levo

Mao’s China, 1949–76

The First Five-Year Plan, 1952–56

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 2

Overview

Recall questions on its targets and Soviet assistance, its successes and weaknesses, how private industry was absorbed, and why Mao turned against the model.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Who and when

Where did China's first plan of 1953 to 1957 put its investment?

Who and when

What help did the USSR provide?

Key term

How successful was the First Five-Year Plan?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Where did China's first plan of 1953 to 1957 put its investment?

    Model answer

    Heavy industry, with Soviet financial and technical support.

  2. 2

    What did the First Five-Year Plan aim to do?

    Model answer

    To build heavy industry on the Soviet model, concentrating on steel, coal, electricity and machinery, largely in the north east.

  3. 3

    What help did the USSR provide?

    Model answer

    Loans, blueprints, and around 10,000 advisers who designed and equipped some 150 major industrial projects.

  4. 4

    How successful was the First Five-Year Plan?

    Model answer

    Industrial output roughly doubled and most targets were met or exceeded, making it the most successful economic programme of the Mao era.

  5. 5

    What were the weaknesses of the First Five-Year Plan?

    Model answer

    It neglected agriculture and consumer goods, created a privileged technical bureaucracy, and left China indebted and dependent on Soviet expertise.

  6. 6

    How was industry brought under state control?

    Model answer

    Private firms were converted into joint state-private enterprises by 1956, with former owners paid fixed interest and then absorbed into the state sector.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

1Closed book
2Open book
3Closed book

The 3-step method, run for you

Answer cold, learn it, then prove it stuck. Levo tracks the jump between your first attempt and your last.

The Crusades, c1095–1204
England, 1509–1603: Authority, Nation and Religion
Britain, 1625–1701: Conflict, Revolution and Settlement
Britain, c1785–c1870: Democracy, Protest and Reform

Cram a whole paper in one sitting

Sort every topic into what you know and what you do not, then drill only the weak ones.

Luis de .
RequesensAlbaGranvelle

Blank Blitz makes facts automatic

Rapid timed gap-fills on the terms and numbers you need to recall without thinking.

AThe government admitted 96 dead and 333 wounded.
BOther estimates run to several hundred dead.
COpponents claimed thousands.

Build It gets the exam shape right

Assemble a full-mark answer from its marking points, in the order an examiner wants them.

Robert Aske led the Pilgrimage of Grace.
TrueFalse

Test It catches misconceptions

Spot the fault in a statement. The traps are the mistakes students actually make.

721941163128510

Brain Breaks between sessions

Short focus games to reset attention, so the next set lands better than the last.

Every question in Mao’s China, 1949–76, on a schedule.

Attempt a question from memory, write the correct version, then attempt it again. Levo records the jump between your first attempt and your last, and brings each question back on the day you are due to forget it.

Or £46 a year, about £3.83 a month. Cancel anytime.