China 2.4 Flashcards
(162 cards)
1
Q
What was traditional Chinese society like to women and what were women subjected to?
A
Traditional Chinese society was patriarchal and based on Confucian values, women were subjected to the ‘three obediences’ - their father when young, to their husband when married and to their son in old age.
2
Q
What was Clause Six of the Common Program of 1949?
A
Clause Six of the Common Program of 1949 promised the abolition of restrictions affecting women and affirmed their right to equal treatment with men.
3
Q
What did the CCP want to do to China’s traditional society?
A
The Communists’ commitment to eradicating all signs of China’s feudal past also required destroying the concept of the family as the basic social unit, as family relations embodied the Confucian values of obedience to elders and because the existence of the family encouraged a bourgeois mindset (personal attachments).
4
Q
What was Foot binding?
A
Breaking the toes of young girls and folding them back under the foot, which was then tightly bound. Restricted foot growth, regarded as a sign of beauty.
5
Q
What was the viewpoint of many husbands towards their wives in traditional Chinese society?
A
Having paid for marriages, many husbands treated their wives as private property and expected them to carry out domestic work with a subservient attitude. Husbands often beat their wives. Even the death of a husband did not provide relief - Confucian ethics abhorred the remarriage of widows, leaving them economically vulnerable.
6
Q
Why did Mao introduce the Marriage Law of 1950?
What did Mao have to say about the old marriage system?
A
As a 14-year-old, Mao had rebelled against his father by refusing to go through with his own marriage, to somebody 7 years senior, despite the bride price already being paid. In 1919, he had become embroiled in a bitter controversy in Changsha - an unhappy young bride had cut her own throat and bled to death in front of the guests, rather than go through with her wedding.
This had inspired Mao to write a series of articles condemning the marriage system, which he claimed turned women into slaves. He referred to women as holding up half the sky, and without at least their implied support, revolution could not be achieved.
7
Q
What were the main clauses of the 1950 Marriage Law?
A
Practice of arranged marriages and the payment of dowries were outlawed.
Men and women who had been forced to marry previously had the right to divorce.
Polygamy and Concubinage (keeping a mistress - did not apply to Mao) was outlawed.
All marriages and divorces had to be registered with the local government.
Divorce was available, but a man could not divorce his wife if she was pregnant or within a year of her giving birth.
8
Q
Why was the timing of the law significant?
A
The importance the Communists attached to the law is shown by the speed with which they tackled this issue, drafting it while the civil war was still going on. They launched a huge propaganda campaign in the press, radio posters. Party cadres were urged that the law was actually being applied.
9
Q
Between 1946 and 1949, what percentage of marriages had bride who were 16-17 and what did this each by 1958-65?
A
Was successful, between 1946 and 1949, in 18.6% of marriages the bride was aged 16 to 17. This fell to 2.4% by 1958-65.
10
Q
What was the divorce rate by 1953 and why?
A
Divorce rates reached 1.4 million in 1953. Many men were upset that they lost what they perceived as a financial investment.
11
Q
What did a 1950 report have to say about resistance?
A
A 1950 report observed ‘Cadres with conservative views and backward feudal ideas are unwilling and feared to educate the masses.’
12
Q
When and why was a second propaganda drive launcehd?
A
A second propaganda drive was launched in 1953, but this too was undermined by the outlook of cadres, many of whom resented the changes.
13
Q
Why was land redistribution significant for women?
A
The land redistribution campaign of 1950 gave women the chance to own land in their own name for the first time. However, this gain was short-lived.
14
Q
In theory, why should the communes have been beneficial for women? Why was the reality different?
A
In theory, the communes should have been beneficial for women, because it envisaged keeping women free from domestic chores, enabling them to concentrate on working. However, since few communes could supply this range of support facilities, the reality was far less liberating.
15
Q
Why were women given fewer work points than their male counterparts?
A
Typically, they earned fewer work points than men because their productive capacity was frequently lower and because agriculture involved heavy physical labour.
16
Q
How did cadres make the lives of women worse?
A
The cadres usually held sexist values and were intolerant of requests for absence from women who were pregnant or during menstruation. Cadres took advantage of their position. DIkotter found overwhelming evidence of discrimination against women. Expectant mothers, forced to work throughout their pregnancy, miscarried. Sexual abuse was rife - separated from husbands and became victims.
17
Q
As mothers and wives, why was life more difficult during the famine? What did the divorce rate in Gansu reach?
A
By doing more work, during the famine, men could claim more of the food rations. As mothers, women had to decide whether they or their child would eat first. Lack of food is often cited as driving more women into prostitution during the famine. Divorce rate also increased, in Gansu province the divorce rate rose by 60% in the famine. Wife-selling was a desperate remedy to make resources go further.
18
Q
What was Dikotter’s quote about women and collectivisation?
A
Dikotter - ‘Collectivisation designed in part to liberate women from the shackles of patriarchy made matters worse’.
19
Q
What was Dikotter’s quote about rape? In Hunan, what did the local factory bosses force women to do?
A
Dikotter ‘rape spread like a contagion through a distressed moral landsacpe’. In Hunan local factory bosses forced females to work naked.
20
Q
How were families broken up in collectives?
A
The Party was so determined to destroy the traditional family that in many communes, men and women were made to live in separate quarters. Separation, divorce and wife-selling during the famine also broke up family units.
21
Q
Who were the main victims of the Famine?
A
Although women suffered badly from the Great Famine, the main victims were the very young and very old. Children in families that were left without mothers were frequently sold or abandoned, so there were fewer to feed. Old people who could no longer work were left to fend for themselves.
22
Q
How were children treated during the Famine?
A
Mothers became distressed as, once they left their children at the communal kindergarten, they could be separated for weeks at a time. With priorities given to economically productive activities, the kindergartens were uncared for. In Daxing country children slept and ate on the floor. Overwhelmed by the numbers of children, standards of care were appalling. The kindergartens reeked of urine + disease was high. During the famine, the food supplies meant for the children were stolen by starving adults.
23
Q
When was contraception made widely available and what was the role of the Women’s Federation in respect to family sizes?
A
Contraceptives were made widely available in 1962, and female cadres in the Women’s Federation were given an increased role in encouraging mothers to restrict the number of children they had.
24
Q
What was the most obvious advance for women?
A
Most obvious advances came about because of the marriage law. In that first year, over a million women used the new divorce system to extricate themselves from arranged marriages.
25
How many staff did the Women’s Federation have across how many cities? How many members did it have and what did it encourage?
It had 40,000 staff in 83 cities. Membership of 76 million and encouraged political activism.
26
What did they for women?
It published books and newspapers proclaiming the accomplishments of the Party. They set up ploughing lessons for women, organised classes to improve literacy and for the study of political ideas. The Association clearly provided women with an avenue for social and political progression, as well as assisting in the campaigns against issues relevant to them, like prostitution.
27
What proportion of Party cadres were women between 1958 and 1968, and what did this reach by 1970 and 1974?
Maoist uniform and many women and girls led Red Guards. In one study of Party cadres, women comprised between 8-12% from 1958 to 1966, but 16-21% from 1970 to 1974.
28
What was the proportion of women in the workforce in 1949 and in 1974?
1949 - 8%
1976 - 32%
29
Why was this still an issue?
Yet still represented less than a third of the workforce and there was little opportunity for career advancement since hierarchies were dominated by men.
30
By 1978 what percentage of primary school children were girls?
45%
31
Why were women sent for military service, specifically to Xinjiang? What did one military leader say about them?
Specifically for young unmarried women sent to military academies, specifically to Xinjiang, in order to become wives for the soldiers stationed there.
‘We want them to come and be good workers, good wives and good mothers,’ said one military leader.
32
Name a programme that made life better for women?
In Feb 1952, an advertisement in the New Hunan Daily aimed to recruit professionals and female students to form a female work team to go to Xinjiang to exploit its natural resources. Offering incentives such as paid Study in the USSR.
33
What did this allow women to do?
Allowed rural women to escape poverty and become educated or be enlisted in the PLA. A military career was a chance to prove their commitment to the new regime for those who had been marginalised for their class.
34
Was this programme completely successful?
However once they finished, home making and child rearing became again their primary focus.
35
Where was the greatest resistance found?
Greatest resistance came in the inland rural areas and Muslim provinces where arranged marriages formed an integral part of the religious culture. Cadres had the difficult task of changing these rules, who used propaganda.
36
How did the government try to reduce resistance towards the Marriage Law?
Aware that male resistance to the Marriage Law was delaying its implementation, the government stepped up its promotional propaganda campaigns in the early 1950s - the All-China Women’s Federation to train cadres and to persuade them it would not lead to chaos. Only partly successful though.
37
Who was a model work and how did the Party use her?
Model worker - Deng Yulan in Jehol province - work ethic attracted the attention of the Women’s Federation. Deng won numerous awards and was even invited to Beijing to meet Chairman Mao, but she never received the national coverage afforded to her male counterparts. Her achievements are only known because of historians.
38
How far did the CCP go to attack gender inequality?
The People’s Daily condemned gender inequality and the Central Committee felt obliged to reiterate its line that women and men should receive equal pay for equal work.
39
Why did Mao want an educated society?
Mao needed a literate and educated society for economic (economic progress depended on China producing its own technical specialist), political (propaganda) reasons and ideological (1927, Mao ‘In China education has always been the exclusive preserve of the landlords…..the peasants have no access to it’.)
40
Pre-revolution, what percentage of all males over the age of seven, and what percentage of females of the same age, could read a simple letter?
30%
1%
41
Where did the modern schools exist and who were they only available to?
In the cities to the elite.
42
What was set up in the mid 1950s?
A national system of primary education.
43
What did the literacy rate rise to by 1960? By 1964? By 1976?
20% to 50% by 1960, 64% by 1964 and 70% by 1976 (Cultural Revolution slowed progress).
44
What was the number of primary school students in 1949 and what did this reach by 1957?
1949 - 26 million
1957 - 64 million
45
Why could earlier progress have been faster?
By 1956 what proportion of children aged 7-16 were in full-time education?
However, earlier progress would have been faster if the government had spent more money on education (only 6.4% of the budget went on culture and education in 1952) and by 1956, fewer than half the children aged 7-16 were in full-time education.
46
What did the Common Programme say about reforming education?
Mao’s rejection of traditional schooling and the references in the Common Programme to reforming the old system in a systematic manner.
47
What new system had Mao’s reform only served to create:
A new system of elites. Many of elitist elements of the old school system still lived on. ‘Key schools’ attracted the best teachers, where places were reserved for the children of high-ranking Party and government officials.
48
By 1959 how many Chinese students had trained in Russian universities?
38,000
49
How many new polytechnics and engineering institutes were created?
Twenty new polytechnics and 26 engineering institutes were created.
50
When was Pinyin introduced and by who?
1956
Zhou Youguang
51
Why was it introduced?
To assist the spread of literacy, which was handicapped by the lack of a standardised form of language that everyone could understand. Mandarin’s pronunciation varied regionally, it had no alphabet (each ideogram had to be learned separately). 80% of the population spoke Mandarin.
52
What did Pinyin allow?
It made Mandarin much more straightforward to learn and write and facilitated communication with other countries, whilst enabling literacy to spread faster,
This now meant little would be able to read and write traditional chinese - censorship in action. People could only read whatever the PRC published - indoctrination.
53
When was the ‘Directive on education work’ issued and what did it say?
A ‘Directive on education work’ issued in Sept 1958 criticised bourgeois ideas - ‘education can only be led by experts’.
54
What was introduced during the Great Leap Forward and why?
Manual labour was introduced into the curriculum to prepare students to help expand China’s economic power. This was Mao’s ‘learning through experience’ in action.
55
How did this work in practice?
Mao promoted a ‘half work half study’. New agricultural middle schools ran vocational courses on agricultural techniques along with basic maths and languages. Reducing the dependence on urban universities and schools would contribute to Mao’s goal of reducing inequalities and ‘fostering students who are socialist minded’
56
By 1960 how many of these schools were there and for how many pupils?
By 1960, there were roughly 30,000 schools, one per commune, with a total of 2.9 million students.
57
What was the Education Minister forced to admit about education during the Great Leap Forward?
‘schools cut too many classes for the sake of their productive labour activities’.
58
Where there still inequalities in education?
In rural areas children advanced from primary school to ‘agricultural middle schools’. In contrast, in the cities an elite school system was developed at all levels of the full-time education system from kindergarten to university.
59
What were ‘Key point’ schools and what system did they create?
‘Key point’ schools got the best funding and their primary function was to produce applicants for higher education.
By the early 1960s, the educational system was even more elitist than it had been before.
60
What did Mao say about education just before the Cultural Revolution?
In early 1964. Mao complained that the education system was too long, examinations were too rigid and that students are not prepared for manual labour. Mao - ‘there is too much studying going on, and this is exceedingly harmful’.
61
How many children had their education stopped during the Cultural Revolution?
130 million
62
What was the fate of teachers?
Many forced their teachers into struggle sessions where they were forced into ‘the aeroplane position’ for hours.
63
Why was it difficult to restore the education system after the Cultural Revolution?
When schools did reopen, it was difficult to restore belief in the system: teachers had been attacked, the curriculum dismissed as a waste of time and the whole purpose of education undermined.
64
What was the main failure of the educational policy?
Inequality. The Communists succeeded in creating a new communist elite which replaced the old imperial one, and succeeded in failing to educate peasants, a reform they had outlined in the Common Program.
65
Why were the literacy programmes introduced in villages not as successful as they seemed?
government.
Although literacy programmes were introduced in many villages, the teaching was left to barely educated cadres.
66
What did the 1982 census find out about education?
Only 13% had received schooling after the age of 12.
Fewer than 1% of the working population had a university degree.
67
What was medicine like before 1949?
Only the elite could afford access to modern health care or lived in the cities - the only place where it was available.
Everyone else relied on traditional peasant remedies - herbs and acupuncture.
Remote locations had very little access to healthcare. Only Beijing had vaccinations and sewage disposal.
Endemic infectious diseases included smallpox, cholera and plague as well as STDs.
68
Why was it ironic that China had a poor healthcare system?
As early as 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences was one of the world’s leading research institutions in medicine - yet these practices were only applied to the elite in the cities.
69
What was the life expectancy in 1949?
35
70
Who received almost all of China’s healthcare budget by 1964?
The 2% that lived in urban areas.
71
Why was it difficult to improve rural healthcare?
It was difficult to send urban healthcare workers who wanted to work in rural conditions.
72
How did Mao resolve this issue?
Mao did the opposite - he gave some peasants free medical training and were sent back to their villages to serve as medical professionals.
73
When were village doctors first introduced and how many were there by 1957?
First introduced in 1951.
200,000 health workers in villages by 1957.
74
What was the Barefoot Doctor Scheme?
Simply a reform of the existing healthcare system.
75
How many barefoot doctors were there by 1965 and by 1976?
1965 - 250,000
1976 - 1 million
76
How were the Barefoot Doctors trained?
BFDs were hastily trained medics (6 months) with simple medical techniques intended to raise health care standards in rural areas with few real doctors.
77
What did Barefoot Doctors promote and what were they a symbol of?
Barefoot doctors promoted simple hygiene, preventative healthcare and family planning and treated common diseases.
In rural areas they were as much a symbol of the Revolution as the Red Guards.
78
Why was the scheme introduced?
The scheme had a medical (high mortality rates and endemic diseases - cholera, typhoid, malaria and scarlet fever), an ideological and an economic purpose.
Ideological level: exposure to peasant conditions (half their time working in agriculture) would prevent young medical intellectuals from slipping into the bourgeois mindsets that had made doctors the targets of ‘anti’ campaigns.
By working with peasants they won local confidence more readily. Because their training was based around practical skills, they were directly serving the revolution rather than being seen as learning for its own sake (no value).
It was cheap. Training only lasted 6 months and the doctors’ wages (roughly half those of traditionally trained urban doctors) were paid by the local village government.
79
What did the Revolutionary Health Committee of Hunan Province publish and what was its intention?
A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual, intended to equip the unequipped barefoot doctor with everything he needed. The manual is amazingly comprehensive, giving instructions for how nearly any expected illness can and should be treated. It also anticipates the likely unavailability of needed medical therapies and so as a supplement the bulk of content was about medicinal herbs.
80
Was the BFD scheme successful? By 1976, what percentage of villages were a part of the scheme?
The scheme was a great success - both on health and propaganda grounds. By 1976, 90% of villages were involved in the scheme. It received significant international attention and served as an inspiration to the WHO, which endorsed similar schemes elsewhere. The Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978 was inspired by the Barefoot Doctors and identified primary healthcare as the key to attainment of the goal of Health for All.
81
In 1952 what did the CCP introduce and how did they do this?
In 1952, they introduced a series of ‘patriotic health movements’, propaganda drives led by teams of Party workers who explained to the peasantry the importance of hygiene, and the link between dirt and disease.
82
How was ideology linked into the ‘Patriotic Health Movements’?
Example of mass mobilisation - conducted through neighbourhood committees and supported by copious quantities of propaganda posters and film shows.
83
What was the focus of the campaigns and why?
The focus was on prevention rather than cure, as there was such a serious shortage of hospital facilities, and trained nurses and doctors.
84
How did the CCP use the Korean War to help the campaign?
The germ warfare scare during the Korean War was exaggerated partly in order to get the first of these campaigns off the ground.
85
What was Schistosomiasis and how did the CCP combat it? Within 15 years was it successful?
There was also an effort to educate about Schistosomiasis - spread by infected snails (through worms) through a local water supply. Throughout China, BFDs directed workers to eradicate the snail population and clear ponds and streams. Within 15 years the incidence of schistosomiasis went from 10 million per year to just over 2 million. In some areas, it was nearly eliminate
86
By the 1960s how many new doctors were graduating every year?
25,000 doctors
87
What was the infant mortality rate in 1951 and what did it drop to by 1976?
Infant mortality dropped from 360/1000 births (1951) to 60/1000 (1976).
88
Was there inequalities in healthcare?
Urban workers in large industrial enterprises or SOEs had the best access to treatment. In rural areas, county hospitals were staffed by trained doctors, but most care was administered at a lower level through out-patient care provided by village health centres.
89
How many hospital beds were there for the entire population?
Less than 2 million hospital beds to serve a population of 900 million.
90
We’e the BFDs given adequate equipment and training? Give an example.
Whilst the BFDs provided healthcare not known in pre-Revolution days, the doctor’s limited training, equipment and medical supplies meant that they could not do a lot. Dr Liu Zingzhu (a BFD from 1975-77) said he was “only given a bag of some basic medicine with syringes and 10 needles” for over 1800 residents.
91
What was life expectancy by 1970?
62
92
Why did Mao think it was vital to impose a new proletarian culture on China?
To protect the gains made in the revolution. Only through changing the way people lived their daily lives could its long-term future be guaranteed.
93
How did culture have to be overhauled? What was a Mao quote about it?
All traces of bourgeois and feudal culture had to be eradicated. This could not be done gently. No ruling class ever gives up its power willingly. Mao -’the more brutal, the more revolutionary’. ‘A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.’
94
What did Mao say about Proletarian literature and art?
Mao - ‘Proletarian literature and art are part of the whole revolutionary cause.’
95
What was constructed in Beijing between 1958 and 1959 and why?
The Ten Great Buildings - to showcases the ‘new China’.
96
How many people could the Tiananmen Square fit?
500,000
97
How did the Land Reform of 1950 attack traditional values?
The Land Reform of 1950 attacked traditional values and subsequent propaganda was aimed at how much 1949 was a fresh start, where peasants would work collectively towards a brighter future.
98
How did the CCP use communes to attack traditional culture?
Collectives, and then Communes, provided the ideal opportunity to put a stop to the social customs and rituals to which the peasants were accustomed. In their leisure time, peasants attended political meetings where the new values were reinforced, and watched shows and propaganda films put on by agit-prop touring groups.
99
During the Cultural Revolution how was culture attacked?
‘The Four Olds’
In June 1966, Chen Boda’s editorial in the People’s Daily urged the Red Guards to ‘sweep away the monsters and demons.’ During the following two years, the Red Guards became the law as they united down the ‘four olds’.
100
What did Mao refer to Jiang Qing as?
The ‘Culture Tsarina”
101
What did Mao say to Jiang Qing in 1966?
Mao to Jiang Qing, 1966 - ‘Great chaos will lead to great order…the demons and monsters will come out by themselves’.
102
How did this prove to be an opportunity for Jiang Qing?
She saw this as a green light to carry out her aims to purify Chinese culture and an opportunity to launch her political career. In the same year she was given a place on the CCRG, which grew so powerful that it rivalled the Politburo.
103
How did she abuse her power?
She pursued personal vendettas against actresses who had won roles ahead of her in the 1930s.
104
How did Jiang Qing censor the theatre and how did she involve herself?
Jiang Qing imposed strict censorship, vetting all theatre performances for evidence of revisionist content. As a result nearly all foreign works were banned.
Personally involved, she visited theatres to oversee and interfere with auditions, loudly contradicting the instructions of directors. At one audition she instructed the actor how to dismount from a horse in a revolutionary way.
105
What was Jiang Qing’s slogan
‘Make it revolutionary or ban it’
106
What was Jiang Qing’s main target and why?
Jiang Qing’s main target was traditional Chinese opera - bourgeois, feudal and full of superstitions.
107
How many revolutionary performances were allowed and how did this became an issue?
Only eight official revolutionary ‘performances’ were allowed. Although popular at first, audiences were soon tired of the simplistic storylines and overbearing revolutionary propaganda. Existing works were rewritten to include less romance which was replaced with more scenes of class conflict.
108
What was the ‘Red Detachment of Women”
Red Detachment of Women told the story of female Chinese soldiers battling against the nationalists.
109
How did Jiang Qing add authenticity to the revolutionary performances?
To add to the authenticity, Jiang Qing set dancers to live with army units.
110
How did Deng Xiaoping criticise the performances?
Deng Xiaoping - ‘you go to the theatre and find yourself in a battlefield. The plays were ‘a bunch of people running to and fro on the stage. Not a trace of art’.
111
What was a joke about culture during the Cultural Revolution?
One joke remarked that the culture of the Cultural Revolution was ‘eight hundred million people watching eight shows.’
112
On average, how many people watched had watched the opera Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy by 1974?
By 1974, the film of the opera Taking TIger Mountain by Strategy had received 7.3 billion viewings, on average being watched 7 times by each Chinese person - lack of choice not popularity.
113
What did President Nixon have to say about the performance he attended?
President Nixon said after sitting through one of those performances in Beijing in 1972 that he was bored rigid by the utter tedium of it all.
114
What did the Historian Terrell have to say about the performances?
Terrill, ‘the minds of the Chinese theatre goers were reduced to mashed potatoes.
115
Why were children urged to knock the heads off flowers?
Children were urged to knock the heads off flowers in order to show their rejection of bourgeois concepts of beauty.
116
How many novels were published in the early 1970s?
Just 124 novels.
117
What were pianists and string players made to do?
Pianists and string players were made to scratch at the ground so they lose the sensitivity in their fingers and never be able to play again.
118
What was a distressing feature about Mao’s China?
One of the most distressing features of Mao’s China was the failure of the intellectuals and natural leaders to protest against the crimes of the regime.
119
What was the disastrous consequence of Jiang’s cultural terrorism?
By the end of 1976 it was clear that the result of this artistic persecution was not the creation of a new culture but just the near destruction of the old one.
120
What did the poet Yan Yen have to say about culture during this period?
‘As a result of the Cultural Revolution you could say the cultural trademark of my generation is that we have no culture.’
121
What was Article 5 of the Common Program about? What confirmed this later on?
Article 5 of the Common Program stated there would be freedom of religion, confirmed in Article 88 of the 1954 Constitution - yet it was clear that there would be no long-term further for organised religions inside China.
122
What did Communists view religion as and why was Mao particularly critical of Christian missionaries?
Communists viewed religion as a device used by the bourgeoisie to give false hope of a better future to the masses. Mao was particularly critical of Christian missionaries whom he saw as a reminder of the West's attempt to colonise China in the 19th century.
123
How many religious leaders were there at the first National Political Consultative Conference in September 1949? Why were they there?
The representatives included four Protestants, two Buddhists and one Muslim. Although the regime promised co-operation, this was an attempt to gain the support of sympathetic leaders who could then convince members of the religious groups to cut off their ties with the outside world and support the purging of non-communists.
124
Why was Confucianism attacked?
Confucian ideas had dominated Chinese philosophy for 2500 years. Aims to make society as harmonious as possible.
Since the early 20th century, intellectuals had attacked the Confucian approach, blaming it for China’s weaknesses.
It was seen as having upheld the old imperial system with its hierarchy and acceptance of inequality.
While it is not a religion, its stress on upholding traditional authority, particularly through the family, clashed directly with communist values - attacks were stepped up.
125
How was it attacked?
All public ceremonies honouring him ended in 1949. At first temples and shrines dedicated to him were not destroyed; they simply became museum pieces. Some philosophers did attempt to defend Confucian thought by arguing that it was compatible with communist ideology.
Communist propaganda denounced Confucian attitudes as representing all that was bad about China’s past. During the Cultural Revolution, Beijing students travelled by train in order to ransack the monuments in Confucius’ hometown of Qufu. ‘Confucius and Co’ became a convenient label to pin on any undersideable remnant of Chinese culture and was used during the Cultural Revolution.
Jiang Qing’s campaign against Lin Biao in 1973 linked him to Confucius.
126
We’re the attacks successful?
It was an easy target considering attacks began in 1911 but Confucian values surrounding the family and social harmony were simply too ingrained to be completely eradicated - prompted discussion among Mao’s successors of the extent to which Communism and Confucianism could be considered compatible.
127
Why was Ancestor Worship attacked?
It had also been a key element of Confucianism.
Represented old-fashioned thought, totally at odds with his revolutionary desire to create a ‘new China’.
In public the Communists condemned ancestor worship as a superstition, as part of their wider policy to reduce the importance of the family and to make people look to the future rather than the past. The communists encouraged new practices and attitudes. They were told to stop honouring the Kitchen God because in traditional ceremonies common people always made their sacrifices last (hierarchy) - feudal oppression.
128
How did workers in one Shanghai docks replace old traditions?
Instead of old traditions, workers in one Shanghai docks suggested that they erect a portrait of Chairman Mao.
129
Instead of banquets how were holidays marked?
Instead of banquets, they marked the holiday by celebrating thriftiness: no heavy drinking and no new clothes.
130
What happened to the religious shrines in the houses of peasants?
Religious shrines in peasants' houses were destroyed and replaced by pictures of Mao.
131
What was the Qingming Festival replaced with?
The Qingming annual festival of people returning to tend to graves was replaced by National Memorial Day and was focused on commemorating those who had died during liberation.
132
Despite the Communes, was ancestor worship completely eradicated?
Once the communes were in operation, controlling such behaviour was easier, but it was never eradicated because it was so deeply entrenched, and many communes were dismantled in the 1960s. Even some party cadres were carrying around holy symbols to ward off ghosts.
One reason for the government’s harsh reaction to the outpouring of grief after Zhou Enlai’s death in 1976 was because it revived ancestor worship.
133
What drove out most Protestant missionaries out of the country in 1949?
Fear of arrest/
134
How did Mao initially attack the Church?
Many church buildings were closed and had their property confiscated - propaganda consistently attacked the Church as an institution.
135
When was the Religious Affair Bureau set up and why?
1954 - Religious Affairs Bureau - main tasks were to force out foreign missionaries, coerce Chrisitans to cut ties with foreign countries and take over Church establishments.
136
What were the “Patriotic Churches’ and why were they set up?
However, Mao and the authorities realised that a degree of tolerance would make the Communists appear tolerant without sacrificing any power. ‘Patriotic Churches’ were allowed to continue - lost all independence, were under state control who dictated doctrine. Leaders of the Patriotic Churches sought to convince their congregation to be loyal to China and the Communist Party
137
What was their purpose?
These churches could remain open as long as they supported Mao. This gave the image of religious toleration, but in reality it was part of Mao’s system of enforcing communist control.
138
What replaced pictures of the Virgin Mary?
Portraits of Mao replaced pictures of the Virgin Mary.
139
Were the Patriotic Churches successful?
Congregation sizes at patriotic churches were low.
140
How many Protestant Churches were there in 1949 and what did this number reach by April 1952?
In 1949 there had been more than 3000 Protestant missionaries in China; by April 1952 there were fewer than 100 left.
141
Why did the Vatican criticise the ‘Patriotic Church’?
The Vatican threatened to excommunicate any clergy appointed by the Chinese state, condemning the initiative and refusing to accept that the ‘Patriotic Church’ was truly Catholic.
142
In Shanghai what was set up to attack Catholics?
In Shanghai, a special exhibition was created to demonstrate ‘Catholic espionage activities’.
143
In January 1951, how many Catholics were there and what did this number reach by November 1953?
In Jan 1951 there were 3222 Catholic missionaries in China, by November 1953 there were just 364 left.
144
What happened in 1955 against Catholics?
In 1955 a crackdown on the Catholic 'counter-revolutionary clique’ was launched and 1500 were jailed for e.g attempting to spread non-communist ideas to young people.
145
What happened to Christians during the Cultural Revolution?
Persecution escalated during the Cultural Revolution, where religion was identified as one of the ‘four olds’. The wave of arrests of clergy and ban on public worship that followed led to renewed international criticism, the government was unaffected.
146
Why were Muslims persecuted?
Muslims were persecuted on both ideological and strategic grounds. Ideologically, Islam offered a set of values that countered atheistic communist states, particularly among conservative Muslims who resisted gender equality.
147
Where did most Muslims live and why were they a security risk?
Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai, where most of the Muslims lived, were a security risk. They lay adjacent to powerful Muslim states and were within the grasp of the USSR, which was interested in their oil and gas reserves.
148
Why was the Chinese Islamic Association set up?
The Chinese Islamic Association was established to mask the extent of persecution.
149
In Gansu, how many were killed during one battle?
1000.
150
In Xinjiang, what was enforced to change teachings and beliefs?
In Xinjiang Marxism replaced teachings from the Qur’an. Imams were forced to attend ‘thought reform’ for indoctrination in communist ideas. Mosque land was redistributed to the poor.
151
What did one Party official declare about Muslims?
‘There is no such thing as a good Muslim,’ declared one Party official.
152
How were Muslims attacked during the Cultural Revolution?
Many mosques were closed and during the Cultural Revolution many more were vandalised while Muslim leaders were frequently subjected to struggle sessions. Religious leaders were tortured and given menial jobs like cleaning sewers.
153
What did Uyghurs have to learn to avoid punishment?
Uighurs learned to recite the greeting ‘Long Live Chairman Mao’ in Chinese in order to avoid punishment
154
Why was Buddhism attacked?
Buddhism had been a significant influence on the development of culture and philosophy in several regions as it had been practised in China for over 1000 years. Attack on Buddhism more strategic than ideological. Ideologically it shared values with common ground, since both were atheistic and both deplored the possession of material goods. The Dalai Lama even showed initial sympathy for the Communists.
155
How did Buddhism not fit in with Communism?
However the nature of Buddhism meant that its adherents were more difficult to mobilise in mass activity and its pacifist outlook obviously clashed with the priorities of the leadership
156
Why did they need control of Tibet?
Most importantly, the Communists could not leave a key buffer zone of its control - nationalism and religion might prove dangerous if unchecked.
157
What was set up in 1953 to control Buddhism?
The Chinese Buddhist Association set up in 1953 was another form of government control.
158
How was Buddhism attacked in Tibet?
Systematic attempt by the Chinese to destroy Tibetan religion and culture. Lamaism (Tibetan Buddhism) was banned and the Tibetan language was replaced by Mandarin.
159
During the Great Leap Forward how was Buddhism attacked?
Tibet was deliberately targeted during the Great Famine, where 25% of the population died, the highest proportion of any region.
160
How was Buddhism attacked during the Cultural Revolution?
During the Cultural Revolution, some 6000 monasteries were destroyed in Tibet, and thousands were killed by Red Guards during the most radical period of 1966-68, as it was labelled one of the ‘four olds’. The lamas had been forced into labour and monks were sent to the laogai for ‘labour reform’.
161
Were the attacks on Buddhism successful?
In the political sense that Tibet had been preserved as a security buffer zone, the policies had been successful. However, the fact that there was a continued need for periodic clampdowns and that Buddhism remains China’s most widely practised religion today demonstrates that there were still limitations.
162
Overall, what was the reduction in the number of monasteries and nuns and monks living in monasteries?
Number of monasteries - reduction of 97%
Number of nuns and monks - reduction of 93%
