Lesson 4: The Beginning of Industrialization and the Establishment

The First Five-Year Plan

On the eve of the founding of New China, the economy of the Kuomintang-ruled areas was on the verge of collapse due to the long-term plundering by the imperialists and the scavenging by the Nationalist government, as well as the destruction caused by years of war. After the founding of New China, after three years of economic recovery, the national economy was fundamentally improved and industrial production had exceeded the highest level in history. However, China is still a backward agricultural country. Our industrial level is very low, our foundation is weak, and the categories are incomplete, and the per capita possession of many important industrial products is far lower than that of developed countries.

In order to carry out socialist construction in a planned manner, our government prepared the first five-year plan for developing the national economy. Its basic tasks were: to concentrate on the development of heavy industry and to establish the initial foundation for the industrialization and modernization of national defense; to develop transportation, light industry, agriculture and commerce accordingly; and to train talents for construction accordingly. The first five-year plan was implemented from 1953.

During the First Five-Year Plan, China constructed more than 10,000 industrial projects, centering on 156 projects built with the help of the Soviet Union. The rapid development of various fields such as iron and steel, coal, electric power, and machinery manufacturing was reported frequently. Three major projects such as the seamless steel pipe plant of Anshan Iron and Steel Company, the first automobile manufacturing plant in Changchun, Shenyang machine tool plant and aircraft manufacturing plant were put into operation. The construction of transportation also made great achievements, with more than 30 new railroads such as Baocheng and Yingxia; the opening of the Sichuan-Tibet, Qinghai-Tibet and Xinjiang-Tibet highways, which brought closer contact between the mainland and the border areas; in 1957, the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge was completed, connecting the traffic between the north and south of the Yangtze River.

By the end of 1957, the economic construction targets of the First Five-Year Plan were substantially exceeded. China began to change the backward appearance of industry and move towards socialist industrialization.

Establishment of the People's Congress System

Along with the development of economic construction, the construction of democratic politics in China was also intensified. On the basis of universal suffrage, the First National People's Congress was held in Beijing in September 1954. The representatives of the whole nation gathered together to discuss national affairs. The congress formulated the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. This was the first socialist type of constitution in China, and the constitution that truly reflected the interests of the people in the history of the country. The Constitution stipulates that the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China is the highest organ of state power. This establishes the system of people's congresses in the form of the fundamental law of the country.

The Congress elected Mao Zedong as President of the People's Republic of China, Zhu De as Vice President, and Liu Shaoqi as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the First National People's Congress; it decided that Zhou Enlai would be Premier of the State Council.

The convening of the First National People's Congress formed the system of People's Congresses. The system of people's congresses is the fundamental political system of China, laying the foundation for the construction of socialist democratic politics.（586words）