This investigation will cover women’s participation in the Long March, the People’s Republic of China Constitution in 1949, Mao’s policies for foot binding, the 1950 Marriage Law, and women’s increased participation in society. I will analyze journal articles and books from Western and Asian authors to evaluate various historians’ views on Communists’ policies towards women and the effects they had on Communists’ rise to power. Kellee Tsai’s Women and the state in post-1949 rural China and John King Fairbank’s “The Great Chinese Revolution: 1800-1985” are two of the principle sources and will be evaluated.
Part B: Summary of Evidence
Women’s Participation in Long March
Mao’s uprising in Hunan, known as the Long March, allowed women to participate in the movement as equal and important comrades (some women even abandoned their own new babies to continue marching), prompting them to participate in the revolution (Lewis 59). Paying attention to women’s problems and protecting their rights were important goals of the Communists to ensure that the women would stay enthusiastic for participating in the revolution (Hodes 225). Additionally, establishing and applying laws to protect and liberate women would lead and encourage them to participate in revolutionary war, which would in turn speed up victory of the revolution for the Communists (Hodes 225).
1949 People’s Republic of China Constitution
Under the People’s Republic of China Constitution in 1949, women were legally full citizens of China and shared equal rights with men (Datta 50). The All-China Women’s Federation was responsible for reinforcing policies to improve women’s conditions in China (Korabik 1). In this women’s federation, equality of women was enforced within t...
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...t Directive No. 6 of the Council of People’s Commissars.” Mao's Road to Power: Revolutionary Writings 1912-1949, vol. 4 (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1997). Questia. Web. 2 Jan. 2012.
Korabik, Karen. "Managerial Women in the People's Republic of China," International Studies of Management & Organization 23.4 (1993). Questia. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.
Lewis, Peter. "Abandoned babies and boiled sandal soup -- the harrowing true story of the Long March; BOOK OF THE WEEK." Daily Mail [London, England] 19 Mar. 2010: 59. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
MacFarquhar, Roderick and Michael Schoenhals. Mao’s Last Revolution. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006. Print.
Tsai, Kellee S. "Women and the state in post-1949 rural China." Journal of International Affairs 49.2 (Winter 1996): 493. History Study Center. Web. 7 Dec. 2011.
Mao Zedong was a very influential man in history. He forever changed the face of Chinese politics and life as a whole. His communist views and efforts to modernize China still resonate in the country today. Jonathan Spence’s book titled Mao Zedong is a biography of the great Chinese leader. Spence aims to show how Mao evolved from a poor child in a small rural village, to the leader of a communist nation. The biography is an amazing story of a person’s self determination and the predictability of human nature. The book depicts how a persuasive voice can shape the minds of millions and of people. It also shows the power and strength that a movement in history can make. This biography tells an important part of world history-the communist takeover of China.
William Hinton, a US born member of a Chinese Communist land reform task force in 1948, noted that the peasants were challenging the landlords and money lenders in regards to overcharges and restoration of lands and property seized in default of debts (Doc 4). This was due to the newly found confidence in themselves through the defeat of the Japanese. Although Hinton was born into the communist party, his recount of the actions he saw concerning the peasants was simply from a look from the outside in. He personally did not experience this sudden upsurge of challenges, which gives the public a view of what the communist party thought of what looked like a move towards social equality. Although Hinton’s recount may not have been thoroughly verified, the communist party did indeed aid in fueling what was known as a struggle meeting, where Chinese peasants humiliated and tortured landlords, as seen in the picture, organized by the Communist Party as part of the land reform process, of a group of peasants at a meeting where in the center a woman is with her former landlord (Doc 7). Alongside the destruction of the landowning infrastructure that was previously followed, the Communist party also aided the peasants in a form of social reform. One important law that granted specifically women more freedom in their social life was the creation of the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1950, where it states that the “supremacy of man over woman, and in disregard of the interest of the children, is abolished” (Doc 5). The newly introduced concepts of free choice in partners, abortion, and monogamy that derived from this law changed the societal position on women and peasants which greatly expresses the amount of new social mobility
Women have had it rough throughout history. Their declining position in the world started during the Neolithic revolution, into Rome, and past the Renaissance. However, at the turn of the twentieth century, women began advocating for equality no matter their governmental situation. This promotion of women's rights is evident in communist nations during the twentieth century and their fight against hundreds of years of discrimination. It can be seen that women were brainwashed into believing that their rights were equal with the male population through the use of propaganda, yet this need for liberation continued despite government inadequacy at providing these simple rights. Women in communist countries struggled for rights in the twentieth
The rise of nationalist movements and the modern nation-state has affected women’s political and economic participation and social freedoms. Based on the following documents, there were many opportunities and barriers that nationalist movements posed concerning women's rights in the twentieth century. Many women saw the opportunities of the movements accessible to women, but other women focused on the barriers and didn’t feel that the opportunities were accessible.
Chen, Jo-shui. "Empress Wu and Proto-feminist Sentiments in T'ang China." In Imperial Rulership and Cultural Change in Traditional China, edited by Frederick P. Brandauer and Chün-chieh Huang. 77-116. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1994.
Across cultures, many times similarities lay within them that go unnoticed. It is true that obvious differences set them apart; but if a closer look is taken, it is surprising what can be found. The Chinese culture is obviously different from the American culture, but underneath the surface there are similarities. One of them is how the treatment of women has evolved and changed. Anti-feminism in China has been present since ancient times, and has just recently decreased. Anti-feminism in America has never been as severe as it was in China; however, instead of the value of women gradually increasing over the years - it has reversed. The value of women in America has decreased. There are many similarities between the ancient Chinese women and the modern women of America. Women in China and women in America have both gone through evolutions of how they are treated and looked upon; it is just that women in China have evolved, where the women of America have devolved.
"The Chinese Revolution of 1949." U.S. Department of State Office of the Historian. Office of the
Through the 20th century, the communist movement advocated greatly for women's’ rights. Despite this, women still struggled for equality.
There is no denying that the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party under Chairman Mao Zedong changed the course of the history of China and shaped the China the world sees today. The amount of lives, cultural traditions, and differing intellectual thoughts that were lost and destroyed as he strove to meet his goals for the country can never be recovered or replaced. However, it had been asserted that one of the more positive effects of Chairman Mao on the people of China was his somewhat radical opinion of woman. Prior to the Communist Revolution, women’s role in Chinese society was almost completely limited to life within the home and focused on supporting their family and being submissive to their fathers and husbands. Chairman Mao realized that women were one of the oppressed groups in China that could be utilized to increase his control over the country. While women’s rights still have a long way to go, it can definitely be said some of Mao’s polices advanced Chinese women in ways that would have been unimaginable before his rise to leadership. The more relevant questions are regarding Chairman Mao’s intent behind these polices and if they were destined to fail from the start due to the cultural and political climate in 20th century China.
The early part of the novel shows women’s place in Chinese culture. Women had no say or position in society. They were viewed as objects, and were used as concubines and treated with disparagement in society. The status of women’s social rank in the 20th century in China is a definite positive change. As the development of Communism continued, women were allowed to be involved in not only protests, but attended universities and more opportunities outside “house” work. Communism established gender equality and legimated free marriage, instead of concunbinage. Mao’s slogan, “Women hold half of the sky”, became extremely popular. Women did almost any job a man performed. Women were victims by being compared to objects and treated as sex slaves. This was compared to the human acts right, because it was an issue of inhumane treatment.
... This essay critically analyses and examines the effect of Communism on the Chinese Society during the period of 1946-1964. The overall conclusion that can be drawn is that the Chinese Communist Party managed to defeat the Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party and achieve victory in the Civil War, in spite of alienation by the Soviet Union and opposition from the U.S. This was primarily because of the superior military strategy employed by the Communists and the economic and political reforms introduced by this party which brought more equality to the peasants in the form of land ownership and better public services. This increased China’s production and manufacturing, which not only boosted the country’s economy but also provided a more sustainable supply of food, goods and services for the Chinese people.
Dressed in the drab military uniform that symbolized the revolutionary government of Communist China, Mao Zedong's body still looked powerful, like an giant rock in a gushing river. An enormous red flag draped his coffin, like a red sail unfurled on a Chinese junk, illustrating the dualism of traditional China and the present Communist China that typified Mao. 1 A river of people flowed past while he lay in state during the second week of September 1976. Workers, peasants, soldiers and students, united in grief; brought together by Mao, the helmsman of modern China. 2 He had assembled a revolutionary government using traditional Chinese ideals of filial piety, harmony, and order. Mao's cult of personality, party purges, and political policies reflect Mao's esteem of these traditional Chinese ideals and history.
... Speeches and Writings of Mao Zedong (1927-1947).” Columbia University. Accessed November 27, 2013. http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/
Gittings, John. The Changing Face of China: From Mao to market. Oxford University Press, 2005.
...) ‘For China, a New Kind of Feminism’ The New York Times [Online] - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/world/asia/for-china-a-new-kind-of-feminism.html?_r=0 [Accessed on 15th October 2013]