Mao took advantage of the war to make more extreme measures back home.
Mao could justify the tightening of the Party's control over the population with the threat of attack by the USA
Mao launched the 'Great Terror' against counter revolutionaries in October 1950
Mao was able to destroy any remaining GMD opposition and future opponents as a threat to communism
Foreigners were forced to leave the country after being stripped of assets. Particularly Americans.
Russians arrived in large numbers, mostly technicians, military advisers and scientists
Mao used the war to promote national unity behind a propaganda campaign 'Resist America, Aid Korea'
Mass meetings were organised in schools and workplaces to whip up anti American paranoia
Huge rallies and anti capitalist propaganda helped create a sense of unity
China was seen as bravely standing up to the West
Anti America rallies were used to apply pressure on people to sign up to the PLA
People were pressurised into donating their money and goods for the war effort
February 1952 Beijing raised anti American fervour by announcing a germ warfare scare
Americans were accused of dropping cylinders of germ infected insects on China
Mao's son was killed in the war, being burned to death in an incendiary raid
Scale of Chinese losses is estimated at 400 000. Mao feels the end justifies the means
Workers joined patriotic campaigns under the slogan 'Our factory is our battlefield and our machines are our weapons'
The People's Daily published long lists of political criminals alongside gruesome details of their punishments
Moderate policies of the CCP in the first half of 1951 were forgotten
Food supplies were only kept up through forced food requisitioning from the countryside
The USA imposed a trade embargo on Chinese goods causing a 30% fall in foreign trade
The Soviet Union provided the military hardware payed for by the Chinese through loans with high interest
The war restricted the success of the First Five Year plan launched in 1952 as resources were diverted into the war effort
Over half of the national GDP was spent on the war
The PRC could claim to be the most powerful communist nation
China was seen to shed blood to defend communism while the USSR stood in the background
The Americans were now an enemy to the Chinese who ensured that the PRC was refused admission to the United Nations until 1972
Sino Soviet relations worsened as Mao felt embittered over lack of Soviet air support
The CCP invested little into health and education during this time
