Reply to "New Marriage Laws in Communist China"

Amy,

Thank you for sharing your input on this issue.  While these ideas and policies were progressive for its time during communist China and while they did aim to bring gender equality in marriage and 'divorce laws' for property, you have to look at the macro-level policies that also took place as a result of the cultural revolution.  While this did provide women's rights in china, there were humanitarian rights on a massive scale that were being implemeted to the detriment of the Chinese people.  During the cultural revolution, cultural, historical artifacts, educaiton, and the economy practically came to a halt and educated youth were sent to the rural areas to farm and partake in other labor intensive jobs.  Mao's policies helped to exacerbate the famine and his policies during 'The Great Leap Forward' and 'The Cultural Revolution' led to tens of millions of people, mostly poor to die.  Like any communist regime that has come to power whether in the Soviet Union, Cuba, China or Congo, the transfer or power and the enforcement of new policies has been bloody and detrimental to these countries' populations.