Depth 3: Social and cultural changes, 1949-76

Question 1

(The changing status of women)

Before?

Answer 1

• They were traditionally inferior to firstly their father, secondly the huspand when married and thirds their sons when they hit old age. (Subject to)
• Building a ‘new culture’
• Early age Mao was critical of these traditions
• Cultural revolution had a big impact

Question 2

(The changing status of women)

Foot binding?

Answer 2

• Women were psychically crippled by it
• Practice began by the ruling class
• from the age of 6yrs old
• Toes were turned under the feet by bandages
  = Small feet were sexually appealing
• Band in 1911, but still continued e.g. in Northern villages
• Anti foot being movement began in the 1880’s by Christian missionaries

Question 3

(The changing status of women)

1950 Marriage law?

Answer 3

• New marriage law was one of the first legislations put forward by Mao
• Women received legal equality from it: could hold property and seek divorce
• Paying dowries or bride prices were forbidden and children marriage was banned. Had to be 18+
• Statistics show between 1946-49 > in 18.6% marriages bride was 16-17yrs old. By 1958-65 this dropped to 2.4%
• Late 1940s, 30.6% marriages were organised and by 1966-76 this dropped to 0.8%

Question 4

(The changing status of women)

Problems with the new marriage law?

Answer 4

• Men paid he bride prices expected to reap economic reward
• Divorce rate rocketing to 1.4 million filed in 1953
• Status of mother in law was reduced
• Armed mobs tried to violently re-claim divorced wives e.g. one man shackled his wife and made her cut wood

Cadres:

• Hostile to the new law
• Refused to uphold the law in rural areas

Muslim areas:

• Resented it
• Still maintained traditional ways

Question 5

(The changing status of women)

The impact of collectivisation an the communes on women’s lives?

Answer 5

• Chinese women were labelled as a ‘vast reserve of labour power’
• Bring libration through labour and earn equal pay
• ‘Iron women’ (matched men)
• Freed from domestic roles, but still largely had continued doing them
• Ploughing, driving tractors etc…

Question 6

(Impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives)
Kindergartens?

Answer 6

• Separated for weeks at a time and pioritise economical production
• Daxing counting children ate and slept on the floor
• Staffed by huffily trained elder and very young women
• Standards for care were appalling e.g. Diarrhoea, measles, worms etc. E.g. Being cotton factors kindergarten 90% children got sick
• In Shanghai it was recorded nappies had been unchanged
• Children were also stolen by starving adults and under the GLF the kindergartens collapsed

Question 7

(Impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives)
Communal canteens?

Answer 7

• Poor quality food
• Food based on psychical labour performed = women get less than men
• Men needed strength so were prioritised

Question 8

(Impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives)
The work points?

Answer 8

• Women received less

- sacrificed paid labour for domestics

Question 9

(Impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives)
Abuse and discrimination?

Answer 9

• Forced to work through pregnancy
• Pregnant mothers who refused to work were stripped and had to break ice in the middle of winter in one commune
• Victims of advanced e.g. in one commune 2 party secretaries raped 34 women and Northern village 27
• Hunan factory forced women to work naked

Question 10

(Impact of collectivisation and the communes on women’s lives)
Despair?

Answer 10

• Forced into prostiution as sex gave them food

- Suicides increased

Question 11

(Changing status of women)

Nature and extent of change

Answer 11

• Women were promoted as locomotive drivers i.e. party propaganda film women engineer

Women’s association > 40,000 staff in 83 cities. Publishing books, pamphlets and newspapers. 76 million membership . They set out ploughing lessons, classes literacy and political ideas. They have financial support to weave uniforms or shoes for PLA (traditional however). Conference for ‘speak bitterness’ meetings

Cultural rev > Same moist uniform. Led Red guards as well. Women 8 to 12% from 1958 to 66, 16 and 21% from 1970 to 1974 being party cadres

Question 12

(Changing status of women)

Changes in Education and employment

Answer 12

• Start after 1959 100% complete education. 1978 45% primary school children were girls
• Autumn 1949, PLA listed unmarried, educated female students form 18 to 19 for military academies
• Men restricted (Han not allowed to marry non-Han)
• February 1951 advertisement New Daily recruit female students explored to oil and gas reserves

Question 13

(Changing status of women)

Problems of changing traditional views > focus on countryside

Answer 13

• Collectivisation of land ended possibility of women owning
• Peasants women location and gender
• Women still had less influential jobs
• Divorces struggled and were cut off from families
• Modern contraception was rare as there was an aim to increase the Chinese population

Question 14

(Education)

Improving literacy?

Answer 14

• New form written language
• 1949 to 1957 no. primary school students increased from 26 million to 64 million
• Rural areas = mini-pan (run by the people). Key to improve access
• 42 million peasants attend the winter schools in 1951-52
• 78% of the population remained illiterate and only 53% of the school age attending
• Pinyin led to increase of literacy rates of 20% in 1949 to 70% in 1976

Question 15

(Education)

Higher education?

Answer 15

• University enrolment almost quadrupled from 117,000 to 441,000
• Higher education modelled closely to Soviet, sprite ministry of education was created in November 1952
• 1952 to 1959, 38,00 Chinese students trained in Russian unis
• 26 new engineering institutes opened in 1953 63% of students were in engineering (great for communism)

Question 16

(Education)

Introduction of Pinyin?

Answer 16

• modernised form of photic Madarin, language of most China
• officially adopted in 1956 at assist spread of literacy, which was being handicapped by the law of stanadaried form of language . Mandarin had problem with being prpidnced different in regions and no alphabet
• Done by Zhou Yougang who asked oversee Education ministry. Pinyin all sounds given particular symbol so more straightforward
• Closure of schools + unis for much 1966-70 meant education some 130 million young stopped. Even Red guards away in mountains not at school.
• When schools did re-open it was diffuclt to restore belief in the system. Zhou attempted to restore in four moderations but it took time

Question 17

(Education)

Failures of education reform?

Answer 17

• System inequitable > requirements favoured children of old bourgeoisie and new privileged class
• Uni’s still mainly serviced urban students
• Teaching in villages left to barley educated cadres
• Peasants forgot what learnt from one winter to next

Question 18

(Health provision)

Barefoot doctors?

Answer 18

• 1 million medical trainers
• 6 months intensive study
• Simple hygiene, free basic healthcare and preventive health care
• Threehold purpose: medical, ideological (helped in agriculture) and economic

Question 19

(Health provision)

Successes of health care reform?

Answer 19

• Prevention empahtisis
• Deeper wells and disposing human waste further from homes
• Not to ‘night soil’
• Need control snails and eradicated ‘four pests’
• Life expectancy increased from 41yrs in 1950 to 62yrs in 1970
• Infant mortality rates also decreased in same period

Question 20

(Health provision)

Failures of health care reform?

Answer 20

• Facilities were limited
• Urban workers best access to treatment
• Lower level care in rural areas

Question 21

(How far did the role and status of women improve)
collectivisation and the establishment of the commune system during the GLF considerably changed the role of women during the period.

Answer 21

• social welfare provided by communes initially transformed the lives of women. For example the introduction of communal canteens were meant to release women from responsibility for feeding the family, kindergartens released women from the burden of childcare.
• Mao claimed that enabling women to work would bring ‘liberation through labour’ and argued that this represented a form of equality because if women worked they could earn equal pay for equal work.

However: women still received less work points than men regardless of their productivity and skill. Women were still expected to work through pregnancy.

Question 22

(How far did the role and status of women improve 1949-76)

improvements to the education system improved the status of women in this period.

Answer 22

• mass literacy campaigns spearheaded by the introduction of pinyin in 1955 led to an increase in literacy rates in women.
• by 1951 the PLA recruited professionals, skilled workers and students in female work teams to work and exploit natural resources.
• rural girls who started school between 1929 and 1949 showed that only 38% completed their primary education whereas it was 100% for those who started after 1959.

However: women suffered from the closure of schools and universities in china during the cultural revolution.

Question 23

Women had limited political oppurinties?

Answer 23

• female members of National People’s congress only increased from 14% in 1954 to 23% in 1975.
• women only accounted for 13% of CCP membership

-most women at national government level owed their
influence in large part to their husbands. For example Wang Guangmei became famous for her support of her
husband Liu Shaoqi.

However: the creation of the women’s association which encouraged political activism and mobilise the population behind the regime. It set up ploughing lessons for women, organised classes to improve literacy and for the study of political ideas.

Question 24

(The effects of the cultural revolution on education)

the number of students attending schools was minimal due to the cultural revolution

Answer 24

• by 1957 the number of primary school students increased from 26 to 64 million
• by 1960 there were approximately 30,000 schools, one per commune with 2.9 million students
• in 1966 130 million young people stopped receiving an education

However: elitism was dominant in the education system thus despite attendance being higher they did not all receive the same quality of education

Question 25

(The effects of the cultural revolution on education)

progress towards literacy levels was jeopardised.

Answer 25

• the national literacy rate rose from 20% in 1949 to 50% in 1960 and 64% in 1964.
• by 1976 the literacy rate stood at 70%

However: early progress would have been faster if the government had spent more on primary education.

Question 26

(The effects of the cultural revolution on education)

it can be argued that the cultural revolution allowed further improvements to education to be made.

Answer 26

• during the cultural revolution the only purpose of education had been to serve the revolution. Learning was not regarded as having any intrinsic value.
• after the revolution, there was greater emphasis on practical work and vocational training as well as fewer exams being taken. This can be viewed as a success for Mao’s vision of a more egalitarian education system.

However: this did not provide the children of china with a well rounded education instead socialised them into the nature of the party.