Communism in China

    With over 1.3 billion people there, China, or, officially, The People's Republic of China, is the most populous  country on Earth. China become a Communist nation on October 1, 1949 when Mao Zedong gained control. This happened because the leader of the Nationalist party needed help when japan invaded, so he asked for Mao to step in. Mao did, and after beating the Japanese, he turned on the Nationalists, and the Chinese Communist Party seized power. 

        Shortly after China became Communist, they punished landlords for the crimes which they had committed against their peasants. Somewhere between one million and two million landlords were executed between 1949 and 1953. This allowed the peasants-who made up the largest section of society- to be rewarded for supporting communism while eliminating the potential threat of the landlords.

         Many changes occurred when China became Communist. Divorce was easier to get, forced marriages, polygamy, killing unwanted female babies and selling woman into prostitution were all banned. Private banks were shut down and a new state bank was established. 

         There were many Communist nations during World War II, but many of them later returned to their old governments. Today, there are only five communist nations, and China is one of them. Mao died in 1976, Deng Xiaoping seized power before Hua Guofeng could. He led China to economic reforms and lessened the governments control over people's personal lives. China went from being a planned economy to a mixed economy. On December 4, 1982, China adopted the constitution which it is still using today.