4.2 Education and health provision

Question 1

What percentage of Chinese citizens were literate before 1949?

Answer 1

• 20% children were literate
• 45% men had some education
• 2% women had any type of schooling

Question 2

What was education like before 1949?

Answer 2

Education was mostly for the elitist and people in the rural areas couldn’t access education

Question 3

What was the problem with the Chinese script?

Answer 3

There was no common script and the script as majorly complicated

Question 4

What is Pinyin?

Answer 4

A consistent and reduced script used across China

Question 5

Why was there an educational collapse during the Cultural Revolution?

Answer 5

Middle schools and Universities were closed leaving 130 million children out of education. 100 million students in the up to the mountain and down to the villages campaign

Question 6

What was the increase of literate citizens like from 1960-1976?

Answer 6

• 50% were literate in 1960
• 70% literate in 1976

Question 7

How many children could access primary education by 1959?

Answer 7

100%

Question 8

What was created over winter periods to help teach adults to read and write?

Answer 8

Short term schools when harvest was great

Question 9

What was created over winter periods to help teach adults to read and write?

Answer 9

Short term schools when harvest was great

Question 10

What were barefoot doctors?

Answer 10

Chinese citizens trained in first and to administer vaccines. They were trained by the PLA. They were trained in hygiene, family planning as cheap remedies.

Question 11

How many barefoot doctors were there in 1965-70?

Answer 11

1965- 250,000
1970- 1 million

Question 12

What was the medical provision like within the communes?

Answer 12

• They had properly trained doctors
• each commune had a medical clinic
• barefoot doctors were more effective

Question 13

What diseases were wiped out by 1965?

Answer 13

Cholera, the plague and smallpox. Opium addiction was not a mass problem any longer

Question 14

By 1965, how many doctors were trained per year?

Answer 14

25000

Question 15

How many modern hospitals were there by Mao’s death?

Answer 15

800

Question 16

What was healthcare like by Mao’s death?

Answer 16

85% of rural china had healthcare of some division

Question 17

What happened to the life expectancy by 1976?

Answer 17

It had almost doubled
- 1949: 36 years
- 1976: 66 years

Question 18

What happened to infant mortality rate by 1976?

Answer 18

• 20/1000 in 1949
• 7/1000 in 1976

Question 19

What were some remaining inequalities in healthcare?

Answer 19

• Expensive drugs were only in the cities
• The best healthcare was only available for the party leaders

Question 20

What was Mao’s slogan for education?

Answer 20

Half work, half study

Question 21

Why was manual labour introduced to the curriculum?

Answer 21

• To provide experience for students who will play a major role in meeting industrial and agricultural targets during the revolution.
• New agricultural schools introduced to focus on vocational study

Question 22

What are the features of the “directive on education work”?

Answer 22

• Education should be both for learning and manual instruction
• Teachers should be employed based on their political commitments as well as their academic qualifications

Question 23

What was the impact of the higher education policies?

Answer 23

• University enrollment from 117,000 to 441,000.
• By 1953, 63 percent of students in engineering Medicine and agriculture.
• Some change but policies favoured the children of the government so access to education was imbalanced.
• A new communist elite replaced the Imperial one.

Question 24

Describe the policies for higher education

Answer 24

• Ministry of Education set up in 1952 to coordinate teaching plans and textbooks
• Students were trained so they could undertake specialised technical jobs to run a modern economy

Question 25

What was the impact of the policies to improve literacy?

Answer 25

- Although the government spent more on the war in Korea than on primary education, the literacy level rose from 20% in 1949 to 70% in 1976. - large number of students went to study at Russian universities. - Elitist attitudes remained.

Question 26

Describe the policies for improving literacy

Answer 26

- A national system of primary education was set up. - Key schools introduced where students had to pass entrance exams. - The greater concentration on science and technology

Question 27

Out of the 2.1% of females that attended primary school, how many completed?

Answer 27

38% in 1949

Question 28

What type of education was taught?

Answer 28

Traditional style education based on Confucian concepts that were designed for students that will become bureaucrats for Imperial dynasties.

Question 29

What was Mao’s view on education?

Answer 29

Mao thought traditional Chinese education was influenced by Western culture. Education did not serve the needs of the peasants and the population needed to be literate in order for economic and political growth.

Question 30

Between 1949 and 65, what did education policy focus on?

Answer 30

The introduction of reforms, with a focus on economic production and following the Soviet model.

Question 31

What was Mao’s aim for education?

Answer 31

To increase access to education.

Question 32

What were the problems in education?

Answer 32

- Not enough schools and universities. - Low literacy rates. - Old fashioned education implemented elite attitudes.