Social and cultural changes 1949-76 Flashcards
What role did cultural and social policies serve?
They served a vital ideological function. The policies were intended to do much more than eradicate outdated practises like foot-binding, and remove glaring inequalities in the treatment of women such as arranged marriages. They were intended to sweep away old-fashioned values, based on obedience to traditional authority figures, and replace them with a new classless society, where the only source of authority was the communist party.
What was Mao anxious about toward his legacy?
That his legacy should be permanent rather than die with him, so changing society itself would play a essential part in making this possible. Only by getting ordinary people to behave and think like Communists could the long term future of communism be guaranteed.
What did the main social policies involve?
They involved removing barriers to gender equality and creating a workforce sufficiently healthy and educated to sustain faster economic growth. However, they also involved destroying links with the past and its alternative value systems, such as Confucianism, religious beliefs and a capitalist mindset.
What did the cultural policies involve?
Like the social policies, the cultural changes were meant to create a new approach in the place of the old, but in this respect the outcomes were less successful. The old was temporarily destroyed, but nothing new of lasting value was put into place.
What was traditional Chinese society like pre 1949?
Traditional Chinese society was patriarchal and based on Confucian values, a key element of which was obedience. It was the duty of women to obey men. The harmony of society depended on this.
What were women’s rights like pre 1949?
While the 1911 revolution had led to women receiving more rights, it had not brought equality to the same extent as men, and many old practises were still being followed at the time of the communist revolution, particularly in rural areas, where change was inevitably slower.
What did Clause six say in the Common programme 1949?
It promised the abolition restrictions affecting women and affirmed their right to equal treatment with men in political, economic, cultural, education, and social spheres, and the freedom of men and women to marry whoever they wanted.
What else did eradicating all signs of China’s feudal past require?
Destroying the concept of the family as the basic social unit. This was for two reasons:
- Family relations embodied the Confucian values of obedience to parents and elders.
- the existence of the family encouraged a bourgeoise mindset, because it tempted people to attach to much importance to acquiring personal possessions.
How significant was the change for women
Without doubt, the status of women was significantly raised by the Communists. However, merely passing new laws is not enough to alter deeply ingrained attitudes, so the impact of the reforms were much more limited in practise than it was theory.
The marriage law 1950
Dramatically changed the basis of marriage, from a contractual arrangement between families to something freely entered into between two individuals. Mao had been personally affected by this in his teens when he refused to marry someone at 14 although the bride price was already paid.
How did Mao’s personal experiences help change his attitudes toward women?
It seemed to spark a genuine urge on his part to promote women’s rights and, as his power within the CCP grew, he made it clear that he regarded advancing women’s rights was an integral part of the Communist programme.
What did the new marriage law 1950 mean?
- practise of arranged marriages was outlawed
- the right to divorce
- all marriages and divorce registered to local government
- Women have right to keep property they had previously owned
- Concubinage and Polygamy were outlawed
How much importance did the Communists attach to the marriage law?
The importance is shown by the speed with which they tackled the issue, drafting it while the civil war was going on. In order to enforce it effectively, they deluged the public with huge propaganda in the press, on the radio, and through posters and leaflets.
How was the impact of the marriage law limited?
The impact of the law was limited due to traditional resistance, which was much more pronounced in the west, Muslim regions. As a result, 1953, a second propaganda drive was launched, but this too was undermined by the outlook of party cadres, many of whom resented the changes.
How did the land redistribution campaign affect women 1950?
It appeared to have advanced the cause of women’s emancipation significantly, as it gave women the chance to own land in their own name for the first time.
How did the communes affect women’s lives?
In theory, the communes should have been beneficial towards women, because it was envisaged that they would provide canteens, laundries and kindergarten’s to free women from domestic chores, enabling them to concentrate on working on the land.
How did the communes not live up to its expectation for women?
Few communes could supply the range of support facilities, the reality was far less liberating. The working conditions in agriculture put women at serious disadvantage. Typically, they earned less work points than men because of the nature of the work. Furthermore the cadres responsible for enforcing discipline were still stuck in traditional attitudes towards sexual equality and women were treated more harshly than men.
How did women’s vulnerability increase during the famine (1958-62)?
As food was even scarcer, and as men were more productive they could get more food rations.
The Communists destroying traditional family life
it symbolised the Confucian values. The communes were an attempt to remove this, reducing women’s roles as family raisers. The party was so determined to destroy traditional attitudes that Men and Women were split up and could only see each other occasionally.
How did the family as a unit become greatly attacked during the Cultural revolution?
It fell into the category of the ‘four olds’. Children were told that Mao and the party were their true parents, to whom they owed loyalty, and children were told to snitch on relatives still attached to old attitudes. This had an enormous effect on the disruption of family relationships.
The nature and extent of change
The most obvious advances were gained by women in terms of their rights came about because of the marriage law. Over 1 million women after the first year eradicated their arranged marriages. However, while the law, along with the continued decline of Confucian values, reduced the power of parents over their daughters. Parents were merely replaced with the state in the guise of a woman’s work unit.
How else did women benefit?
Women did make rapid advancements in terms of taking up opportunities for payed employment and were entitled to the same pay as men. Although, the piece work rate for women was lower due to the physical tasks. The proportion of women in the overall workforce quadrupled from 8% to 32%.
How did the cultural revolution effect women?
It worsened the position of women all round- the cause of emancipation went backwards because class, rather than gender, issues were considered more important in this period, and their role within the family was undermined by the attacks on the ‘four olds’. Meanwhile, women in the Red Guards were accepted if they lived up to the same violence as men.
Problem of changing traditional views
Resistance to female emancipation was strongest in the inland rural areas especially in Muslim regions where religion heavily played a part.
