How far did life improve for Women, Peasants, Landlords and

Over the last fifty years, China had been through a lot of changes. China started off being run by Warlords who were overthrown by the Kuomintang in 1913. In 1921, the Communist party was formed and Civil war broke out between the Kuomintang and the Communist. This lasted right up to 1949. China had also been through a war with the Japanese, several famines, and a constant battle against inflation.

When the Communist Party came to power, it seemed to be everybody’s dream come true. They bought such promises, that everyone was certain they were going to be a prosperous, peaceful nation. Was this the truth, or was it just a fantasy…

Before 1949, women had been possessions.

For the rich, it was tradition for a girl to have her feet bound at an early age. It was thought a woman had more appeal to a man if she had small, dainty feet. As she hobbled along, she was meant to represent a willow tree, blowing in the wind.

Once the girl got to her early teens, her father arranged for her to be married to the richest and highest man he could, either as a wife or a concubine

Overall, I conclude that the Communist Revolution did not improve the living standards of the population. Women were given equal rights, but they were made to go out and work all hours as a consequence. Peasants were given land, just to have it taken away from them several years later. Mao should have been a Nationalist. He had a lust for power, and ended up as a dictator, deciding what was happening to the country by himself. Had the Communists stuck to their original aims, I think things would have worked out, but they didn’t and the Chinese people suffered as a consequence.

Pre 1940s, the Landlords had had unlimited power. They could treat the peasants as they liked and demand however much rent or crops from them as they wished. By the early 1940s most landlord areas were under Communist rule. This meant big trouble! The Communists believed in equal rights. This meant the landlords had to go. They had all their land taken from them, their power and their money. Many were arrested and a good fair share were executed. As well as this, they also had trouble from the Japanese in Yanan. Landlords in these areas were treated in similar ways. Those who were left were treated equally with the peasants.

Life was very different for a concubine and for a wife. The concubines would have to obey and respect the wife as their mistress. Both wives and concubines were property of their husbands, and he was able to use them when and how he wished. Some very important men had as many as twenty concubines

To discuss the individual problems, it is easiest to split the peasants up into two groups. Landed peasants, and non landed peasants.

Finally, in 1949 when the whole of China was bought under Communist rule, several laws were bought in for women. The first, in 1949, was women’s rights were to be equal to men. They were to have exactly the same privileges. The second, was the Marriage Law in 1950. Arranged marriages and the marriages of children were all bought to an end. The minimum age for marriage was fixed at eighteen for women, and twenty for men. Men and women now jointly owned the family and its property. The final law was in 1951. This entitled expectant mother to two months maternity leave of full wages after the birth of the child. This was for women of all status.

There were several problems in the agricultural part of China in the 1940s. Firstly, throughout the Civil war and W.W.II, the agricultural out put had dropped drastically, due to peasants leaving the fields to go and fight. This totally destroyed the irrigation systems. The second problem was the country’s population was growing by over fifteen million per year. This caused food shortages and famine. The third problem was, the methods of agriculture were extremely backward. Everything was done by hand, and therefore took a lot longer.

Some topics in this essay:
Leap Forward, Communist Party, Yanan Landlords, Stage Cooperatives’, Businessmen Communist, Marriage Law, Aid Teams, Kuomintang KMT, People’s Republic, Leap Forward’, communist revolution, landed peasants, 1949 china, women 1949, peasant women, peasants landed peasants, communist party, peasants landed, owned land, equal rights, peasants land,