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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is a kang?

2. What were Old Aunt and Old Uncle's parting gifts to Yue Daiyun?

3. What physical difficulty was brought on for Yue Daiyun and others by the famine in Zhaitang?

4. How does Lao Wei advise Yue Daiyun to deal with the cadres?

5. Why did Yue Daiyun relate to her sister-in-law's father?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did the newspaper articles during the Four Clean-Ups confuse Yue Daiyun?

2. Why had Yue Daiyun's earlier visit to the Soviet Union been disillusioning?

3. What advice does Lao Wei give Yue Daiyun about survival in the countryside?

4. What were "middle characters"? Why were they considered unacceptable?

5. What is the message of Yue Daiyun's poem "To the Storm"?

6. What was the job of the sent-down cadres in the countryside?

7. In 1976, what did the students do to Yue Daiyun's home?

8. Why did the famine of 1959 change Yue Daiyun's opinion of the Communist Party?

9. Why is the one-month birthday an important event in China?

10. What was the rationale for sending Chinese literature students to work in the mines?

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

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?

Essay Topic 3

Do you believe that Yue Daiyun's basic political philosophy changed greatly during the years she has described in her story? Give reasons, quotations, and examples to support your opinion.

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