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How China Has Experienced Different Social And Political Systems

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China has experienced different social and political systems with more than 5000 years of recorded history, including feudalism, semi-feudalism, semi-colonialism and socialism. Ideologies and polices regarding disabled people in China have shifted in conjunction with the progress of Chinese social systems. This section overviews the key changes in the twentieth century. This era of change is explored in two periods: Period before People’s Republic of China (up to 1948), PRC and the Great Cultural Revolution (1949¬ -1977). 5.2.1 Period before People’s Republic of China (up to 1948) In the past, physical difference was not identified negatively as a result. Well knowen deities often had some specialty of their facial features and body…show more content…
He sniffed the odour and it was enough to make man drunk for three days. It turns out to be a completely unusable tree, said Zhuangzi, “and so it has been able to grow this big. Aha!—it is this unusableness that the Holy man makes use of!” —Zhuangzi, In the World of Men Mr Lame-Hunchback-No-Lips talked to Duke Ling of Wei, and Duke Ling was so pleased with him that when he looked at normal men he thought their necks looked too lean and skinny. Mr Picher-Sized-Wen talked to Duke Huan of Qi and Duke Huan was so pleased with him that when he looked at normal men he thought their necks looked too lean and skinny. Therefore, if virtue is pre-eminent, the body will be forgotten. —Zhuangzi, The Sign of Virtue Complete However, by the second century, literati such as Cai Yi (132-92) recognized people with different physical appearances as outsiders, as non-Chinese. They were represented ugly low (short) and not worthy of attention. In the art of physiognomy, a sign of an inauspicious personal destiny could be interpreted by a notable physical appearance. A sixteenth-century popular encyclopaedia recorded a method to identify criminals on physical appearance. Yet, in ancient China, literature records could be found are very little about either medical cases of or social attitudes towards people with disabilities. Even they have been recorded, they often are represented as consequence of a cause of families and religious organizations. In
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