Failure of Chinas Cultural Revolution Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Failure of Chinas Cultural Revolution - Essay ExampleThe reddish Guards generation benefited from neither Maoist socialism nor Dengist see the light. Maos revolution abandoned them, sweeping them out of urban centers Dengs regenerate left them on the sidelines when China moved to embrace the market. In Maos era, the Red Guards generation was the forgetfulest of all poor Chinese, living at the net income level. This poverty impeded they are exploiting the opportunities of Dengs improves. The increasing costs of economic reform often started with them, further diminishing their capacity for competing in the market. Maos revolution made them poor, forcing them to live a foul life without economic liberty or any chance of improvement. It was even more painful when Dengs reform left them poor while Dengs regime glorified the rich (Tsou, 1996). Ever since they had been forced into society, they had been living on an income that only kept body and soul together. For those in the citi es, working life began with an apprenticeship in factories, at 18 Yuan a month. When Dengs reform began, they had climbed to the second lowest grade of Chinas eight-grade salary system for workers, having a monthly salary of less than 40 Yuan. In the 1970s and early 1980s, this salary allowed them some small savings, moreover it often took them 1 or 2 years before they could buy a Shanghai-produced watch or bicycle, each priced at around 150 Yuan. Of those who went to the countryside, a minority was assigned to the military-imitated farming corps. (Dutton, 2004)They first lived on a monthly subsidy of about 15 Yuan and later, when they had to pay for their own food, on a honorarium system with 285 dimes a month, as one sent-down youth mocked it. The majority had been forced into the villages and lived on a points systemof peoples communes. If a sent-down youth became a ten-points laborer (the highest rank), his (or her) 1-day work in most areas was valued at 30-50 cents on the vil lages account. If he worked over 330 days, at the end of the year he might get 40-60 Yuan after the discount of the costs of the grain and other agricultural products he had received during the year. In a few areas ten-points a day was worthy over 1 Yuan, but in many areas ten-points a day was worth 20, 10 or only 7 cents. Even worse, the sent-down youths were often not regarded as ten-points laborers. (Yang, 1997) Those in the cities were among the poorest because they were at the bottom of the urban salary ladder that was framed on seniority. Those in the farming corps were among the poorest because they were treated as the lowest ranked farming soldiers (bingtuan Shashi), while others in their corps were either farming officers or farming workers, living on a slightly high salary.