Abstract
Augustin Palát took his unique photos in 1950s China. This period is often remembered nostalgically, in contrast to the 1950s in former Czechoslovakia.
Although China experienced many similar processes which are viewed negatively in the Czechoslovak case (collectivization, nationalization, uncritical adoption of Soviet experience and orders), the assessment of this period is mostly positive, especially in contrast to the preceding Civil War and the subsequent decades of political campaigns. In this chapter, I review the successes of Chinese industrialization with Soviet assistance in the First Five Year Plan period (1953-7), collectivization of agriculture and other social reforms organized by the Communist Party of China, the reasons behind the political thaw in 1956 and its unfolding.
The concluding section seeks in the 1950s the causes of the later drastic political turmoil and of its violent character; it identifies the power hegemony of the Communist Party of China, created on all levels of society during the 1950s, as the principal cause.