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. Why did Yue Daiyun and Lao Tang look forward to peasant life continuing?

2. In August, 1973, with whom did Chairman Mao link the defection of Lin Biao?

3. Why were qualified teachers hesitant to offer lecture courses upon returning to Beida?

4. How was Beida preparing for nuclear war in 1972?

5. Which two Beida groups refused to give ground and cooperate?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. Why was the educational level of college age youth lower in 1970?

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

4. Which children were admitted into New Beida?

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

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

7. Why were the department leaders angry with Yue Daiyun when they offered her the opportunity to assist with educational reforms on campus?

8. What difficulties did Tang Dan encounter during her time with the military?

9. Why did Yue Daiyun find it difficult to teach a course about the struggle between bourgeois and proletarian literary theory?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Yue Daiyun describes her opinion about Stalin and her feelings at his death. In your essay, compare and contrast her thoughts about him with the opinion of Western civilization. Why is there such a difference?

Essay Topic 2

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.

Essay Topic 3

Several times in this memoir, people were urged to make a confession to things of which they did not believe themselves guilty. In your essay, evaluate the effect of this practice. Why did people make false confessions? What was the benefit? The cost?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 857 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample