So I'm about 2/3's of the way in to "China: A Century in Revolution", episode 1: "China in Revolution" (1989) and essentially it's detailing life in China from the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 until Mao comes to power in 1949. However the way it's laid out (barely touching on certain topics, focusing on more heavily on others all whilst trying to keep continuity) makes it hard to follow.
So I just wondered if any of you knew whether we have records of what the average civilian's thoughts on their quality of life were during this tumultuous time (end of dynastic china, end of warlords, creation of the republic of china and the KMT-Communist divide, civil war, Japanese invasion, lack of support from LoN as well as Mao coming to power). Do we know whether their thoughts had changed by the time Mao died in '76?
Thank you for any help :)
It depends a lot on where you were in China. On the coasts and cities life had changed a lot from Qing times. Urban industrialization gave some families newfound social mobility and opportunity, but there was virtually no protections for workers. For rural peasants, which made up most of Chinese society, the social structures of daily life hadn't really changed much with the fall of the Qing. Communist rule usually improved conditions for poor peasants by forcing land reforms, which they would continue with nationally after 1949, and a lot of the early enthusiastic support for the CCP was entirely genuine.
Early Communist reforms after 1949 were generally positive, including massive gains for women's rights. Mao was viewed with a great deal of love and trust by most Chinese, he had finally ended the Century of Humiliation and China had been saved from colonial servitude.
By Mao's death in '76, that public love for Mao was much more strained and coerced. The Great Leap Forward had killed millions and no one had been held responsible, and the Cultural Revolution wasn't just Mao using the mob to purge his political rivals, it was an explosion of rage and resentment between classes and rival groups. In the aftermath there was far more cynicism and distrust of the government.
This is only an anecdote, but following the Gang of Four's arrest for encouraging the Cultural Revolution I've been told by people who lived in Beijing at the time that it was common for people to refer to the Gang of Four while holding out five fingers, with Mao as the unspoken fifth member. But again, society was split, for every student protesting for democracy or blaming Mao there were also still enthusiastic supporters of Mao and all his policies.
One big book recommendation I'd make is Daughter of Han and Old Madam Yin by Ida Pruitt. Pruitt was the daughter of missionaries in China, and was born and raised in China around the turn of the century, giving her a fantastic bi-cultural insight into the changes of China at the time, especially for women.
If you can give me a more specific focus I can try to give you some more info, it's a pretty complex time.