Life in Mao’s China Mr. Parker IBH2

Thesis  Mao’s period of rule ( ) had a profound on the impact on the people of China:  Religion  Status of Women  Chinese Culture  Education and Health  Mao’s Prison Camps – the Laogai

Religion  Marx – “Religion is the opiate of the people.”  Chinese communism supported this interpretation as they identified religion as a means of social control.  CCP undertook a campaign against organised religion.  Targeted both foreign religions (Christianity and Islam) and traditional Chinese religions – Buddhism, Confucianism and Ancestor Worship. Objective: Loyalty to Mao and the party would replace religion.

Attacks on Religion  All aspects of formal religion were targeted, shut down or confiscated.  Christian ministers and missionaries were arrested or deported.  Creation of “Patriotic Churches” – approved by the Party and in conflict with the Vatican.  Propaganda and re-education.  Attacks increased and became more violent during the Cultural revolution  Religion was one of the “Four Olds”

Outcomes:  Religion and culture are hard to suppress – forced underground.  Maoism made in-roads, but traditional values remained strong in many areas.  Separatism and nationalism in Tibet and Xinjiang.

Status of Women  Under traditional Confucian society, China was patriarchal and women were meant to be subordinate.  With regards to women, Mao was heavily influenced by his early life – arranged marriage and Changsha incident.  Publicly supporter of women’s rights, but privately a womaniser.  Mao and the CCP were accused of hypocrisy (Ding Ling)

Marriage Reform  End to concubinage  End to arranged marriages  Dowries and bride prices out-lawed  Divorce was permitted – especially in case of arranged marriages  All marriages needed to be officially recorded.

Economic and Political Changes  Women were granted property rights – buy and sell land  Granted Equality under the law  Equality in terms of employment

Disadvantages  Equality also meant being treated as equal to men – especially in labour force  Collectivization meant private property became meaningless  Ingrained social attitudes meant that women were still seen as inferior  The Great Famine saw women and female children being traded and sold – girls left to die  Cultural Revolution – greater attacks on family and family structure further undermined the role and status of women  Ultimately despite legal protections the attacks on social and family structures left women, especially peasant women socially disconnected.

Reshaping of Chinese Culture  Mao believed that culture was a reflection of society.  China had been a feudal society, but was to become a proletarian society – this meant the eradication of bourgeois and feudal culture.  To achieve this there needed to be a cultural revolution and violence was perfectly acceptable.  Mao appointed his wife, Jiang Qing as chief architect of the Cultural Revolution.  A job she embraced with fanatical zeal.  Political Correctness and cultural barbarism  Moral cowardice of the intelligentsia

Education and Health  Mao and the CCP identified education and health as major areas for reform and progress.  Literacy – 20% in 1940 to 70% in 1970  Standardization of mandarin – creation of pinyin  Cultural Revolution – ultimately undid many of the gains – attacked the basic value of education – undermined the gains made between 1949 and 1966

Health  Education to eliminate causes of endemic diseases  Training of doctors and nurses for rural and remote areas  Barefoot Doctors  Again Cultural Revolution saw the reversal of many of the gains.

Mao’s Prison Camps Laogai  Based on Soviet gulags  Places of re-education – but basically designed to break the spirit  camps – inhospitable areas  Source of slave labour  A source of terror  25 million died in the camps

Overall Impact  Despite lofty ideals and a genuine desire to improve the life of the average Chinese citizen, China under Mao was a place of chaos and turmoil  There were gains, but many were wiped out by the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution

Review  Explain why Mao introduced marriage reform laws in the 1950’s.  The position of women deteriorated in Mao’s China. Agree or Disagree.  How far did the status of women improve in China between 1949 and 1965.