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 was Tang Dan disillusioned with her work in Dedu county?

2. Who was Ma Mingzhen?

3. What were the "five-same-thing" teachers to do?

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

5. Why was depression widespread in 1967?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why were members of the intellectual community resentful of Liang Xiao?

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

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

4. Why did Yue Daiyun feel optimistic upon her return to Beida in spite of the dismal condition of the campus?

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

6. What tragedy took place in Hanzhong on a branch campus for the study of applied physics?

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

8. Which children were admitted into New Beida?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

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 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

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 897 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample