The Economics in during the Cultural Revolution was terrible because people did not have choices with what they did with their lives and they had many other hardships to deal with along with the small amount of choices they got to make. The Cultural Revolution brought on Communism in China, which, in turn, brought on hardship for all Chinese people that, according to the article, "A Chinese counterrevolution; Opressed masses are rising up against Beijing's brutal rule," by The Washington Times, is still around today.
During the Cultural Revolution, starvation was a massive obstacle that many people had to overcome, and even went to drastic measures to keep themselves and their families fed. The article, "China: The Cultural Revolution," says, "China fell into economic ruin and a severe food shortage. Over the following years an estimates 20-30 million Chinese would die of starvation." The book, Snow Falling in the Spring, also mentions starvation during the Cultural Revolution when Moying tells us that her "neighbor was explaining that she could mix these leaves with corn flour to make corn bread" (18). Also, in the novel, some people were making major sacrifices with their food for other, especially Lao Lao. One example of Lao Lao making a sacrifice is when Moying started to "notice that she would make dinner for Di Di and me, watch us eat, and then quickly send us out to play in the yard before she cooked for herself and Lao Ye" (16). She did this because she had enough food to make Moying and Di Di a nice, nutritious meal, but not enough food to make the same meal for herself and her husband, so she made soup with dirty water and vegetable leaves instead after the children were done eating. Starvation was a big problem in China during the Cultural Revolution.Picture on the Left: Leaves on an Elm Tree; they are the same leaves that Moying's neighbors used to make corn bread.Picture on the Right: This shows that there was very little food in Asia during the Cultural Revolution. There was meat only on rare occasions and little vegetables and only good bread on occasion.
Also during the Cultural Revolution, people were assigned jobs as opposed to being able to choose their own. For example, in the article "My Youth in China," Yafei Hu, the author, talks about how her "parents were sent to Beijing in order to do intelligence work." Similarly, Moying's "Mama was assigned to teach at a high school far away and could not come home during the week" (22). These jobs being assigned to people made their life styles less convenient for their families and their selves. This also weakened the economy because it made shortages in certain occupations while other occupations were teaming with workers. Also, the occupations that some people were forced to have made their wages lower and their family suffer, although during the Cultural Revolution, almost no job had a good wage. Both Moying's Mama and Yafei's Mama made sacrifices for their families to make money and keep them alive and well.
Moying, her parents, and her brother.
Another economic crisis is that their agriculture was not produced well. During the Cultural Revolution, in the books, Snow Falling the in Spring, "lots of teenagers had been sent to the distant countryside, as Mao had instructed," so they could learn about agriculture (86). According the the article, "Mountain Villages in Southern China," "There are often no roads to these villages, and you must hike in an hour or more to get there." Moying had to hike about an hour to get to her cousin Lee's house in a mountain village. When it is raining in the book while Moying is staying with her cousin Lee, Lee tells her, "A rain like this is the worst possible thing this time of year, a few months short of harvesttime" (94). This is because during strong storms, mud rolls down the mountainsides which can also take us the produce and make it roll down the side of the mountain and get washed away as well as the mud, and occasionally a few houses would be washed away too. The economy worstened with this because the less produce the people had to sell, the less money they got for themselves and the government. This created individual hardship because all the peasants and students living on these mountain villages at the time would have to rebuild their homes and replant all of their produce because the rain would wash it all away.
A mountain village, like the ones that China had during the Cultural Revolution.Go to the article, "Mountain Villages in Southern China," for more information on and pictures of mountain villages.
Economics and Sacrific
The Cultural Revolution
The Economics in during the Cultural Revolution was terrible because people did not have choices with what they did with their lives and they had many other hardships to deal with along with the small amount of choices they got to make. The Cultural Revolution brought on Communism in China, which, in turn, brought on hardship for all Chinese people that, according to the article, "A Chinese counterrevolution; Opressed masses are rising up against Beijing's brutal rule," by The Washington Times, is still around today.During the Cultural Revolution, starvation was a massive obstacle that many people had to overcome, and even went to drastic measures to keep themselves and their families fed. The article, "China: The Cultural Revolution," says, "China fell into economic ruin and a severe food shortage. Over the following years an estimates 20-30 million Chinese would die of starvation." The book, Snow Falling in the Spring, also mentions starvation during the Cultural Revolution when Moying tells us that her "neighbor was explaining that she could mix these leaves with corn flour to make corn bread" (18). Also, in the novel, some people were making major sacrifices with their food for other, especially Lao Lao. One example of Lao Lao making a sacrifice is when Moying started to "notice that she would make dinner for Di Di and me, watch us eat, and then quickly send us out to play in the yard before she cooked for herself and Lao Ye" (16). She did this because she had enough food to make Moying and Di Di a nice, nutritious meal, but not enough food to make the same meal for herself and her husband, so she made soup with dirty water and vegetable leaves instead after the children were done eating. Starvation was a big problem in China during the Cultural Revolution.
Also during the Cultural Revolution, people were assigned jobs as opposed to being able to choose their own. For example, in the article "My Youth in China," Yafei Hu, the author, talks about how her "parents were sent to Beijing in order to do intelligence work." Similarly, Moying's "Mama was assigned to teach at a high school far away and could not come home during the week" (22). These jobs being assigned to people made their life styles less convenient for their families and their selves. This also weakened the economy because it made shortages in certain occupations while other occupations were teaming with workers. Also, the occupations that some people were forced to have made their wages lower and their family suffer, although during the Cultural Revolution, almost no job had a good wage. Both Moying's Mama and Yafei's Mama made sacrifices for their families to make money and keep them alive and well.
Another economic crisis is that their agriculture was not produced well. During the Cultural Revolution, in the books, Snow Falling the in Spring, "lots of teenagers had been sent to the distant countryside, as Mao had instructed," so they could learn about agriculture (86). According the the article, "Mountain Villages in Southern China," "There are often no roads to these villages, and you must hike in an hour or more to get there." Moying had to hike about an hour to get to her cousin Lee's house in a mountain village. When it is raining in the book while Moying is staying with her cousin Lee, Lee tells her, "A rain like this is the worst possible thing this time of year, a few months short of harvesttime" (94). This is because during strong storms, mud rolls down the mountainsides which can also take us the produce and make it roll down the side of the mountain and get washed away as well as the mud, and occasionally a few houses would be washed away too. The economy worstened with this because the less produce the people had to sell, the less money they got for themselves and the government. This created individual hardship because all the peasants and students living on these mountain villages at the time would have to rebuild their homes and replant all of their produce because the rain would wash it all away.