{"id":1543,"date":"2017-11-30T10:41:43","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T10:41:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=1543"},"modified":"2026-05-12T07:10:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T07:10:49","slug":"successful-maos-five-year-plans-increasing-production","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/world-history\/mao-china-c-1930-1976\/successful-maos-five-year-plans-increasing-production\/","title":{"rendered":"Mao and the introduction of the Five Year Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Five Year Plan<\/h2>\n

In 1949 when the Communists came into power the Chinese economy was in a terrible mess. Decades of fighting meant that there had been a lack of investment in new technologies and China was lagging way behind other countries. Mao wanted to address this as quickly as possible through a Five Year Plan. The plan was inspired by the Soviet model<\/a>\u00a0which introduced a target based system over a 5 year period. The essential needs of the country were identified and individual factories and industrial sites told exactly what their minimum contribution to production needed to be.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The First Five Year Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n1952 output<\/td>\n1957 target<\/td>\n1957 actual<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Oil<\/td>\n0.4 million tonnes<\/td>\n2 million tonnes<\/td>\n1.4 million tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Coal<\/td>\n63 million tonnes<\/td>\n113 million tonnes<\/td>\n124 million tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Pig Iron<\/td>\n1.9 million tonnes<\/td>\n4.7 million tonnes<\/td>\n5.8 million tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steel<\/td>\n1.3 million tonnes<\/td>\n4.1 million tonnes<\/td>\n5.2 million tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Fertiliser<\/td>\n0.2 million tonnes<\/td>\n0.6 million tonnes<\/td>\n0.7 million tonnes<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The Five Year Plans succeeded in raising output and in many areas exceeded targets. Mao and other leaders though were unhappy at the disparity in terms of progress between Agriculture<\/a> and Industry. This led to a change in policy during the 2nd Five Year Plan where the Great Leap Forward<\/a> was introduced and improvements across the board encouraged.<\/p>\n

\"Work<\/a><\/p>\n

Sources<\/h3>\n

Source: Talk on the 3rd Five Year Plan, Mao, 1964<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the past, the method of planning was essentially learned from the Soviet Union<\/a> and comparatively easy to do. First you determine how much steel is needed, then on this basis estimate how much coal, electricity, transport force, and so on are needed; and then based on these assumptions estimate the expected increase in urban population and the livelihood benefits. This is the method of using the calculator. Once the output of steel is reduced, all other items are correspondingly reduced. This kind of method is impractical and unworkable. This type of calculation cannot take into account what the Lord in Heaven will do to the plan. Suppose a natural disaster comes and you just won\u2019t have such a quantity of foodgrains, support to the urban population cannot increase to the extent desired and then everything else comes to naught. Besides you cannot figure in what war will do. We are not the chief of staff of the U.S., so we don\u2019t know when they will strike against us. Furthermore, revolutions in various countries cannot be figured into the plan. Suppose in some countries the people\u2019s revolutions have succeeded and they need our economic assistance. How can this be foretold?<\/p>\n

It is necessary to change the method of planning. This is a revolution. After we learned the Soviet method, it has become a force of habit with us and it seems hard to change.<\/p>\n

In the last few years we have been groping our way and found some other method. Our policy is to take agriculture<\/a> as the foundation and industry as the leading factor. Pursuant to this policy, when we map out a plan we first see what quantity of foodgrains can be produced, then estimate how much fertilizer, pesticides, machinery, iron and steel, and so on are needed.<\/p>\n

How do we plan for an annual harvest? It will be determined by the assumption that in 5 years there will be 1 year of good harvest, 2 years of ordinary harvest, and 2 years of poor harvest. This is more practical and dependable. It should first be ascertained what quantity of foodgrains, cotton and other economic crops can be produced under such conditions and then how much industry can be planned for on this foundation. If the harvest of the year is better, so much the better.<\/p>\n

Source: “How China Proceeds with the Task of Industrialization\u201d Ji Yun, 1953<\/strong><\/p>\n

The five-year construction plan, to which we have long looked forward, has now
\ncommenced. Its basic object is the gradual realization of the industrialization of our state.
\nIndustrialization has been the goal sought by the Chinese people during the past one
\nhundred years. From the last days of the Manchu dynasty to the early years of the republic,
\nsome people had undertaken the establishment of a few factories in the country. But industry as
\na whole has never been developed in China. \u2026 It was just as Stalin said: \u201cBecause China did not
\nhave its own heavy industry and its own war industry, it was being trampled upon by all the
\nreckless and unruly elements. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Links<\/h3>\n

Mao Zedong: China 1930-1976<\/a><\/p>\n

Wikipedia<\/a>\u00a0– entries relating to each of the Five Year Plans.<\/p>\n

History Learning Site<\/a>\u00a0– good account with statistical analysis.<\/p>\n

Country Studies<\/a>\u00a0– detailed article about the Five Year Plans.<\/p>\n

China Facts<\/a>\u00a0– accounts of the 5 year plans.<\/p>\n

China Posters<\/a>\u00a0– account and propaganda images from the period of the first 5 year plans.<\/p>\n

The History of china through Propaganda Posters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chairman Mao: China c1930 – 1976<\/a><\/h4>\n

Why did the Chinese Communists start the Long March?<\/a>– Was the Long March a success?<\/a>\u00a0– Impact of the Second World War on China<\/a> – Why did the Communists win the Chinese Civil War?<\/a> – Agriculture Policy in Mao’s China<\/a> – Impact of Social Reforms in Mao’s China<\/a> – China’s 5 Year Plans<\/a> – Did Chinese people benefit from Communist rule under Chairman Mao?<\/a> – China’s relations with neighbouring states<\/a> – China and the USA after 1970<\/a> – Hundred Flowers Movement 1956-57<\/a> – China’s Cultural Revolution, 1966 – 1976<\/a>\u00a0– Impact of the Cultural Revolution on China<\/a>\u00a0– Was Mao a great leader of China?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Five Year Plan In 1949 when the Communists came into power the Chinese economy was in a terrible mess. Decades of fighting meant that there had been a lack of investment in new technologies and China was lagging way behind other countries. Mao wanted to address this as quickly as possible through a Five… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2130,"parent":1527,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1543","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1543\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}