Social and cultural changes 1949 - 76

Question 1

Before 1949, what was life like for women?

Answer 1

Birth of a daughter not celebrated (sometimes killed), arranged marriages were common, not provided with educational opportunities

Question 2

What was foot binding

Answer 2

The practise of a girl having her feet bound at the age of 6 to make them as small as possible to be sexually appealing to suitors. Often would leave them crippled.

Question 3

What law did Mao instate and when in support of women.

Answer 3

The 1950 marriage law

Question 4

What famous quote did Mao make about women

Answer 4

“Women hold up half the sky”

Question 5

What did the 1950 marriage law entail

Answer 5

Concubinage and arranged marriages were banned, husbands and wives had equal status at home, a wife could inherit husbands assets, divorce much easier

Question 6

In what way was the new marriage law not entirely effective

Answer 6

The law led to increased divorce rates which made husbands feel they had lost their investments, violence broke out as mobs tried to reclaim divorced wives.

Question 7

How were women treated on the communes

Answer 7

Almost on par with men however they still did domestic chores, they did equal work on the fields, they had to leave children in dirty kindergartens.

Question 8

What were the issues with women being equal to men on the communes

Answer 8

Women physically less strong than men hence found hard manual labour far more taxing which resulted in less work points, they turned to prostitution for food, sex abuse common, pregnant women forced to work during pregnancy.

Question 9

What association did Mao start in support of women

Answer 9

The Women’s Association

Question 10

What did the Women’s Association campaign against

Answer 10

Prostitution, domestic violence, encouraged women to denounce men who had beaten their wifes.

Question 11

How many members did the Women’s Association have at its peak

Answer 11

76 million

Question 12

How many rural girls completed primary school in 1929 compared to 1959

Answer 12

38% in 1929 and 100% in 1959

Question 13

What did the PLA encourage

Answer 13

For women to join and pursue officer rank, a degree status unheard of not only in China but the world.

Question 14

What evidence was there to show the improved status of women

Answer 14

Women actually started courting party cadres to secure economic stability (for the streets), women attended ‘speak bitterness’ meetings, ballet called the Red Detachment of Women showing them as civil war heroes

Question 15

Problems with reforms for women

Answer 15

Took time for many people (men) to adjust to as they still saw domestic chores as a women’s job, in more rural areas the practices still continued such as Xingjiang.

Question 16

What percentage of males and females attended school before 1949

Answer 16

45.2% of males and 2.2% of females

Question 17

What percentage of the population was illiterate before 1949

Answer 17

80%

Question 18

How MANY children attended school between 1949 and 1957

Answer 18

approx. 26 million to 64 million

Question 19

Who did ‘Winter Schools’ cater for

Answer 19

short courses for old peasants

Question 20

What was the new language created for everyone to speak

Answer 20

Pinyin

Question 21

What were the failures of educational reform

Answer 21

Education woefully underfunded at 6.4% of budget spent on education and culture, standard of teaching very poor some teachers barely literate themselves, during the Great Leap Forward many students did not attend to tend to their furnaces

Question 22

What happened to education during the cultural revolution

Answer 22

Schools and Universities closed, 130 million people received no formal education

Question 23

Who were the ‘barefoot doctors’

Answer 23

They were paramedics sent to rural areas to provide basic care for peasants, only trained for 6 months

Question 24

What did the CCP launch to educate peasants on how to prevent illness

Answer 24

Patriotic Health Movements

Question 25

How many operas were allowed

Answer 25

8

Question 26

Who was in charge of cultural changes

Answer 26

Jiang Qing Mao’s wife

Question 27

What did Mao say about Art and where

Answer 27

“There is no such thing as Art for Art’s sake or art that is detached from or independent from politics” said at Yan’an

Question 28

What were Mao’s quarters in the forbidden city filled with

Answer 28

Full of books about classical Chinese Culture. He loved the stuff ironically.

Question 29

What famous quote did mao say about culture in general

Answer 29

‘the dead still rule today’

Question 30

What campaign did Mao launch against Culture and when did he launch it

Answer 30

The Four Olds Campaign in 1966

Question 31

Which religion did the CCP particularly persecute

Answer 31

Islam and Buddism

Question 32

What ancient Chinese religion was also persecuted

Answer 32

Confuciansism

Question 33

What did people do during Chinese New Year before Mao

Answer 33

Burn joss sticks to honour their ancestors, make offerings to the Kitchen God and receive ‘hongbao’ small packets of money

Question 34

What did people do during Chinese New Year after Mao

Answer 34

Erect a portrait of Chairman Mao with banners reading ‘long live the peoples republic’, instead of money giving children should be read traditional folk tales about the struggle for liberation.