Theme 4: Social and Cultural Changes

Question 1

What percentage of females over the age of 7 had acquired basic literacy skills compared to males in the 1930s?

Answer 1

1% females
30% males

Question 2

What was foot binding and why was it used?

Answer 2

Foot binding was a process where the feet were wrapped in bandages to stunt their growth and make them smaller; considered attractive.

Question 3

What did the 1950 Marriage Law change?

Answer 3

Banned cocubinage and arranged marriages
Husbands and wives were to have equal status in the household
Money or gifts in return for marriage was banned
Divorce was made easier

Question 4

What was the response to the Marriage Law?

Answer 4

Increased divorce rates

Violence in poorer peasant families

Question 5

How were women disadvantaged in communes physically?

Answer 5

Forced to complete physically ill-suited tasks

Question 6

Why did women turn to prostitution or suicide as a result of the commune system?

Answer 6

The communes provided very little food, as it was allocated based on work points (physical labour performed)

Question 7

How did the commune system destroy the family unit?

Answer 7

Mothers were separated from children in order to work and couples were separated

Question 8

What was The Women’s Association? (members, aims)

Answer 8

Dedicated to encouraging political activism among women, campaigned against prostitution and domestic violence, encouraged women to denounce abusive men

76 million

Question 9

What percentage of rural girls completed their primary education between 1929-49 compared to after 1959?

Answer 9

38% in 1929-49

100% after 1959

Question 10

By 1978, what percentage of primary school children were girls?

Answer 10

45%

Question 11

What opportunities did the PLA provide for women after 1949?

Answer 11

Encouraged to join
Escape rural poverty
Improved status

Question 12

What were ‘speak bitterness’ meetings?

Answer 12

Meetings organised to denounce the regime’s enemies

Question 13

How did ‘speak bitterness’ meetings benefit women?

Answer 13

Could publicly declare opinions

Question 14

Why was it difficult to enforce reform for women?

Answer 14

Traditional male attitudes were hard to change

Question 15

What percentage of the population were illiterate in 1949?

Answer 15

80%

Question 16

Why was the education system unfair?

Answer 16

Elitist : dominated by the wealthy, charged tuition fees, entrance exams

Practical subjects not included e.g. arithmetic

Male dominated

Question 17

How many primary school students were there in 1949 compared to 1957?

Answer 17

1949 - 26 million
1957 - 64 million

Question 18

What was the literacy rate in 1964?

Answer 18

64%

Question 19

What was Pinyin?

Answer 19

A language that used simplified characters to standardise the traditional Chinese language

Question 20

What percentage of the governmental budget was spent on education in 1952?

Answer 20

6.4%

Question 21

Why were rural students disadvantaged?

Answer 21

Poorer teaching standards

Question 22

How was education affected by the Cultural Revolution? (statistic)

Answer 22

Schools and universities closed

Up to 130 million received no formal education

Question 23

Who were the main victims of the Cultural Revolution?

Answer 23

Teachers

Question 24

What were barefoot doctors?

Answer 24

Paramedics sent to rural areas to provide basic healthcare to peasants

Question 25

Why were barefoot doctors not fully beneficial?

Answer 25

Basic training focused on improving hygiene, stopping the spread of disease and contraception

Little equipment and low supplies of meds

Question 26

How many doctors had been trained by 1973?

Answer 26

> 1 million

Question 27

What were Patriotic Health Movements, what media was used and why?

Answer 27

Sending Party members into the countryside to educate peasants in how to prevent illness

Posters with pictures because many were illiterate

Question 28

What happened to life expectancy and infant mortality rate as a result of the health care reforms?

Answer 28

Life expectancy rose

Infant mortality fell

Question 29

Why was there a lack of well-trained doctors?

Answer 29

They were attacked during the first Antis campaign and sent to the Laogai

Question 30

Why was Mao against culture?

Answer 30

He believed it could be used to control the thoughts of people and inculcate Communist ideology

Question 31

When did Mao launch the ‘Four Olds’ campaign and what were they?

Answer 31

August 1966

Old habits, cultures, customs and ideas

Question 32

When was Jiang Qing appointed to the CCRG and what was her ambition?

Answer 32

1966

Destroy traditional Chinese culture and replace it with revolutionary Communism

Question 33

What did Jiang Qing do regarding culture?

Answer 33

Imposed censorship of music, theatre and art

Banned performances that encouraged old ‘feudal’ ideas

Question 34

How did Jiang Qing use the Cultural Revolution to her advantage?

Answer 34

Intimidate enemies
Rid herself of anyone who might prevent her rise to power
Purge anyone from her bourgeois past

Question 35

How was revolutionary art and culture implemented?

Answer 35

Performances of foreign works were banned

Directors and writers blacklisted

Traditional plays replaced by ones that encouraged Communist ideology

Question 36

How many people had seen ‘Taking Tiger Mountain’?

Answer 36

7.3 billion people

Question 37

How many new operas and plays were allowed?

Answer 37

8

Question 38

How was religion viewed by the CCP?

Answer 38

Feudal superstition, represented the old and outdated views

Question 39

What was religion referred to as?

Answer 39

‘opiate’

Question 40

How were Buddhists attacked during the Reunification Campaigns?

Answer 40

Buddhist monasteries were attacked and monks sent to Laogai

Temples taken over and used for other things

Question 41

What values did Confucianism promote?

Answer 41

Family and kinship

Respect for others

Importance of ancestor worship

Question 42

How was Confucianism attacked?

Answer 42

Annual ceremonies banned

Red Guards destroyed memorials

Question 43

How were Muslims attacked?

Answer 43

Mosque schools closed

Land taken from Mosques and redistributed

Resistance was met with a response of imprisonment

Religious leaders tortured

Question 44

Why was the Communist attack on religion widely unsuccessful?

Answer 44

Old attitudes and traditions were too engrained into Chinese culture