The People’s Republic under Mao, 1949–1976

Mao’s China timeline and maps

The People’s Republic under Mao, 1949–1976 told in 12 chapters on an interactive situation map, with 22 dated maps and 68 battles, turning points and sites of memory, each drawn where it happened. This page is the index: every chapter, map and place as its own page.

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The chapters

Mao’s consolidation and land reform

CHAPTER 1 · 1949

Korean War and Mao’s mass campaigns

CHAPTER 2 · 1953

Tibet and Xinjiang under Mao

CHAPTER 3 · 1956

China’s First Five-Year Plan

CHAPTER 4 · 1956

Hundred Flowers Campaign

Recovery after the Great Leap

CHAPTER 8 · 1964

Cultural Revolution

CHAPTER 9 · 1967

Down to the Countryside Movement

CHAPTER 10 · 1971

Sino-Soviet split and Nixon in China

CHAPTER 11 · 1972

Death and legacy of Mao Zedong

CHAPTER 12 · 1976

Mao’s China maps by year

1 OCT 1949 JUN 1950 OCT 1950 OCT 1951 JUL 1953 DEC 1955 MAR 1956 DEC 1956 JUN 1957 OCT 1958 MAR 1959 1960 JAN 1962 NOV 1962 OCT 1964 AUG 1966 JUL 1967 SEP 1968 MAR 1969 SEP 1971 SEP 1972 SEP 1976

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Battles, events and sites of memory

● 9th National Congress of the CCP ● Anshan Iron and Steel ● Arrest of the Gang of Four ✕ Battle of Chamdo ✕ Battle of Chosin Reservoir ✕ Battle of Guningtou ✕ Battle of Hainan Island ● Beidahuang rightist labour farms ● Beidaihe conference ● Chayashan Sputnik People’s Commune ● China’s first nuclear test ● Chinese entry into the Korean War ● Chinese grain exports during the famine ● Dalai Lama’s flight to India ◆ Dao County massacre ● Daqing oilfield ● First Automobile Works ● First constitution of the PRC ● Five-Anti Campaign ◆ Great Famine in Anhui ◆ Great Famine in Sichuan ◆ Great Famine in Tongwei County ◆ Guangxi Massacre ◆ Hanyang No. 1 Middle School incident ● Incorporation of Xinjiang into the PRC ◆ Inner Mongolian People’s Party incident ● January Storm in Shanghai ◆ Jiabiangou labour camp ✕ Kham rebellion at Lithang ● Korean Armistice Agreement ● Land reform in Long Bow village ● Learn from Dazhai campaign ● Lin Biao incident ● Lin Biao plane crash in Mongolia ● Liu Shaoqi’s Hunan inspection ● Lushan Conference ● Mao’s editorial against Wenhui Bao ● Mao’s visit to Xushui ● Nixon’s visit to China ● PLA in Lhasa and the Tibetan uprising ● Peking University student protests ● Ping-pong diplomacy ● Proclamation of the People’s Republic ● Qinghai–Tibet and Sichuan–Tibet highways ◆ Red August ● Red Guard rallies in Tiananmen Square ✕ Second Taiwan Strait Crisis ● Sent-down youth in Xishuangbanna ● Seven Thousand Cadres Conference ● Shanghai Communiqué ● Shaoshan, Mao’s birthplace ✕ Sino-Indian War ● Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship ◆ Suppression of counter-revolutionaries ◆ Tangshan earthquake ✕ Third Battle of Seoul ● Third Front at Panzhihua ● Tiananmen Incident ✕ Tielieketi incident ◆ Victims of Chinese land reform ● Wang Guofan’s paupers’ co-operative ● Withdrawal of Soviet experts ● Wuhan Incident ● Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge ● Xi Jinping at Liangjiahe ● Xiaogang village secret contract ◆ Xinyang Incident ✕ Zhenbao Island incident

The places, chapter by chapter →

Study and test

Mao’s China questions and answers Mao’s China quiz The printable study guide IB History notes: The People’s Republic under Mao

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