With the country laid waste by over a century of economic mismanagement and war, massive problems faced the new republic. Though Russia quickly offered its support, the US refused to recognize Mao's government, maintaining that Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang alone represented the Chinese people. China's road and rail network were mostly destroyed, industrial output had slumped, much of the agricultural areas had been ravaged, and there were no monetary reserves. But the Chinese people, still in awe of their hard-won victory, took to the task of repairing the country with an obsessive energy. By the mid-1950s all industry had been nationalized and output was back at prewar levels, while, for the first time in China's history, land was handed over to the peasants as their own. A million former landlords were executed, while others were enrolled in " criticism and self-criticism " classes, a re-education designed to ingrain Marxism and prevent ideologies of elitism or bourgeois deviance from contaminating the revolutionary spirit. People were forced to criticize themselves, their past and those around them - a traumatic experience and one that broke centuries-old traditions.

 

With all the difficulties on the home front, the Korean War of 1950 was a distraction the government could well have done without. After Communist North Korea invaded the south, US forces had intervened on behalf of the south and, despite warnings from Zhou Enlai, had continued through to Chinese territory. China declared war in June, and sent a million troops to push the Americans back to the 38th parallel and force peace negotiations. As a boost for the morale of the new nation, the incident could not have been better timed. Meanwhile, China's far western borders were seen to be threatened by an uprising in Tibet , and Chinese troops were sent in 1951, swiftly occupying the entire country and instituting de facto Chinese rule. Eight years later, a failed coup against the occupation by Tibetan monks saw a massive clampdown on religion, and the flight of the Dalai Lama and his followers to Nepal.