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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What was the fate of the peasant university students who had not been given an education?

2. What did Chairman Mao declare in 1966 that intellectuals must undergo?

3. What effect did Yue Daiyun believe the elimination of "middle characters" would have on student readers?

4. Why were friendship bonds more likely at the cadre school than at Beida?

5. Durig the summer of 1968, how many students were killed by New Beida students?

Short Essay Questions

1. How was Tang Dan allowed as a child to help the Jinggang Mountain group?

2. Why did Yue Daiyun believe that bonds were closer at the cadre school than on the Beijing campus of Beida?

3. Why was Yue Daiyun apprehensive when Tang Dan decided to go into the army?

4. What did the student Red Guards at Beida dispute about Nie Yuanzi's policies?

5. Which children were admitted into New Beida?

6. What was Lao Tang's initial impression of Jiang Qing?

7. Why was Yue Daiyun stunned and unhappy at the new student orientation at the cadre school?

8. Why was the building of permanent housing the most pressing task when Yue Daiyun's group arrived at Liyuzhou?

9. Why did a smiling photo of Lao Tang get him in trouble?

10. Why was Lao Tang uneasy about national recognition of his work with Liang Xiao?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A central argument among the shifting power groups in this memoir is the question of whether democracy is a tool to eventually establish communism, or communism is a tool leading to the eventual establishment of democracy. Discuss the meaning and differences between these two points of view.

Essay Topic 2

Public displays as a form of punishment became common during the Cultural Revolution. Caps, arm bands, clothing of specific colors, cardboard placards, and the "airplane position" were all used as public humiliation. Discuss the purpose and effect of these punishments as compared with fines or imprisonment as punishment.

Essay Topic 3

During Yue Daiyun's time as a professor of literature during the Cultural Revolution, it was criminal to glorify "middle characters" in fiction. Middle characters are ordinary people with flaws as well as good characteristics. Analyze and evaluate the purpose for this decision and its effect on readers, according to Yue Daiyun.

(see the answer keys)

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