User:Miss janae

The Cultural Revolution was a mass campaign that was marked by many other sub-campaigns. “Often, these sub-campaigns came so hard and fast that propaganda posters had to serve as the main source of information for the people.” The country ended up in complete chaos once the Red Guards were brought into the picture. Therefore, these images being displayed showed clear idea of what behavior and slogans were acceptable during this movement. From 1966 to 1968 all schools in China closed. Secondary and primary school students had the option to still go if they wished, which many did because they were curious as to what was going on. Schools were used as a rallying ground to interrogate those who were considered to be class enemies, such as teachers. The Red Guards were empowered by the Cultural Revolution in the beginning and they were helping interrogate the class enemies and finding out whose houses to search and possibly destroy. The Cultural Revolution started with Mao wanting to get high school students on board. Mao wanted them to target teachers who were viewed with capitalist views. High school students were asked to rebel against their teachers. Many students, like Yang, were under academic pressure. The Red Guards participated in parades, mass meetings, and carried The Little Red Book. At this point, Mao had ruined the country and the Red Guards were helping to push everyone towards communism. He didn’t question what they were doing or stop their destruction. He liked the idea that they would create total chaos to destroy the country and that was he could retransform it to complete Communism. However, eventually his attitude toward them changed. They refused to stop what they were doing; therefore, he decided the best way to deal with them would be to split them up.

“From December 1968 onward, millions of educated urban youth, consisting of secondary school graduates and students, were mobilized and sent "up to the mountains and down to the villages" i.e. to rural villages and to frontier settlements. In these areas, they had to build up and take root, in order to be reeducated by the poor and lower-middle peasants” Ten percent of the 1970 urban population were relocated. The population grew from 500 million to 700 million people in China. One way for Mao to handle the population growth was to send people to the countryside. Also, because of Mao’s idealism, he was from the countryside and wanted all educated youth to have experience in the countryside. This was a way for high school students to better integrate themselves into the working class. “In the beginning, the Cultural Revolution exhilarated me because suddenly I felt that I was allowed to think with my own head and say what was on my mind.” They believed this was a great opportunity to transform themselves into the strong socialist youth.

Down_to_the_Countryside_Movement