1. Summarise the key social and cultural changes that took place in China between 1949 and
1976
The period of 1949-1976 entailed huge political, social, cultural and economic changes for the entirety of
China due to the establishment of Mao’s Communist government. It changed the very fabric of the
country, and every Chinese citizen would have felt the effects of Mao’s changes at one point or another.
Departure from Confucian society
For centuries, China maintained a very strict Confucian societal order: young men were to obey older
men, and women were to obey all men. Men were to go to school and work, whilst women were to stay
home to raise the family and take care of domestic issues. But Mao and his communists winning the civil
war begun to shift these long held societal attitudes, and one of Mao’s priorities was to establish a
Socialist society with cultural values molded around the ideology. One way in which he shook up existing
society was the purge of the landlord class, inciting peasants to abuse or even kill their landlords in
order to rise up and take the land they rightfully owned. Historically the landlord class was always
present- in feudal society, the landlords would be the wealthy peasants who owned the farms/houses,
and given how prevalent rice farming/other farming was in many Asian societies, the class was an
incredibly important role which held up the social order, peasants naturally below them. By destroying
this class, Mao removed a vital piece maintaining the feudal society, and in doing so begun his idea of
“class struggle” and perpetual motion toward establishing a “true” egalitarian Communist society.
Progress toward gender equality
Surprisingly progressive for his time, Mao advocated for the expansion of women’s rights even before he
was in a leadership role. He was disgusted at how Chinese society treated women in ways like arranged
marriages and abuse, even famously quoting “in China, women hold up half the sky”. His belief in this
was so strongly held that one of the Communist governments very first reforms was the 1950 New
Marriage Law, which allowed women to divorce, own property, banned arranged marriages and overall
gave women a much more equal footing to men. Foot binding also gradually begun to disappear. During
campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Mao encouraged women away
from their domestic duties in order to have greater participation in revolutionary activity, which involved
them working on communes alongside men or other activities. Despite a very small minority reaching
any senior position, he also advocated for more women in politics which did lead to an increase- Jiang
Qing, Mao’s 4th wife, is a notable female political figure. He also increased access to education for young
girls, which helped increase the literacy rate.
1976
The period of 1949-1976 entailed huge political, social, cultural and economic changes for the entirety of
China due to the establishment of Mao’s Communist government. It changed the very fabric of the
country, and every Chinese citizen would have felt the effects of Mao’s changes at one point or another.
Departure from Confucian society
For centuries, China maintained a very strict Confucian societal order: young men were to obey older
men, and women were to obey all men. Men were to go to school and work, whilst women were to stay
home to raise the family and take care of domestic issues. But Mao and his communists winning the civil
war begun to shift these long held societal attitudes, and one of Mao’s priorities was to establish a
Socialist society with cultural values molded around the ideology. One way in which he shook up existing
society was the purge of the landlord class, inciting peasants to abuse or even kill their landlords in
order to rise up and take the land they rightfully owned. Historically the landlord class was always
present- in feudal society, the landlords would be the wealthy peasants who owned the farms/houses,
and given how prevalent rice farming/other farming was in many Asian societies, the class was an
incredibly important role which held up the social order, peasants naturally below them. By destroying
this class, Mao removed a vital piece maintaining the feudal society, and in doing so begun his idea of
“class struggle” and perpetual motion toward establishing a “true” egalitarian Communist society.
Progress toward gender equality
Surprisingly progressive for his time, Mao advocated for the expansion of women’s rights even before he
was in a leadership role. He was disgusted at how Chinese society treated women in ways like arranged
marriages and abuse, even famously quoting “in China, women hold up half the sky”. His belief in this
was so strongly held that one of the Communist governments very first reforms was the 1950 New
Marriage Law, which allowed women to divorce, own property, banned arranged marriages and overall
gave women a much more equal footing to men. Foot binding also gradually begun to disappear. During
campaigns such as the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, Mao encouraged women away
from their domestic duties in order to have greater participation in revolutionary activity, which involved
them working on communes alongside men or other activities. Despite a very small minority reaching
any senior position, he also advocated for more women in politics which did lead to an increase- Jiang
Qing, Mao’s 4th wife, is a notable female political figure. He also increased access to education for young
girls, which helped increase the literacy rate.
