society

Question 1

What term means ‘seventh daughter’ and was also Mao’s mother’s name?

Answer 1

Wen Qimei

Question 2

In Imperial China, who typically commanded the bride in her new household?

Answer 2

Her mother-in-law

Question 3

What practice involved deliberately deforming women’s feet to make them more desirable?

Answer 3

Foot-binding

Question 4

How many girls were enrolled in Protestant schools by 1897?

Answer 4

7000

Question 5

What was notably missing from the curriculum of Shanghai’s first public girls’ school in 1898?

Answer 5

Maths and science

Question 6

What 1907 policy change increased girls’ school presence but also surveillance?

Answer 6

Regulations from the Qing Board of Education for girls’ schools

Question 7

Which revolution led to the formation of China’s first female suffragette association?

Answer 7

Xinhai Revolution (1911)

Question 8

In what year did the provisional constitution deny women the vote, sparking backlash?

Answer 8

1912

Question 9

What 1914 policy banned women from political associations and introduced a rewards system for filial behaviour?

Answer 9

Yuan Shikai’s national ward system

Question 10

What was the percentage of women in universities by 1928?

Answer 10

8.5%

Question 11

What did the short-lived Wuhan government in 1927 legally grant women the right to do?

Answer 11

Choose their own husbands, divorce, and inherit property

Question 12

How were women who wanted a divorce punished during the 1927 backlash?

Answer 12

They were executed and mutilated

Question 13

What movement targeted ‘Western-style’ women wearing bare legs and perms?

Answer 13

New Life Movement

Question 14

What year did the GMD declare marriages should be by mutual consent?

Answer 14

1931

Question 15

Under Mao, what law formally abolished arranged marriages, bride-prices, concubinage, foot binding and allowed divorce?

Answer 15

1950 Marriage Law

Question 16

What clause allowed soldiers to override their wives’ requests for divorce?

Answer 16

PLA divorce regulation clause

Question 17

What was the percentage of women in the Communist Party under Mao?

Answer 17

13%

Question 18

How much did female representation in the National People’s Congress increase from 1954 to 1975?

Answer 18

From 14% to 23%

Question 19

What was the primary educational institution under the Qing, offering stipends and no tuition?

Answer 19

Provincial academies

Question 20

Why did locals need to learn Western languages in missionary schools?

Answer 20

Curriculum was taught in English or French

Question 21

By how many million did primary school enrolment rise between 1935 and 1937 before the war halted it?

Answer 21

10 million (from 13 million to 23 million)

Question 22

What percentage of Shanghai residents had access to secondary education in 1934?

Answer 22

2.13% (213 per 10,000)

Question 23

In provinces like Kweichow or Kansu, how many out of 10,000 accessed secondary education?

Answer 23

4

Question 24

What dialect was chosen as the national instructional language during the Nanjing government?

Answer 24

Northern dialect (Mandarin)

Question 25

What percentage of Chinese were illiterate in 1949, and what had it fallen to by 1976?

Answer 25

80% to 30%

Question 26

What year did China adopt Pinyin?

Answer 26

1955

Question 27

How many universities existed in China in 1949, and what was the number by 1961?

Answer 27

200 → 1289

Question 28

What nickname was given to students unable to graduate between 1966 and 1968?

Answer 28

Old Three Cohort

Question 29

By 1982, what percentage of the working population had university degrees?

Answer 29

Less than 1%

Question 30

How many people stopped attending school or university between 1966 and 1970?

Answer 30

120 million

Question 31

What kind of 'schools' trained cadres during the Cultural Revolution?

Answer 31

Cadre schools

Question 32

Under Deng, what type of education was prioritized to support industrial growth?

Answer 32

Scientific and technical education

Question 33

What global move did Deng make to bring Western expertise to China?

Answer 33

Sent students abroad

Question 34

In 1839, what percentage of Chinese lived by agriculture?

Answer 34

90%

Question 35

What government system, destroyed by the Taiping Rebellion, provided famine relief?

Answer 35

Granary system

Question 36

What infamous tax increased provincial power by avoiding central collection?

Answer 36

Likin tax

Question 37

What major famine from 1876–79 affected up to 13 million people?

Answer 37

Northern Chinese Famine

Question 38

What rural medical initiative was supported during the Nanjing decade?

Answer 38

Barefoot doctors (Rural Reconstruction Movement)

Question 39

On average, how often did a bad harvest occur?

Answer 39

Every three years

Question 40

How many communes were created between 1956 and 1958?

Answer 40

26,000

Question 41

Roughly how many people did the Great Famine of 1958–62 kill?

Answer 41

36 million

Question 42

What system replaced communes under Deng?

Answer 42

Household Responsibility System

Question 43

What economic incentive was offered to peasants for produce sold to the state?

Answer 43

Higher prices for compulsory quota

Question 44

What still discouraged long-term rural investment despite reforms?

Answer 44

Uncertainty over property rights

Question 45

What term defined the elite social web based on kinship, education, and favours?

Answer 45

Guanxi

Question 46

What art objects symbolized gentry status in the 1800s?

Answer 46

Porcelain and other decorative items

Question 47

By how much did the number of purchased degrees grow from 1850 to 1900?

Answer 47

From 1.1 million to 1.5 million

Question 48

What class emerged by 1900 that included compradors and merchants?

Answer 48

Urban middle class

Question 49

How many landlords were killed during Mao's land reform?

Answer 49

Approximately 2 million (some estimates as high as 8 million)

Question 50

What was the middle class percentage in 1980 vs. 1997?

Answer 50

1% → 12%

Question 51

What role did the emperor hold in both the political and spiritual domains under Qing?

Answer 51

Son of Heaven — head of state and religion

Question 52

What was the name of the official department overseeing religion?

Answer 52

Board of Rites

Question 53

Which 1844 treaty legalized Christianity in China?

Answer 53

Treaty of Whampoa

Question 54

What 1858 treaty granted full religious liberty to Christians?

Answer 54

Treaty of Tianjin

Question 55

What false rumour sparked the Tianjin Massacre in 1870?

Answer 55

Missionaries abducted and baptised children

Question 56

How many missionaries and Chinese Christians were killed during the Tianjin Massacre?

Answer 56

60

Question 57

What Boxer slogan first appeared during the 1898 temple attack in Liyuantun?

Answer 57

'Support the Qing, destroy the foreigners'

Question 58

What did Mao label religion as?

Answer 58

Poison

Question 59

What comparison did Mao make between missionaries and Nazis?

Answer 59

Called missionaries China’s Nazis

Question 60

What were churches turned into under Mao’s regime?

Answer 60

Offices and public buildings

Question 61

What policy required patriotic churches to accept state control and appoint clergy?

Answer 61

Patriotic Church Movement

Question 62

What form of worship was specifically condemned under Mao?

Answer 62

Ancestor worship

Question 63

How did the number of girls in protestant schools change by 1897?

Answer 63

from 200 to 700 due to missionaries during the scramble for conscessions

Question 64

What did the first female suffragette association do in 1912?

Answer 64

They lobbied Sun Yatsen and the National assembly for political rights and education

Question 65

What was the 1930s Civil code?

Answer 65

Set down that women had an equal inheritance right, however, this was post-mortem which made widows more vulnerable

Question 66

Which Chinese river flood of 1931 is regarded as the worst in recorded history and what was its approximate death toll?

Answer 66

The Yellow River Flood of 1931; between 1 million and 4 million deaths.

Question 67

What deliberate military action caused the 1938 Yellow River flood?

Answer 67

The Nationalist (GMD) government blew up dikes to slow the Japanese advance.

Question 68

Name the two large‑scale dam or levee projects launched after the 1954 Yangtze flood to prevent future flooding.

Answer 68

Extensive levee systems on the Yangtze and construction of the Geheyan Dam.

Question 69

During which emperor’s reign did the 1876‑79 Northern Chinese famine occur, and what key climate phenomenon worsened it?

Answer 69

During the Guangxu Emperor; intensified by El Niño‑induced drought.

Question 70

Roughly how many people died in the Great Chinese Famine (1959‑61) and what government policy was the prime cause?

Answer 70

About 36 million; policies of the Great Leap Forward (collectivisation, forced grain procurement, denial of crisis).

Question 71

Where and when did the Third Global Bubonic Plague begin in China?

Answer 71

Yunnan province, 1855.

Question 72

Approximately how many died in the 1932 cholera outbreak, and why was it so significant?

Answer 72

About 30,000; it overwhelmed the Republican public‑health system and highlighted sanitation deficiencies.

Question 73

In what year did China record its last indigenous smallpox case?

Answer 73

1961

Question 74

Why is 1949 considered the most significant turning point for flood and epidemic control in China?

Answer 74

Communist takeover brought nationwide dam/levee building and mass health campaigns that sharply reduced deaths from floods and epidemics.

Question 75

Give one example of government inaction worsening a natural disaster before 1949.

Answer 75

Poor dike maintenance during the 1887 Yellow River flood or failure of Nationalist relief in the 1928‑30 North China famine.

Question 76

Which flood marks the first instance of a Chinese government deliberately causing a flood, and which government was responsible?

Answer 76

1938 Yellow River flood; caused by the Nationalist (GMD) government.

Question 77

What epidemic event in 1910–11 marked a shift in China's public health policy?

Answer 77

The Manchurian pneumonic plague, which led to strict quarantine, international cooperation, and creation of the North Manchuria Plague Prevention Service—China’s first public health body.

Question 78

How does the period 1839–1960 reflect continuity in the impact of floods on rural Chinese society?

Answer 78

Major floods like the 1887 and 1931 Yellow River floods caused repeated food shortages and deaths due to longstanding failures in water management and deforestation, showing little improvement until 1960.

Question 79

Why is the Communist era (1950s–70s) seen as a shift in handling epidemics?

Answer 79

The CCP implemented mass health campaigns and vaccinations, significantly reducing smallpox and cholera deaths—unlike earlier regimes, which struggled with major outbreaks like the 1932 cholera epidemic (30,000 deaths).

Question 80

Education under Deng

Answer 80

* Primary school enrolment grew to 128% (suggesting students outside typical age range were also enrolled) * Secondary school enrolment initially increased and then declined to levels below 1976 * University returned to merit-based admissions * Rural-urban gap widens