SOCIAL Flashcards
what was the role of women before 1949?
- Many baby girls were the victim of infanticide
- Arranged marriages were common
- Concubines were common
- Women were subject to the 3 obediences
- Girls were not provided with educational opportunities
- They often partook in Foot Bindings
what were the 3 obidences?
a women should be obedient to:
- her father before marriage
- her husband during marriage
- her son after death of husband
what was the Marriage Law introduced by Mao?
1950
- Concubinage & arranged marriages are banned
- Husbands and wives have equal status at home
- the exchange of money or gifts for marriage was banned
- a wife could inherit her husbands property
- Divorce was much easier
was the New Marriage Law effective?
not entirely
- led to increased divorce rate
- husbands lost what they saw as a financial investment
- violence broke out in poorer peasant families as people tried to reclaim divorced wives
what impact did collectivisation have on women’s lives?
- women were forced to work on the land (meant to make them equal but still did domestic work)
- many women turned to sex work to buy food
- women received little food from the communal kitchens
- sexual abuse was common in the communes
what was the Women’s Association
it was dedicated to encouraging political activism among women - had a membership of 76 million - it campaigned against sex work and domestic violence in women
what were the changes in education for women?
- The CCP encouraged more families to send girls to school
- Between 1929 and 1949 only 35% completed their primary education
- 100% of women who started after 1959 completed their secondary education
- By 1978 45% of primary school children are girls
what evidence was there that for an improvement of status for women?
- Many women took advantage of the new opportunities (i.e. escaped unhappy marriages)
- many women declared in the ‘Speak Bitterness’ campaign
- Women politicised during the Cultural Revolution
- Maoist propaganda challenged gender views
what were the problems of challenging traditional views?
- Husbands still saw domestic work and childcare were women’s work
- Many party Cadres did not enforce legislation like the New Marriage Law
- Traditional practices still continued in rural China (foot binding, arranged marriages, e.c.t)
what was the standard of education in China in 1949?
- only 45.2% of males and 2.2% of females received any education
- Males averaged 4 years of schooling and Females who attended had 3
- 80% of the population were illiterate
- classical education was based on Confucian ideas
- the education system was elitist
what happened to the literacy rates in China?
- stood at 64% by 1964
- Pinyin was created as the official language of China to simplify all the many regional differences
- Winter schools were opened for peasants (42 million peasants attended 1951-52)
what were the failures of educational reform?
- Education remained elitist
- Education was underfunded (only 6.4% of budget was spent on culture and education in 1952)
- The standard or rural teaching was very poor
- Winter schools were not very effective
how did education collapse after 1966?
- university and schools closed during the cultural revolution
- over 130 million young people did not receive any education
- many teachers were killed and books destroyed
- after the Red Guards were disbanded the young were sent to work in the countryside and still received no education
what was the largest cause of disease in rural China?
- due to living on the verge of starvation epidemic diseases were very common
- Waterborne diseases were the most common due to the use of human manure as fertiliser (e.g typhoid, cholera, e.c.t)
what were Barefoot Doctors?
doctors trained for 6 months and sent into rural areas to provide basic care - could only provide basic health care - by 1973 over 1 million doctors had been trained
what were the successes of the heath care reform?
- villages were mobilised in efforts to drain swamps that breed malaria
- Smallpox, Cholera, typhus, plague and leprosy were nearly eliminated
- Life expectancy almost doubled and infant mortality went from almost 50% to 0.3%
what was the Patriotic Health Movement?
set to educate peasants to prevent illness - posters taught illiterate peasants how to catch rats and mosquitoes / dig deep wells to get clean water - also taught the importance of personal hygiene
what were the failures of Healthcare reform?
- There was very uneven health provision was very uneven from rural and urban China
- Many doctors were attacked in the Anti’s campaigns in 1950’s
- Doctors were denounced in the Cultural Revolution
how did Mao use culture?
as a way of controlling the thoughts of the people and inculcate Communist ideology
what reforms did Mao introduce to affect culture?
- 1950 Land reform (end of village life & traditional festivals)
- 1949-50 reunification campaign (destruction of ancient culture)
- 1966 ‘4 Olds’ campaign
what was the role of Jiang Qing?
Mao’s 4th wife - she imposed censorship of music, theatre and art - she used the cultural revolution to purge anyone who knew about her bourgeois past
how did Jiang Qing role change in the Cultural Revolution?
became the ‘Cultural Tsar’ and gave her huge power and influence - 1969 she joined the Politburo and the Gang of 4 - she tried to use the Revolution to ensure she would inherit control after Mao.
what happened to directors in the Cultural Revolution?
performances of foreign works were banned - Directors were fired, attacked by Red Guards and some committed suicide
what happened to operas and plays in the Cultural Revolution?
- there were only 8 new operas and plays allowed by Jiang Qing (described as ‘cultural desert’
- all advocated Communist ideology
- Deng Xiaoping described it like ‘you find yourself in a battlefield’
- all boosted Mao’s cult of personality
