Critique+-+Tone

For "Reforms and Reformers", the tone is largely neutral and unbiased. This would be due to the largely neutral stand that the book takes, as well as the nature of its content: it is a factual historical account. That said, some of the language used does depict Mao and other figures in a certain light. Jiang Qing is described as being extremely jealous of Liu Shaoqi's wife, and used the CR as an excuse to get rid of her, among other things.

For the film "To Live", it is very clearly anti-CR in the way events are portrayed, and make the viewer extremely uncomfortable. The marriage of Fengxia and Erxi under the giant mural of Mao makes one wonder, to what degree has Mao infiltrated and become so involved in the lives of the common populace? Of course, the most negative effects are reserved near the film's conclusion: when Fengxia dies in childbirth due to the inexperience and incompetency of the student-doctors who carelessly dismiss the old, experienced doctors as counter-revolutionary.

For the last article, it seems to take a positive view towards the educational reforms, as demonstrated by the title which states an "economic necessity" for such reforms. Furthermore, the article extols the benefits of the reforms, saying that "the child who is taught characters as a means to help other people by no ways inferior to him, will not behave in the same way. If the efficiency of an educational system can be appraised only after it has worked for several years, it cannot be denied that there is in China both the will and the endeavour to set up a new education." Bastid also praises the aim of reforms in introducing "dynamism" to the new generation of Chinese, saying that it is important to have a versatile youth which will be capable of eradicating the "roots of an established elite", which the reforms purportedly could achieve.