Question

Chiang Kai Shek lost support of the peasants and women but Mao rose to power with their support. Elaborate the statement with three points.

Answer 1

Instructions:

• The Question is asking a comparison between the strategies of Mao and Chaing.
• Focus on the peasants' and women's points that were made by Mao and compare the same to Chiang’s policy where he ignored them.
• Use the method of comparing and contrasting pertaining only to peasants and women reforms undertaken by Mao.

Solution:

Mao and the Communist Party of China rose to power due to the reforms they promised the peasants and the women. Unlike Chiang Kai Shek who had a traditional mindset and could not implement the ideas of land redistribution and resources while Mao did that.

1. Mao promised that all landless peasants would get land under land redistribution policy.
2. He centred his entire political planning around the welfare issues of the peasants, whereas Chinag focused more on getting land back from western powers, making him unpopular with the masses who felt ignored.
3. Unlike Chiang who imposed a military style of leadership and restricted the rights of women, Mao fought for equal rights of women in marriages and even banned the sale and purchase of marriage licence in order to protect the welfare of women.