evidence: - The Han dynasty - The early republican period [...] The communist victory in 1949 brought to power a farmer party that had learned its techniques in the countryside but had adopted Marxist ideology and believed in class struggle and rapid industrial development. Extensive experience in running base areas and waging war before 1949 had given the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) deeply ingrained operational habits and proclivities. The long civil war that created the new nation, however, had been one of rural dwellers triumphing over urban dwellers and had involved the destruction of the old ruling classes. In addition, the party leaders recognized that they had no experience in overseeing the transitions to socialism and industrialism that would occur in China’s huge urban centers. For this, they turned to the only government with such experience—the Soviet Union. Western hostility against the People’s Republic of China, sharpened by the Korean War, contributed to the intensity of the ensuing Sino-Soviet relationship. When the CCP proclaimed the People’s Republic, most Chinese understood that the new leadership would be preoccupied with industrialization. A priority of the communist political system was to raise China to the status of a great power. While pursuing this goal, the "center of gravity" of communist policy shifted from the countryside to the city, but Chairman Mao Zedong insisted that the revolutionary vision forged in the rural struggle would continue to guide the party.