Red Guards () were a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in the People's Republic of China, who were mobilized by Mao Zedong between 1966 and 1968, during the Cultural Revolution.

Origins

The first wave of people to call themselves "Red Guards" in China were a group of students at the Tsinghua University Middle School who used the name Red Guards to sign two big-character posters issued on 29 May and 2 June 1966. The students believed that the criticism of the play Hai Rui Dismissed from Office was a political issue and needed greater attention. The group of students, led by Zhang Chengzhi and Nie Yuanzi, originally wrote the posters as a constructive criticism towards Tsinghua University's administration, which was accused of harboring "intellectual elitism" and "bourgeois".^[1] However, they were denounced as "counter-revolutionaries" and "radicals" by the school administration and fellow students, and were forced to secretly meet amongst the ruins of the Old Summer Palace. The group chose the name "The Red Guards" to create an image of a mass student movement. Red Guard groups sprung up at different campuses and universities, emulating these students.

The Red Guards' activities were originally suppressed by "work groups" or "work teams" dispatched at different campuses and university. These work groups were led by Zhang Chunqioa, head of China's Propaganda Department, to promote the Cultural Revolution and investigate school administrations, however, anti-work group sentiments began to spread due to the rigid actions of these work groups on campuses. Mao, realizing the mistake of these work groups and sensing the danger of the revolution faltering, dispatched Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, and others to join these anti-work group movements and help revive the suppressed Red Guards.^[1] The group soon put up more posters calling for radical revolution, which was approved by and published on the People's Daily. Soon afterwards, students all over Beijing were calling themselves "Red Guards". The movement, however, was not confined nor directed by a central organization, and many rival Red Guard groups were formed.^[2]

Role in the Cultural Revolution

Throughout the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards traveled throughout China, going to schools, universities, and institutions, spreading the teachings of Mao. Some were criticized for using violence against people who were believed to be taking things back to capitalism (capitalist roaders).

The role of Red Guard was mainly to attack the "Four Olds" of society, that is what is believed to be old ideas, cultures, habits, and customs of China at the time. Red Guards in Beijing and elsewhere in China had taken to the streets from their schools. They made posters, speeches, criticized Party leaders, and some committed violent acts in the name of the Cultural Revolution.

Mao met a million Red Guards formally in Tiananmen Square on August 18, 1966. Many people in realms of education, academic, media, literature and punishment were attacked and labeled by the Red Guards as "capitalist roaders" or "anti-revolutionaries". The Red Guards ransacked museums and destroyed old books and works of art throughout China. Many famous temples, shrines, and other heritage sites were destroyed. In total, 4,922 out of 6,843 were destroyed.^[3] Zhang Chengzhi attempted to control the violence by writing petitions to senior party officials, but The People's Daily responded by publishing a phrase of Mao's; "Good, very Good", which originated from Mao's speech on peasant violence against landlords during the 1920's. Many top party officials, such as Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping and Peng Dehuai were attacked by the Red Guards.

In popular culture

• In The Last Emperor, the Red Guard appeared near the end of the film humiliating the kind prison warden who treated the Emperor of China Puyi nicely.
• The film To Live has the Red Guards appearing in a few scenes, showing their various types of activity.
• Farewell My Concubine, the Red Guards humiliate Cheng Dieyi and Duan Xiaolou as they try to overthrow the old society.
• In the film The Blue Kite, Tei Tou's classmates are shown wearing the red scarfs of the red guards, and the film ends with the red guards denouncing his stepfather.
• Jung Chang's autobiography Wild Swans describes the atrocities committed by the Red Guards.
• In Hong Kong, TVB and ATV often depicted the brutality of the Red Guards in films and television dramas. They are rarely portrayed in film and television programs produced in mainland China.
• The video game Command & Conquer: Generals misleadingly named the Chinese standard infantry unit the "Red Guard".
• The novel about the Cultural Revolution, Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang, prominently features the Red Guards. The main character often wishes she could become one.
• In the book Son of the Revolution, main character, Liang Heng, becomes a red guard at age 12, despite the years of persecution he and his family received from them.
• In the autobiography Gang of One, Fan Shen provides first hand accounts of his youth as a Red Guard.
• Li Cunxin makes repeated reference to the Red Guards in his autobiography, Mao's Last Dancer

See also

• Mao Zedong
• Morning Sun (documentary)

References

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