The Chinese Revolution in 1949 altered the structure of Chinese society both in the immediate sense and the long term. In the immediate sense, it shifted from the previous regime to a Communist system; in the long term it altered the degree to which Chinese traditions would be followed or changed. These changes were in response to the perception of certain foreign and domestic problems extending back to the beginning of the century. The long term change included modernization of the economy. The effort to change Chinese society began before the Revolution, with the efforts of the Communists. First they tried to attract people to their cause, and then they tried to make that cause understandable as a force which would empower the people and lead them to revolution.
After the Revolution, efforts at changing society were undertaken in a more methodical and all-inclusive manner. Many traditional institutions were either dismantled, prohibited, or downgraded in the effort to modernize and to bring about a new political and social attitude on the part of the people. These efforts had varying results and were of varying degrees in effectiveness. Some traditional institutions persisted in spite of Communist efforts to stamp them out, while other areas of the society were changed completely. An examination of the process indicates how the emergence of the Chinese Communist Party and Mao Zedong thought served as responses to China's problems.
Mao's thought developed during the early years of this decade, a period of great turmoil, with growing conflict between traditional Chinese thought and new ideas from the West. Mao became an active local leader in the May Fourth Movement of 1919, and he retained his revolutionary fervor. However, he also became convinced that more was needed than mass enthusiasm, and change also required an organization of dedicated revolutionaries. The Russian revolution was a model, and Mao attended ...