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Beijing was chosen to serve as the nation's capital when the People's Republic of China (PRC) was officially formed there on October 1st, 1949. As Mao proclaimed the establishment of a "people's democratic dictatorship," he exclaimed, "The Chinese people have risen up!" The working class, the peasantry, the petite bourgeoisie, and the national capitalists were the four socioeconomic classes that were included in the definition of "the people." The Communist Party of China (CCP), which represented the working class at the time, was slated to serve as the vanguard of the four classes. At that time, the CCP said that it had a membership of 4.5 million people, with over 90 percent of its members coming from rural agricultural backgrounds. Mao Zedong served as leader of the Communist Party of China, while Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) served as premier of the State Administrative Council and was in charge of the government (the predecessor of the State Council). On October 2, 1949, the Soviet Union officially acknowledged the People's Republic of China. Mao Zedong had said earlier in the year that he would be committing to the socialist bloc via his strategy of "leaning to one side." After many months of contentious negotiations, the Treaty of Friendship, Alliance, and Mutual Assistance was finally signed between China and the Soviet Union in February 1950. It remained in force until 1980. The pact's primary objective was to deter Japan and any other country from allying with Japan for the purpose of committing aggression. For the first time in decades, a Chinese government was greeted inside its borders by peace rather than enormous armed resistance. This event took place for the first time ever. The new leadership was very disciplined, and since they had a decade's worth of expertise in administration gained during the war, they were able to launch a programme that would promote national integration and change. The first year of Communist administration was marked by the implementation of moderate social and economic programmes that were carried out with competence and efficiency. The leadership came to the realisation that in order to accomplish the monumental and multitudinous tasks of economic rebuilding as well as the establishment of political and social stability, the goodwill and collaboration of all classes of people was necessary. The results were spectacular by any measure, and there was considerable support from the general public. By 1950, worldwide recognition of the Communist government had significantly expanded, despite the fact that China's participation in the Korean War slowed down the process. In October of 1950, in response to a request for assistance from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea), units of the PLA, calling themselves the Chinese People's Volunteers, crossed the Yalu Jiang River into North Korea. They did this because they believed that the advancing forces of the United Nations (UN) in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) posed a threat to the industrial heartland in northeast China. Almost at the same time, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) forces also marched into Xizang in order to reassert Chinese sovereignty over a region that had effectively been independent of Chinese rule ever since the Qing dynasty's fall in 1911. This was done in order to reassert Chinese sovereignty over a region that had effectively been independent from In 1951, the United Nations General Assembly condemned China for its role as an aggressor in the Korean War and imposed a worldwide embargo on the delivery of weapons and other forms of military equipment to China. By taking this action, any prospect that the People's Republic of China might replace Nationalist China (on Taiwan) as a member of the United Nations and as a member with veto power on the United Nations Security Council was eliminated for the time being. Following China's involvement in the Korean War, the early moderation in Chinese domestic policy gave way to a huge campaign against "enemies of the state," both real and prospective. This campaign targeted both existing and potential opponents of the Chinese government. "War criminals, traitors, bureaucratic capitalists, and counterrevolutionaries" were the names given to this group of adversaries. The campaign was paired with trials that were funded by the party and attended by a very large number of individuals. The foreigners and Christian missionaries who were falsely accused of being spies for the United States of America during these mass trials were the primary targets of this effort. Land reform, which had really started under the Agrarian Reform Law of June 28, 1950, was carried out concurrently with the fight against political adversaries that took place in 1951 and 1952. The process of redistribution of land was sped up, and a class fight against affluent landowners and peasants was initiated. Widespread exposure was given to an intellectual reform effort that demanded public confessions and self-criticisms from members of university faculties, scientific communities, and other professional worker groups. As soon as Mao's edict that culture and literature must represent the class interest of the working people, headed by the CCP, was put into practise, artists and writers quickly became the targets of comparable punishment for disobeying the order. Movements known as san fan ("three anti") and wu fan ("five anti") occurred concurrently with these campaigns in the years 1951 and 1952. The former was nominally geared against the ills of "corruption, waste, and bureaucracy," but its underlying purpose was to get rid of inept and politically unreliable public personnel and to establish a bureaucratic structure that is effective, disciplined, and responsive. The objective of the Wu Fan movement was to get rid of obstinate and corrupt businesspeople and manufacturers, who were in effect the targets of the CCP's denunciation of "tax evasion, bribery, cheating in government contracts, thefts of economic information, and thefts of state assets." During the course of this campaign, the party made the allegation that they had unearthed evidence of a well-organized plot by merchants and industrialists to bribe party leaders as well as government officials. This accusation was blown out of proportion and turned into an attack against the bourgeois class as a whole. It was anticipated that millions of people were impacted by the numerous efforts that sought to punish of reform individuals or groups.

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