Battle for China's Past : Mao and the Cultural Revolution

an essay in English in praise of the healthcare system during the era of
Mao. In this paper Chen is very positive about the achievements of
healthcare during the Mao era and especially during the Cultural Revolution
as the result of four important health strategies. These were: 1)
healthcare was primarily directed to serving workers and farmers, 2) the
main focus was on preventative medicine, 3) the healthcare system was
a combination of Western and Chinese medicine, and 4) the masses were
mobilized to tackle health issues. However, the post-Mao regime abandoned
all of these strategies for ideological reasons. Chen sent this article
to some Chinese scholars and asked them to translate and circulate
it, but heard nothing from them. It was not until 2006 that the essay was
translated and widely circulated in the e-media.
The three big new mountains
According to Yang Guang (2007), the Chinese per capita expenditure on
education in 2005 was only a quarter of the average expenditure in
developing countries, and China numbered the eighth from the bottom
in UNESCO’s ranking in education investment. The central government’s
share of cost on healthcare decreased by 32 per cent in 1978 to a
meagre 15 per cent in 2005 (Yang Guang 2007). Most of this expenditure
was on urban centres and heavily orientated towards the care of the
government officials. It was not until more than a decade after these
changes began that their consequences began to be keenly seen and felt.
The net result of these reforms is that the vast majority of the Chinese are
either struggling or entirely unable to provide their children with education
or medical treatment. With housing increasingly unaffordable for all
but a few of the urban residents, the Chinese are now talking about the
‘three big new mountains’ on their backs, healthcare, education and
housing (Yang Guang 2007). The phrase ‘three big new mountains’
reflects what Mao described as the three big old mountains that
oppressed the Chinese people in pre-1949 China: imperialism, feudalism
and comprador bureaucratic-capitalism. 8 As Yang’s analysis shows,
healthcare has not really been marketized and education has not really
been entrepreneurial. Both are an excuse for the government to shed its
responsibility. Instead, both education and healthcare have become
money-making organs for those in management control.
The voice of the workers
THE BATTLE FOR CHINA’ S PAST
Workers do not mince words about what they think about these reforms.
The headlines of contributions that published on Zhongguo gongren wang
(Chinese Workers Net) shows this clearly and here are some headlines
related to welfare concerns such as education and healthcare:
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