Mao's China, 1949-76: social and cultural changes, 1949-76

Question 1

New Marriage Law Act 1950

Answer 1

• women received legal equality: they could hold property and seek divorce
• paying of dowries or bride-prices and child marriages were forbidden: women had to be 18 years old before they could marry
• Marriages could not result from coercions: free-will was required

Question 2

The Woman’s Association - created to encourage political activism and mobilise the population behind the regime

Answer 2

76 million official members

Question 3

Education before reform

Answer 3

• only 30% of all males and 1% of all females over 7 years old could read a simple letter
• 45.2% of males and 2.2% of females had received any schooling
• males attended on average 4 years of schooling while females who did receive schooling attended for 3 years
• over 59% of students enrolled studied law, politics or the liberal arts
• 10% studied natural science, 11.5% studied engineering and only 3% studied agriculture

Question 4

Pinyin was introduced; a new written language with letters based on the Latin alphabet. This meant that Mandarin could be pronounced phonetically

Answer 4

1955

Question 5

Improvements due to health policy

Answer 5

• Patriotic Health Campaigns were effective: smallpox, cholera, typhus, typhoid fever, plague and leprosy were practically eliminated
• TB and parasitic disease cases were greatly reduced
• Terror campaigns against drug suppliers and criminal gangs lowered the no. of drug addicts
• During the Great Leap Forward, communes established medical clinics
• State investment built over 800 Western-type hospitals
• The no. of doctors trained in modern techniques rose from 40k in 1949 to 150k in 1965
• By the 1960s, medical schools were graduating 25k new doctors per year
• Life expectancy rose from 36 years in 1949 to 57 years in 1957

Question 6

Bare-foot doctors

Answer 6

• Villages sent young locals to receive medical training to become bare-foot doctors.
• The new recruits worked in village clinics and trained intensively for 6 months.
• They could provide rudimentary healthcare; the village clinic had little equipment and low supplies of medicine.

Question 7

Central Cultural Revolution Group (CCRG); a sub-committee of the Politburo, led by Jiang Qing, tasked with helping Mao remould Chinese culture

Answer 7

Established in August 1966

Question 8

Central Case Examination Group; investigated crimes of high-ranking Party members, gathering evidence against them that was passed directly to Mao

Answer 8

Established in 1966

Question 9

Yang Ban Xi (The Eight Model Revolutionary Plays)

Answer 9

5 operas, 2 ballets, 1 symphony e.g. The Red Detachment of Women, Taking Tiger Gorge by Strategy

Question 10

Religious Affairs Department in the Commission of Culture and Education (RAD) was created

Answer 10

January 1951

Question 11

RAD was upgraded and expanded to become the Religious Affairs Bureau

Answer 11

1954

Question 12

The Three-Self principles

Answer 12

• self-ruling
• self-supporting
• self-propagating

Question 13

Islamic Association of China was set up

Answer 13

Aimed to encourage co-operation between Muslims and the regime and to protect the traditions of Islam

Question 14

Xinjiang was named as an Autonomous Region

Answer 14

October 1955

Question 15

Dalai Lama

Answer 15

The religious and political leader of the Tibetan Buddhists. In 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama was forced to flee the Chinese repression of Tibet