Historian's Views (China Essay)

Question 1

John Fairbank on the power of the state due to people’s communes.

Answer 1

‘the state had become the ultimate landlord’

Question 2

Jonathan Fenby on June 1966 and the suspension of schooling

Answer 2

‘this freed 103 million primary pupils, 13 million in secondary schools and half a million at university.’

Question 3

Peng Dhuai on why the GLF failed

Answer 3

failure of the GLF comes “basically from a lack of experience”

Question 4

Simon Leys on the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution

Answer 4

“nothing revolutionary about it, except its name”

Question 5

John Fairbank on the great leap forward

Answer 5

“one of the greatest human failures”

Question 6

Phillip short on the hundred flowers campaign

Answer 6

‘was a trap for the thousands of loyal citizens who had taken the party at its word’

Question 7

Tom Ryan on the quality of life for people in the provinces

Answer 7

‘the suffering of rural people was needlessly exacerbated by the whims of Chairman mao’

Question 8

Jung Chang and Jon Halliday on the brutality of Red Guards

Answer 8

‘red guards tramped down the streets inciting bonfires of destruction and the screams of victims’

Question 9

Maurice Meisner on China in the early years

Answer 9

‘cities were governed honestly and efficiently for the first time in modern Chinese history’

Question 10

Jung and Jon on Mao’s aims in early years

Answer 10

‘his aim was to scare and brutalise the entire population’

Question 11

Short, Lawrence, Lynch, Chang and Halliday on hundred flowers overall

Answer 11

was an intentional trap to expose and remove the critics of the CCP

Question 12

CCP volunteer Sidney Rittenburg on Mao

Answer 12

‘he was one of the best listeners… he focussed his whole being on you’