4.3 Cultural change

Question 1

What was the purpose of culture according to Mao?

Answer 1

Mao believed culture served a clear purpose in politics. He wanted to impose new proletarian culture on China to protect the gains from the revolution. He though that artists should be ordinary people to reflect common peoples concerns.

Question 2

Why did the communists attempt to change Chinese culture?

Answer 2

To establish a new proletarian culture to ensure the revolution’s survival

Question 3

What was agitation propaganda?

Answer 3

Where touring groups would visit rural areas in China to showcase plays where the common message would be how the good (peasants and workers) triumphed over evil (landlords) to influence public opinion.

Question 4

How was Tiananmen Square remodelled?

Answer 4

• It was extended to accommodate over 500,000 people
• With no trees or benches to get in the way of people attending rallies

Question 5

What were the Ten Great Buildings?

Answer 5

Buildings designed to showcase the new China for the 10th anniversary celebrations in 1959 that were constructed in 1958-59

Question 6

What are three examples of the Ten Great Buildings?

Answer 6

• The Great Wall of the People
• Beijing Railway Station
• Workers Stadium

Question 7

What is the Land Reform of 1950?

Answer 7

• Aimed to get rid of Confucian culture
• The power of the landlords broken and peasant interests safeguard by the state

Question 8

What was the role of Jiang Qing?

Answer 8

• In the Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG)
• To help Mao remove and destroy Chinese culture.
• Imposed censorship on theatre performances for evidence of revisionist content.
• In opera, removed feudal characters and replaced them with heroic revolutionary peasants.

Question 9

What did Jiang Qing refer to herself as after Mao’s death?

Answer 9

Chairman Mao’s dog - “whoever he asked me to bite, I bit”

Question 10

Where were unwilling creative artists sent?

Answer 10

Re-education labour camps

Question 11

What was the main result of Jiang’s control?

Answer 11

To completely stifle creativity

Question 12

How many operas did Jiang commission?

Answer 12

Eight opera ballets, which symbolised the triumph of heroic workers over their class oppressors

Question 13

What happened to paintings?

Answer 13

• Peasant women were trained by the party to produce wall paintings promoting the Great Leap Forward.
• During the Cultural Revolution, ex-professional artists were sent to coach them further to demonstrate that proletarian art