View a FREE sample

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What task was Nie Yuanzi given in Liyuqhou?

2. What did the "Reveal Things Thoroughly to the Bottom" Detachment intend to do?

3. Why had Yue Daiyun not protested when truckloads of students set out in a downpour?

4. What privileges did Lao Tang receive as he studied Lin Biao's life?

5. What did the Jinggang Mountain Corps want?

Short Essay Questions

1. What were the most emphatic new directives from Chairman Mao as the conflicts escalated?

2. How did the disputes between factions at the university resemble civil war?

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

4. Why had Lao Tang not left Liang Xiao?

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

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

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

8. Which children were admitted into New Beida?

9. What was Liang Xiao? What was its purpose?

10. What astonished Lao Tang more than evidence of Lin Biao's reactionary viewpoint?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

At several points in the story, Yue Daiyun and others felt it necessary to "draw a line" between themselves and others. Explain what it means to draw a line. Give examples of how and why this procedure was implemented. Do you think such a procedure is unique to Chinese society during the cultural revolution?

Essay Topic 2

Parent-child relationships are an important theme in this memoir, as children were encouraged to distance themselves from the reactionary or intellectual thought patterns of their parents. As a young bride, Yue Daiyun draws such a line against her father-in-law, and she later regrets it. Her own children find it necessary to repudiate their parents. Analyze and evaluate the effects of this disjunction on family relationships.

Essay Topic 3

At some points, it was considered a criminal activity to feel pity or compassion for anyone who had been established as an enemy of the state. Analyze the purpose and results of this attitude toward kindness for wrongdoers.

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 866 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample