ABSTRACT

This chapter describes the issues the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) faced in extending its rule over China as a whole; evaluates the efficacy of the measures implemented by the CCP to cope with these issues; analyzes the factors that induced Mao Zedong to implement the disastrous policies of the anti-rightist campaign, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution; and discusses Mao’s declining years and their impact on China’s social and economic well-being.