4 - Reforming in China Flashcards
In this chapter you will learn about: -the process of land reform and how this affected Chinese peasants -how the Chinese revolution changed the role and status of women -the progress made in establishing a system of universal education in China -the progress made in improving public health
Who was the Common Programme drawn up by? When?
- The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee
- September 1949
What did Article 5 of the Common Programme guarantee?
the Rights of
- freedom of though
- speech
- publication
- assembly
- association
- correspondence
- the person
- domicile
- movement
- religious beliefs
- freedom to hold processions and demonstrations
to everybody but ‘political reactionaries’
I don’t think you need to remember all that. The answer should be ‘basic rights to all people of China apart from those labelled as ‘political reactionaries’
How did the Common Programme promise economic change?
Through land reform
Name the 2 key clauses in the Common Programme that addressed social change?
- equal rights for women, ending their lives of ‘bondage’
- emphasis on the need for universal, free education
Before 1949 which 2 methods regarding land had Mao used to gain the support of the peasants?
- rent reductions
- land confiscation
Now that the CPC were in power, how did Mao go about his land reforms?
- confiscation
- redistribution
Who did Mao confiscate land off? Who did he give it to?
- rich landlords
- poorer peasants and landless labourers
Who did Mao specifically not confiscate land off? Why?
- better-off peasants
- because he recognised that the food produced by the wealthier peasants was essential to the nation as a whole
What were local peasants encouraged by the CPC cadres to do?
Identify and humiliate or attack their landlords
What did the CPC do to the relationship of the peasants and landlords? Why?
- stoked up class-conflict
- in order to cement the relationship between CHina’s peasants and the communist revolution
What was the effect of the land reforms?
- broke the power of the landlord class
- surviving relatives cowed into submission
“Collective agriculture was seen as the best way to bring more modern methods of farming to the Chinese countryside.” True or False?
True
What was hoped would be achieved by collectivising agriculture?
Increase food production
Why did Mao not force the peasants into larger collective farms at first?
He believed it would encounter resistance that would threaten to undermine peasant support for the revolution
What were mutual aid teams?
Groupings of about 10 families that pooled labour and equipment
Who did women owe obedience to?
- ‘proper’ authority
- wife to husband
- daughter to father
- widow to eldest son
Name 3 practices involving women that were common in the early 20th Century (in China)?
- foot binding
- arranged marriages
- concubines (mistresses kept by powerful men)
Why were the lives of female peasants particularly hard?
Expected to
- work in fields
- raise children
- carry on handicraft work at home
Mao’s concubines.
Officially referred to as the PLA dance troupe they were treated as ‘imperial concubines’ expected to provide for the Chairman’s sexual needs
What percentage of uni students were female in 1922?
2.5%
What was the rate of social change in the countryside?
Non-existent or very slow
What happened in the Jiangxi province in the 1930s?
- arranged marriages were outlawed
- it became illegal to purchase wives
- women given the right to vote
- Mao stipulated that 1/4 of those elected to representative bodies had to be women
What did the Communists address after they took power in 1949?
Women’s rights
When was the New Marriage Law?
1950
