China . I believe that Mao made the greatest contribution to China in the 21st Century as it was he that introduced the marriage law in 1950, which stated that arranged marriages, the marriage of children, the killing of unwanted babies and bigamy were il

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China Coursework

  1. I believe that Mao made the greatest contribution to China in the 21st China as it was he that introduced the marriage law in 1950, which stated that arranged marriages, the marriage of children, the killing of unwanted babies and bigamy were illegal. This helped the women of China a lot and got their support as they now had a say in marriage and not only that the women and men also jointly owned their property and divorce was a mutual thing. Mao Ze Dong also set up a mass vaccine programme to stop diseases like Typhus, Plague and Smallpox spreading as 4 million Chinese a year died to these diseases before the programme was set up. He also launched a health scheme to educate the peasants in cleanliness and hygiene. New Hospitals and medical schools were set up and medical attention was available to all, in return for a small insurance contribution. In remote country areas Barefoot Doctors (ordinary peasants given 3 months medical training) went round to open clinics and distributed pills and gave first aid. As a result of these measures the average life expectancy doubled from less than 30 in 1949 to more than 55 years by the 1970’s. Chinese workers received sick pay for the first time, pensions were given to old people. Before 1949 the great mass of the Chinese were uneducated. Mao was determined to change this for three reasons;-
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  • So people could develop their talent for their own benefit
  • So the country would have an educated work force
  • So they could train people in the ideas of Communism

Although the Government tightly controlled their people, especially by organising the mass of the peasants into communes, this didn’t work as the peasants needed their freedom.

On the other hand Deng did turn China into a World Economy by establishing warmer relations with other nations. Deng travelled abroad and had a number of amicable meetings with the western leaders, Sino- Japanese relations also improve significantly. Another reason how Deng ...

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