How Far Did Life Improve For Women, Landlords, Businessmen And Peasants Between 1949 And The Early 1960s In Communist China?

Over China's long history, through countless dynasties, the Chinese have endured immense hardship. Even by the twentieth century there was widespread suffering, and after many years of conflict culminating in a bitter power struggle and Civil War, the Communist Red Army finally emerged as victor and on the 1st October 1949, Mao Zedong announced the creation of the People's Republic of China. But this revolution was far more than a new flag and leader - Mao had massive ambitions for his new country. Before the revolution, the long- suffering people of China's 10 million square kilometres had undergone a hard life. The vast majority of people were barely managing to survive and women were abused, children starving and peasants had no land of their own. An "eleven year old" girl was put "in chains. ... She had been tortured and her face was swollen" by the Japanese. Meanwhile, a few despotic landlords and businessmen abused their power and exploited the hard-working peasants whilst steadily increasing their wealth. However, Mao had a difficult task to achieve in order to improve China try and recover years lost warring. The very nature of its vastness provides a communication problem in itself, and daily life and opinion varied greatly from province to province. A faltering economy, a quarter of the world's population to feed and disrupted infrastructure were all major obstacles but the Communists succeeded in introducing considerable changes over the years.

Women arguably benefited most from Mao's new China. For years they had suffered at the hands of men and had been treated as possessions. There was an old proverb saying, "A good woman should follow her husband, no matter what his lot in life. Even if he is a chicken or a dog." Prostitution was rife, and men had multiple wives while arranged marriages were common. There was competition between concubines, and a woman's quality of life mainly depended on the social status of her husband. Female babies were often killed as male children were considered more valuable, and archaic and atrocious practices such painful foot binding was ingrained and deemed normal for all girls. Mao implied his desire to abolish these antiquated principles in the Common Programme stating that, "women should enjoy equal rights with men..." justifying this with "women hold up half the sky". Then came the Marriage Law passed in April 1950. This brought about many changes welcomed by women, ending years of prejudice and made the sale of females illegal. Other traditions such as childhood marriages were outlawed and women were liberated from years of degradation. Mothers were granted maternity benefit and moreover, infanticide and foot binding were banned. Women no longer suffered violence at the hand of aggressive fathers, working women got non-discriminatory pay, property was jointly owned between husband and wife, divorce by mutual consent was introduced and women's workloads were reduced by Mao's nurseries. All these measures gave women greater freedom, control and independence. However, it was one thing announcing changes in the law and quite another implementing and enforcing them. Traditional, firmly-established rituals meant some women still suffered especially in remote mountain villages where these barbaric customs had been carried out for years. Even now, Mao's ruling hasn't come completely into effect in some remote areas. Deep-rooted opinions persisted and women were still considered lesser (in private at least) by men. Chauvinism was unavoidable and, in her autobiographic book To The Edge Of The Sky, Anhua Gao relates how her first husband beat her "...unmercifully for up to half an hour at a time..." Also, many ill-treated wives didn't gain much from the new divorce laws - to ask for a separation meant to lose face, hard-earned respect and possibly your children. Overall though, there's no doubting Mao's new rulings were much welcomed by women (and men) all across China. Finally an end to the mistreatment they'd tolerated for centuries was near.

Landlords and businessmen may well have been wary when they discovered the Communists had ousted Chiang Kaishek and his corrupt government from mainland China. Socialism threatened their way of life and they would have been suspicious that their control would be seized. Previously, their standard of life would've depended on whether they lived under the control of the KMT or in Communist "liberation" areas. Average landlords and businessmen would have been content with life in Kuomintang-controlled areas and would have many amenities at their disposal as well as a powerful and privileged standing. Conversely, those living in liberation areas ...