<Tr> <Td_colspan="8"> <Ul> <Li> view </Li> <Li> talk </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> view </Li> <Li> talk </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> The history of the People's Republic of China details the history of mainland China since October 1, 1949, when, after a near complete victory by the Communist Party of China (CPC) in the Chinese Civil War, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC) from atop Tiananmen . The PRC has for several decades been synonymous with China, but it is only the most recent political entity to govern mainland China, preceded by the Republic of China (ROC) and thousands of years of imperial dynasties . </P> <P> Following the Chinese Civil War and the victory of Mao Zedong's Communist forces over the Kuomintang forces of Generalissimo Chiang Kai - shek, who fled to Taiwan, Mao declared the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949 . Mao's first goal was a total overhaul of the land ownership system, and extensive land reforms . China's old system of gentry landlord ownership of farmland and tenant peasants was replaced with a distribution system in favor of poor / landless peasants which significantly reduced economic inequality . Over a million landlords were executed . In Zhangzhuangcun, in the more thoroughly reformed north of the country, most "landlords" and "rich peasants" had lost all their land and often their lives or had fled . All formerly landless workers had received land, which eliminated this category altogether . As a result, "middling peasants," who now accounted for 90 percent of the village population, owned 90.8 percent of the land . Mao laid heavy theoretical emphasis on class struggle, and in 1953 began various campaigns to persecute former landlords and merchants, including the execution of more powerful landlords . Drug trafficking in the country as well as foreign investment were largely wiped out . </P>

When did china become the people's republic of china