Name: ____________________________________________________________________

Ms.Reyes/Ms.Rust; Global Studies

Mini-Lesson Three: The Great Leap Forward

Date: _________________

OBJECTIVE THREE ACTIVITIES: The Great Leap Forward (you must choose one). 50 points.
1. Answer the questions that follow, citing evidence from the text in your answers.
Category
Description
Completeness (50 pts)
Answers all the questions completely. Uses at least 3 vocabulary terms from the vocabulary list.
Includes correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.
2. Re-write the story, from the perspective of Liangs mother. Use your knowledge of the Cultural Revolution and include all
mini-lesson vocabulary.
Category
Description
Content (50 pts)
Uses as least 4 vocabulary terms and outside information from your notes or textbook.

Introduction: After the Great Leap Forward, China was in bad shape. Mao Zedong had told the Chinese
people that their efforts were going to catch them up with the West (or Europe and America). Instead, parts of
the countryside were ruined, and millions of people starved. Rather than catching up with the rest of the world,
the Great Leap Forward had pushed China backwards. Leaders in the Communist Party started fighting with
each other, and challenging Maos authority. So Mao and his wife, Jiang Qing, launched the Cultural
Revolution. This was an attempt to get people committed to the Revolution, and to Mao, as well as to direct
their anger about the Great Leap Forward towards Maos enemies in the Communist Party.
The first step in the Cultural Revolution was called the Hundred Flowers Movement. Read the following
excerpt from the book, Son of the Revolution, by Liang Heng and Judith Shapiro.
My parents were deeply involved in all the excitement of working to transform China into a great Socialist
country, eager to sacrifice themselves for others. They dreamed passionately of the day when they would be
deemed pure and devoted enough to be accepted into the Party. It was only natural that family came
second
In early 1957 the Hundred Flowers Movement had been launched. Its official purpose was to give the Party a
chance to correct its shortcomings by listening to the masses criticisms. Mother didnt know what to do. She really
loved the Party and didnt have any criticisms to make; the Party had given her a job and saved her from the
most abject poverty. Still, her leaders said that everyone should participate actively in the movement, especially
those who one day hoped to join the party. So, regarding it her duty to come up with something, she finally
thought of three points she could make. She said that her Section Head sometimes used crude language and
liked to criticize people, that he should give his housekeeper a bed to sleep on instead of making her sleep on
the floor, and that sometimes when it came time to give raises, the leaders didnt listen to the masses opinions.
But then, with utterly confusing rapidity, the Hundred Flowers Movement changed into the Anti-Rightist
Movement. Perhaps the Party was caught off guard by the amount of opposition and felt compelled to crack
down. Or maybe, as Ive heard said, the Hundred Flowers Movement had been a trap designed from the
beginning to uncover Rightist elements.
It was disastrous. My mother found out she had been given a Rightist cap solely because of those three
criticisms she had made. Perhaps her Section Head was angry at her; perhaps her unit was having trouble filling
its quotasShe know that a terrible wrong had been donebut there was no court of appeals. Mother was sent
away to the suburb of Yuan Jia Ling for labor reform. My nave and trusting mother went to work as a peasant.

What is meant by It was only natural that family came second in the first paragraph?
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What was the purpose of the Hundred Flowers Movement?

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Why did Liangs Mother submit the three criticisms of the Party?
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Why might the Party have changed the Hundred Flowers Movement to the Anti-Rightist Movement?
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Based on the reading, what do you think the term, Rightist means?
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What were the results of Mothers criticisms?
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Predict the results of the Hundred Flowers Movement. What effect do you think this will have on China and its
people at this time?
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