Following the Second World War, as well as the Second Sino-Japanese War, the situation in China was particularly more complex than in other Allied countries. Control of Taiwan was disputed to say the least, and for the four years following WWII the country was in a state of civil war. In 1949 the Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Mao Zedong, announced the founding of a new Chinese nation, the People's Republic of China (PRC). 

Mao brought hyper-industrialisation to China by his economic policy titled the Great Leap Forward. This lead to very quickly expanding industry, agriculture, land reform, medical care and sanitation, of which the latter two had a major influence on stabilising the population, eventually leading to massive growth. However, the combination of population growth and hyper-industrialisation also lead to widespread famine and stagnant living conditions.

Between 1966, when Mao changed his economic policy to the Cultural Revolution, and his death in 1976, Mao had made himself immovable as the leader of the People's Republic of China. Towards the end of Mao's life, and after his death, the PRC started to move more towards inclusion in the international economy, with China rejoining the United Nations and the lifting of economic restrictions on trade via the free markets, as well as a policy of large scale privatisation of agriculture and land. The PRC also aimed to limit the power able to be attained by the upper political echelons, so that no one person would be able to dominate again as Mao had.

'China' 2023, Britannica School, retrieved 13 February 2023, https://school.eb.com.au/levels/high/article/China/117321.