Topic 4 - Social and Cultural Changes from 1949-76 - Education and Health Provision

Question 1

Education in 1949 - % of men and women who received any form of schooling. average attendance figures, and literacy rates in 1949?

Answer 1

• Only 45% of males and 2% of females had recieved any form of schooling
• Males average 4 years of schooling
• Females who did attend school average 3 years schooling
• 80% of the pop were illiterate

Question 2

Education in 1949 - Type of education and what kind of system?

Answer 2

• When children were educated, many received a classical education based on Confucianism – modern subjects for a modern economy EG maths and science were not included
• The system was elitist – the best kindergartens and primary schools were located in the cities’ wealthier neighbourhoods, charged prohibitive tuition fees, and set entrance exams that reduced access

Question 3

The growth of literacy - Change in number of primary school students?

Answer 3

• A national primary school was introduced for the first time
• Between 1949 and 1957 the number of primary school students increased from approximately 26 million to 64 million

Question 4

The growth of literacy - Rise in literacy rate (1949 compared to 1964)

Answer 4

Literacy rate stood at 64% by 1964 (20% in 1949)

Question 5

The growth of literacy - winter schools, workers, students being sent where?

Answer 5

• Winter schools provided short courses for adult peasants – the Party claimed that 42 million peasants attended in the winter of 1951-52
• There was a lack of modern day workers EG scientists, doctors, and technical experts, so universities focused more on these areas
• Many students were also sent to Russia to train at Russian universities

Question 6

Pinyin - Issues surrounding traditional Chinese language?

Answer 6

• The traditional Chinese language was very difficult to learn
• It varied from region to region to the point where people from different parts of the country could not understand each other at all

Question 7

Pinyin - What was introduced in order to help the difficulties of the Chinese language?

Answer 7

• To combat this, a new form of written language was introduced in order to simplify the traditional language
• This was called Pinyin, and became the official language of the whole of China

Question 8

Pinyin - Rise in literacy rates as a result of Pinyin and how many people using Pinyin by the end of Mao’s reign?

Answer 8

• Significant impact on the rise of literacy rates – 20% in 1949 compared to 64% in 1964 and 70% in 1976
• Pinyin would be in use by 80% of the Chinese people by the end of Mao’s reign

Question 9

Failures of educational reform - Elitism

Answer 9

Despite promises to provide greater opportunities for all, key schools with entrance exams that attracted the best students and teachers were commonplace for children of Party officials

Question 10

Failures of educational reform - Underfunding

Answer 10

Just 6.4% of the budget was spent on culture and education in 1952 – the standard of teaching in rural areas was also very poor with teachers who had hardly been trained themselves being asked to spread literacy

Question 11

Failures of educational reform - Winter schools and the GLF

Answer 11

• The winter schools were also not effective as peasants forgot what they had learned from one winter to the next
• During the GLF, many students could also not attend school due to working on backyard furnaces

Question 12

The collapse of education post 1966 - How many young people received no formal education during the CR?

Answer 12

• During the CR, schools and universities completely closed
• Up to 130 million young people received no formal education

Question 13

The collapse of education post 1966 - What did young people do instead of going to school?

Answer 13

Many joined red guards, travelling across the country to attend rallies or struggle meetings to denounce ‘demons and monsters’ – anyone who refused to abandon the ‘Four Olds’

Question 14

The collapse of education post 1966 - What happened to teachers during the CR?

Answer 14

• As educated representatives of traditional authority teachers were often the victim of Red Guards’ revolutionary violence
• Many were killed and books were destroyed

Question 15

The collapse of education post 1966 - What happened to young people after the Red Guards were disbanded?

Answer 15

• After the Red Guards were disbanded, many did not return to school
• Instead, they were sent to the countryside to work alongside the peasants as part of the ‘up to the mountains and down to the valleys campaign’

Question 16

The collapse of education post 1966 - What were the issues post red guards?

Answer 16

• Again, elitism remained, as children of Party members were able to use their connections to return to their old lives in the cities
• Those who remained lived a life of rural poverty

Question 17

The collapse of education post 1966 - Literacy rate increase from 1964-76?

Answer 17

From 1964-1976 the literacy rate only rose by 6%

Question 18

Healthcare provision in China pre reform - State of medicine and peasants?

Answer 18

• Public healthcare provision in China extremely rudimentary
• Many peasants in rural China had never seen a trained doctor and relied instead on ancient herbal cures for their illnesses
• With so many peasants living on the verge of hunger, their immune systems easily succumbed to epidemic disease

Question 19

Healthcare provision in China pre reform - What diseases were rife and what was a big issue?

Answer 19

• Waterborne diseases were rife such as Typhoid and Cholera
• Ignorance was also another factor: human manure was the main source of fertiliser

Question 20

The barefoot doctors scheme - What was the barefoot doctors scheme and how long were doctors trained for?

Answer 20

• Mao introduced the system of barefoot doctors – paramedics sent to rural areas to provide basic healthcare to the peasants
• These ‘doctors’ were trained intensively for just 6 months

Question 21

The barefoot doctors scheme - What skills did the doctors have and what could they provide in the villages?

Answer 21

• They were cheap to train and mainly focused on practical skills such as improving hygiene, stopping the spread of disease and contraception
• They could provide only rudimentary healthcare and village clinics had little equipment and low supplies of medicine

Question 22

The barefoot doctors scheme - Were the barefoot doctors effective and how many new doctors trained by 1973?

Answer 22

• Despite being often only barely trained students, they were often the only source of medical care in the village
• During Mao’s rule, many Chinese people were treated by a trained doctor for the first time
• They helped to educate the peasants in modern health ideals
• In total, by 1973 over a million new doctors had been trained

Question 23

Successes of healthcare reform - Patriotic health movements

Answer 23

The CCP launched Patriotic Health Movements that sent party members into the countryside to educate peasants on how to prevent illness in the first place – posters taught illiterate peasants how to catch rate and mosquitos or dig wells deep enough to collect drinking water while pointing out the importance or personal hygiene

Question 24

Successes of healthcare reform - What diseases were reduced and eliminated?

Answer 24

• Villages were mobilised in collective efforts to drain swamps that bred malaria
• Smallpox, cholera, typhus, typhoid fever, plague and leprosy were practically eliminated
• Cases of tuberculosis were reduced

Question 25

Successes of healthcare reform - Life expectancy in 1949 vs 1957 and the use of anti-drug campaigns

Answer 25

• Life expectancy rose and infant mortality fell – life expectancy in 1949 was 36 years and in 1957 it was 57 years
• Anti-drug campaigns greatly reduced the sale and use of opium

Question 26

Failures of healthcare reform - Inequality

Answer 26

Very uneven health provision between rural and urban China – Western-style hospitals were centred in the cities only and health care in rural areas remained inadequate

Question 27

Failures of healthcare reform - What happened during the Antis campaigns?

Answer 27

Many doctors were attacked during the Antis Campaigns of the early 1950s and sent to the Laogai

Question 28

Failures of healthcare reform - What happened during the GLF?

Answer 28

During the GLF, communes established medical clinics but the terrible impact of the famine negated the health benefits

Question 29

Failures of healthcare reform - What happened during the CR?

Answer 29

Doctors were denounced during the CR – some doctors cancelled operations, choosing to undertake manual labour like cleaning toilets in an attempt to show that they did not believe themselves to be superior to the workers