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 were the "three separations" believed to plague university education?

2. What eventuality most threatens those in power in China?

3. Which of Yue Daiyun's family members belonged to the Jinggang Mountain Corps?

4. What group refused to obey Chairman Mao's directive to continue education?

5. How were workers and peasants to be portrayed in all acceptable literary work?

Short Essay Questions

1. Which children were admitted into New Beida?

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

3. How did nine-year-old Tang Shuan help the Jinggang Mountain group?

4. Why was schistosomiasis a danger for those working in rice paddies?

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

6. Why were admission examinations eliminated from the requirements for university entrance in 1970?

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

8. What was unusual about the arrival of the first students at the cadre school being established in Liyuzhou?

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

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Many times Yue Daiyun decides that her own conscience must be ignored in favor of the Party line of thinking. In your essay, give examples of this decision and its results in her life. What happens when the individual completely subverts his will for what he believes to be the collective good?

Essay Topic 2

Yue Daiyun had first hand experience with the benefits of individual ownership and responsibility on productivity as she watched famines that were intensified by collective errors and peasants who had no incentives to increase their work output. Analyze the effect of individual ownership and accountability on workers and society as a whole.

Essay Topic 3

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?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 876 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample