What Was China Like Just After The Civil War?

I am planning on writing a TL about China in the early fifties just after the Civil War ended, but I realized I don't really know all that much. What was China like, say, in 1951 or 1952, how quickly did Mao gain control of the country? What was he early unified government like? We're there resource shortages? Who were the trading partners? Etc.

Thank you to anyone who has this information or places to find this information!
 
Does anyone at least have some sources? Everything I've found basically skips the early fifties and goes straight to the Great Leap Forward.
 
Okay, look for some books from Chen Jiang for starters. To the best of my own knowledge, the Chinese were simultaneously trying to commit to the Cold War, going for Taiwan or intervening in Korea, or aid Ho Chi Minh. Yet at the same time, also knew their own nation was weak they were on the receiving end of Soviet aid at least till 60's
 
Only thing I can remember is a auto biography by a Chinese business man who returned to China in the 1940s to take over managment of the family business interests. He described the events of the civil war and Communist takeover up to the early 1960s when he managed to leave. I cant recall the authors name or title of the book. It was reprinted in the Readers Digest Condensed Books in the middle or late 1960s. Sorry I cant offer more.
 
To give an idea, a friend worked for a guy whose parents lived in China until they managed to get out in the late 50's. His employer told him that his father, who was had been an academic before the CP take over was forced to work as a farm hand. Every week he had to visit the village headman (who was the Communist Party boss in the area) and request forgiveness for his previous bourgeois attitudes and then undergo repeated and prolonged political re-education sessions which often involved being hit with bamboo canes.
 
Only thing I can remember is a auto biography by a Chinese business man who returned to China in the 1940s to take over managment of the family business interests. He described the events of the civil war and Communist takeover up to the early 1960s when he managed to leave. I cant recall the authors name or title of the book. It was reprinted in the Readers Digest Condensed Books in the middle or late 1960s. Sorry I cant offer more.

I have that one Escape From Red China by Robert Loh. It's from 1963. It's was a great read, very insightful.
 
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