping . Acknowledging responsibilities for the Great Leap Forward, Mao did not retreat from his policies; instead, he blamed problems on bad implementation and "rightists" who opposed him. He initiated
6624-683: The Jiandao issue, the assumption of stability of borders would make claims to it unlikely to be realized. In 2010, Lee Keun-gwan argued that a unified Korea would have automatic succession of both agreements. An analysis by Song Byoung-jin in 2014 concluded that the possibility of inheritance of both land and maritime borders was uncertain, and that renegotiation seemed the likely outcome. In 2019, Katy Kwon and Pil Ho Kim argued that China would be highly likely to push for renegotiation, as any perceived concession by China could undermine Chinese efforts to assimilate its ethnic Koreans, and because China now has
6762-621: The Korean people lived in the Liao River and Songhua River valley for a very long period of time. We can still find historical sites of Bohai ( Balhae ) near the Jingpo Lake area. [...] Ancient Chinese dynasties invaded Korea [...] We should apologize to you on behalf of our ancestors. [...] [We should] not distort history. It is a falsehood to say that west of the Tumen and Yalu rivers has always been Chinese territory, and that Korea has been
6900-524: The Korean proposal. Pak agreed to the request. Over the following months, Zhou met with both Chinese and North Korean officials on a number of occasions to gauge their opinions on the border. On June 28, Zhou met with head of the Supreme People's Assembly Pak Kum-chol and ambassador Han Ik-su . Shen and Xia speculate that Zhou explained China's plan for the border during this meeting. On September 15, Ryu notified Hao that North Korea consented to
7038-550: The Project's research. The DPRK called it "a pathetic attempt to manipulate history for [China's] own interests". In 2005, both Koreas sent scholars to Paektu to investigate Chinese claims that the 1712 border marker on the mountain was 20 km (12 mi) south of Heaven Lake. The scholars disputed the claim, and said they found remains of the Mukedeng Stele that marked the border only 4 km (2.5 mi) southeast of
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#17327871846627176-619: The Second Plenary Session of the 8th Central Committee, "go all out, aim high, and build socialism with greater, faster, better, and more economical results" ( simplified Chinese : 鼓足干劲、力争上游、多快好省地建设社会主义 ; traditional Chinese : 鼓足幹勁、力爭上游、多快好省地建設社會主義 ) was adopted as the "General Line for Socialist Construction" in China. In 1955, Mao had already expressed his belief that socialist construction should achieve "greater, faster, better, and more economical" results. These led to
7314-561: The United States in industrial output in the next 15 years through peaceful competition. Mao Zedong was so inspired by the slogan that China put forward its own one: to catch up with and surpass the United Kingdom in 15 years. As with its approach to agriculture, the Chinese government attempted to compensate for its inability to invest in industry with mass mobilizations to increase human labor inputs. The initial projects of
7452-519: The Western powers. Mao had become convinced that China should follow its own path to communism. According to Jonathan Mirsky , a historian and a journalist who specialized in Chinese affairs, China's isolation from most of the rest of the world, along with the Korean War , had accelerated Mao's attacks on his perceived domestic enemies. It led him to accelerate his designs to develop an economy where
7590-460: The ages of sixteen and thirty were considered ideal candidates for the militia. Peasants were working long hours, all year round, even contributed their own cooking utensils to be melted as a source of production. The consequences of the Great Leap Forward were devastating, leading to one of the most severe famines in human history. The policies that diverted labour from agriculture to industrial projects, such as backyard steel furnaces, resulted in
7728-494: The agreement. The negotiation process and content of the agreement are not known with certainty due to a lack of publicly available documentation. Neither agreement was registered with the United Nations Secretariat. Until the mid-1990s, the existence of the agreement was the subject of rumors and skepticism. However, opinions shifted after both Chen Yi's 1995 memoirs and Zhou Enlai's 1997 memoirs affirmed
7866-522: The agreements affect their immediate relationship with China. In recent years, legal scholars have analyzed the legal basis of both the 1962 and 1964 agreements. In particular, scholars have analyzed the agreement in relation to the Vienna Convention on Succession of States in Respect of Treaties , to determine whether a unified Korea would inherit the agreements. Many studies also investigate
8004-436: The agreements' relation to a potential future claim to Jiandao. A relevant area of concern is how each Korea views the legitimacy of its counterpart; if South Korea rejects the statehood of North Korea, then North Korea would have no legal basis to form agreements. This is also made more complicated by the lack of relevant official publications. Almost all studies of the topic agree that the legality of succession would depend on
8142-513: The basis for determining the amount of grain which would be taken by the State, supplied to the towns and cities and exported. This barely left enough grain for the peasants, and in some areas, starvation set in. A 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River in the same year also contributed to the famine. During 1958–1960 China continued to be a substantial net exporter of grain, despite
8280-511: The capital of Goguryeo. Mao denied this request, and instructed Chinese Premiere Zhou Enlai to make some concession on Paektu. According to a 2006 speech Hwang Jang-yop made after he defected to South Korea, Zhou first suggested to Kim Il Sung that they split Heaven Lake in half, around 1958. In July 1961, Zhou and Kim met and discussed the border, with Zhou acknowledging the issue was contentious. On February 18, 1962, North Korean foreign minister Pak Song-chol invited ambassador Hao Deqing on
8418-409: The central treasury tight again. This drew the attention of Zhou Enlai, Li Xiannian and others, and at a state meeting held on June 5, 1956, proposals were made to curb impetuousness and rash advances, revise the 1956 national economic plan, and cut capital construction investment. Such was the anti-"rash advance" movement. The excess of the first five-year plan gave the nation great confidence, and at
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#17327871846628556-428: The character set are altered. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms that embody graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms. In addition, variant characters with identical pronunciation and meaning were reduced to a single standardized character, usually the simplest among all variants in form. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification and are thus identical between
8694-407: The chosen variants, those that appear in the "Complete List of Simplified Characters" are also simplified in character structure accordingly. Some examples follow: Sample reduction of equivalent variants : Ancient variants with simple structure are preferred : Simpler vulgar forms are also chosen : The chosen variant was already simplified in Chart 1 : In some instances, the chosen variant
8832-483: The commune system of their traditional means of being able to rent, sell, or use their land as collateral for loans. In one village, once the commune was operational, the Party boss and his colleagues "swung into manic action, herding villagers into the fields to sleep and to work intolerable hours, and forcing them to walk, starving, to distant additional projects." Edward Friedman, political scientist, Paul Pickowicz, historian, and Mark Selden , sociologist, wrote about
8970-540: The completion of the first 5 Year Economic Plan in 1957, Mao had come to believe that the path to socialism that had been followed by the Soviet Union was not appropriate for China. He was critical of Khrushchev's reversal of Stalinist policies and he was also alarmed by the uprisings that had taken place in East Germany , Poland and Hungary , and the perception that the USSR was seeking " peaceful coexistence " with
9108-610: The conflict. In 1909, the Gando Convention between the Empire of Japan and Qing China saw Korea, Japan's then-protectorate, cede Jiandao and Paektu Mountain to China. After the surrender of Japan in 1945, however, the legitimacy of the Gando Convention was called into question by the Korean side. Meanwhile, the new Communist government in China adopted a policy of maintaining the status quo regarding its borders, although it began preparing for renegotiations. However, from
9246-465: The conflicts. On the other hand, North Korea began preparing vigorously for the negotiations. It sent a number of scholars and archaeologists into the border region to investigate its history and build a historical case for Korean claims. According to a March 14, 1960 State Council document, North Korea constructed highways and houses in contested areas on Paektu Mountain. Kim initially asked for Ji'an, Jilin in addition to Paektu, as Ji'an had once been
9384-473: The country's writing system as a serious impediment to its modernization. In 1916, a multi-part English-language article entitled "The Problem of the Chinese Language" co-authored by the Chinese linguist Yuen Ren Chao (1892–1982) and poet Hu Shih (1891–1962) has been identified as a turning point in the history of the Chinese script—as it was one of the first clear calls for China to move away from
9522-554: The country, but the provinces which had adopted Mao's reforms with the most vigor, such as Anhui , Gansu and Henan , tended to suffer disproportionately. Sichuan , one of China's most populous provinces, known in China as "Heaven's Granary" because of its fertility, is thought to have suffered the highest number of deaths from starvation due to the vigor with which provincial leader Li Jingquan undertook Mao's reforms. There are widespread oral reports, though little official documentation, of cannibalism being practiced in various forms as
9660-647: The country. Despite this, China adopted a conciliatory stance towards North Korea in order to improve their ties and counter the Soviet Union . For example, during Kim's visit to China in November 1958, Mao Zedong told Kim that historically, "China did not treat Korea well. [...] Your ancestors said that you bordered the Liao River , but you [have] been squeezed to the other side of the Yalu River." As another example, in spring 1961, North Korea allegedly assisted
9798-547: The countryside would solely be dependent on the peasants. Grain quotas were introduced with the idea of having peasants provide grains for themselves and support urban areas. Output from the industrial activities such as steel was also supposed to be used for urban growth. Local officials were fearful of Anti-Rightist Campaigns and they competed to fulfill or over-fulfill quotas which were based on Mao's exaggerated claims, collecting non-existent "surpluses" and leaving farmers to starve to death. Higher officials did not dare to report
9936-537: The direct inheritance of borders and not border agreements, thus the legality of the agreements may not even matter. Lee analyzed the scenarios of absorption and merging. In both cases he argued stability of borders would be a strong argument, although he acknowledged the Saudi-Yemeni territorial disputes after the Yemeni unification and the possibility of China demanding territory back in the absorption scenario. For
10074-650: The dynamic of interaction between the Party and villagers: Beyond attack, beyond question, was the systemic and structured dynamic of the socialist state that intimidated and impoverished millions of patriotic and loyal villagers. The authors present a similar picture to Thaxton in depicting the party's destruction of the traditions of Chinese villagers. Traditionally prized local customs were deemed signs of " feudalism " to be extinguished. "Among them were funerals, weddings, local markets, and festivals. The Party thus destroyed much that gave meaning to Chinese lives. These private bonds were social glue. To mourn and to celebrate
10212-476: The early 20th century. In 1909, the educator and linguist Lufei Kui formally proposed the use of simplified characters in education for the first time. Over the following years—marked by the 1911 Xinhai Revolution that toppled the Qing dynasty , followed by growing social and political discontent that further erupted into the 1919 May Fourth Movement —many anti-imperialist intellectuals throughout China began to see
10350-558: The economic disaster which was being caused by these policies, and national officials, blaming bad weather for the decline in food output, took little or no action. The major changes which occurred in the lives of rural Chinese people included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization . Private farming was prohibited, and those people who engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries . Restrictions on rural people were enforced with public struggle sessions and social pressure, and forced labor
10488-517: The end of the civil war, was devastated, and in response to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the populace. The effects on the upper levels of government in response to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the temporary promotion of Lin Biao , Liu Shaoqi , and Deng Xiaoping , and Mao losing some power and prestige following
10626-438: The end of the year approximately 25,000 communes had been set up, with an average of 5,000 households each. The communes were relatively self-sufficient co-operatives where wages and money were replaced by work points. The commune system was aimed at maximizing production for provisioning the cities and constructing offices, factories, schools, and social insurance systems for urban-dwelling workers, cadres, and officials.And also
10764-544: The existence of the agreement. On October 20, 1999, the CEO of the Baekdu Institute of Cultural Heritage Lee Hyeong-seok ( 이형석 ; 李炯石 ) from South Korea announced that he had been shown a copy of the agreement that summer by Yanbian University officials, and said North Korea owned 60% of Heaven Lake. On October 16, 2000, the South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo published a report saying that they had purchased
10902-645: The existing collectives would be merged into huge people's communes. An experimental commune was established at Chayashan in Henan in April 1958. Here for the first time, private plots were entirely abolished and communal kitchens were introduced. At the Politburo meetings in August 1958, it was decided that these people's communes would become the new form of economic and political organization throughout rural China. By
11040-504: The first Five Year Plan. Millions of Chinese became state workers as a consequence of this industrial investment: in 1958, 21 million were added to non-agricultural state payrolls, and total state employment reached a peak of 50.44 million in 1960, more than doubling the 1957 level; the urban population swelled by 31.24 million people. These new workers placed major stress on China's food-rationing system, which led to increased and unsustainable demands on rural food production. Those between
11178-690: The first case, blows to the body caused internal injuries that, in combination with physical emaciation and acute hunger, could induce death." In one case, after a peasant stole two cabbages from the common fields, the thief was publicly criticized for half a day. He collapsed, fell ill, and never recovered. Others were sent to labor camps . About 7% of those who died during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or summarily killed. Benjamin Valentino notes that "communist officials sometimes tortured and killed those accused of failing to meet their grain quota". However, J. G. Mahoney has said that "there
11316-634: The first official list of simplified forms was published, consisting of 324 characters collated by Peking University professor Qian Xuantong . However, fierce opposition within the KMT resulted in the list being rescinded in 1936. Work throughout the 1950s resulted in the 1956 promulgation of the Chinese Character Simplification Scheme , a draft of 515 simplified characters and 54 simplified components, whose simplifications would be present in most compound characters. Over
11454-463: The first round—but was massively unpopular and never saw consistent use. The second round of simplifications was ultimately retracted officially in 1986, well after they had largely ceased to be used due to their unpopularity and the confusion they caused. In August 2009, China began collecting public comments for a revised list of simplified characters; the resulting List of Commonly Used Standard Chinese Characters lists 8,105 characters, including
11592-475: The following decade, the Script Reform Committee deliberated on characters in the 1956 scheme, collecting public input regarding the recognizability of variants, and often approving forms in small batches. Parallel to simplification, there were also initiatives aimed at eliminating the use of characters entirely and replacing them with pinyin as an official Chinese alphabet, but this possibility
11730-483: The formation of people's communes . Millions of people died in mainland China during the Great Leap, with estimates based on demographic reconstruction ranging from 15 to 55 million, making the Great Chinese Famine the largest or second-largest famine in human history . The Great Leap Forward stemmed from multiple factors, including "the purge of intellectuals, the surge of less-educated radicals,
11868-406: The founding of the Qin. The Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) that inherited the Qin administration coincided with the perfection of clerical script through the process of libian . Eastward spread of Western learning Though most closely associated with the People's Republic, the idea of a mass simplification of character forms first gained traction in China during
12006-720: The highest peak of Paektu, which is known in North Korea as Janggun Peak. Also, Heaven Lake atop Paektu Mountain would be divided roughly in half, with North Korea acquiring 54.5% and China 45.5%. China would acquire the northwest half and North Korea the southwest. The source of the Tumen river was defined as the Hongto River [ ko ] on Paektu. Sources vary on estimates of how much territory China lost due to this redefinition, with figures ranging from 280 km (110 sq mi) or 260 km (100 sq mi), to 500 km (190 sq mi). However, using
12144-499: The incorrect assumption that seeds of the same class would not compete with each other. Yang provides data on the failure of close planting techniques, which reduced yields in Anhui province from 400 jin per mu to less than 200 jin per mu due to overcrowded plants competing for nutrients and sunlight." Deep plowing was encouraged on the mistaken belief that this would yield plants with extra large root systems. Moderately productive land
12282-466: The increased usage of 朙 was followed by proliferation of a third variant: 眀 , with 目 'eye' on the left—likely derived as a contraction of 朙 . Ultimately, 明 became the character's standard form. The Book of Han (111 AD) describes an earlier attempt made by King Xuan of Zhou ( d. 782 BC ) to unify character forms across the states of ancient China , with his chief chronicler having "[written] fifteen chapters describing" what
12420-527: The lake. China also launched a "Mt. Changbai Culture" ( 长白山文化 ; Zhǎngbáishān wénhuà ) campaign, where "Changbai" is the Chinese name for Paektu, that aimed to encourage the perception that Paektu was a key cultural aspect of Chinese culture. The campaign involved the prohibition of signage, maps, and commercial projects that used the "Paektu" name. It also involved a further push to assimilate ethnic Koreans in northeast China . According to Kwon and Kim in 2019, South Korea has since been careful to avoid having
12558-469: The leaked materials, and concluded that they were authentic. Many scholars speculate that China did not publish the text of the agreement because it did not wish to publicize how much it conceded to North Korea. Shen and Xia even suggest the publication of the agreement could threaten the domestic credibility of the Chinese government. According to the leaked text, the agreement consists of five sections that cover these topics: Notably, North Korea acquired
12696-465: The left, with the 月 'Moon' component on the right. Li Si ( d. 208 BC ), the Chancellor of Qin, attempted to universalize the Qin small seal script across China following the wars that had politically unified the country for the first time. Li prescribed the 朙 form of the word for 'bright', but some scribes ignored this and continued to write the character as 明 . However,
12834-851: The local governments of Liaoning and Jilin provinces were instructed to research the Sino-Korean border. They produced two reports, one in January and one in December 1959. In March 1960, the Chinese State Council agreed to Jilin's proposal, that the center line of the Yalu River be the border between the province and Korea. Shen Zhihua and Xia Yafeng speculate that the Central Committee did not anticipate border conflicts with China's socialist neighbors to be particularly contentious, as it did not provide its local governments with many historical materials or instructions to manage
12972-424: The means and modes of production. Some wealthier families who refused to join a People's commune might be labeled as rightists. Escape was also difficult or impossible, and those who attempted were subjected to "party-orchestrated public struggle", which further jeopardized their survival. Besides agriculture, communes also incorporated some light industry and construction projects. Harvests did increase. However this
13110-604: The means to make significant capital improvements in agriculture. Viewing human labor as an underutilized factor of production , the government intensified the mobilization of masses of people to increase labor inputs in agriculture. In November 1957, party leaders of communist countries gathered in Moscow to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution . Soviet Communist Party First Secretary Nikita Khrushchev proposed not only to catch up with but exceed
13248-499: The mid-1950s, China experienced numerous border disputes with its neighbors, including but not limited to Burma , the Soviet Union, Pakistan , and India . North Korea and China's relationship around the time also impacted the agreement. Their relationship somewhat cooled during the mid-1950s. This culminated in the 1956 August Faction Incident , in which pro-China and pro-Soviet North Koreans had attempted but failed to remove Kim Il Sung from power, and were subsequently expelled from
13386-402: The most prominent Chinese authors of the 20th century, stated that "if Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die" ( 漢字不滅，中國必亡 ). During the 1930s and 1940s, discussions regarding simplification took place within the ruling Kuomintang (KMT) party. Many members of the Chinese intelligentsia maintained that simplification would increase literacy rates throughout the country. In 1935,
13524-703: The mountain's Heaven Lake . The previous practice of using the Yalu River and Tumen River for the rest of the border was affirmed. A subsequent agreement followed on March 20, 1964, called the Protocols on the Sino-Korean Border (Chinese: 中朝边界议定书 ; Korean: 조중 변계 의정서 ). It was signed in Beijing and determined the sovereignty of 451 islands and islets (264 to North Korea, 187 to China). Both agreements were made in secret, never registered with
13662-516: The movement of farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather conditions suppressed the food supply. At the same time improvements in medicine, infant mortality, and average life expectancy promoted by the Patriotic Health Campaign led to a greatly increased need for food. The shortage of supply clashed with an explosion in demand, leading to millions of deaths from severe famine. The economy, which had improved since
13800-486: The need to find new ways to generate domestic capital, rising enthusiasm about the potential results mass mobilization might produce, and reaction against the sociopolitical results of the Soviet 's development strategy." Mao ambitiously sought an increase in rural grain production and an increase in industrial activity. Mao was dismissive of technical experts and basic economic principles, which meant that industrialization of
13938-462: The new borders. In response, in early May 1964, the Chinese MFA published two directives affirming the borders and in January 1965 prohibited the sale of maps that used the previous borders. However, in 1965, China may have demanded 160 km (62 sq mi) of territory on Paektu Mountain during a cool period in their relationship, leading to a series of skirmishes in 1968 and 1969. China abandoned this request in 1970. The South Korean response
14076-490: The people and their work ethics by reducing the influence of Western Countries and reinforce his leadership legitimacy. Citizens in rural areas who criticized the system were labeled "dangerous". Later on, as more and more families link together to form people's communes, peasants started to lose individual identities, since families were from vastly different communities with different cultures views, political views, family and financial background, which created conflict regarding
14214-680: The period of the Second Five Year Plan which was scheduled to run from 1958 to 1963, though the campaign itself was discontinued by 1961. Mao unveiled the Great Leap Forward at a meeting in January 1958 in Nanjing . The Great Leap Forward was grounded in a logical theory of economic development and represented an unambiguous social invention. The central idea behind the Great Leap was that China should "walk on two legs", by rapidly developing both heavy and light industry, urban and rural areas, and large and small scale labor. The hope
14352-567: The present, we have had no such indication." But Kennedy said that the US provided food for about half a million refugees in British Hong Kong. With dramatically reduced yields, even urban areas received greatly reduced rations; however, mass starvation was largely confined to the countryside, where, as a result of drastically inflated production statistics, very little grain was left for the peasants to eat. Food shortages were bad throughout
14490-557: The previous year, however, it was not heeded by the Ministry of Finance. In that year, the gross industrial and agricultural output grew by 21.3%, while the capital construction budget increased by 50% compared to the previous year, which led to an imbalance between production and demand. Such was the "small rash advance" (小冒進) at the start of the first five-year plan period. The issue had caused widespread social controversy. The faction of Li Xiannian , Chen Yun and others did not think it
14628-543: The principles established in the 1962 agreement. They also placed border markers on Paektu Mountain in order to handle the remaining ambiguities about the rivers' locations. These efforts led to the March 20, 1964, Protocols on the Sino-Korean Border, signed in Beijing by Chen and Pak. According to the leaked text, the Protocols consist of 21 articles that cover a range of topics, including: They divided Heaven Lake using
14766-909: The proliferation of "folk furnaces". Mao was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei , Anhui , in September 1958 by provincial first secretary Zeng Xisheng . The unit was claimed to be manufacturing high quality steel. Moreover, the experience of the intellectual classes following the Hundred Flowers Campaign silenced those aware of the folly of such a plan. According to his private doctor, Li Zhisui , Mao and his entourage visited traditional steel works in Manchuria in January 1959 where he found out that high quality steel could only be produced in large-scale factories using reliable fuel such as coal. However, he decided not to order
14904-402: The proportion of the harvest collected by the state to insure against further disasters. Moderates within the Party, including Zhou Enlai , argued for a reversal of collectivization on the grounds that claiming the bulk of the harvest for the state had made the people's food-security dependent upon the constant, efficient, and transparent functioning of the government. In 1957, Mao responded to
15042-430: The public and quickly fell out of official use. It was ultimately formally rescinded in 1986. The second-round simplifications were unpopular in large part because most of the forms were completely new, in contrast to the familiar variants comprising the majority of the first round. With the rescission of the second round, work toward further character simplification largely came to an end. In 1986, authorities retracted
15180-413: The race to please superiors and win plaudits—like the chance to meet Mao himself—intensified. The state was later able to force many production groups to sell more grain than they could spare based on these false production figures. The ban on private holdings severely disrupted peasant life at its most basic level. Villagers were unable to secure enough food to go on living because they were deprived by
15318-400: The re-emergence of "rash advances", which further led to the reintroduction of policies and tendencies that had previously been overturned. Those who opposed Mao's policies were accused of not upholding the tenets of the "class struggle" under people's cult of Mao . Regarding agriculture, the Chinese government recognized the country's dilemma of feeding its rapidly growing population without
15456-465: The recently conquered parts of the empire is generally seen as being the first real attempt at script reform in Chinese history. Before the 20th century, variation in character shape on the part of scribes, which would continue with the later invention of woodblock printing , was ubiquitous. For example, prior to the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) the character meaning 'bright' was written as either 明 or 朙 —with either 日 'Sun' or 囧 'window' on
15594-490: The regime would get maximum benefit from rural taxation. The Anti-Rightist Campaign started on June 8th, 1957. The main goal was to purge "rightists" from the CCP and China altogether. It was believed that approximately 5 percent of the population was still "rightists" (Political conservatives sabotaging the revolution). In the early years of the New China, due to the lack of experience in financial and economic work, it
15732-426: The same set of simplified characters as mainland China. The first round was promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 1969, consisting of 498 simplified characters derived from 502 traditional characters. A second round of 2287 simplified characters was promulgated in 1974. The second set contained 49 differences from the mainland China system; these were removed in the final round in 1976. In 1993, Singapore adopted
15870-467: The second round completely, though they had been largely fallen out of use within a year of their initial introduction. That year, the authorities also promulgated a final version of the General List of Simplified Chinese Characters . It was identical to the 1964 list save for 6 changes—including the restoration of 3 characters that had been simplified in the first round: 叠 , 覆 , 像 ; the form 疊
16008-603: The specifics of how North and South Korea merge, with possibilities including absorption, annexation, or a merger between the two states. In 2007, Lee Hyun-jo argued that both agreements were legitimate because North Korea was functionally a state by most sets of criteria, including the Montevideo Convention , and because South Korea and the rest of the world functionally recognized it as such. Even further, he argued that historically negotiations around border succession tended to prioritize stability and thus encourage
16146-453: The start of the Great Leap, China's industrial output would surpass that of the UK. In the August 1958 Politburo meetings, it was decided that steel production would be set to double within the year, most of the increase coming through backyard steel furnaces. Major investments in larger state enterprises were made: 1587, 1361 and 1815 medium and large-scale state projects were started in 1958, 1959 and 1960 respectively, more in each year than in
16284-400: The tensions which existed in the Party by launching the Hundred Flowers Campaign as a way to promote free speech and criticism. Some scholars have retroactively concluded that this campaign was a ploy designed to allow critics of the regime, primarily intellectuals but also low ranking members of the party who were critical of the agricultural policies, to identify themselves. By the time of
16422-404: The time people realized, it was too late to correct statistics without angering Mao. The Great Leap Forward sought to revive folk technologies, including in the area of steel production. China's steel industry faced a shortage of imported iron and calls to increase production of "native iron" had begun in 1956. By mid-1958, the Chinese state began promoting indigenous metallurgical methods and
16560-427: The traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. The Chinese government has never officially announced the completion of the simplification process after the bulk of characters were introduced by the 1960s. In the wake of the Cultural Revolution , a second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977—largely composed of entirely new variants intended to artificially lower the stroke count, in contrast to
16698-833: The traditional character 強 , with 11 strokes is standardised as 强 , with 12 strokes, which is a variant character. Such characters do not constitute simplified characters. The new standardized character forms shown in the Characters for Publishing and revised through the Common Modern Characters list tend to adopt vulgar variant character forms. Since the new forms take vulgar variants, many characters now appear slightly simpler compared to old forms, and as such are often mistaken as structurally simplified characters. Some examples follow: The traditional component 釆 becomes 米 : The traditional component 囚 becomes 日 : The traditional "Break" stroke becomes
16836-568: The two rivers as the border effectively ceded the Jiandao region to China, to the later frustration of some modern South Koreans. For maritime rights, both countries were to share use of the border rivers. The status of the islands and sandbars of the Yalu and Tumen were left to be confirmed after the joint border commission finished its investigation. The border commission met for the first time in January 1963. It conducted its investigation between May 13 and November 15, 1963, establishing boundary markers and assigning ownership of islands according to
16974-522: The use of characters entirely. Instead, Chao proposed that the language be written with an alphabet, which he saw as more logical and efficient. The alphabetization and simplification campaigns would exist alongside one another among the Republican intelligentsia for the next several decades. Recent commentators have echoed some contemporary claims that Chinese characters were blamed for the economic problems in China during that time. Lu Xun , one of
17112-413: The wage bill, largely for construction workers, but no corresponding increase in manufactured goods". Facing a massive deficit, the government cut industrial investment from 38.9 to 7.1 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962 (an 82% decrease; the 1957 level was 14.4 billion). partly due to misreporting, or corruption at every level of the government where they'd overreport harvest and steel production, by
17250-466: The widespread famine which was being experienced in the countryside, as Mao sought to maintain face and convince the outside world of the success of his plans. Foreign aid was refused. When the Japanese foreign minister told his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi about an offer of 100,000 tonnes of wheat which was going to be shipped away from public view, he was rebuffed. John F. Kennedy was also aware that
17388-429: Was a common practice to include the fiscal surplus of the previous year in the budget of the current year. Because of the low level of budgeting in the fiscal sector and inaccurate estimates of economic development, revenues and expenditures were underestimated. However, no problems arose because the government usually managed to end the fiscal year with a surplus. In 1953, when China entered the first five-year plan period,
17526-464: Was abandoned, confirmed by a speech given by Zhou Enlai in 1958. In 1965, the PRC published the List of Commonly Used Characters for Printing [ zh ] (hereafter Characters for Printing ), which included standard printed forms for 6196 characters, including all of the forms from the 1956 scheme. A second round of simplified characters was promulgated in 1977, but was poorly received by
17664-434: Was abolished and all households were forced into state-operated communes. Mao demanded that the communes increase grain production to feed the cities and to earn foreign exchange through exports. Apart from progressive taxation on each household's harvest, the state introduced a system of compulsory state purchases of grain at fixed prices to build up stockpiles for famine-relief and meet the terms of its trade agreements with
17802-472: Was also exacted on people. Rural industrialization, while officially a priority of the campaign, saw "its development ... aborted by the mistakes of the Great Leap Forward". The Great Leap was one of two periods between 1953 and 1976 in which China's economy shrank (the other being the Cultural Revolution ). Economist Dwight Perkins argues that "enormous amounts of investment only produced modest increases in production or none at all. ... In short,
17940-526: Was appropriate to continue this practice, but they also had opponents. Li Xiannian finally decided to hold a collective meeting to discuss the issue, and after listening to the views of all parties, he decided to abolish the practice. Nevertheless, the controversy over the use of the fiscal surplus persisted, which brought another reckless "rash advance" to China's economic development in 1956. At that time, China lacked consideration in three areas: capital construction, employee wages and agricultural loans, making
18078-405: Was because of exceptional weather, not, which a lot of officials mistook, as the result of hard work of the peasants, creating further complications. (106) This lead to famine in the countryside since they were required to reach set harvest goal, leaving not enough food for themselves. Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of economic development. He forecast that within 15 years of
18216-541: Was done in the name of discouraging excessive consumption. Besides these economic changes, the CCP implemented major social changes in the countryside including the banishing of all religious and mystic institutions and ceremonies, replacing them with political meetings and propaganda sessions. Attempts were made to enhance rural education and the status of women (allowing them to initiate divorce if they desired) and ending foot-binding , child marriage and opium addiction. The old system of internal passports (the hukou )
18354-406: Was introduced in 1956, preventing inter-county travel without appropriate authorization. Highest priority was given to the urban proletariat for whom a welfare state was created. The first phase of collectivization resulted in modest improvements in output. Famine along the mid-Yangzi was averted in 1956 through the timely allocation of food-aid, but in 1957 the Party's response was to increase
18492-521: Was left unplanted based on the belief that concentrating manure and effort on the most fertile land would lead to large productivity gains per-acre. Altogether, these untested innovations generally led to decreases in grain production rather than increases. Meanwhile, local leaders were pressured into falsely reporting ever-higher grain production figures to their political superiors. Participants at political meetings remembered production figures being inflated up to 10 times their actual production amounts as
18630-755: Was minimal for decades due to the secrecy of the agreement. On September 16, 1983, fifty-five members of the South Korean National Assembly submitted a resolution claiming sovereignty over the entirety of Heaven Lake. In 2002, China launched the Northeast Asian History Project ("Northeast Project"), with the goal of publishing academic research on territorial claims in northeast China that they claimed were "distorted by some other countries' institutions and scholars". This drew widespread criticism from both North and South Korea and unprecedented cooperation to counter
18768-524: Was not collected in some areas. This problem was exacerbated by a devastating locust swarm, which was caused when their natural predators were killed as part of the Four Pests Campaign . Although actual harvests were reduced, local officials, under tremendous pressure to report record harvests to central authorities in response to the innovations, competed with each other to announce increasingly exaggerated results. These results were used as
18906-887: Was realized that Mao's policy of using a state monopoly on agriculture to finance industrialization would be unpopular with the peasants. Therefore, it was proposed that the peasants should be brought under Party control by the establishment of agricultural collectives which would also facilitate the sharing of tools and draft animals. This policy was gradually pushed through between 1949 and 1958 in response to immediate policy needs, first by establishing "mutual aid teams" of 5–15 households, then in 1953 "elementary agricultural cooperatives" of 20–40 households, then from 1956 in "higher co-operatives" of 100–300 families. From 1954 onward peasants were encouraged to form and join collective-farming associations, which would supposedly increase their efficiency without robbing them of their own land or restricting their livelihoods. By 1958, private ownership
19044-497: Was to industrialize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labour and avoid having to import heavy machinery. The government also sought to avoid both social stratification and technical bottlenecks involved in the Soviet model of development, but sought political rather than technical solutions to do so. Distrusting technical experts, Mao and the party sought to replicate the strategies used in its 1930s regrouping in Yan'an following
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